Change the tactics, alter the dress code
the club to their record Premier League points tally of 72.
The willingness to lavish praise on individuals should not be frowned upon in isolation, but it has served to over-promote a group of players who have under-performed, although perhaps not to the extent everyone thinks. Proof of that can be measured in the task Martinez bequeaths to his successor.
Everton require a rebuild. Tony Hibbert, Leon Osman, Darron Gibson and Steven Pienaar are all out of contract, Tim Howard is departing and
CHRIS WILDER has returned to Sheffield United as their new manager after the club sacked Nigel Adkins yesterday. The Blades have hired their former defender Wilder, who led Northampton to the League Two title, on a three-year deal having removed Adkins from his post just 11 months into a three-year contract following an 11th-placed finish in League One. Wilder said: “I want Bramall Lane to return to being an intimidating place.”
Aiden McGeady finished the season on loan at Sheffield Wednesday. Stones and Romelu Lukaku also want to leave.
Then there is Oumar Niasse, whose negligible impact since a £13.5million move in January pushed the spotlight onto his manager’s transfer dealings just when Martinez did not need the scrutiny spreading any further.
The club’s new major shareholder, Farhad Moshiri, would have instantly felt compelled to question whether he wanted the Spaniard to spend his money this summer. The answer yesterday was an emphatic ‘no’. Martinez is a good man but, ultimately, his best was not good enough.
In time, he might well consider his dismissal from Goodison Park less of a setback and more of an opportunity. A diversion in his career, but one which will offer him the chance at some point to spread his philosophy within another club.
If that suggests a manager with a sunny disposition, then it also reveals him to be a man too stubborn for his own good.