Sean Dyche has been sacked as Everton manager, with his dismissal coming only hours before the club host Peterborough in an FA Cup third-round tie.
The decision to wield the axe marks the first major decision Everton’s new owner, The Friedkin Group (TFG), have made since completing their takeover on December 19.
In recent weeks the US owners had held talks with Dyche, whose contract was set to expire at the end of the season, and given him their backing and support.
However, a sequence of one win in 11 Premier League games — which saw Everton fail to score in eight of those and leaves them in 16th place in the table, only one point above the relegation zone — prompted the owners to part company with the 53-year-old earlier than expected.
It comes only two days after Dyche admitted that TFG should be planning for his succession given Everton’s recent results. And there may have been a feeling within the boardroom that the former Burnley manager had taken the club as far as he could and was no longer fully invested.
A club statement read: “Everton Football Club can confirm that Sean Dyche has been relieved of his duties as senior men’s first team manager with immediate effect. Ian Woan, Steve Stone, Mark Howard and Billy Mercer have also left the club.
“The process to appoint a new manager is under way and an update will be provided in due course. Under-18s head coach Leighton Baines and club captain Séamus Coleman will take charge of first-team affairs on an interim basis.”
Consideration given to Moyes returning
Dyche took over at Everton following the removal of Frank Lampard in January 2023 and he twice succeeded in preserving the club’s top-flight status despite a challenging backdrop of major financial constraints and last season’s two points deductions for breaches of Profitability and Sustainability Rules (PSR).
Everton secured survival on the final day of Dyche’s first season with a home win against Bournemouth and finished 15th last term, despite being docked six points.
Although the turgid style of play did improve Everton defensively for spells — they held Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City to draws in the past month by only conceding once across those games — a chronic lack of creativity and goalscoring continued to plague Dyche’s tenure.
Baines, the former Everton and England full-back who had been working under Dyche as the club’s under-18s coach, and Coleman, the club captain who last played on Boxing Day, took charge of the team for last night’s FA Cup third-round win against Peterborough, when Beto’s first goal in eight appearances and Iliman Ndiaye’s 98th-minute penalty proved the difference.
The timing of Dyche’s sacking may have been surprising but was likely down to protracted negotiations over a compensation package. Earlier in the day, he had been at the club’s Finch Farm training ground and selected the starting line-up, which included a switch to a back three.
“I found out today like everyone else,” said Baines before kick-off. “The starting XI was picked beforehand. We have made small adjustments inside of that, which we think will help.
"It is a bit different, but it’s football. This is our job and the players know how to play football and I have been coaching for long enough.”
The process to appoint a permanent successor has already started and David Moyes, who previously managed the club for 11 years between 2002-13, is the early front runner having been out of work since leaving West Ham United last summer.
Everton return to league action next Wednesday when they host Aston Villa before facing Tottenham Hotspur at Goodison Park four days later.
