Sean Dyche was fired by Everton because the manager had run out of options and the Friedkin Group, the club’s new owners, determined they could not allow this season’s rot to conclude in relegation.
Only three weeks have passed since the management, headed by American millionaire Dan Friedkin, decided that 53-year-old Dyche couldn’t lead Everton to Premier League safety, much less into the stunning new stadium on the banks of the Mersey at Bramley-Moore Dock, where they will now call home.
The decision to fire the manager was accelerated because both Friedkin and Dyche believed his Everton reign had gone as far as it could.
In recent weeks, Dyche has been worn down rather than energized by new management. The last straw was Everton’s heartbreaking 1-0 loss to Bournemouth, where they were unable to muster a shot on goal.
This season, in which Everton has only won three of 19 league games and scored just 15 goals, was reflected in the nearly unwatchable performance.
The Friedkin Group would have preferred to let Dyche’s contract expire at the end of the season with Everton safe, allowing for a natural break and a chance to start over.
Instead, just hours before Everton’s FA Cup third-round match against Peterborough United, the owners took drastic action in response to the growing dissatisfaction of Everton’s supporters with what they perceived as Dyche’s pessimistic outlook and gloomy football, as well as recent improvements made by Ipswich Town and Wolverhampton Wanderers under new manager Vitor Pereira.
Dyche was unable to advance Everton after less than two years of struggling financially and in the football context.
Where did Dyche’s situation go wrong?
Given that he kept Everton up in his first season, albeit on the last day with a victory against Bournemouth, and that he repeated it more easily last season despite violations of the profit and sustainability rules (PSR) that resulted in an eight-point deduction, history will be kinder and show Dyche more respect than it does now.
Additionally, Dyche will never forget the incredible 2-0 victory over Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool at Goodison Park in April. That performance not only destroyed their arch-rivals’ Premier League title bid but also momentarily freed Everton from the icy clutches of the cycle of misery that has engulfed them for years.
However, Everton has deteriorated this season, and the damage began on August 31 when they fell 3-2 at home to Bournemouth after leading 2-0 with four minutes remaining in regulation time.
Everton also lost a 2-0 lead when they fell 3-2 at Aston Villa, and negative statistics were accumulating like debris around Dyche’s team, ultimately resulting in his downfall.
In 11 of their 19 league games so far this season, they have failed to score. After this number of games, the team has only scored fewer goals in three campaigns in its history. They had no shots on goal in the December 0-0 draw at Arsenal, much like at Bournemouth.
Since his contract expires this season, Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s goals have long since stopped, and there has been a lot of conjecture regarding his future. While Armando Broja, who is on loan from Chelsea, has hardly been fit, Beto has been a very bad addition to the team in a transaction that was reportedly worth up to £30 million from Udinese.
Craig Dawson, a defender for Wolves, scored two own goals in a rare 4-0 victory at Goodison Park, making him Everton’s leading scorer in the last ten games.
As the season progressed, Dyche’s Everton appeared to have lost both their ability to generate opportunities and their ability to score goals.
At Vitality Stadium last Saturday, Everton’s supporters, who were already agitated, had their noses rubbed in it by their Bournemouth counterparts as they were made fun of with cries of “How do you watch this every week?”
With only summer recruit Iliman Ndiaye and former Burnley winger Dwight McNeil—before he was injured—offering genuine flair, Dyche was increasingly accused of “dinosaur” management as fan ire grew over the dreary fare on offer.
“Doing commentary on their games is not easy because not much happens,” Leon Osman, a former Everton player and commentator, said on BBC 5 Live Sport’s Monday Night Club.
“Anyone will tell you that you should still be creating chances and scoring goals, even though I do believe the squad is lacking in quality. It’s difficult to watch.
Why fire Dyche at this time?
With the opening of a state-of-the-art stadium and the beginning of a new era after years of turmoil and catastrophe under former owner Farhad Moshiri, Everton just needs to begin the Premier League season next year.
From the Friedkin Group, who have a football background due to their ownership of AS Roma, taking control with newfound ambition and strong finances to the new home that they referred to as a “game changer” on social media just 48 hours prior to Dyche’s firing, the past few months have been all about a new beginning.
When the future is presented in these terms, the Friedkin Group cannot imagine being relegated. Climbing the Premier League ladder instead of inviting Championship teams to Bramley-Moore Dock for the upcoming season is their vision of a new era.
However, considering Everton’s long history of bad play and persistent failure to win games and score goals, the so-called unthinkable was starting to seem very plausible. They were currently 16th in the Premier League, one point above the drop zone.
The Friedkin Group has fired their first manager less than a month into their tenure because the ideal situation of sending Dyche packing with thanks in the summer has not materialized.
What will Everton do next?
Dyche’s dismissal was not well-timed; when is a dismissal ever well-timed? It might change the parameters of what the Friedkin Group anticipated from their initial managerial hire.
Not even Dyche himself anticipated receiving a new contract at the conclusion of the season, but Everton’s owners would have preferred more time to establish their succession planning and schedule a meeting for the summer.
Everton has been robbed of such luxury due to results and their increasingly precarious situation.
Former Everton manager David Moyes appears to be a safe-hands figure, even temporarily, after being linked to Graham Potter, who was just hired as manager of West Ham United. One could argue that Moyes has the qualifications and experience to steer them clear of problems.
Since leaving West Ham at the end of the previous season, where he won the Europa Conference League in 2023, Moyes has been unemployed.
He has previously expressed his unwavering appetite and desire to play the game again.
“I wouldn’t want to be coming in and doing something which is very difficult,” the 61-year-old Scot, who received an OBE in the New Year Honours List, told BBC Sport at the time, adding that he did not consider his managerial career to be over.
“I don’t want to be at the bottom of the league and fighting relegation, which I have had a few times, so we will see how things go.”
Moyes has stated that he does not want Everton at the moment, but maybe the allure of rejoining the team where he played for 11 years before departing in 2013 to join Manchester United would persuade him to reconsider.
In the days preceding Dyche’s dismissal, Jose Mourinho, who is currently with Fenerbahce in Turkey, was connected to the position. However, his past interactions with the Friedkin Group at AS Roma have been somewhat mixed. His squad won the Europa Conference League in 2022, advanced to the Europa League final the following year, and lost to Sevilla on penalties before he was fired over a year ago. He is no longer in the race for Everton.
Paulo Fonseca, a Portuguese coach who was recently fired by AC Milan, was considered for the West Ham position and has frequently stated that he wants to coach in the Premier League. However, given Everton’s current situation, he would be a high-risk appointment.
With his background and understanding of Everton, Moyes appears to be the board’s best option, but he will need to win over some doubters in the fan base who blasted the previous mention of his name, seeing it as a step backward.
Moyes was in Germany in December 2019 to sign a contract to replace Marco Silva at Everton until then-owner Moshiri’s head was turned by Carlo Ancelotti’s dismissal at Napoli, so it would be amazing if he returned.
The decision to fire Dyche is one of the most important ones Everton’s new owners will have to make, and they will wish they could have put it off longer.
However, the prospect of Premier League relegation accelerates all planned agendas.
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