Oh for the ‘good old’ days when the biggest problem for Everton managers over the festive season was facing flak from the fans for having some red decorations on their Christmas Tree. Back in 2016, Farhad Moshiri’s first Christmas as Everton owner, then Blues boss Ronald Koeman incurred the wrath of some Evertonians because of the hue of some of his baubles matched the colours of local rivals Liverpool.
Like many football managers when coming under fire, the Dutchman looked for someone else to deflect the blame upon and pointed the finger at his wife Bartina! To outsiders it seemed a trivial matter, but it was a detail that demonstrated that Koeman, for all his football knowledge, didn’t fully understand the Everton psyche and never made it his business to learn it.
Moshiri’s first managerial appointment, Koeman represented the kind of box office big name Everton’s owner craved to try and shine among the galaxy of stars (Pep Guardiola, Jurgen Klopp and Jose Mourinho at the time) that inhabited the touchlines of North West England, a region he subsequently dubbed as “The new Hollywood of football.” Although in an interview with Sky Sports this autumn, Koeman conveniently ‘misremembered’ where he finished in what proved to be his only full season in charge at Goodison Park (bumping himself up a place to sixth rather than the seventh spot they really occupied) and even suggested it was “maybe the best record in the last 15 years” (predecessor Roberto Martinez had come fifth in 2014), the lamentable truth is that nobody in charge of Everton has bettered him since.
