Everton

[Exiled_red]

Surprised Big Dunc doesn't walk if he's such a staunch blue... like the rest of the voxpops on the street the other day, the fume is unreal amongst bluenoses.

He'd have to do a massive u-turn and come out in defence of Rafa being appointed, plus support him when they lose games and the fans start turning on him. Weird for Big Dunc to put himself in that position... if he had any sense he'd have walked when he wasn't offered the job after Carlo went. Could tarnish his legacy big time.

Rafa at Anfield in front of a home crowd again would be hilarious...

At best he's a Rafa apologist who is out of touch with their fans, and this is the guy who is supposed to be Mr Everton who represents what the club stand for and their biggest idol of the last 30 years

[Shaggy]

****ing disgrace

[ame]https://twitter.com/EvertonNewsFeed/status/1409418635681095682[/ame]

[frank the tank]

wow.......imagine being such a scumbag that you would do something like that.

I hope he doesn't sign, goes to Spurs and does well for them (but not too well) and then Everton end up with Big Dunc in the hot seat and he gets them ****in relegated.

[Tribute]

****ing disgrace

https://twitter.com/EvertonNewsFeed/...18635681095682

Pretty ****ing low that... rivalries aside, that's bringing his family into it and that's well out of order.

[Kenneth]

What a mess. Best case, Rafa gets another few million as a payout by next summer.

[Buzzo]

Does he really need the job that badly to put his family through all of this?

As soon as they go on bad run it is going to be unbearable for him. It doesn’t take many to make life pretty uncomfortable for him and this is the reaction before he has even signed.

Don’t do it Rafa.

[Tribute]

Does he really need the job that badly to put his family through all of this?

As soon as they go on bad run it is going to be unbearable for him. It doesn’t take many to make life pretty uncomfortable for him and this is the reaction before he has even signed.

Don’t do it Rafa.

...not cheap living on the Wirral though

[Buzzo]

...not cheap living on the Wirral though

Covering for a one bed flat in the city as well will be even more expensive when Montse sends him packing for putting her life at risk.

[Shaggy]

Why Rafael Benítez decided impossible job at Everton was right for him

Benítez is a workaholic but what is in it for him this time? Paul Joyce looks into the Spaniard’s imminent Merseyside return

Paul Joyce
Sunday June 27 2021, 6.00pm, The Times

The temptation is to think that Rafa Benítez needs another miracle.

With the Spaniard’s appointment as Everton manager imminent, the task confronting him feels particularly onerous: quell unrest among a divided and angry fanbase, earn their respect, if not their affection, bring stability to a club on to its sixth coach in five years, deliver European football and do so with a squad that requires significant tweaks.

That night in Istanbul when Benítez orchestrated Liverpool’s revival from a 3-0 half-time deficit against AC Milan to win the Champions League on penalties suddenly does not feel so complicated in comparison.

Benítez’s ascension to power at Goodison Park firstly reveals how Farhad Moshiri, the owner, and his business associate Alisher Usmanov, are driving the strategy in the hope that the club will finally be propelled into the upper echelons of the Premier League.

The two billionaires are not oblivious to the fans’ reaction but have simply chosen to ignore the outpouring in the belief they are hiring a good coach, with a strong tactical understanding and someone who can improve players.

They are tired of “losing”, according to sources, although the hire ’em, fire ’em policy and haphazard manner in which previous managerial appointments have been conducted means Everton have been their own worst enemy in terms of on-field progress since Moshiri came on board in February 2016.

Carlo Ancelotti admittedly left them in the lurch when quitting on June 1, but the refusal of first choice David Moyes to be swayed from West Ham United, remembering the handful of occasions he had previously been offered the chance to return only for the line to go cold, felt like karma.

At this point, it is pertinent to ask: What is in this for Benítez? He does not need a payday, his contract is heavily incentivised, and does not need the abuse that has already been pinned to the blue railings at Goodison.

Football consumes the 61-year-old. He needs to work, he needs to be on the training ground and, in some respects, that already sounds more promising than some of his predecessors who swept out of Finch Farm and headed home as soon as lunch had been served.

Benítez will be first in, last out and while that does not guarantee that he will succeed, it shows he does not want to fail. He will not want to go to Anfield, or the Etihad, and be embarrassed because regardless of what others think he still views himself in the same elite bracket as Jürgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola.

Everton’s opening fixtures have been deemed as helpful — Southampton (h), Leeds United (a), Brighton & Hove Albion (a), Burnley (h), Aston Villa (a) and Norwich City (h) — but only if they bring positive results. Otherwise, they are precisely the type of games that will further fuel a rise in toxicity because the perception will be they are all eminently winnable.

Another concern for Benítez is that he is taking over a squad who now have a ready made shield for their own inadequacies. It is the man in the dugout who is going to get the bird, not the players unable to live up to their billing.

There are many fans who are opposed to Benítez primarily because of his comment in 2007 when he described Everton as a “small club,” [he later admitted this was a mistake saying he was referencing the defensive approach of David Moyes’ team rather than Everton as a club] and his ties with Liverpool in transforming them into European champions 16 years ago.

That that he spent six years across Stanley Park should, in isolation, not be an issue and betrays a shortsightedness.

If Klopp became available and Everton targeted him, then that would surely cause less consternation. The same goes for Brendan Rodgers.

Others are prepared to look beyond that and ask whether Benítez can drive the club forward amid criticism that his achievements are in the distant past.

Benítez won the Coppa Italia with Napoli in 2013-14, the season after winning the Europa League with Chelsea having spent seven months there in an interim capacity.

His most recent Premier League job was with Newcastle United, who finished five points behind Everton after their return to the top flight in 2017-18, winning one game fewer, scoring five fewer goals but conceding 11 fewer.

The following campaign, 2018-19, Newcastle finished nine points behind Everton, recording three fewer wins, scoring 12 fewer goals and conceding two more. But over the course of those seasons there were wins over Manchester City, Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea and a draw with Liverpool.

Over the same period, Everton tasted victory over United, Arsenal and Chelsea and drew twice with Liverpool.

His is not the record of a busted flush. The job he did with Newcastle was a good one, just as Steve Bruce has done well, and the style of football was probably unappealing on occasions but no worse than some of Everton’s performances under Ancelotti.

Recruitment remains a problem — in recent years Everton spent more on Alex Iwobi than Liverpool did on Sadio Mané — and what role director of football, Marcel Brands, who had little say in Benítez’s hiring, has to play will soon become clear.

Division on the inside is even more unpalatable than rancour on the streets. Otherwise, this really is the impossible job.

[wiw]

Fair play if he's actually going to take the job Rafa doesn't give a **** does he.

He needs to work, he needs to be on the training ground and, in some respects, that already sounds more promising than some of his predecessors who swept out of Finch Farm and headed home as soon as lunch had been served.

Wonder who this was eh

[Tribute]

Fair play if he's actually going to take the job Rafa doesn't give a **** does he.



Wonder who this was eh

...my money's on Fat Sam.
He would deffo have been off to the chippy for lunch instead

[Buzzo]

...my money's on Fat Sam.
He would deffo have been off to the chippy for lunch instead

[RedReet]

Not a laughing matter, but the 'we know where you live' banner was left outside the wrong house.

[Exiled_red]

Not a laughing matter, but the 'we know where you live' banner was left outside the wrong house.

[rudedog]

Not a laughing matter, but the 'we know where you live' banner was left outside the wrong house.

That's about as Everton as you can get