UNSWORTH IS SO RELAXED ABOUT LANDING BLUES JOB.. BUT STILL BELIEVES HE IS IN THE RUNNING
DAVID UNSWORTH is refusing to be undermined by Everton’s prolonged search for a permanent manager.
And far from being discouraged by the lack of promises about his own future, the caretaker Toffees boss instead feels he has another great chance of staking a claim to succeed Ronald Koeman today.
The Goodison stalwart takes his team to fellow strugglers Crystal Palace, and many have suggested it has been unfair on Unsworth to ask him to produce a winning mentality, when approaches for Watford chief Marco Silva and Sam Allardyce have been revealed this week.
But the former Everton defender is adamant that the longer the board takes to make a decision on a full-time replacement, simply means he has longer to stake his own claim.
He said: “It doesn’t undermine me at all, I can only control players on the training field and pick a team and go into every game with a game-plan.
“There’s no change in what I will normally do, and even if I was given a 10-year contract it doesn’t matter, because what we have done is what we would do anyway.
“For me, it’s a great opportunity. The opportunity was there from day one really – no promises or guarantees were made, or timescale or number of games was set. So it’s great I get another chance to lead the team and try to create another positive performance and result.”
There have been fears amongst Blues fans that Unsworth will find it hard to motivate his players, when they know there is a good chance of Silva – or another candidate – coming in within days. When it was pointed out to Unsworth that he has been in charge for three weeks, a period which normally guarantees the job permanently, he added: “I have stayed away from the speculation. “I am fully focused on coaching the team. Yeah, they could have given me the job by now, but I am still sat here, and what will be will be. I am totally fine with that.” Chairman Bill Kenwright is a fan of Unsworth, and would love for him to succeed with the message that it is not yet time to panic after a brutal run of tough fixtures. But it is thought that principle owner Farhad Moshiri is far more concerned about results in the short term, and Unsworth admitted the only way he can convince the major shareholder is by winning at Palace.
The pair have had several conversations, and Unsworth said: “We spoke about the next games, previous games, we spoke about players, we haven’t spoken about any potential managers or anything like that.
“You can only convince anybody by your performances and results and the win against Watford in our last game was massive for the club.”
Unsworth has recalled Kevin Mirallas and Morgan Schneiderlin to the squad after both were dropped for the Watford game for disciplinary reasons, but neither is likely to feature at Palace. He also revealed injured duo Yannick Bolasie and Seamus Coleman are back in full training, but will not be considered until the end of December.