Sean Dyche today launched a passionate defence of his Everton tenure and suggested the club is in a better place than when he arrived.
The Toffees are on a four-game winless run in which they have scored just once and went down 2-0 at home to Nottingham Forest on Sunday.
Dyche has received criticism from fans for a dour playing style but the 53-year-old pointed out he has had to deal with several off-field issues since being appointed two years ago.
One of those was a long period of uncertainty while Farhad Moshiri attempted to sell the club. The Friedkin Group completed their buy-out just before Christmas, prompting speculation Dyche could be dismissed.
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Dyche talks himself up
However, the former Burnley boss believes his achievements at Goodison Park ought to be highlighted.
Speaking ahead of Saturday’s trip to Bournemouth, he said: “I think there has been development from a lot of players here. My job here has been endless but nobody really cares – they are just bothered about ‘go and win a game mate.’ I’ve said that all the time. We’ve saved hundreds of millions of pounds, wages, skinning the squad down, all the rest of it – it’s not relevant – it’s ‘just go win a game.’
“I know the work we’ve done here. I know the work we’ve done financially. I know the work we’ve done with players – players here are worth 10 times more than they were when we got here, so there’s development. The only development fans and media and everyone cares about, including myself to some degree, is win games.
“Some managers get the luxury of going, ‘your job is to just concentrate on the team and that’s it because everything else is in place’. It clearly hasn’t been here and it’s still not. There is miles to go, there is endless work to go here.
“It depends how you measure it. If you measure it on just winning games, we need to do better, I need to do better. If you’re measuring it on the whole job, I’m pretty happy.”
January is a tough month to do business
Dyche played down the notion that the arrival of new owners automatically means Everton will be active in the January transfer window.
“I’ve been doing this a long time and notoriously January is a very tough month because you never know,” he added.
“I’m not saying no but it is very tough. Forgetting about numbers, usually if big deals are done then they have often paid a lot of money for those big deals to happen.”
Striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin has been linked with a move to Atalanta but Dyche says the Serie A leaders have not been in touch.
“No there has been no contact from anyone,” he said. “There is bound to be rumours, that is the nature of it.
“I think we’d think about that if it happened but as there has been no contact then there is no discussion needed.”
Quartet still absent
Everton head to Bournemouth in 16th place in the Premier League, two points ahead of Ipswich, who occupy the final relegation spot.
They will still be without Tim Iroegbunam, James Garner, Dwight McNeil and Seamus Coleman at the Vitality Stadium.
▶️ Fitness updates from Sean Dyche ahead of this weekend’s trip to Bournemouth. pic.twitter.com/8zUchLXuGh
— Everton (@Everton) January 2, 2025
“Tim Iroegbunam and James Garner are back on the grass, with the sports science side though, not ready for us yet,” said Dyche. “There is still a bit of time to go for them but they are making progress.
“I doubt Dwight McNeil will be ready at the weekend, it is settling but getting him to that final moment where he can join in again is proving a bit trickier than we thought.
“Seamus is not ready. Nothing too serious, but he is not ready for this one.”
