It was as bold as it was dangerous, a huge gamble to try and win the hearts and minds of a fanbase who are at war with the owner that wants to appoint him.
We will find out soon enough if Vitor Pereira’s unprecedented step to address head on the criticism of angry and frustrated Everton supporters has worked - at least in the minds of the club’s decision makers.
They want to make the appointment of a new manager before the weekend, to give time to bring new players in before the transfer window closes. If it is the Portuguese coach as owner Farhad Moshiri wants, then that particular question will have been answered.
Bigger ones though, will remain in the air for much longer, with the biggest one of all not resolved until the end of the season.
If it was a gamble by Pereira in almost taking the fans on - by suggesting that as understandable as their fury was, it was totally misdirected at him, rather than the managers and decisions that came before him - then it is a far bigger gamble by Moshiri.
He is not only putting the admittedly high stakes of public opinion on the line, by risking his ever shrinking reputation amongst the Blues support with a potential appointment almost as controversial as that of Rafa Benitez, he is also risking his own hard cold money.
If this one is wrong, if Pereira is eventually appointed at the end of this week and proves to be as disastrous as his predecessor, then there are no more options, no more second chances.
Put bluntly, if he is wrong, then Everton will be relegated.
In anyone’s language, that is a huge risk. And there are many - the more vociferous elements of the Goodison fanbase who were at the ground on Wednesday night protesting amongst them - who would say it is too great a risk.
They would argue that Everton have an 18-game season with only one objective…to stay up. So they need a particular manager for that role. They would also argue that in Duncan Ferguson, they already have that man.
They will not lack for passion under Ferguson. Which is probably why Pereira made such a direct plea to the supporters. Let me do the job without criticism, he effectively said, and I will bring the passion you are so desperate to see.
“I remember Everton at the time of Jagielka, Baines, Coleman, Howard, and I remember Goodison Park as a fortress because of the passion of the supporters - and it is what appeals to me in this club,” he said.
“It is an historical club and the challenge, for me, is to approach again this spirit, get this spirit into the club and the fans to come and get again this kind of state, this fire on the pitch as I saw a few years ago.”
They were certainly words Everton fans will want to hear, even if many will suggest it was scripted.
Moshiri will need to hear another thing this week, as he waits for the dust to settle before announcing a new manager.
Will Pereira be given a chance by the fans, or will he be another dead man walking from the very start, just as Benitez was?
With an internecine war exploding within the club, between supporters and executive, with players who are ever more fearful and confused, it is the only real question now.
Get it wrong again, and the owner will lose millions. Potentially many of the hundreds of millions he has already ploughed into the club.
Because relegation is a disaster so many clubs never survive.
