Having vaulted to the top of the ‘next manager to be sacked’ rankings of the British bookmakers (anywhere from 7/10 to 11/10, per oddschecker), rumours continue to swirl around Marco Silva’s future at Everton even though club football is on an international break -enforced hiatus.
If anything, there appears to be more of an expectation that should he be sacked then this fortnight is the time for the Everton Board to pull the trigger than not, though at this point it’s looking unlikely it will happen now.
Speaking of rumours, we take a quick spin-around what the tabloid media and the rest are proclaiming about Silva, starting with the Daily Star who seem to think that he has been given three more games to show that he belongs at the helm at Goodison Park.
In their exclusive from late yesterday, the outlet say that the Portuguese manager has been granted the upcoming Premier League games against West Ham United and Brighton & Hove Albion, and a crunch clash against his former side Watford FC in the Carabao Cup Fourth Round on October 29 as the breaking point.
Apparently ‘crunch talks’ were held between majority shareowner Farhad Moshiri and Silva this week, and though Everton are rumoured to not have drawn up a shortlist of replacements for him, he is aware that his position is under threat.
This report seems to be quite opposite from what Sky Sports are going on about, with the major media moguls saying that Silva’s position is still secure at the club. Apparently, per club insider Alan Myers, Moshiri is planning to stay true to his word that Silva was the ‘long-term’ manager of the Blues and that his position is not under scrutiny right now.
This is despite the Blues picking up their fourth Premier League loss in a row last weekend to drop into the bottom three of the table. What makes it all more interesting is that Silva is a Moshiri hire, and Director of Football Marcel Brands was brought in after the Portuguese manager was appointed. Brands would likely want his own manager, but in interviews a couple of months ago indicated that he had excellent communication and a strong working relationship with Silva.
And then there’s this whole Jose Mourinho angle. The spectre of the former Chelsea and Manchester United is hovering over the Premier League, and with Mauricio Pochettino’s position at risk at Tottenham Hotspur and Ole Gunnar Solksjaer’s honeymoon well and truly over at Old Trafford, looks like he could be set for a return to England sooner than later.
The Guardian reported yesterday that Mou had turned down Olympique Lyon’s advances for him to fill the vacant manager role since he’d ‘already chosen another club’ where he’d be going next.
It’s not that cut and dried though, with The Express peddling the opinion that Everton could beat Spurs to the veteran manager. All of this is according to talkSPORT presenter Andy Goldstein, who insists that the Blues will present a more compelling case to ‘The Special One’, especially because he would have a larger transfer kitty to spend at Goodison than in North London.
So, lots of speculation but nothing solid yet, and for now Marco Silva continues as the Everton manager.