Ex Everton legends are best option for manager vacancy
By Rob Fisher
Everton officially confirmed tonight that Duncan Ferguson, with the assistance of Leighton Baines, John Ebbrell and Alan Kelly, would take caretaker charge once again for the foreseeable future.
Like when Ferguson had temporary charge of Everton between the Marco Silva and Carlo Ancelotti managerial stints in late 2019, he will get the full support of the fans.
Ferguson did a great job back then with a home win over Chelsea, draws at Manchester United and at home to Arsenal, plus an unlucky penalty shoot-out defeat to Leicester in the Quarter-Finals of the Carabou Cup. Interestingly Baines scored the last goal in that cup tie, his last goal for the club, and now finds himself promoted from helping the under 18’s to assisting Ferguson.
The notion of Ferguson taking on the position permanently was not really a consideration before Ancelotti got the job, however this time you feel he is a better option.
It is unlikely Ferguson will get the job just on his own, but a more likely new ‘Holy Trinity’ management team could involve him more than before. If Wayne Rooney was to move to Goodison Park as the manager then Ferguson could well be more of a proper Assistant Manager. It has been felt before that Ferguson is on the bench just to have an old Everton connection in view.
The trio of Rooney, Ferguson and Baines taking control would negate the need for a Director of Football immediately. The Everton fans would get behind the team, feel connected with the football side of the club at least and it could well be no more business would happen this transfer window anyway. Also Rooney may have a pick of some Derby players if the EFL had no other option but to disband the club, which would be terrible news for football.
Whether this option would be good enough for the owner Farhad Moshiri I’m not sure, his good friends and agents like Kia Joorabchian and Jorge Mendes may want a bigger name in Europe. Bill Kenwright and the Everton board would have no problem with this set up, no doubt Kenwright would bill it as the best theatre production ever!
With the dysfunctional way this board and owner seem to be communicating and drawing up a shortlist I cannot see both a new Director of Football and manager coming in soon.
The only saving grace for Moshiri especially is that after the Aston Villa game on Saturday it is 2 weeks before another game against Brentford in the FA Cup 4th Round.
This may give him time to maybe have an interim set up and have a more permanent solution later in the summer. Roberto Martinez may have been that option, but with the World Cup being in the build up to Christmas this cannot be the solution with the Belgian FA refusing to release Martinez before then.
The trio of Rooney, Ferguson and Baines would certainly add life to a bedraggled and low in confidence Everton squad, get the crowd at fever pitch once again and possibly give some of the younger players they have worked with already more game time than they did under Benitez.
Also they will know who Everton fans don’t want to see too much of after some abject performances this season. Solomon Rondon, Alex Iwobi (when he returns from the African Nations Cup) and Cenk Tosun must be nowhere near the starting eleven, fans would prefer the youth of Jarrad Branthwaite, Lewis Dobbin and Ellis Simms given the opportunity instead.
With Moshiri and the board seemingly picking names out of the hat for the manager shortlist each day this managerial decision could take sometime. If they want the quickest and best solution to turn this season around then I believe this would be it.
It may seem like a chaotic and romantic solution, but after the mis-management of the previous half dozen managerial appointments it may actually be the best idea to get Evertonians enjoying matchdays again.