At the time of writing, David Moyes still seems the most likely candidate to replace Marco Silva at Everton and the wisdom of that decision was described - in blunt and unflattering terms - here last week.
A broader concern is being portrayed by the range of candidates apparently under consideration, though. Not all press reports are to be believed, of course, but in this instance the diversity of those options and the stylistic variation between them certainly makes a statement. Mikel Arteta is apparently in the running. Vitor Perreira, Rafa Benitez, Niko Kovac and Marcello Gallardo too. And Unai Emery. And, now that Napoli have sacked Carlo Ancelotti, they'd like to talk to him as well.
Where is the rhyme or reason in that list? What, if anything, connects all of those head coaches?
It’s a pertinent question, because Everton’s identity as a side seems perilously vague. Marcel Brands was brought to the club to provide some clarity on that issue, to be the overarching continuity which created such permanence, but as yet – as that group of names suggests – that hasn’t really happened.
The idea was simple enough. The premise behind having a director of football – or any of its equivalents – is to prevent a club from moving back and forth between opposing philosophies and incurring all the costs and wastage associated with an oscillating strategy. Head-coaches still come and go with the same regularity, but those appointments are made with a specific criterion in mind. It prevents players from being made obsolete by dramatic ideological changes or squads becoming a hodgepodge of abilities through contradictory transfer policy. a
But what is that criteria at Everton?
It’s the middle of the season and that has an effect on availability; there just aren’t many desirable head-coaches out of work. The club also finds itself in a mess and, because of its last few years, unable to recruit from the very top of the game.
So that excuses the randomness to an extent, but not entirely. While Silva’s sacking has only just been confirmed, it had been a possibility for nearly a year. That means that although his succession is only a pressing issue now, it has surely been an agenda item for much longer. What that should imply is the existence of a contingency. This process should be no more complicated than sending someone to open the big safe in Marcel Brands office and then retrieving and unrolling the plans made last January.
They would still need to be updated, clearly, but it would contain basic directions as to the way forward.
And yet there’s no sense of order. Silva was sacked and Everton were plunged into a vacuum. They’ve been fortunate that Duncan Ferguson has delivered a quick, settling win, removing some of the urgency from the process, but that was little more than good luck. Yes, changing head-coach always creates uncertainty, but there are ways for clubs to limit their exposure – and yet, clearly, Everton haven’t proceeded with that kind of caution
That failure to plan describes a more general issue with the club. What are they? Or, at least, what do they aspire to be? Talk of specific league positions and European participation is too general. What is it that Everton want to stand for on the pitch? Do they want to be rugged and tough to beat, or exhilarating and easy on the eye? Do they want to play out from the back and into midfield, or to just send willing forwards scurrying after long balls for 90 minutes?
The honest answer – and one still being reflected by relatively orderless transfer policy – is that they themselves don’t seem to know. They want to be better, but they’re not committed to any particular pathway towards that improvement.
If they were, replacing Silva would be far easier. They would at least seem to know what they were looking for and where to find it.
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