Sean Dyche says biggest achievement at Everton actually made more trouble

Daily Mirror

15-05-2025

Former Goodison Park manager Sean Dyche suggests he raised expectations to an unrealistic level when he defied points deductions to keep the club in the Premier League
Sean Dyche believes the job he did in guiding Everton through a 's***storm' only accelerated his departure from Goodison Park. As Everton prepare to play their final match at the 133-year-old stadium, Dyche has been reflecting on how he played a part in making sure the club will take Premier League football to its new home.
After a run of one win in 11 Premier League games - and with his team hovering just above the relegation zone - Dyche and Everton parted company at the start of 2025, with David Moyes taking over and immediately conjuring up a change of fortune. But Dyche clearly believes he deserves credit for keeping them in the top flight after joining midway through the 2022-23 season.
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Everton survived on the last day of that campaign and then defied two sets of points deductions in the 2023-24 season. Dyche told the Stick to Football podcast, brought to you by Sky Bet: 'My goal with the group of players and the whole club was to guide it through a s***storm but … the biggest achievement actually made more trouble.
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'With the adjusted points at the end of that season (23-24), we would have finished 10th or 12th. All the fans then pre-suppose … 'if we finish 10th, we should finish eighth next year'. But we don't have any money, we're not having any money.'
But while Dyche feels he did a good job, he did concede that it was in Everton's best interests that he was replaced by Moyes. He explained: 'When I got there, it was in really poor shape and we navigated it through but just felt it dwindling and I didn't want to leave when things kept going down.
'I wanted to leave it where someone had a chance and it was in good shape. I got hammered for saying that but now it has been proven right as Moyes came out and said that it was in good shape.
"The players had just lost that bit of edge that players lose sometimes. Moyes is brilliant. We left it in decent shape, and he's gone in, settled it down, given it new twists and a different feel and some players rise and they win games.'
And as Everton bid farewell to the Grand Old Lady, Dyche re-lived one of his memorable moments at Goodison, saying: 'The Doucoure goal (against Bournemouth on the last day of the 2022-23 season that kept Everton up) …I've never heard a crowd like that ever. The heaven and hell of that has got to mean something because it made sure the club could at least breathe and move forward.'
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But to properly move forward, says Dyche, the new owners, The Friedkin Group, are going to have to invest in more than bricks and mortar. He explained: 'You don't know how that (the move) is going to affect things.
"How do you measure that until you go out and do it? It still comes down to having good players.
"They need more players and an improvement on them. I don't mean that in a disrespectful way but it is obvious after years of hovering in nowhere-land, they are going to need more."
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