The Everton boss has held open chats with his players during a difficult week at Finch Farm, as work continues to respond to Chelsea’s battering. Sean Dyche has assured his players that he will not be their scapegoat as the team battles for Premier League survival once more. The Blues manager spoke with his squad in an effort to remedy the awful performance at Chelsea, which he said was “miles” below the standards he expected.
Dyche stated that discussions went to the churn of managers in recent years and informed the players that if they were looking to inspire another shift for a better life, “I’m not that guy.” I am staying. “I am fighting.” Farhad Moshiri, the largest shareholder, has presided over a period of managerial instability. Dyche is Everton’s sixth manager in eight years, and several of previous tenures have ended with poor performances that made change seem imminent. Dyche’s predecessor, Frank Lampard, left in January following poor performances against West Ham United, Southampton, and Brighton and Hove Albion. Lampard lasted just over a year, roughly twice as long as Rafa Benitez, whose tumultuous spell ended when the Blues fell to bottom-of-the-table Norwich City.
Dyche was asked ahead of Everton’s match against relegation rivals Nottingham Forest whether the trend will continue following the awful show at Stamford Bridge. He stated, “It’s a valid topic, and I’ve obviously discussed it with the players. Is the club currently merely going through a cycle? Every year, you want a new manager, you get one, you get a bounce, and then six months later: “Boo!” We want him out!” and you keep doing it? Is that where we are now? I do not mind telling you this since people want to know the truth. After Monday, I told them:
‘Is it that time of year again when you just want an easy life where you get a new manager in, you get a new manager bounce, and everyone is happy?’ I said, ‘Lads, I’m not that person. I am staying. I am fighting. If you want it to happen, you must help yourselves. If the supporters want this to happen, so be it. I am fighting. I am not blaming anyone. I have never done it in my career, and I am not going to start now. I understand what I’m attempting to do here. And it’s a lot. But I am up for it. If I wasn’t, I wouldn’t have done it.”
During his press conference on Friday, Dyche mentioned a long list of prior managers who failed during the Moshiri period. He also mentioned the off-the-field challenges that Everton has faced this season. After a summer transfer window in which the club had little money to spend and instead lost some of its most prominent players, a takeover that has still to be completed seven months later and two point deductions followed. Without the loss of those eight points, Everton would be out of trouble.
Dyche emphasized that he did not believe there was an easy solution as he attempted to provide stability in the face of such challenges. He stated that he used previous managers’ troubles as evidence that there was no “magic key” to the club’s problems. He went on to say, “I respect all seven previous managers to me because it’s not an easy job to be a manager, let alone here, with all the different money in, money out, and demands – no one has found the magic answer.” I’m still searching. I believe it is fair to state that I am looking under more hard circumstances. But I am still looking.
So what I’m saying is that there is a magic solution because clubs reach a point where they discover it. But how can we discover it? What are we doing to put in place a method to find it? “I believe the short-term fix scenario has not been successful at this football club. Throwing money at this and that has proven ineffective. I am striving to make something. But, while you’re attempting to win a game, which is my role, I can’t just leave the other things running in the background and let it do its thing. That would be foolish since the problem needs to be cleared up.”
