TIME for Everton to forget the Hollywood coaches and hire a manager who really understands the club — if they want to have the best chance of staying up. And the fastest way of Farhad Moshiri getting fans back on his side is to bring local hero Wayne Rooney back to Goodison Park. Supporters need someone […]
TIME for Everton to forget the Hollywood coaches and hire a manager who really understands the club — if they want to have the best chance of staying up.
And the fastest way of Farhad Moshiri getting fans back on his side is to bring local hero Wayne Rooney back to Goodison Park.
Supporters need someone with a genuine passion for this former giant of a club — now brought to its knees by years of mismanagement.
And who better to scratch that itch than Rooney, the dyed-in-the-wool Scouser with blue blood coursing through his veins?
What a huge statement of intent that would be from the self-styled People’s Club.
Owner Moshiri has shot himself in the foot so many times with disastrous decisions, it is a wonder he can still walk. Yet appointing Rafa Benitez was by far the worst of the lot — and he simply cannot afford to get his next call wrong now.
Even the splendid isolation of his Monaco mansion could not drown out the din wafting from Merseyside amid Saturday’s 2-1 defeat by lowly Norwich.
Moshiri stubbornly stood by Benitez when all football logic screamed the former Liverpool boss was simply too toxic for Everton.
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But the billionaire owner could no longer ignore the stench of his team’s headlong plunge towards the Premier League relegation zone.
So now he is in the market for a seventh permanent manager in his six years as majority shareholder, with one of those — Roberto Martinez — the leading contender.
Everton supporters have had more than enough of managers who have arrived at their club feeling as though they are really doing Everton a favour.
Ronald Koeman, Sam Allardyce, Carlo Ancelotti and Benitez all gave the distinct impression that they were slumming it when they reluctantly accepted Moshiri’s millions.
Rooney, 36, has been an Everton icon ever since scoring the winner against Arsenal as a 16-year-old Premier League newcomer in 2002.
Imagine the Goodison atmosphere on Saturday if Rooney and Duncan Ferguson stood on the touchline to take on Steven Gerrard’s Aston Villa.
Mark Irwin
Even though he spent the vast majority of his career breaking scoring records for Manchester United, his popularity with Evertonians is undiminished.
It was misguided sentimentality on the part of chairman Bill Kenwright which persuaded Rooney to attempt an Everton return five years ago, when his best playing days were clearly behind him.
But there would be far more logic in bringing him back as boss — to arrest a slump which sees Everton now just six points off the drop zone.
He has worked a minor miracle to keep Derby in with even a whiff of Championship survival, despite their 21-point penalty from EFL chiefs for breaching financial regulations.
And he has a better win-rate than Benitez in the league this season despite Derby’s dire situation.
The England legend would be reluctant to leave the Rams in the lurch after they gave him his first managerial break last January.
But their latest transfer embargo could just be the straw which breaks the camel’s back as far as Rooney’s loyalty is concerned.
Administrators would also welcome the compensation fee which Everton would pay to buy out the remaining 18 months of Rooney’s contract.
And could Roo resist the emotional pull of taking charge of a club which remains embedded in his heart?
Imagine the Goodison atmosphere on Saturday if Rooney and Duncan Ferguson stood on the touchline to take on Steven Gerrard’s Aston Villa.
Everyone knows Everton are at their most potent when the crowd is breathing down their necks, urging the players on to greater efforts.
If relegation is to be dodged, they need to use that home advantage to make life hell for visiting teams.
Belgium boss Martinez, for all his tactical acumen, was never able to galvanise the fanbase during his previous spell as Goodison manager.
But Rooney and Ferguson, the club’s assistant manager, could whip up the storm needed to blow Everton back on course.
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