Everton have sacked Frank Lampard and now are in need a new manager.
Lampard, 44, took charge of the Toffees nearly a year ago and through much strife, steered them away from relegation and won the battle to beat the drop. Unfortunately for the Goodison Park faithful, however, they're staring into the face of second-tier football once again.
With a £500million stadium on the way and ambitions to be back on the European stage, Everton need a saviour to lift them out of a toxic rot which has supporters protesting at every match. It's 12 days until their next fixture, a fear-inducing clash at home to Premier League leaders Arsenal, so the Toffees board have a timely opportunity to bring in a new boss and escape the dreaded drop.
With that in mind, here are six candidates to replace Lampard.
Sean Dyche
Already installed as the bookies' favourite, Sean Dyche lost his job after 10 years at Burnley last season with just eight games to go. His departure - a hotly-debated decision from the Clarets' new board - didn't have the desired effect as they failed to stay up, and many believe that Burnley would've managed another survival push with their old statesman at the helm.
Waiting for the right time to return the dugout, Dyche has been tentatively linked with a host of openings while out of work. The image of him standing on the Goodison Park touchline feels right for plenty of neutrals, although the Everton board and fan base could view his appointment as an unambitious one - particularly given his lack of experience beyond scrapping at the bottom, barring one season in which Burnley sensationally finished seventh and competed in the Europa League qualifiers.
Doubts linger as to whether the 51-year-old's powers are waining or whether his style of management is outdated, but make no mistake, he knows how to get out of a relegation battle.
"It's fair to say I've got a decent bank of knowledge, that I think I could offer something, so therefore, I'll have a window to wait and see," Dyche told BBC's Kammy & Ben's Proper Football Podcast in September. "We'll wait and see, but I think I've afforded a window to have a look and see if anyone wants to take me in the Premier League."
Have your say! Who should Everton appoint as their new manager? Give us your pick in the comments section.
Wayne Rooney
Perhaps not a fairytale appointment for every Everton fan, Wayne Rooney returning to the blue half of Merseyside would be some story. Tipped for the vacant post last January following Rafa Benitez's sacking, the Manchester United legend surprisingly turned down an interview with the Toffees hierarchy while still in charge at Derby County.
Still, that didn't stop Rooney from voicing his desire to one day manage his beloved Everton. "I believe I will be a Premier League manager – I believe I'm ready for that, 100 per cent," the now D.C. United boss decalred. "And if that is with Everton one day in the future that would be absolutely great. But I've got a job here that I'm doing at Derby County which is an important job to me."
Nuno Espirito Santo
Sacked by short-lived employers Tottenham Hotspur 15 months ago after a miserable start to the campaign, it feels a long time since Nuno Espirito Santo had Molineux rocking. The ex- Wolves boss is no slouch when it comes to Premier League management, achieving back-to-back seventh-place finishes before slumping to a still respectable 13th in his final season.
His football isn't always easy on the eye, far from it at times, but the Toffees would almost certainly improve defensively with the Portuguese's defensive acumen. Nuno also achieved great things on a sizeable budget, something which may win Farhad Moshiri's vote, as he's quite happy to pump in cash.
Ange P ostecoglou
Moving above the border, could Ange Postecoglou - the man who transformed Celtic over a matter of months in the autumn of 2021 - be the right appointment? The Aussie-Greek coach has worked wonders in Glasgow, getting fans to fall back in love with their club after a period of discontent.
A situation which certainly sounds similar to where Everton supporters find themselves, Postecoglou's character suggests that he's got the makings of a steely Toffees boss and would face the relegation fight full on. But will the 57-year-old want to end his love affair with Celtic after just one title and a brief Champions League run? It'd be a tough decision if Bill Kenwright and co came calling.
Duncan Ferguson
Speaking of strong characters, what about getting Big Dunc back? A bona fide club legend, Duncan Ferguson was part of Lampard's backroom team during his first five months in charge before walking away from Goodison Park. In the running for the Blackburn Rovers job over the summer, it's alleged that former Everton manager Carlo Ancelotti called the Lancashire club to recommend him.
With a capacity to galvanise the fractured fan base and get Goodison behind the team, as demonstrated by his caretaker spells, Ferguson's name will no-doubt have crossed Everton chiefs' minds. Handing him a mandate for the entire second half of this season would be bold compared to his brief stints between a series of failed permanent appointments, but the Toffees need to be brave.
David Moyes
The most outlandish shout on this list, David Moyes' return is somehow not out of the question. Even though he was the man to nail Lampard's coffin with a 2-0 victory on Saturday, the West Ham boss is seemingly running out of time at the London Stadium and could soon be out of a job himself.
Stranger things have happened in football than to see Moyes make a triumphant return to Merseyside - just don't expect Lampard to be heading back to his West Ham roots. Moyes certainly still has Everton in his heart after an 11-year run with the Toffees, which ended in 2013 thanks to that phone call from Sir Alex Ferguson, and he made it known in the aftermath of Saturday's win.
"I would hate to think that Everton would go down because they mean so much to me over the years," the Scot admitted. "But obviously everything I’m doing at the moment is to get West Ham in the best position and hopefully try and win a trophy as well."
The bookies aren't ruling him out at 6/1 odds, and in an interview with the Athletic conducted last March, Moyes revealed that he was "very, very close" to returning to Goodison Park before taking charge of West Ham for the second time in December 2019. Of course it'd be easy to look at his tenure through rose-tinted glasses, but the Toffees were much closer to being a grand old team than they are now.
