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In a major shocker from the world of football, Everton sacked manager Sean Dyche hours before their FA Cup third round tie against Peterborough, which they won 2-0 at the Goodison Park. Just three hours before the highly anticipated match, Everton sent out a press release to confirm the departure of Sean Dyche with “immediate effect,” while announcing that U-18 head coach Leighton Baines and club captain Seamus Coleman will take interim charge of the first-team.
The new owners of Everton, Friedkin Group, had made a promise to showcase their commitment to the Merseyside club with their actions and not words, which happened in its truest sense when they put a stop to Sean Dyche’s managerial tenure just hours before the game. With so much uncertainty going into the FA Cup tie, it wouldn’t have been a surprise to see Everton break-up into pieces on the field, but luckily wasn’t the case for the faithfuls.
Everton reached fourth round of FA Cup under caretaker manager Leighton Baines
Beto opened the scoring for Everton in the first half with a strike in the 42nd minute before a late goal in the second half from Iliman Ndiaye sealed the deal for them against Peterborough 2-0. Earlier, apart from Sean Dyche, his backroom staff members, namely Ian Woan, Steve Stone, Mark Howard, and Billy Mercer had also left Everton, which is expected to change the club for the better in times to come.
In the post-match interview, Leighton Baines, who is a caretaker manager of Everton, spoke about how the last few hours went by at the club. He was quoted as saying, as per BBC Sport, “It has definitely been a difficult day. A manager losing his job isn't good and it normally follows a difficult period. Within all of that, there has to be hope and optimism.”
Things are changing at the football club with the ownership and new stadium. The manager has had to leave and that is not what anyone wants. There will be a new manager coming in and that brings opportunity. The football club is in a situation where it needs some stability and that was the message from the owners when they came in. Everyone would gladly accept that at the moment,” he further said.
