Sam says Everton must start over again
SAM ALLARDYCE has warned Everton may have to start again following the club’s disastrous recruitment drive. Everton have spent £239million on new arrivals since January 2017, but they have had a miserable season. Allardyce compared Everton’s predicament to those of Tottenham, who lost Gareth Bale to Real Madrid in 2013, and Liverpool’s sale of Luis Suarez to Barcelona 12 months later, in that his club have not recovered from Romelu Lukaku’s £90m move to Manchester United. The 63-year-old’s future remains the subject of intense scrutiny and ahead of Newcastle’s visit on Monday, he said: ‘They invested in the squad to make it better and it just didn’t happen. I have to deal with that with the new owners and ask how we make it better? I can look at a similar situation at Liverpool when they sold Suarez and when Tottenham sold Bale. ‘Lots of players came in who didn’t hit the ground running. We have to relook at the situation and start working hard on getting the first team and the fans enjoying their football.’ Newcastle boss Rafa Benitez — an old foe Allardyce’s says Everton were wrong to ask fans to rate their boss as part of a recent survey. ‘I don’t agree with him on a lot of things, but on this one it was a mistake,’ he said.