One final match for Sam Allardyce at Everton? Maybe, maybe not. There has been a presumption that he will not be at the helm next season, because of growing unrest amongst Everton fans. Allardyce insisted on and got an 18 month contract when Everton turned to him in some desperation in the autumn. But signals from the club seem to indicate that at least some of the hierarchy favour Allardyce staying. Good grief, don't they watch the games?
One person does seem to be leaving however, depending which reports you believe. This weekend's Premier League finale could also mark Wayne Rooney's second departure. The season has turned out better than I feared but not as well as I hoped. He scored a penalty at Anfield in the derby (I had foreseen a red card, see The Homecoming Price, 12 July 2017) and the goal of the season, from his own half, at home against West Ham in the game that set Everton on the road to Premier League safety, before Allardyce officially took over. As ever, his effort and commitment could not be faulted, but there were also a lot of misplaced passes and a lack of mobility whether deployed as striker, no 10 or in midfield. But, once a blue always a blue, he did come back and, as Martin Samuel put it, he didn't make out he was doing Everton a favour as some other superstars would have.
But other reports say the Rooney is waiting to see who is Everton manager next season before deciding on going to the States.
It seems that it was Allardyce who told Rooney he could go. That certainly sounds like Big Sam is part of the planning for next season. And, according to Sam, he has been involved in detailed discussions with Everton's majority shareholder, Farhad Moshiri, about next season. "If I wasn’t going to be here why would we be discussing next season at great length?" Allardyce is reported to have said.
And why shouldn't he be there - hasn't he done enough to have earned the right to see out his contract and potentially (God forbid) earn an extension? Everton supporters like me have been described as ungrateful, unreasonable and unrealistic when Allardyce has, after all, achieved the prime objective of keeping the club above the relegation quagmire. And with something to spare, sitting in eighth place with one game to go.
Daniel Lewis, writing in the Guardian*, comprehensively squashed this argument. "Everton, on other hand, went into the weekend 19th out of the 20 clubs in the Premier League when it comes to the number of shots they have managed on Allardyce’s watch, 19th in terms of efforts on target, 19th in chances created and 19th for attempted dribbles. Again, Allardyce can point out that the only statistics that should matter are the points that have taken the team into the top half of the table. Plainly, however, it does matter to many Everton followers. The supporters want more. Is that so unreasonable?"
Well, no, it's not. I accept that, for people who think football was invented with the birth of the Premier League in 1992, Everton have been an also-ran club, at best "best of the rest" after those contending for Champions League places; fifth several times in Moyes's days and seventh more recently now that Manchester City and Spurs have found the resources to contend along with Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool and the steadily fading Arsenal. But that is not Everton's history. Those of us who have been watching since the 60s remember championship winning teams (1963, 1970, 1985, 1987), F A Cups (1966, 1984, 1995) and a European trophy (1985).
But more than that, we have been brought up over decades on teams that play with fire and passion, speed, commitment and, while not tiki-taka, no little skill. I was at the Everton home game against Newcastle on 23 April. Yes they won (1-0) but it was a doze-fest, totally boring. Everton had one shot on target: Walcott's winner. We kept having to get up to let people get out from the 80th minute and, when 5 minutes of stoppage time was announced, the clacking of seats tipping up was deafening. By the end the ground was half empty. Allardyce noted after that there had been a lot of misplaced passes but "I don't pass the ball". No, but you pick the team and set the tactics and tone, Sam. The players were poor: Yanick Bolassie played the most brainless game I've seen from anyone in a blue shirt (oh and I've seen quite a few contenders for that award!) But the obsession with "keeping shape" (which used to be called "playing to your position" when I was a lad) means that no-one makes any runs, the forwards are isolated and it's all very easy for the opposition to contain.
For the most recent match, at home to Southampton, the BT commentator asked his summariser (not sure who it was) "where do you stand on Sam Allardyce?" The response was that he had done well and Everton fans should be grateful. By half time the entertainment was so palpably dire that Jake Humphreys was saying to viewers "well done for sticking with it". By the end Glen Hoddle was agreeing that the football had been dire.
Yes, Sam Allardyce has got a reasonable points haul - the team would be sixth if the season had started with his appointment. But many of the wins have been streaky, in games that could easily have been lost. Everton have rarely looked the superior team in matches this season. In my opinion, the points total Allardyce has achieved flatters him and the team.
Others are more generous to Sam. I can only assume they haven't actually watched any of the games. The Sunday Times Chief Sports writer, David Walsh (the man who exposed Lance Armstrong) said "Allardyce is a better manager than he has ever been given credit for. What he achieved at Bolton was astonishing"**. It was indeed and, at that time, Allardyce was near the front in conditioning, diet and use of technology and data. But that was more than a decade ago. After he left his beloved Bolton because the club didn't have enough ambition to attempt to push on from finishing in fifth - yes, fifth - place, Walsh says Allardyce "was like the man who has broken up with the love of his life and goes on a tour of one-night stands. Newcastle, Blackburn, West Ham, Sunderland, Crystal Palace and Everton were variations of a familiar story; the right club at the wrong time". Besides rather cruelly pointing out that Walsh omitted the ultimate Allardyce one night (well, one match) stand - England - I think Walsh is unusually off the mark there. To go to a couple of clubs which underperform like David Moyes and describe it as "right club, wrong time" could be forgiven, expecially as Moyes has now done ok at West Ham. But to describe six clubs as "right club, wrong time" stretches credulity. Especially when at three of them at least - Newcastle, West Ham and now Everton - the fans have been baying for mercy before long.
Lewis reminded us that Allardyce explained in his autobiography how he took media lessons from Alastair Campbell. Well that explains a lot about Allardyce's press conferences. A recent example was when, after the Newcastle game, Allardyce was asked about the poor quality football on offer. "We've got 14 points from the last 7 games" said Sam, using the classic politician's tactic of answering a different question.
For what it's worth I would look for a different manager. I wouldn't sack Sam until I'd got one I wanted lined up. I'd only talk to candidates and their agents on the basis that any leaks would mean the candidate was removed from the shortlist. And then I'd make the change. This needs to be done quickly in view of summer transfer activity - and, I imagine, season ticket sales. It looks like, as I suggested on 10 February, that Everton will change the Director of Football first.
When I was younger if the matches weren't up to scratch the crowd used to chant "we want football!". Indeed. Time to move on.
*https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2018/apr/29/sam-allardyce-everton
**Sunday Times 22 April 2018
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