Joey Barton called him a “glorified PE teacher” and now the Italian media are slaughtering him following Everton’s embarrassing 5-1 defeat at home to Atalanta.
Needless to say, David Unsworth won’t be leading the Toffees full-time. But who will?
The quest for Everton to find a new manager has now gone on for a month now, and during that time the club have just won one, a 3-2 win over Watford.
And it’s their manager, Marco Silva, who has been the most hotly tipped for the role. He’s still at 9/4 with most bookmakers for the next Everton manager, but you get the feeling all has not run smoothly.
Toffees owner Farhad Moshiri has recently come out and said an appointment is “close” but it’s a little up in the air as to who it will be.
Watford have rejected approaches for Silva twice, while Sam Allardyce, Who was also widely rumoured has been linked more with I’m A Celeb than football management of late.
Whoever it is, they’re needed quick. Everton are sitting precariously in 16th at the moment, just three points above the drop zone. A new manager will also want the time to figure out where he needs to strengthen in January, although it won’t take a genius to see that’s up top.
Interestingly, a move for Ralf Rangnick, the RB Leipzig sporting director looked like it was put out there following unsuccessful bids for Silva, and it could still come to fruition with the bookies pricing him at 4/1.
The 59-year-old moved upstairs at Leipzig last year, achieving promotion with the team but German football expert Raphael Honigstein believes it’s a non starter.
He’s happy with the Bundesliga runners up and is said to have no desire to re-enter management. So who does that leave Everton with?
It’s been an interesting week for the Blues. On the one hand, they’ve secured a 200-year lease on the land they wish to build their new stadium. On the other, the board haven’t really shown any sort of proactiveness with matters on the pitch.
If they needed to know fans are now fed up, the minimal 18,000 that turned up for the Europa League game was case and point and they’re in desperate need to get this farce sorted.
The truth is, nobody quite knows what’s going to happen next. Reports are suggesting Watford are lining up sacked Italy manager Gian Piero Ventura as a replacement. But then other news outlets are reporting that Marco Silva has bid on a house in Hertfordshire.
The media don’t know, and you get the feeling that in reality, Farhad Moshiri doesn’t either.
