Dream Manager – Mourinho
There isn’t much effort needed to explain why Mourinho would be the dream choice to replace Roberto Martinez. He has proven himself to be one of the greatest managers in the history of the Premier League. Despite his poor campaign with Chelsea last season, Mourinho still holds the best points-per-game average of any Premier League manager. He averages 2.19 with a win percentage of 66%, putting him above Sir Alex Ferguson (2.16 points per game). In his 4 and a half years managing in England, he won 3 Premier League titles and an FA Cup.
Although, it’s not just the England where Mourinho has proven his worth; he has had success in Portugal, Italy and Spain as well. Across the 3 countries he has won 5 league titles, 3 domestic cups, 2 Champions League trophies and 1 UEFA Cup. Trophies are what Evertonians have been begging for after over 20 years without silverware, and Mourinho has more than an impressive record of being a serial trophy winner. With Moshiri arriving to add some funds, will this be enough to entice “The Special One”?
Mourinho’s sides are always very solid defensively and always well organised, which is exactly what Everton need at the moment. Offensively he likes quick counter-attacking football, which will add fresh excitement to our attacks that our fans have been crying out for. While a lot of the players may need time to adjust to the quicker tempo under Mourinho, a lot of the squad will be used to the change after playing under the direct philosophy of Moyes.
However, on a more negative note, this is almost definitely never going to happen. He has been strongly linked to the Manchester United job, a far more exciting offer, and despite praising the club in the past, we currently do not have the prestige that Mourinho would expect in his next club. He has won the title with his past 4 clubs, and will therefore at least be expecting to manage a Europa League team, never mind one that has finished in the bottom half of the Premier League in the past two seasons.
Nightmare Manager – David Moyes
He was always going to be suggested. After leaving the club for greener grass and then 3 seasons on finding himself unemployed, it was inevitable that the press was going to predict that he will crawl back to us for forgiveness. I can speak for the majority of Evertonians that nothing could be less appealing.
Under Moyes, every season was painfully repetitive. Whenever the pressure was off and we’d have nothing to lose, we’d always look a fantastic side, but when the pressure was on we always lost. Whether it was a crucial league game, an important cup game or a derby, we always found a way to bottle it. Under Moyes, we made it into European football only 4 times in 11 seasons, including our famous Champions League campaign, which lasted one game as we bottled the qualifying round. His derby record was appalling; he only won 4 times in 25 games against Liverpool and lost over half of them. In terms of trophies, one FA Cup final and an FA Cup semi-final (which we coincidentally lost to Liverpool) were the closest Everton ever were to winning any silverware in his reign.
That being said, Moyes would still be a better choice than some names being thrown out there such as Phil Neville and Duncan Ferguson. Regardless of whether it has paid off for some clubs, hiring a manager with zero managerial experience is far too risky at the moment considering we are closer to relegation than top 4. One positive thing that Moyes could bring is the renewed consistency of a mid-table finish and some solid defensive foundations. However, nothing would depress me more than to see Everton slip into the vicious cycle again of zero trophies and mediocrity every season.
Wild Card Manager – Eddie Howe
Another manager that has been strongly rumoured is Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe. At only 38, Howe is an extremely promising young manager. He started his managerial career with a bang; in January 2009 and at 31 years of age, he rescued a Bournemouth side who were initially in the relegation zone of League 2 and 17 points from safety. The following season he achieved promotion with the side into League 1.
He then moved onto Burnley for an 18-month spell but returned to third tier Bournemouth in October 2012. That season Bournemouth were promoted into the Championship and by 2015, he achieved his third promotion with Bournemouth as they reached the top flight for the first time in their history. Due to his success, he was crowned the Football League Manager of the Decade.
His first season in the Premier League has been impressive. He has led Bournemouth securely clear of relegation all campaign whilst still maintaining his style. Like previous manager Martinez, Howe likes to play football on the ground and build from the back. Our squad is already built to this style of play and therefore it wouldn’t take long to adapt to Howe’s philosophy.
The reason why Howe is a gamble is because, ideally, it would be preferred to have a manager with more of a reputation as a defence coach rather than an offensive coach. On the other hand, Eddie Howe is, in fact, an Evertonian so one could argue that he will know exactly what the Everton fans will want; some aggression and some fight. Furthermore, he used to be a defender himself, so one would hope that he could iron out any creases in the defence. With only one year of top-flight management under his belt, is it worth taking any risk? With our current situation, probably not.
Realistic Manager – Frank De Boer
After De Boer left his post at Ajax, the young manager has become the firm favourite to now take over at Goodison. In the 4 seasons before this year as coach of Ajax, he won the league every time, making him the first manager in the history of the Dutch league to win 4 consecutive titles. However, this season, Ajax finished runner-up, losing the title on the final day of the season to PSV. He was also the assistant coach for Holland when they reached the World Cup final in 2010.
Having learnt his trade at both Ajax and Barcelona, De Boer is another coach straight off the Johan Cruyff production line. Therefore, embedded into his philosophy is playing possession football, with the ball at the players’ feet and starting play from the back. I’ve previously stated that this is a tactic very familiar with the current squad.
Yet despite liking fluid attacking football, De Boer himself was a defender in his playing days and so also has a strong focus on defensive organisation; an essential trait of the next Everton manager. This promise of defensive organisation cannot be said for fellow candidates for the Everton job, Roberto Mancini and Manual Pellegrini. Their Manchester City sides have always been average at the back and relied heavily upon their attacking strength to win them games.
At Ajax, Frank De Boer’s assistant manager was Dennis Bergkamp who he could try and lure with him into the Everton dug-out. This will bring some Premier League experience into the coaching staff as well as a fantastic mentor for Romelu Lukaku. On top of this, in 2012 De Boer turned down the opportunity to manage Liverpool; what more could you want in an Everton manager? The bookies seem to believe he will be our next manager and after looking at the other candidates, so do I.
Unrealistic Manager – Ronald Koeman
It’s obvious why Koeman has been linked to the Everton job; his work at Southampton has been superb. He has had to deal with having to replace key stars in the squad and has done so excellently by qualifying them for Europa League football in two consecutive seasons.
Tactically, he has proven to be extremely flexible. This would be a breath of fresh air after the tactically stubborn Roberto Martinez. Koeman has spoken publically about how he prepares for every game differently and evaluates in detail the exact approach the team needs to take in order to win the game.
Despite being strongly linked to a switch to Merseyside, it is unrealistic to expect Ronald Koeman to move to Everton. After the Moshiri takeover, Everton are supposedly going to offer the next manager a large transfer kitty to help persuade them, but that is unlikely to sway Koeman as Southampton aren’t exactly a poor club either.
Over the past two seasons, Everton have finished 4 places behind The Saints in the league table, with Southampton finishing 7th in both seasons and Everton in the bottom half. Southampton finished a comfortable 16 points ahead of Everton in the league and also qualified for the Europa league, therefore, it would be a huge shock to see Koeman move down to a team in the bottom half of the division.
