Everton fans grateful to Dyche, but ready for fresh start

(Reuters) - Everton's fans have been largely faithful to Sean Dyche and their club through years of under-achievement, but there will be few tears shed at the sacking of their manager on Thursday after their patience has been stretched to breaking point this season.

Despite being one of the oldest and proudest clubs in the country, Everton have become perennial occupants of the "danger zone" routinely scrabbling around trying to avoid relegation - something they have not had to face for over 70 years.

Dyche's particular talent for organising teams to avoid defeat proved enough to just about keep them up twice, even with the added challenge of a points deduction last season, but most supporters were hoping that some sort of Plan B might eventually emerge.

Unfortunately, they have been left disappointed, not just by the feeble return of three wins from 19 games, but by the stultifyingly dull way their team are playing.

Dyche's approach was epitomised by the last month. Goalless draws against Arsenal and Chelsea then a 1-1 draw at Manchester City in successive games were welcomed as three valuable and unexpected points gained, and Dyche's organisation and tactical discipline were applauded.

But they then lost 2-0 at home to Nottingham Forest and 1-0 at Bournemouth, when they barely managed a shot on goal and, more worryingly, didn't look as if they had the first clue how to manufacture one.

The 4-0 home win over Wolves on Dec. 4 looks an aberration as, either side of it, Everton have, incredibly, scored one goal in nine games and look a squad desperately short of talent.

Striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin has scored twice in 19 games and his understudy Beto has one from 12 and both of them look horribly off the pace with the few chances they do get. Wolves defender Craig Dawson is Everton's joint-third top league scorer this season with two own goals in that December defeat.

It should be funny, but nobody on the blue side of Merseyside is laughing, especially when across Stanley Park Liverpool continue to fly so high.

This was supposed to be the season of consolidation after three successive relegation battles. A solid mid-table position from which to launch the new era from their shiny new stadium next season, further buoyed by being taken over by new owners, the Friedkin Group, in December.

It is still hard to understand how they have got themselves into such a state, after previous owner Farhad Moshiri pumped in more than 700 million pounds on players, with almost all of them proving to be duds of one level or another.

Under David Moyes Everton regularly finished in the top six and after that they still finished seventh, eighth and eighth from 2017-19 and were 10th in 2021.

Since then it has been 16th, 17th and 15th and they are currently sitting in 16th, a point above the relegation zone, with nobody even bothering to label them "too good to go down".

Although the R-word has become the main topic of conversation in recent seasons, it has been an alien concept to generations of fans.

Founder members of the Football League, Everton have spent more years in the top flight than any other club. Their only four seasons outside were 1930-31 and three in the early 1950s.

Only Arsenal (1919) have a longer unbroken run in the top flight and in the mid-1980s the Toffees had a legitimate claim to be one of the very best sides in Europe -- they won the League in 1985 and 87 (their ninth title), the Cup Winners’ Cup in 85 and the FA Cup in 84, also losing in the next two finals -- but were denied their chance to prove it in the European Cup due to the ban on English clubs after the Heysel Stadium disaster.

Since then it has been very thin gruel, with the FA Cup triumph of 1995 their only trophy in almost 40 years.

They are in action in that competition again on Thursday against League One strugglers Peterborough in the first game of the post-Dyche era. However, far from dreaming of a sixth triumph at Wembley in May, the long-suffering Goodison Park fans would probably settle for a meaningful attack or two and even, whisper it, a goal.