Everton manager Sean Dyche feels he still has work to do to fully convince doubters he is a ‘good fit’ for the club despite a second successful fight against relegation.
Dyche has just enjoyed his finest week since taking over, three successive wins guaranteeing the club has not paid the ultimate price for the eight point deduction.
“I said I have to earn the right to fit in here and I have to earn the right to be Everton’s manager and I still think I am doing. So I don’t take it for granted, I can assure you,” said Dyche.
“At the end of last season they thought it was a good fit. Then they say it wasn’t a good fit.
“Then we got the points [deduction] and won four on the trot and it was the best fit in the world. Then you’re not a fit and now I am a fit again. But that is life as a manager.
“The highs and lows, the hits and misses, the hero to zero as I call it, that’s just part of the job. Here it’s just more evident, quicker to go up and down and more drastic I think – not that I’m moaning about it in any way.”
Everton would have a chance of a top-10 finish but for the eight-point penalty, underlining the improvement on previous years.
But there remains a philosophical debate as to whether Dyche’s playing style is a reflection of ‘needs must’ given the resources available, or reflective of a coach who will always be associated with fire-fighting at the wrong end of the league table.
With uncertainty surrounding Everton’s takeover – and the prospect of another points deduction ahead of next season still possible – it’s a slim hope that Dyche will have the resources to aim higher than keeping the club in the Premier League next season, too.
“There’s loads to do,” he said.
“Ever since I have been here I have tried to bring the reality – what I call the ‘truth line’ – to every club. There is still a truth to the situation that this club is not where it was financially three or four or five or six years ago when new money came into it. It is quite clearly not there. They had a go going down that road and obviously there was a price to pay. I could pull wool over your eyes and give you smoke and mirrors and say it is going to be glorious and we are going to win everything, but it is still not the situation we are in. It is a building process and it is a very difficult building process for me because I am picking up the bits of others and trying to deal with points deductions and all sorts. That’s the job in hand.”
