Vitor Pereira seems like he’s fast becoming the current era’s Juan Roman Riquelme at Everton but Blues better hope that like the elusive Argentinian, he never actually makes it to Goodison Park.
Back when David Moyes was Everton manager, one of the hallmarks of transfer deadline day (before people started turning up outside Finch Farm with ‘bedroom utensils’ to plunge in Sky reporters’ ears) was the perennial rumour that Riquelme had been spotted somewhere in the vicinity of the Blues home ground.
There were whispers that he’d been seen at John Lennon Airport while at one point you’d wouldn’t have been surprised to hear that he’d gone for a meal at the Hot Wok or even popped into the Winslow for a pint.
Everton themselves hardly poured cold water on the speculation when they once inadvertently stuck a test article on their website ‘announcing’ Riquelme’s signing.
Alas, the mercurial playmaker never did get to pull on the royal blue jersey, much to the dismay of his many Evertonian admirers.
In contrast to Riquelme though, there seems to be no popular clamour for Pereira to take the managerial reins at Goodison but like the proverbial bad penny he seems to keep turning back up whenever Everton – lamentably frequently in recent times – have a managerial vacancy.
While a claim from Pereira’s Portuguese homeland that he’d already reached an agreement to take charge is believed to be wide of the mark, his name being in the hat is no idle gossip as the ECHO understands he is one of three potential candidates currently under consideration.
One national newspaper tried to put a positive spin on Pereira’s credentials, describing him as a “serial winner” and likening him to Arsene Wenger as a “visionary” coach who revolutionised Arsenal after his left field appointment.
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That’s one way of looking at it. The other is that here is a journeyman from the game’s backwaters who seems entirely unsuited to being plunged into the turmoil that is Everton’s current predicament.
If you look at the six trophies Pereira has won in Europe as a coach, they comprise of two titles and two super cups (the equivalent of the Community Shield) with Porto in Portugal and a League and Cup in Greece with Olympiakos.
Given that he was operating with one of the powerhouse clubs in divisions that are not much more competitive than the Scottish Premiership in terms of who takes home the honours, it seems difficult to equate how such success is applicable to Everton in the Premier League where the so many big rivals.
After all, Pereira’s compatriot Marco Silva secured silverware in both of those countries but he was still axed by the Blues after dragging them into the relegation zone.
Indeed, the 53-year-old’s only experience in one of Europe’s big five football nations was a short stint in charge of German outfit 1860 Munich back in 2017.
In parallels that a frighteningly similar to Everton, 1860 were the senior club in one of their country’s biggest provincial cities, founder members of the league and an early champion but were eventually eclipsed by their neighbours, Bayern, who went on to dominate on both the domestic and European stage.
Pereira, a mid-season appointment in January, was only in charge of 1860 for 20 games but managed to get them relegated out of 2. Bundesliga.
Like the Blues’ last manager Rafa Benitez, he’s also a coach who has recent experience of the Chinese gravy train and between his spells at Porto and Olympiakos, had a spell in Saudi Arabia.
Many were perturbed to see agent Kia Joorabchian in the directors’ box at Goodison on Saturday.
Over the weekend, Phil McNulty compared Everton’s current plight to that of Queens Park Rangers, who squandered a fortune under the ambitious but misguided Tony Fernandes – a fiasco that Joorabchian tries to distance himself from – but the BBC chief football writer added on Monday morning: “It would not be an Everton managerial search without Vitor Pereira raising his head given who owner Farhad Moshiri listens to.
“Out of work, chequered career, no Premier League experience, huge risk – so only a fool would rule him out.”
Such a seemingly arbitrary approach to managerial recruitment was also highlighted last week in David Squires’ weekly football cartoon in the Guardian.
Here, Mr Moshiri was shown coming up with a series of names for his sixth managerial appointment in as many years.
The ridiculous list included some utterly preposterous suggestions clearly only included for comedy value but there were also others who have already been seriously linked by certain outlets.
It’s to be hoped that we can tell the difference between which ones are which but the blurred lines between reality and gallows humour that make the recent apocalypse film Don’t Look Up too close to the bone to truly ‘enjoy’ also apply here.
Quite understandably there is a lot of anger and frustration among Everton’s long-suffering and browbeaten fanbase right now.
