Just as when Marco Silva was sacked in December 2019, many Everton fans are calling for Duncan Ferguson to be drafted in to try and provide a shot in the arm to the beleaguered Blues but could the Tartan talisman really hold the fort for half a season?
With his first-pumping, jacket-removing, ball boy-hugging animated touchline antics, Ferguson was just what the doctor ordered to provide a quick pick-me-up after a 5-2 thrashing against Liverpool at Anfield had left Everton in the relegation zone and the introverted Portuguese coach with his P45.
It worked a treat for the 3-1 home victory over Chelsea and the feel-good factor continued long enough to secure a credible 1-1 draw at Manchester United but by the time Ferguson’s Blues were being knocked out of the Carabao Cup on penalties by Leicester City and then playing out a turgid goalless stalemate with Freddie Ljungberg’s Arsenal as new bosses Carlo Ancelotti and Mikel Arteta watched on from the Goodison Park stands, the magic was starting to wear off.
In sharp contrast to former Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez who was sacked on Sunday after the woeful 2-1 defeat to bottom club Norwich City who had lost their last six Premier League games, Ferguson is of course Everton through and through and would surely relish the opportunity to land the top job at the club where he’s been idolised ever since first arriving on loan from Rangers back in 1994.
He’s always been a performer who would rise to the occasion for the big matches – we saw that from his own playing career – but could a rookie manager who has reached 50 without a senior post in the game (that’s just a year shy of Howard Kendall’s age when he returned for his THIRD spell as Blues boss) really be trusted with the reins for 19 Premier League matches with 16 th place Everton’s top flight status so delicately poised?
Curiously, a report from the Athletic now claims that Everton have offered the job to former boss Roberto Martinez but their preference would be for the Catalan - currently in charge of the Belgium national team - to return to the club on an interim basis.
They say if a move happens, and is understood the Belgian FA would prefer he rejects the approach, Martinez would like his assistant Thierry Henry to join him at Goodison Park.
Caretaker managers can sometimes make a positive short-term impact but while Martinez has been through it all before with the Blues it seems doubtful that Farhad Moshiri would really be comfortable with having a temporary tactician (aren’t they all though?) who’s also green in the position from mid-January until May.
We all remember what it was like to have a supply teacher from our own school days, some of the pupils would start to mess about and take liberties they’d never dare to had a permanent member of staff been in place.
It would be unfair to say Everton’s current first team squad are like a bunch of naughty children and even wider of the mark to suggest that Ferguson, the ‘have-a-go hero’ scourge of burglars on landings is any kind of pushover but his FA Cup-winning team-mate David Unsworth is no softie either and he endured disciplinary issues on the training ground with the infamous incident involving Morgan Schneiderlin and Kevin Mirallas.
Unsworth’s eight-game spell as caretaker boss in 2017 between the tenures of Ronald Koeman and Sam Allardyce was the longest in Everton history but brought just two wins and five defeats.
While caretakers seldom arrive in comfortable situations given that they’re filling in after the last man was sacked, temporary Blues bosses do not have great records, especially the longer they’re left in charge.
First up was Tom Eggleston in 1973 after Harry Catterick was moved ‘upstairs.’
He presided over six games, winning one, drawing two and losing three.
Steve Burtenshaw came in after Billy Bingham’s sacking in January 1977 and was winless throughout his four matches, drawing two and losing two.
Jimmy Gabriel won his solitary fixture between the dismissal of Colin Harvey and re-appointment of Kendall in 1990 but when the Scot was handed the reins again after Kendall quit three years’ later, he secured just a single point from his seven games in charge, starting a slide down the table that prompted Everton to require ‘The Great Escape’ against Wimbledon on the final day of the 1993/94 season.
After Joe Royle’s exit in March 1997, Dave Watson took charge for the remainder of the campaign but over seven games he won just one, drew three and lost three.
Alongside Royle, Unsworth enjoyed a 3-0 home win against an already-relegated Norwich City in the final fixture of the 2015/16 season but as mentioned earlier, found the going tougher over a more prolonged period less than 18 months later.
To give Ferguson his due, he’s much more than an intimidating cheerleader on the sidelines having worked hard to establish himself as a serious coach and the development of Dominic Calvert-Lewin is testament to his ability to improve players.
However, if Everton chiefs are eager to go for one of their club’s own after the Benitez debacle, they’d arguably be better served going for Wayne Rooney, a global icon who has already shown he’s not afraid of getting his hands dirty in the managerial profession by earning his opportunity for the top job by serving a tough apprenticeship at Derby County rather than hoping an interim boss could keep things ticking over for the summer.
The situation is far too dire for such half-hearted measures.
