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Nevin: But who will do a better job?
FORMER Everton winger Pat Nevin has warned his old club that they must act quickly if they are to sack Rafael Benitez in order to give any successor a chance to make an impact.
Following a 4-1 midweek thrashing from Merseyside rivals Liverpool at Goodison Park, the Toffees are now without a win in eight games – seven of which have ended in defeat.
That disastrous run of form prompted Everton owner
Farhad Moshiri to publicly back Benitez, who has struggled to win over a fanbase that remembers his exploits across Stanley
Park all too well. And, if that pressure from supporters tells, Nevin
(right) believes it is best that the board are decisive.
Deserves
He told us: “I think he deserves more time but, if he doesn’t get more time, I understand why they’ve been panicked into it because between now and Christmas if it doesn’t go much better, everybody else is capable of going on a good run and dragging you into it.
“Against Liverpool, they looked a long way off and there are definitely massive concerns. Every Everton supporter at the moment is not looking up the table, they’re looking backwards and that tells you the story of where they are. But if they’re going to change it, do it fairly soon, because whoever’s coming in is going to have to get his feet under the table and know what he needs by January.
“If you don’t make the decision soon, you might as well stick by him.”
In his memoir, ‘The Accidental Footballer’, Nevin recounts the story of Colin Harvey’s mid-season sacking by Everton in 1990 – a decision he and his team-mates felt was made in haste.
And the Scot has warned the current board that a change of manager is by no means a guarantee of improved
fortunes.
He added: “If you do make a change, you better know you’re getting somebody in who’s definitely going to be better, who’s a top-level coach, who’s going to be able to attract and know who to bring in in January.
“You better know that, because if you don’t and you take another leap in the dark, it’s another nightmare that’s going to cost you even more.
“I’ve been a chief executive before and I’ve been in charge of hiring and firing and my thoughts were that half a season is not enough to turn around something like that.
“You take a massive chance when you start with someone new. Who are the top managers at the moment that are available and can bring in the players that he can work with and get the best out of the ones that are there?
“There are no absolute certainties out there.”
Nevin also shared his belief that most managers would struggle to get much more out of a lopsided Everton squad that is unlikely to receive the overhaul it needs during what could be a tricky January window.
“I don’t think there’s much argument that Everton haven’t spent a huge sum of money over the past number of years under the new ownership and it’s not been great, it’s not been balanced.
Balance
“There was a period of time where they had five No.10s and you think, hang on a minute, you need a bit of balance.
It was obvious last season they don’t have a good enough depth of squad. In the Premier League at the moment, if you haven’t got that and you get serious injuries then you suffer.
“Rafa will be thinking of getting all those ducks in a row for January, but even if he does and knows who he wants to get, even that’s not a certainty because others are in the market.
“It’s potentially an incredible January window because the teams that are in the market are teams not unlike Everton, and unfortunately they’re at the wrong end of the table.”
The Accidental Footballer is published by Monoray.