Everton are set to part ways with Sam Allardyce less than six months after the 63-year-old took over at Goodison Park with former Watford boss Marco Silva the frontrunner to replace him.
The Blues boss is set to meet with the club’s majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri within the next 48 hours with reports suggesting that the two will agree to part ways.
Allardyce has had a meeting with Moshiri penned in for a few days but his confidence in remaining at Everton has been waining over the past few weeks.
Initially, Allardyce said he had received clarity from Moshiri but as the weeks have progressed, the 63-year-old has admitted he could have done with some public backing from his club's majority shareholder.
After Sunday’s end of season defeat to West Ham United, the Everton boss admitted that his future was uncertain as the number of reports suggesting his departure is imminent had begun to mount up.
“Confident? I can’t quite say confident after all the rumours I’m reading in the paper because generally there’s no smoke without fire,” Allardyce said.
Striking for Silva
Moshiri has been preparing for life at Everton post-Allardyce since February and the unrest from the fanbase has been noted by the Blues higher-ups.
In truth, he’s been preparing for life post-Allardyce since his first contact with the current Blues boss.
The Iranian-born British businessman is believed to have initially offered Allardyce a six-month contract to steady the ship at Everton and lead the club away from the drop zone after a horrendous start to a season with plenty of hope.
That, it’s said, was rejected as Allardyce wanted, and ended up getting, a longer-term deal.
Initially, Moshiri wanted to secure the services of Watford boss Marco Silva and was prepared to throw significant resources at the Hornets to pry away their high-flying manager.
The clubs couldn’t come to an agreement and the 40-year-old stayed at Vicarage Road.
Silva was sacked in December by the Hornets and in a statement released by the club, there was a swipe at the Blues.
“Had it not been for the unwarranted approach by a Premier League rival for his services we would have continued to prosper under his leadership,” the club's statement read.
Now, it seems, Moshiri may get his man without an initial outlay the size of the one he offered the Hornets whilst Watford themselves are uncertain about current boss Javi Gracia’s future.