MAKE A NOISE AND MAKE IT CLEAR
There’s more to Sean Dyche than meets the ear. His gravelly voice, which makes Phil Mitchell sound like a pubescent teenager in comparison, has reinforced the image of Dyche as somebody who is – to use some of the praise delivered by Social Media Disgrace Twitter’s finest in the last 48 hours – a dinosaur, a thug and a footballing caveman. Oh, and about to be the new Everton manager. Yes, Dyche is set to be appointed at Goodison Park, a decision that the club’s social accounts are expected to announce sometime next month, after Marcelo Bielsa decided not to take the job. Bielsa wanted to coach the U-21s for the rest of the season, allowing the younger players to become familiar with his methods, before taking over the first team in the summer. Everton, whose short-term needs are plentiful, declined.
The road from Bielsa to Dyche is rarely travelled, because their approach to football makes chalk and cheese seem like siblings, but as characters they are deceptively similar – serious, charismatic, principled and largely without ego. While it’s true that much of the football played by Dyche’s teams has a whiff of 1987, and he does look and sound like the kind of man who could eat a wooden chair in one sitting, we’ve always thought him to be one of the more impressive figures managing in the Premier League.
Anyone who is mates with Kate Fleming from Line of Duty and was a regular visitor to the Haçienda back in the day is all right with Football Daily, and a glowing testimony from former Irish international Keith Treacy earlier this year made it clear that, in his man-management, Dyche is more enlightened and skilful than most. “He was the one manager who cared about me as a person, not just a commodity as a footballer,” said Treacy. “He did eventually let me go from the club, but I still loved the guy, he took an interest in the person behind the footballer. He would talk to anyone, he’d sit down and chat to the tea lady at the club for 20 minutes.”
If all goes to plan, and when doesn’t it at Everton, Dyche will provide both a quick fix and long-term stability. It’s easy to imagine him staying for a decade, like David Moyes, and quietly overachieving with a team that takes pride in working hard and making life unpleasant for everyone who visits Goodison Park. Style of play may eventually become an issue, but at the moment that’s the least of Everton’s concerns. And Dyche may prove to be a cloth-cutter whose style evolves at a club with greater resources. Everton have tried all kinds of managers since Moyes left in 2013 – Big Cup-winners, firefighters, snake-oil salesmen – but Dyche could be the best fit of the lot. That’s good news for Everton, but it comes with one nagging reservation. If Ol’ Gravel Voice can’t sort Everton out, they might be beyond salvation.
LIVE ON BIG WEBSITE
Join Rob Smyth from 8pm GMT for hot FA Cup MBM coverage of Manchester City 0-0 Arsenal.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
29 November: “The board are pleased that he is the man to take us forward. We received a high calibre of applicants for the manager’s job in recent weeks, in a very thorough recruitment process as we looked to appoint the right person for the role” – Wigan chief suit Malachy Brannigan hails their coup in hiring Kolo Touré.
26 January: “Unfortunately, the results on the field have not been as we would have liked and, as tough a decision as this was, the board felt it necessary to give us the best possible chance of remaining a Championship club next season” – after no wins from his nine games, Touré is unceremoniously hoofed out of the door. Here’s hoping the recruitment process is as thorough next time around.
FOOTBALL DAILY LETTERS
“The idea of Big Dunc having to go vegan at new employer Forest Green Rovers (yesterday’s Football Daily) doesn’t quite sit with the memories I have of him putting it about against the league’s gnarliest defenders, back in the day. ‘Blood and guts’ could fairly be described as his playing style, on and off the pitch. I’m partial to veg myself, but the meatless burger he was holding in your picture looked very unappetising and more like a bit of the pitch” – Bill Jones [in retrospect, looked more like Dale Vince had Emu with him – Football Daily Ed].
“Best of luck to Duncan Ferguson at Forest Green, although it does somewhat heap further embarrassment on Everton, with one of their (seemingly many) managerial targets preferring to try his luck at the wrong end of League One, rather than take the poisoned chalice at Goodison” – Jim Hearson.
“Very glad to see ‘tooted’ made a comeback in yesterday’s Football Daily. It was missing the previous day, although there were several chances of scoring one, and I felt oddly deprived. Just so you know people read and enjoy your stuff” – James Brook.
“Re: Steve Malone’s correspondence about Jacob Murphy and Duje Caleta-Car (yesterday’s Football Daily letters). Should a Southampton player be shown a red card at an away game in future, perhaps their hosts could show on the big screen a clip of James Ward-Prowse, reacting to Wilfried Zaha being sent off with wilder celebrations than has ever followed any of his goals” – Ed Taylor.
“The letter about the various send-offs that could be instigated for red-carded footballers had me smiling, especially when it came to the typo. The idea of a 21-gun salute from ‘canons’ gave me the imagery of players being pelted with books, perhaps some hefty tomes, perhaps like War and Peace” – Steve Burton.
“Much as I enjoyed it, you missed a trick in your focus on York City (yesterday’s Memory Lane, full email edition). 26 January marked 38 years since the Minstermen (11th in Division Three) beat Arsenal (fifth in Division One) in the fourth round of the FA Cup. Diving heading’s Keith Houchen slotted home a last-minute penalty for a 1-0 win, on a pitch that showed all the signs of having snow shovelled off prior to kick-off. It’s a match that sticks in my mind because Irish state broadcaster RTÉ showed the match live on its Saturday sports offering, the ambitiously named Sports Stadium. We didn’t get a lot of football on telly in the rural west so every minute was gobbled up” – Mike Slattery.
Send your letters to the.boss@theguardian.com. Today’s winner of our prizeless letter o’ the day is … Ed Taylor.
This is an extract from our daily football email … Football Daily. To get the full version, just visit this page and follow the instructions.
