Everton sack Sam Allardyce

Toffees fans everywhere rejoice! Everton have sacked manager Sam Allardyce after Sunday’s 3-1 defeat at West Ham brought a troubled season to a close.

Allardyce met with Farhad Moshiri early on Wednesday where it was agreed his services would no longer be required.

His pay-off will be the remaining year on the 18-month contract signed in November, when a panicking Moshiri brought in the former England boss to rectify a troubled start to the season.

The news is certain to be greeted with glee by Everton fans, who have made their feelings about Allardyce clear in recent months.

New CEO Professor Denise Barrett-Baxendale said:

“On behalf of the Chairman, Board of Directors and Mr Moshiri, I’d like to thank Sam for the job he has done at Everton over the last seven months. Sam was brought in at a challenging time last season to provide us with some stability and we are grateful to him for doing that.

“However, we have made the decision that, as part of our longer-term plan, we will be appointing a new manager this summer and will be commencing this process immediately. Again, we’d like to place on record our sincere thanks to Sam for his work with us over the last few months and wish him well for the future.”

Most Evertonians were prepared to tolerate Sam in order to steer the club away from danger. You only have to look a replays of the Southampton game to realise what a mess we were in.

However, as soon as it became clear the team would not be in a relegation battle, the supporters quite rightly wanted more.

It was also the perfect opportunity for Allardyce to prove he was more than a rugged relegation firefighter.

But Allardyce failed to take it.

He persisted with dour, defensive tactics while his arrogant and dismissive behaviour in press conferences further alienated him from the supporters.

A parting of the ways looked inevitable, even if the silence from the board over recent weeks got supporters worried.

The talk will now switch to a successor, with Marco Silva and Paulo Fonseca believed to be in contention.

With a new director of football and chief executive set to come in, it’s likely to be the start of a busy and eventful close-season at Goodison Park.