Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
BLUES SPLIT OVER BOSS
EVERTON are split over the direction the club should go in following the sacking of Ronald Koeman.
Sunday Mirror Sport can reveal that chairman Bill Kenwright would like David Unsworth to be given an extended run in charge.
But major shareholder Farhad Moshiri, who holds the purse strings
AMBITIOUS David Unsworth has told Everton they will not be taking a gamble by making him their new boss.
The former England defender, who was part of the Blues team that won the club’s last trophy 22 years ago, has stepped up from managing the Under-23s to take temporary charge following Ronald Koeman’s sacking.
But he wants the job on a permanent basis — and insists his knowledge of the club compensates for his lack of big-time experience.
Unsworth said: “I don’t think it would be a gamble at all. I am a realist, not a dreamer. There are no guarantees for anybody. But I know the club inside out. I know the fans inside out and the demands of what is needed.”
And Unsworth, 44, will want to conjure up the kind of spirit that Joe Royle fostered when Everton lifted the FA Cup in 1995.
With John Ebbrell and Duncan Ferguson also alongside their former team-mate, there will be no shortage of Everton experience.
And Unsworth is also ready to lean on boyhood Blue Wayne Rooney for his expertise as he tries to instil the kind of Everton values that were beyond Koeman.
Unsworth said: “You have to scrap for every Premier League point. But I know what our fans demand and we will give them that.”