Sean Dyche is a self-confessed music fanatic, so he would recognise why there could only be one song for this miserable situation: Another One Bites the Dust.
The most chaotic decade in Everton’s history has seen the latest manager to fall by the wayside, Dyche joins a list that includes Carlo Ancelotti, Rafa Benitez, Sam Allardyce, Marco Silva, Roberto Martinez and Frank Lampard. There have been caretaker spells for David Unsworth and Duncan Ferguson in that period, too.
For many supporters, the first big decision of The Friedkin Group era will be celebrated.
There has been significant strain in recent months in the relationship between terrace and dugout, the nadir arriving at Bournemouth last Saturday when Everton were beaten 1-0 and failed to have a shot on target.
Everton’s form has been lamentable, with only one win – a 4-0 battering of Wolves on December 4 – in 11 games since the clocks went back in October. That sequence is identical to the one that claimed Koeman in October 2017 and, on current form, would have replicated the numbers of Lampard (one win in 14) and Benitez (one win in 15) before they were sucked into the Goodison vortex, too.
As is always the case with Everton, though, this story is complicated. It is possible to recognise Dyche was falling unacceptably short while giving him credit for doing remarkable work in almost impossible circumstances. By rights this club should have slithered into the Championship twice in the last two seasons – that they didn’t is down largely to him.
Many will raise an eyebrow about this statement but Dyche’s job was harder than the one faced by Erik ten Hag and Ruben Amorim at Manchester United or by Pep Guardiola at Manchester City. None of his Premier League contemporaries had been dealt such a hand.
Everton announced Sean Dyche had been sacked as manager on Thursday afternoon
His time at Everton ended with a 1-0 loss at Bournemouth to extend a run of one win in 11 games
Dyche’s job at Everton was a harder than both Pep Guardiola’s and Ruben Amorim’s
Financial restraints imposed by PSR, eight points deducted, an absent owner in Farhad Moshiri who only corresponded with WhatsApp messages and had long ceased caring before selling, not to mention a squad with many who wouldn’t trust to tell you tomorrow is Saturday.
‘Like juggling sand,’ was how he described his job last spring. It was a beautiful and fitting analogy.
It is easy to forget when Dyche first drove into Finch Farm in late January 2023 – Marcelo Bielsa, remember, had turned down the chance to be Lampard’s successor – how perilous the situation was and few gave them a chance of surviving but, somehow, they did.
Dyche coaxed a performance from his first game in charge against Arsenal that was so out-of-kilter with everything that had gone before, he was depicted as Superman in images on social media. Everton won 1-0, with a header from James Tarkowski, and the players ran themselves to a standstill.
He knew he had to galvanise spirit and one of the things he introduced at Finch Farm was the ‘Wheel Of Misfortune’; if, say, a player didn’t wear the right socks for training, misplaced shin pads or turned up late, they would spin the wheel and the punishment could be anything from a fine to singing a song in front of the squad in the canteen.
But through those opening months, he got an insight into what life at Everton was really like.
With all due respect to Burnley and Watford, Dyche arrived in a new world and found his head spinning at times, such as how quickly news had spread around the city in April 2023 that Everton had lost a behind-closed-doors training game 1-0 to National League North team Chester.
‘It’s just another negative story that everyone is baying for,’ Dyche grumbled.
Dyche had to cope with an absent owner in Farhad Moshiri and Everton’s financial constraints
He coaxed out a win over Arsenal in his first game in charge, but negative stories kept coming
Some squad members sneered over how Dyche would absolve himself of blame after defeats
Problem was, the negative stories have kept coming and coming. Some in Everton’s Academy failed to warm to him as he didn’t provide a pathway for young players; more troubling was the lack of respect some squad members had for him.
Privately they sneered how he’d absolve himself of blame if games were lost but have no issue telling them how much credit he should take after a victory. What the behind-the-back whispering told you was that the atmosphere around Finch Farm was never far from poisonous.
Last April, it was put to him by Mail Sport after a 6-0 defeat at Chelsea that unless the attitude within changed, the circle of misery would never be broken. He lifted the lid on what had been a frank exchange of views with the dressing room.
‘It’s a fair question,’ he said. ‘I asked them: “Is this the cycle?” You want a new manager; you get one and everyone says: “Hurrah!” Then, six months later, it’s: “Boo! We want him out!” You just keep doing that? Is that where we are at? I don’t mind telling you this because people want the truth.’
Perhaps, then, you won’t be surprised to know when the squad were told – fittingly, at The Titanic Hotel – that Dyche and his staff’s time had crashed into an iceberg, there was an immediate, positive change in their spirits.
One day this group will look back and realise the role they played in this misery.
For this, truly, has been a miserable time to be an Evertonian. Yes, that incredible 52,888 stadium on the banks of the Mersey shimmers beautifully on the city’s skyline and maybe leaving Goodison Park is exactly what they need to start afresh and begin making progress.
Many Everton fans could not stand watching Dyche’s brand of football any longer
Everton’s tally of just 26 open play goals from the start of last season is appalling
Dyche has looked hollow in recent weeks having been worn out by the negativity around
One thing fans want is to be able to go to a match and enjoy themselves and, unfortunately, for Dyche he was never going to be the manager who had that connection with them. Many Blues simply couldn’t stand watching his brand of football any longer and statistics made awful reading.
From the start of last season, only 26 goals scored from open play is appalling and you wonder how they are so toothless; they sold Romelu Lukaku in 2017 and, since then, have spent £183.1million on 12 strikers. Their recruitment, frankly, has been a disgrace. Until that changes, nothing will change.
So Dyche, whose greatest night was the 2-0 pummelling of Liverpool last April, becomes another statistic. He has looked hollow in recent weeks, worn out by the negativity and trying to find answers to puzzles that can’t be solved.
They said managing England was The Impossible Job. Compared to Everton, it’s a walk in the park.