The stay-behind protests after Saturday’s game with Aston Villa were bigger and longer than the ones that took place after the Bournemouth match in 2016 when manager Roberto Martinez’s position was also being questioned.
Just where that ire should be directed though is less clear though.
As some have pointed out, explain how a concept such as “sack the board” works in practice though.
Are Everton’s power brokers really going to choose to remove themselves like turkeys voting for Christmas?
Ultimately Mr Moshiri – who wrote an open letter to fans the day before after increasing his shareholding in the club further – wasn’t at Goodison Park on Saturday and wasn’t directly in the supporters’ firing line either but he’s the man who has the final say on all the big calls.
Instead, it was chairman Bill Kenwright who faced their barbs both inside and outside (in person) the stadium and was confronted.
Perhaps Mr Moshiri escapes criticism because he’s the benefactor who has put his money where his mouth is in terms of his ambitious funding of both the squad and Everton’s long-coveted new stadium that is now physically taking shape at Bramley-Moore Dock?
Or maybe it’s the old corporate restructuring pattern of (deputy) heads will roll?
Surrounded by police officers, Mr Kenwright certainly must have found his street conversation with furious fans far less comfortable than the pep talk he delivered for Duncan Ferguson and his staff at Finch Farm earlier in the week when previously popping up from London to Merseyside and emphasising the need to put smiles back on Evertonians’ faces.
Ferguson’s second coming in the Goodison dugout fell flat though.
Mr Moshiri once called England's North West region the new Hollywood of football but sequels are seldom as good as the original (I know about The Godfather Part II and The Empire Strikes Back are possible exceptions but there’s enough squabbling right now so let’s take it as a general rule of thumb).
It certainly proved to be the case here.
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The usually bullish Ferguson himself admitted he was emotionally “on the floor” after Everton failed to stop the rot with a 10 th defeat in their last 13 Premier League matches.
A repeat of the barnstorming display against Chelsea from December 2019 never materialised and after falling behind to yet another set piece – a header from Emiliano Buendia with the diminutive Argentinian being the latest Blues opponent to end a personal barren streak when playing them – the hosts were reduced to a largely primitive and undated long-ball approach to desperately try and get back into the game.
Ferguson admitted in his pre-match press conference that even at 50 (the same age as Walter Smith at the time of his Everton appointment and one less than Howard Kendall third time around) he is still too inexperienced himself to be considered for the role on a permanent basis.
However, even those who doubted his long-term credentials hoped he could have at least given an ailing side a timely shot in the arm with a temporary rush of Adrenalin.
Instead, the Blues’ latest setback was a sobering wake-up call for everyone who cares for the club, especially those who had what now seems flippantly, declared: “Give it to Big Dunc for the rest of the season.”
Make no bones about it. Another 18 displays like that and Everton will be dropping out of the top flight for the first time since 1951.
In truth, the club are now in a precarious position where none of the candidates mentioned are without risk.
Last summer, some, including this correspondent, would have gone for a hungry young coach with fresh ideas like Graham Potter rather than Benitez but unlike Tottenham Hotspur, who swapped Nuno Espirito Santo for Antonio Conte after failing to land the Italian earlier in the year, the Blues don’t seem primed to be able to make a mid-season upgrade.
Wayne Rooney perhaps offers the greatest potential but is admittedly untested at the highest level, it’s difficult to assess just how good or bad Frank Lampard is as a manager given what he’s done already while Pereira – again – looks like an ill-fitting wildcard, especially in such difficult circumstances.
It seems ludicrous that this Everton, who on paper should be competing in the top half of the table, find themselves in such a position but it’s true that the league table never lies.
When I spoke to Neville Southall last week he told me he was at pains to say the players should be doing better despite the number of internationals in the team because he’d been part of a Blues side that struggled so badly under Mike Walker but would go on to win the club’s last trophy to date the following year.
The problem right now though is that everyone keeps expecting a revival but it’s still yet to come.
As Jim Keoghan, author of Highs, Lows and Bakayokos: Everton in the 1990s , told his Twitter followers on Saturday night: “Wait until the tough run ends”,
“Wait until we get DCL back”,
“Wait until we have our best 11”,
“Wait until Benitez has gone”.
“Maybe Everton are just s****?”
They shouldn’t be but nobody can now underestimate the size of the job facing whoever has to prove otherwise.
