It might not feel that way just now – it certainly didn’t on a wet and windy night at Turf Moor just 10 days ago – but there’s a chance for a bright new beginning at Everton, if they can just survive this current, awful season. The hard-working 1-0 victory over Manchester United brought light at the end of the tunnel in terms of the Blues’ attempts to escape from relegation danger but they now need to follow that up with another success at home to Leicester City to ensure that renewed hope isn’t snuffed out.
Like in politics, a week can be a long time in football, but whereas the party continues for Prime Minister Boris Johnson despite being fined for breaking the rules his own government had brought in at the height of lockdown, Sean Dyche has become the latest Premier League managerial casualty, just one match after the Burnley boss had crowed about telling his players that Everton “don’t know how to win” when trailing at half-time during his side’s 3-2 comeback victory. The now out-of-work gravel-voiced gaffer won the battle but Frank Lampard’s men – many of who were visibly crestfallen after the final whistle sounded in East Lancashire – are still capable of winning the war
Dyche’s previous achievements over almost a decade in charge at Burnley (a period in which there have been eight managers at Goodison Park) appeared to have bought him enough credit in the bank to survive seasons of struggle like this – he remained popular with Clarets fans who renamed a pub in the shadow of their ground ‘The Royal Dyche’ after they qualified for Europe in 2018 – but those in Turf Moor’s corridors of power have now gambled to dispense with their team’s long-serving leader in an attempt that represents one last throw of the dice in the hope that a potential ‘new manager bounce’ might help avoid relegation.
