Rooney rejects final chance of securing Everton job

With Everton closing in on making a decision today about who will become the club’s new manager it is reported Wayne Rooney has turned down a final opportunity to get the job.

The remaining candidates appear to be; Vitor Pereira (supposedly still in the running), Frank  Lampard and caretaker coach Duncan Ferguson. All are it seems being interviewed again today as Everton try to conclude this latest chaotic managerial search.

According to reports in the Daily Mirror the Toffees were keen on interviewing Rooney as well but he has walked away, apparently because he doesn’t want to be involved in a ‘beauty contest’.

if true – and that’s a big if – this is a rather bizarre response. Although a managerial job in football is very different from more traditional ones, in many ways of course, it’s still just like ‘normal’ jobs. You have to compete with others for the role (usually anyway) and being interviewed is obviously a key part of that.

Anyway, whatever the truth of this story it seems that Rooney is effectively out of the running now.

This is slightly disappointing, as while there are no guarantees Rooney would have been right, I felt at the very least he should have been strongly considered given his strengths and background.

It could also indicate he either doesn’t feel ready or doesn’t actually want to be Everton manager and is waiting for a better option. Maybe, he’s thinking if he keeps performing minor miracles at Derby perhaps Manchester United will come calling in the summer?

So, we’re left with this eclectic group of candidates.

One is a coach with no experience of English football who is only in the running because of his connections to a former agent influencing the owner, and who conducted a strange pitch for the job on national TV.

Another, is a former outstanding player who while he has his supporters and a high profile in the game, had a brief and ultimately failed stint at the club he won so much with and who doesn’t seem an obvious fit to me.

And finally the ever-present Duncan Ferguson, ex-Toffees number nine and fan idol who is again holding the fort, for now.

It’s not a group that shouts out as an obvious short-list or one which has an individual who immediately jumps out of the pack.

There are plenty of other names who perhaps could and should have been included. Especially if you haven’t seemingly have any obvious criteria for making this selection and once more Everton don’t appear to have a clear strategy or a specific managerial profile in mind.

All the individuals on the list have a very different profile. There seems little rhyme or reason behind the men they have settled on just the usual scattergun approach we’ve seen time after time at this club.

Lampard and Rooney at least tick some of the same boxes. Both were outstanding, arguably world-class footballers, they have a high-profile name in the game, are young and hungry to succeed and have managerial experience in England, with Chelsea in Lampard’s case and both with Derby too.

I suggested if the Blues didn’t know where to turn or couldn’t find the right man now and they didn’t want to give Ferguson a chance, then consider getting someone like Sam Allardyce in for the rest of the season again.

He would very likely prevent relegation and give the club the chance to sort out it’s structure, identify what type of manager is right and who they want long-term.

Watford have done that, bringing in a manager for the short-term in Roy Hodgson with bags of experience at the wrong end of the Premier League as they try to prevent relegation.

And, it is teams like Watford that Everton are now competing with as they face a long, hard slog to avoid the drop this season.

Well, it seems likely we will know by the end of the day who is the latest individual to pick up the now seemingly poisoned chalice of Everton manager and try to turn this fast-sinking ship around.

What do you think, which of these man would you choose to be Everton manager?