The Friedkin Group took their first major decision as owners of Everton when they announced the sacking of Sean Dyche three hours before the team were due to kick off against Peterborough United in the third round of the FA Cup.

Dyche appeared to be on thin ice following Saturday's dismal defeat at Bournemouth, where his side, having scored in just two of their previous 10 matches, failed to register a single shot on goal, but with no decision coming from the Blues' new hierarchy, it appeared as though the former Burnley boss would remain in his post for the time being.

Dyche took training and conducted his pre-match press conference at Finch Farm as usual on Tuesday as reports circulated that TFG were reviewing the status of his position at the club after almost two years in the job.

As it turned out a meeting between the two parties led to the relationship breaking down. The indications from the likes of Paul Joyce of The Times is that the Club's leadership felt that the manager had thrown the towel in and felt that he had taken Everton as far as he could, tantamount to "penning his own resignation letter and there was no going back from there".

Reports suggest that negotiations over Dyche's severance had delayed the confirmation of his departure, with an agreement over termination of his contract, set expire at the end of the season, finally reached this afternoon.

News broke shortly before 4:30pm this afternoon, first by reporters on social media, that the 53-year-old's contract had been terminated with immediate effect and that Club captain, Seamus Coleman, and Under-18s head coach, Leighton Baines, would take charge of the cup tie.

An announcement followed from Everton, with a statement to the effect that the process of appointing Dyche's replacement was underway.

Dyche was hired as Everton manager tasked with a rescue mission to keep the Toffees in the Premier League after Frank Lampard's once-promising tenure had collapsed amid a torrid run of results that reached its nadir in mid-January with a 2-0 defeat at West Ham United.

Lampard had overseen just three wins in 20 games and lost seven of his last eight in all competitions and left the Club sitting in the relegation zone and after Marcelo Bielsa's phased succession proposal was found to be unacceptable, Farhad Moshiri and the then-Everton board opted for Dyche.

A veteran of numerous relegation scrapes with Burnley and famed for his a no-nonsense approach, the Kettering-born coach was seen as the kind of fire-fighter the Blues needed and, starting with a gritty 1-0 home win over title-chasing Arsenal, Dyche began to haul Everton away from the bottom three.

However, with just three more wins from 16, it took a dramatic, final-day victory over Bournemouth at Goodison Park to ensure top-flight football for another season.

Dyche's first and only full season at the helm was complicated by a severely restricted transfer budget, the need to sell players like Alex Iwobi to avoid further trouble with regard to profitability and sustainability rules (PSR), and two points deductions handed down by the Premier League that kept Everton languishing in the lower reaches of the division.

Nevertheless, while the standard of football was often painful to endure and he set an unwanted club record in the Premier League for games without a win, he eventually steered the Blues to a 15th-place finish.

Though Amadou Onana was the next "high-value" asset that had to be moved on in the summer of 2024 to keep the PSR wolves from the door, optimism grew among supporters that the acquisitions of Iliman Ndiaye, Jesper Lindstrøm, Orel Mangala, Jake O'Brien and Armando Broja would enable Dyche to build on the defensive foundations he had built.

However, just as he had done a year previously, Dyche started the season in awful fashion with no wins in his first six League games and, despite picking up creditable draws in December against Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City, he had just three victories by the turn of the year.

Amid reports that he had intimated to the new ownership that he had taken Everton as far as he could, he was sacked today, with Fenerbahçe manager José Mourinho and former Toffees boss David Moyes the favourites to succeed him. 


Reader Responses

Selected thoughts from readers

Either no responses have been submitted so far to this article or previous submissions are being assessed for inclusion.

Add Your Thoughts

Only registered users of Evertonia can participate in discussions.

» Log in now

Or sign up as Evertonia Member — it takes just a few minutes and will allow you to post your thoughts on artices across the site.