Who has been the luckiest and unluckiest Everton manager, according to ECHO football writers
Now that an agreement has been reached to sell the Friedkin Group his entire 94.1% ownership in Everton, main shareholder Farhad Moshiri is eager to leave the Blues. The Monaco-based businessman acknowledges that he has experienced unheard-of levels of waste during his time at Goodison Park.
Moshiri once remarked, “We have not always spent large amounts of money wisely.” The club’s off-field turmoil, including two separate point penalties for PSR rule violations last season, has made a fall in on-field fortunes worse.
But after eight managers in as many years, who has been the luckiest and who has been the unluckiest manager for Everton?
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Rafael Benitez was the luckiest manager because he had previously managed Liverpool. Farhad Moshiri’s hiring was the most contentious in the history of the nation’s most fervent football metropolis.
Regardless of your opinion of Brendan Rodgers’ skills, he wasn’t your typical Liverpool manager, and I doubt that the same kind of commotion would have occurred if he had been in charge. The manager’s angry description of Everton as “a small club” during a goalless draw in a Merseyside Derby at Anfield was the reason.
Even though I agree with Gavin Buckland that it was an appointment where both parties were ultimately out of their depth, I believe Carlo Ancelotti was the unluckiest Everton manager because the majority of his tenure was spent behind closed doors due to the global coronavirus pandemic, creating an odd atmosphere.
He was always going to return to Real Madrid, I suppose, and with the PSR thing coming up, so it might have been a moot point, but the majority of his time there was spent behind closed doors.
Matt Jones: Dyche could be both! But unluckiest has proven his worth
You could argue that Sean Dyche, the current incumbent manager, is the luckiest manager, even though he clearly entered in trying circumstances.
Even though Dyche has done a good job of keeping Everton afloat in PSR-troubled waters, he most likely would have been fired if the team had had any kind of proactive leadership in recent months. The four-month winless stretch from the previous season would have undoubtedly led to a change under Farhad Moshiri, and the current owner would have been enticed to open the management trapdoor once more by the team’s four-game losing skid to begin this season.
Because of the ridiculous management of the football team, Dyche’s expectations are significantly lower than those of his predecessors. That has, of course, made things more difficult even while it has given him a good amount of luck in “meeting expectations” and keeping his job. With that in mind, is it possible that he may truly fit into both categories here?
What about the unluckiest, though? It’s difficult to look at any manager Everton hired under Moshiri and believe they weren’t solely responsible for their eventual demise. However, Marco Silva might feel the most cheated. The Portuguese ended the season with a lot of momentum and a distinct style of play, making it an optimistic first full season in charge.
However, the club made a mistake in the summer transfer window, failing to secure Kurt Zouma on a long-term contract despite their best efforts. They also started a crazy and fruitless hunt for Wilfried Zaha.
Jean-Philippe Gbamin, who was supposed to take Idrissa Gueye’s place after he left for Paris Saint-Germain, was one of the players they did eventually sign. However, the Ivorian was plagued by injury concerns, and Andre Gomes and Fabian Delph, two other new midfielders, also struggled with fitness.
As a result, Silva had few choices along the core of the club; Moise Kean, the new center-forward acquisition, was also a failure. As a result, the Blues were terrible in the first few months of the season. Following a crushing derby loss in December, he was fired, making room for Duncan Ferguson’s lightning-in-a-bottle tenure.
Naturally, the Portuguese were not entirely to fault for the situation; recall the fear whenever an opposing team gained a corner against Everton? However, following his first season, the Blues seemed to have the structure they needed to continue, possibly more so than at any other point during the Moshiri era. The idea that Silva might have been the perfect guy at the wrong time for the Toffees would gain more support from his performance at Fulham after leaving.
Paul Wheelock: Cast of managers say everything about Moshiri
Where do I begin? Every manager Farhad Moshiri has fired at Everton had their due, despite the criticism he rightfully receives. Furthermore, there is a case to be made that the replacements had the intended effect, even if the final result turned out to be the same, with the exception of the time Rafa Benitez took over for Carlo Ancelotti, who was the manager that the great majority of Blues did not want to lose.
I can therefore understand the case for Sean Dyche being the luckiest. Because, as Matt correctly points out above, some of the streaks of results that Moshiri has overseen would have led to his dismissal at other times during his rule. But no Everton manager has ever had to handle the team in such a situation. Naturally, this supports the notion that he is the Blues’ most unlucky manager.
However, let’s attempt to choose a different person. Thus, Ronald Koeman must be the luckiest. Koeman was allowed to bring in the players he desired well before Alisher Usmanov’s funding ended because to the conflict in Ukraine and even before the threat of PSR. In the end, he made a terrible mess of it, but to be fair, it seems like there were too many opposing opinions and points of view during the hiring process, which is where the club famously signed not one, not two, not three, but four No. 10s in the summer of 2018 when Everton actually needed a No. 9.
Koeman wasted his opportunity. You might be able to say the same thing about Ancelotti. After all, he was lavishly supported in the transfer market as well. After leading the Blues to second place in the table at Christmas 2020, he oversaw some dismal results that were in line with the times. As a result, the team finished in 10th place and was eliminated from consideration for European qualification, which could have alleviated the PSR issues that were about to arise. However, as Chris contends, we can only speculate as to what impact Ancelotti would have had on the supporters at Goodison Park. He is undoubtedly one of the best managers in history, as he has demonstrated at Real Madrid since returning to the Spanish capital.
One may argue that Sam Allardyce, Koeman’s replacement, was the unluckiest. After a strong start on Merseyside, his team played some instantly forgettable football, therefore I was glad to see him go, like many other fans. Allardyce, however, would contend that he accomplished his goals and that his eighth-place result outperformed that of all the managers who have come after him.
He cannot, however, become the unluckiest person. Instead, I will support Matt and choose Silva, who has shown his abilities as a coach at Fulham. His tenure at Goodison Park would have been different if he had been wealthier and had an owner who truly gave the director of football the freedom to carry out his duties.
Rather, he followed the path taken by 99 percent of the managers Moshiri appointed. It eventually speaks volumes about him and his management style of the organisation.
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