Rumours of Rooney return to Everton gather pace

As Everton undergo a huge test at Chelsea tonight, the rumour mill is turning with the latest stories claiming the club have been linked with Wayne Rooney as a possible new manager.

The pressure is building on Everton manager Rafa Benitez as results continue to decline and the season begins to unravel.

Many fans of course never wanted the ex-Liverpool boss to take charge, but others like myself, were prepared to give him a chance particularly when it became clear that there was basically no one else in line for the job.

I had doubts about the appointment not really around his Liverpool past, but rather his tactics and approach to the game. I was always more concerned that like Jose Mourinho his time was ten or fifteen years ago.

Well, recent events have seemed to confirm this fear and the Blues’ are currently in a run of terrible results that puts them bottom of the Premier League form table.

Tonight the Toffees’ face a very strong and confident Chelsea side at Stamford Bridge who are streets ahead of Everton and where the away team haven’t won for more than twenty-five years.

It’s hard to see the Blues’ not losing this match by perhaps four or five goals, maybe more. That sort of score doesn’t seem unrealistic at all, although as I write it’s still 0-0 amazingly!

A defeat on that sort of scale followed be a loss to Leicester at the weekend, must surely force the hand of the owner even if he’s desperate not to have to pull the trigger.

If that were to happen then what would the club do and who would potentially take over?

That’s were these rumours of Rooney’s return has come into play. The former Everton and Manchester United forward has been in charge of Derby County since November last year becoming full-time boss at the beginning of this year.

He’s had a tough time at the Baseball Ground and has had to cope with administration and a massive points deduction.

Interestingly that still happens for financial problems but not apparently for an attempted break-away from the Premier League we saw last season with the ‘Super League’!

I wrote speculatively when he became the Rams boss that I thought Rooney might one day return to Goodison Park as manager although I didn’t expect it could happen this soon!

In truth, it seems unlikely that the former Toffees’ youth team product would return to Everton even of Benitez does get the sack at some point soon.