Everton appoint Sam Allardyce as manager

Hours after majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri broke all communication protocol by telling TalkSport’s Jim White who the next Everton manager will be, the club have now officially confirmed the appointment of Sam Allardyce on a one and a half year contract.

He will be joined at Goodison by former Liverpool coach Sammy Lee and Leicester boss Craig Shakespeare, with goalkeeping coach Martyn Margetson and fitness coach Ryland Morgan also joining Allardyce’s backroom team.

Allardyce will have a watching brief for this evening’s game against West Ham at Goodison Park, with David Unsworth taking charge for the final time. His first game in full charge will be Saturday’s game against Huddersfield.

The move caps a chaotic and often farcical five weeks for Everton, which has seen performances on the pitch nosedive and the hunt for a new manager off it continually hit a brick wall.

Evertonians hoped for a name like Thomas Tuchel or Carlo Ancelotti but instead they have a man known for direct football and saving clubs from relegation.

Watford’s Marco Silva was the club’s first choice, but the Hornets refused to let Everton speak to their Portuguese coach. The latest pursuit of Shaktar’s Paulo Fonseca proved just as fruitless as the Toffees on-field performance continued to take a nose dive.

That left Everton with little choice but to go back to Allardyce, who had pulled out of the race two weeks ago as he felt he wasn’t wanted.

The club’s owner Farhad Moshiri offered strong backing for the new Toffees manager:

“I really want to give him the support he needs. He can go as far as he wants.”

Speaking specifically to the OBVIOUS lack of leadership within the team, Moshiri believes Allardyce can solve that too:

“We need a strong leader. He gives us that.”

Both of Moshiri’s quotes are via his liaison in the press, Jim White.

Much, much more to come.