Sam Allardyce has been sacked by Everton after six months amid fan discontent. The manager had a further season on his contract.
Allardyce was brought in last November with Everton on the fringes of a relegation battle and the team finished eighth. He failed to win over the fans, not least because of the style of play, and it comes as little surprise the major shareholder, Farhad Moshiri, has chosen to dismiss him.
“On behalf of the chairman, board of directors and Mr Moshiri, I’d like to thank Sam for the job he has done at Everton over the last seven months,” read a statement from the club’s soon-to-be new chief executive, Professor Denise Barrett-Baxendale. “Sam was brought in at a challenging time last season to provide us with some stability and we are grateful to him for doing that.
“However, we have made the decision that, as part of our longer-term plan, we will be appointing a new manager this summer and will be commencing this process immediately. Again, we’d like to place on record our sincere thanks to Sam for his work with us over the last few months and wish him well for the future.”
Sky Sports reported the 63-year-old will be informed at a meeting with majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri as early as Wednesday that his services are no longer required as Moshiri reacts to fans’ growing discontent with the former England manager.
Allardyce’s rudimentary style of play has proved deeply unpopular despite lifting the Toffees from 13th in the Premier League when he was appointed in November to finish eighth.
Despite signing an 18-month deal, Allardyce seemed resigned to his fate after Sunday’s 3-1 defeat at former club West Ham, during which Everton supporters called for his sacking.
“I can’t quite say confident after all the rumours I’m reading in the paper,” said Allardyce. “Generally there’s no smoke without fire. We’ll wait and see when we meet up.”
Allardyce was hired after a dismal start to the season under Ronald Koeman saw Everton fearing a relegation battle.
Former Watford and Hull City manager Marco Silva is the favourite to take over and could complete the move to Goodison Park six months after the club failed to prise him away from Vicarage Road.
Everton were unwilling to pay a reported compensation fee of £15 million ($20 million) wanted by Watford for the Portuguese when Koeman was sacked.
However, Silva himself was then dismissed by Watford in January with the Hornets citing disruption caused by Everton’s “unwarranted approach” for a major dip in form.
A change in manager could also affect Wayne Rooney’s future at the club.
England’s all-time top scorer had reportedly agreed terms on a £12.5 million move to DC United in Major League Soccer last week.
Rooney had seen his involvement limited under Allardyce, but could be convinced to stay at his boyhood club by a new regime.
Last month, Allardyce dismissed a survey sent to fans asking them to grade his performance out of 10 as a mistake on the part of the club’s marketing director, who he said does not “understand” how football works.
As part of the questionnaire, supporters were asked whether they agree with the statement of “I have a high level of trust in the current manager and coaching staff at Everton e.g. in making the right decisions to get the best out of the team.”
