These are my thoughts on Dyche so as not to be misrepresented.
He did a great job keeping us up season 22/23 (this is not the season of Luton and Sheffield United). I’ve got no real time for anyone who wants to knock that or moan about style of play etc. the position at that time was absolutely dire when he came in, Bielsa had KBd us, Gordon sold, he got us over the line with one of the poorest squads in the league against Leicester and Leeds who both had a head start on us and better fixtures.
He improved us last season. 48 points from a team that had gone mid 30s both seasons before is progress in anyone’s book. Branthwaite in, fitness improved, attitude of players improved, managed the points deductions well, developed Onana as an asset, derby win, wage bill reduced and net spend down whilst points per game up.
As for moving forward. What I’d do right now is give him a one year extension, just because we can pay him out of it at any moment. If him or the players down tools because they know he’s going at the end of the season the cost of relegation is far far greater. Just give him a year and remove that risk off the table.
We get to the end of this season and there’s three scenarios (assuming we’ve been taken over, if we haven’t these are pointless)
1 - we’ve improved again on points total. If we’re in the mid 50s it’s difficult to dump a manager who’s taken you forward two seasons in a row. We extend by one year, gives the new owner time to find the right candidate and Dyche an opportunity to see if improvement continues.
2/3 - we’ve stayed the same or got worse. The new owner can then just pay out his final year and put his new man in place this summer.
At that point we will hopefully be a stable mid table PL club in a new stadium with a new owner and the worst of PS&R behind us. I’ll say thanks to Dyche for a good job under extremely difficult circumstances at the beginning of his time here and recognise that Everton benefitted financially at what was a critical juncture from having 2 and a half years of the same manager managing a squad that brought wages back in line, moved on some of the high earning deadwood, and developed players like Branthwaite Garner Onana into saleable assets for the club. I’ll also say thanks for improving some of the minimum standards in the squad of fitness and professionalism which had all but disappeared under previous managers.
I’m not calling for a 5 year deal, I’m not making an altar to him, I don’t think he’s the best Everton manager in our PL history or even in the top 3. He was in my view though the right man at the right time who did a very decent job.
What I do take issue with though is the same negative core of people who just get off on absolutely annihilating Everton at every opportunity. It’s Dyche today but it was Ancelotti before this and Moyes before that and it will be whoever we get through the door next. They’ll go almost entire seasons barely making a positive post about anything. Its now in the realms of just making stuff up, slamming the club for being linked with players who we’ve not even signed, predicting the most negative outcomes possible before every single game.
Congratulations you were right yesterday but you were also wrong before Arsenal, wrong before Leeds, wrong before Leicester, wrong before Brighton away, wrong before Bournemouth, wrong before Brentford away, wrong before Brentford home (both seasons), wrong before Liverpool at home, countless times you came on here with glee telling everyone how we would get battered and you were proven utterly wrong. So congratulations for ‘we all knew 100% what would happen when we saw the team sheet’ - I guess it happens 100% of the times except for when it doesn’t.
You were right yesterday but you were wrong when you gleefully predicted we’d go down in 22/23, wrong saying Luton were a better side than us, wrong when you slammed the club for buying Lingard Che Adams Kalvin Phillips Wout Weghorst, wrong when you mocked Pickford, wrong when you were convinced Branthwaite wouldn’t play ahead of Keane, wrong when you were convinced Iroegbunam wouldn’t play in the first team.
Half of my respect for Dyche is just because he’s proved you illiterate hypocrite weasels wrong more times recently than most other managers before him had when you were absolutely desperate for another manager to be fired and Everton to go down so you could revel in it a bit more.