Five candidates to replace the sacked Rafa Benitez at Everton

After the embarrassing and shameful 2-1 defeat to Norwich at Carrow Road on Saturday, the Everton hierarchy have acted quickly to dismiss Rafa Benitez. A club official announcement was made to confirm the news on Sunday afternoon.

This not surprising news since the defeat to an Everton team who had lost their last six games without scoring has been spreading like wildfire from early Saturday evening.

An emergency board meeting took place on Saturday evening where unanimously it was decided Benitez’s position was untenable.

After 6 months and a spell that only witnessed 5 wins in 19 league games, plus a League Cup exit away at QPR, Benitez has paid the price.

Most Evertonians didn’t want him here in the first place and when the downturn in form started at the end of October the fanbase was quick to let the owner Farhad Moshiri and the board know exactly what they think.

This is the shortest reign of an Everton manager in the history of the club at 195 days.

Benitez also has the worst win percentage, 31.82%, by far of any Everton manager since David Moyes took charge in 2003 as you can see below:

Now Moshiri and the board must eat humble pie and make another massive decision to appoint Benitez’s successor.

It is likely as it was after Marco Silva left the club in November 2019, that Duncan Ferguson will be asked to take temporary charge of the first team squad for at least the Aston Villa game with possibly Leighton Baines stepping up from his under-18 role to assist.

After the Villa game there is a two week break scheduled at present until the FA Cup 4th Round game versus Brentford on the 5th February so this will give Moshiri more time to seek out the man he needs to turn Everton’s season around and start to plan for next season.

On the following slides we will look at the five of the favourites to succeed Benitez and what they could bring to the Everton manager role.

Rooney ready for Everton dugout?

Wayne Rooney

We all know Everton have had great success in their history with ex-players coming back as the manager. In more recent times Evertonians remember the work Howard Kendall and Joe Royle have done.

Now the boyhood Blue who grew up in Croxteth could be on his way to the Goodison Park dugout. Rooney only left as an Everton player 4 years ago so will know the set up very well.

At present Rooney is doing a sterling job at Derby County where he has managed to get them off the bottom of the Championship table despite the 21 point deduction imposed on them.

There are more issues coming up for Derby with the EFL asking administrators to prove Derby can financially finish the season after takeovers have failed.

They have been given another transfer embargo, which resulted in ex-Everton player Phil Jagielka not being able to sign another short term contract after impressing this season.

If Derby cannot prove this they could well be thrown out of the EFL next month. This would leave Rooney free to join another club.

Aside from the obvious romantic connections what can Rooney bring to Everton?

Well for starters he would have fans on his side unlike Benitez from day one, be able to galvanise a demotivated squad and after performing with limited resources at Derby the young Everton players around the squad would get opportunities too.

The lack of managerial experience at this level would be the obvious weakness, as would expectation and being in a more pressurised situation. However Rooney has worked under Sir Alex Ferguson for a number of years and I’m sure could call on his former mentor for advice.

Also interestingly a documentary about Rooney’s career so far is about to hit Amazon Prime next month, if he’d held this back it could well have had it’s most entertaining part coming up.

No doubt Bill Kenwright will push for more of a Rooney appointment and the theatre this would bring, Farhad Moshiri may have other ideas as the appointments of Carlo Ancelotti and Rafa Benitez have proved since he has take more control of the club.

Would Lampard consider Everton to be his next challenge?

Frank Lampard

Another ex-England international who has had slightly more managerial experience than Wayne Rooney and could be in the frame is Frank Lampard. Like Rooney, Lampard had his first managerial job at Derby County, but then went on to ‘his club’ Chelsea where he did a good job in his first season.

Unfortunately with the demands of Roman Abramovich and Chelsea’s board Lampard was sacked almost half way through his second season and replaced by Thomas Tuchel. This seemed to work as Chelsea won the Champions League later that season. However it also showed how good the groundwork was by Lampard as the squad was pretty much the same.

Lampard had to deal with outside issues also, steering the club to the Champions League places despite a transfer embargo imposed on Chelsea. Most thought he deserved more time, and Chelsea fans were hardly calling for him to go when he did.

Therefore Lampard can bring Premier League experience to the Everton dugout and after working with such talented players at Chelsea he certainly would be up for the challenge the job would bring. Also Lampard has many connections in the game and is well respected amongst the football elite.

Negatives would be can he settle in the North where in his whole career he only had a couple of years as a Manchester City player, would Everton fans take to such a Chelsea legend and after two contrasting roles in his managerial career what would his style be at Everton?

Certainly Farhad Moshiri would prefer a name more known in the football world and someone who has had experience at Premier League level. Although if Lampard did a very good job other clubs across Europe could look to acquire his services which could scupper any long term plans.

Could Potter deliver any magic at Goodison Park?

Graham Potter

Rafa Benitez’s last home game as an Everton manager was a defeat against a manager in the opposite dugout who could well be on the shortlist for the vacancy at Goodison Park.

Graham Potter has done an excellent job is making Brighton a Premier League fixture with a no star name squad and a footballing style that is pleasing on the eye.

