Two managerial departures took place on Wednesday in the Premier League as David Moyes wasn’t handed a new deal at West Ham and Sam Allardyce was shown the door at Everton.
Fans of both clubs will be feeling slightly optimistic but there’s no hiding behind the fact that both West Ham and Everton have become anything but models of stability of recent years.
Moyes was only on a short-term deal at the Hammers after arriving in November and guiding them to safety after an intense relegation scrap. West Ham beat Everton 3-1 on the final day of the season to finish in 13th place on 42 points. But with plenty of unrest behind-the-scenes amid fan protests against the owners which sparked pitch invasions during the season, there are a lot of issues for West Ham’s hierarchy to sort out. Moyes’ reputation has been rebuilt somewhat after his debacle at Manchester United and Sunderland, so he may well be happy to move on.
West Ham’s joint-chairman David Sullivan explained the decision for West Ham and Moyes going their separate ways.
“When David and his team arrived, it was the wish of both parties that the focus be only on the six months until the end of the season, at which point a decision would be made with regards to the future,” Sullivan said. “We feel that it is right to move in a different direction. We aim to appoint a high-calibre figure who we feel will lead the club into an exciting future for our loyal supporters within the next 10 days.”
Allardyce arrived at Everton in November and still had 12 months to run on his contract with the Toffees, with Big Sam dragging Everton out of a relegation battle (Ronald Koeman was sacked in October) and into eighth place in the table but a late charge for a Europa League spot faltered.
Despite that huge upturn in results, plus the likes of Theo Walcott and Cenk Tosun arriving in January, Everton’s fans didn’t enjoy the direct style of play Allarydce preferred and often booed the manager and his tactical decisions. He was adamant until last week that he would be in charge next season but Everton’s owner Farhad Moshiri has listened to the fans as the Toffees are searching for a third manager in the space of eight months.
Everton chief executive Denise Barrett-Baxendale had the following to say on Big Sam’s departure.
“Sam was brought in at a challenging time last season to provide us with some stability and we are grateful to him for doing that,” Barrett-Baxendale said. “However, we have made the decision that, as part of our longer-term plan, we will be appointing a new manager this summer and will be commencing this process immediately.”
What is next for West Ham and Everton?
It has been reported that West Ham are in talks with Shakhtar Donetsk manager Paulo Fonesca, while Everton are said to be interested in bringing Marco Silva to Goodison.
The latter left Watford in January after he was initially linked with taking charge of Everton before Big Sam did, but the Hornets blocked the move and then Silva’s side slumped drastically as he was fired.
The Premier League managerial merry-go-round keeps spinning…
