Sam Allardyce signs contract to be new Everton manager

According to both the Daily Mail and Sky Sports, Sam Allardyce is in the building, and has put pen to paper on a deal with Everton that will pay him 6 million pounds per year and last a duration of 18 months.

Big Sam’s staff will consist of Sammy Lee, Craig Shakespeare, Martyn Margetson, Ryland Morgans, and Duncan Ferguson. David Unsworth will retain his role as manager of the club’s U23 side.

Information about the appointment of Allardyce has been readily available and widespread throughout English media for days. Everton’s hesitancy and unwillingness to put out any sort of statement other than a brief, vague tweet has spoken volumes.

It’s as if the club knows the last five weeks have been an embarrassment, and are well aware that the backlash from naming Big Sam to the post will be severe.

Let’s be very clear: Allardyce may well get this club turned around in the short term, and yet, it still feels like a hire that will ultimately take the team backwards. Everton’s efforts in this managerial search have been uncoordinated, directionless, and nonsensical.

Perhaps nothing underlines that more than Toffees fans hearing about their team’s massive decisions via the likes of Dominic King at the Mail and Jim White with Sky Sports. Indeed, according to King, Allardyce has already spoken to his new players. And yet still: silence.

More to come.