In Brighton’s 3-2 win at Goodison Park two weeks ago they took advantage of Everton’s slow starts and lack of midfield numbers to always look like they would take the three points. Therefore Evertonians have had a close up of what style Potter would bring to the table.

Having been brought up in management over in Sweden with Ostersund, gaining two promotions to the top division and winning the Swedish Cup, Potter developed his style and ambitions while not in the public spotlight. Getting the club to the Europa League group stage was seen as one of the best achievements in Swedish club management.

That also caught the eye of Swansea City, who like upcoming young managers who play football stylishly and on the front foot. After a steady first season in South Wales, Brighton approached Potter to take over the job with the club already in the Premier League.

Since taking on the job Potter has managed to keep Brighton in the top flight without the need for any star names. Players such as Lewis Dunk, Yves Bissouma, Leandro Troussard and Neil Maupay have excelled under Potter’s quick short passing style.

Only the lack of killer instincts in front of goal has prevented Brighton getting in the top half, although this season at present this is where they find themselves

Everton fans may look at Potter as a sideways step and whether he could handle the pressure after an outburst at his own fans after a home draw earlier in the season. However with players like Richarlison and Dominic Calvert-Lewin at his disposal the killer instinct would surely be there in front of goal more than at Brighton.

Again whether Farhad Moshiri would see Potter as too much hard work, as a Director of Football would surely have to be in play too, we will have to wait to see. Looking at the list of current Premier League managers Potter would certainly be the pick of these in terms of availability and taking on the challenge.

Would Martinez return be seen as Moshiri admitting his mistake?

Roberto Martinez

This would be the most controversial out of the five possible manager candidates listed here, the return of Martinez would mean Farhad Moshiri owning up to his mistake as being part of the board which sacked him back in May 2016.

Currently Martinez is still in charge of the Belgium national team and questions would be asked why would he leave as we have now entered a World Cup year?

Having said that Martinez did provide Everton fans with one of their most memorable seasons in the Premier League in his first of three seasons in charge, it was also still Everton’s highest points total in Premier League history. Plus he has gained valuable experience with Belgium in his 5 years in charge despite them not winning a trophy with arguably their best group of players ever.

Martinez has made it clear he will leave the Belgium post after the World Cup and was heavily linked with the Spurs manager position in the summer. He is well respected in football across the world and has recruited Thierry Henry twice to work in the Belgium set up.

When he left Everton Martinez did so swiftly and with no bad words so the relationship could be resurrected. Martinez even met with Howard Kendall before his death to gain his thoughts on the club he knew so well which not surprisingly went down very well with Evertonians.

He also is the only manager to win at Old Trafford in the Premier League era since the first time Everton went there in 1992/93.

Martinez’s last season was spent trying to outscore the opposition as goals rained in at the other end. If Romelu Lukaku had not missed the penalty in the FA Cup semi-final against Manachester United then Martinez would have got a reprieve and certainly stayed if he won the cup.

The fact Leighton Baines, a regular scorer of spot kicks, didn’t take the penalty spoke volumes about the dressing room at the time.

Interestingly Wayne Rooney was named man of the match in that semi-final, now they could be up against each other for the vacant Everton manager position.

This appointment would really split the fanbase again, and possibly the boardroom as Bill Kenwright was a big fan if Martinez, but Moshiri ultimately sacked him.

Martinez would interview well so if he is in the frame then it would not surprise if he was given the job, but he would have a big job to satisfy the fans who mocked his over use of the word ‘phenomenal’ during his first tenure.

Nuno was in the frame six months ago, what would change now?

Nuno Espirito Santo

Rafa Benitez’s time at Everton looks comparatively lengthy compared to Nuno’s spell in charge of Spurs earlier this season.

The three months the Portuguese manager spent in charge was very brief and fans never took to his patient defensive system he employed, perhaps he was unlucky that Antonio Conte did not want the job in the Summer but changed his mind once Autumn came around.

Nuno was in the frame in the summer for the Everton job too, according to reports he may well have been offered a final stage interview but by then Benitez had persuaded Farhad Moshiri he was the man. Also Nuno’s insistence of a big backroom staff may have influenced Moshiri to not go through with the final stage.

Certainly Nuno done a great job with Wolves, producing a well drilled and organised outfit that got up into the Premier League and then got into Europe.

However it did seem a little one dimensional and when Raul Jimenez had his very unfortunate injury it seemed Wolves wanted to freshen things up.

The fact Wolves look exactly the same now as they did under Nuno seems to suggest something more happened than just football differences.

After Benitez though it would hard to see Everton appointing another defensive manager and the negativity the fans would bring to the news. Also Evertonians would question why Spurs thought Nuno wasn’t good enough for them too. If Nuno was given the job in the summer it would have attracted less criticism than now.

Having said all that Nuno is available and would probably jump at the chance to come to Goodison Park so if other managers don’t come to fruition then don’t write Everton approaching him.

However if Everton approached the other candidates listed here I would expect them to be in front of Nuno, but if they revisit the summer managerial candidates then he would have to be on the shortlist again.

Whatever happens from now the Everton managerial vacancy will dominate the club, but let’s not forget the board and Moshiri have failed numerous times already to find a solution to make this great club successful again.