(Photo by Matt McNulty/Getty Images)
On Saturday, Liverpool sacked Arne Slot.
A year on from the Dutchman leading Liverpool to the Premier League title, becoming only the fifth manager to win the competition in his first season in charge, he was out of the door.
Liverpool finished fifth in 2025-26, losing 12 league matches. They spent huge money on players that have (so far) failed to deliver, and the fanbase had grown uneasy with Slot’s style of play, which is more controlled, measured and pedestrian, when the Premier League is all about pace and ferocity, not to mention Jurgen Klopp’s ‘heavy metal football’, which was such a success at Anfield.
All that being said, it still seemed as though Liverpool’s owners would be sticking to their guns on Slot. He was going to be backed again; stalwarts like Mohamed Salah and Andy Robertson were leaving, and it would be up to Slot to oversee the rebuild.
Only, an opportunity presented itself; one that Liverpool seemingly felt just too good to turn down.
Andoni Iraola is a free agent. That has, of course, been known for sometime, but perhaps Liverpool had expected him to be snapped up by now.
However, at the time of Slot’s departure, the only club that had made any significant headway towards appointing the Spaniard was Bayer Leverkusen. Crystal Palace had gone in big, but it always felt like Iraola was holding out for a bigger fish in the Premier League, and he reportedly snubbed AC Milan.
Sometimes, the stars align and one must decide whether to change course, or to stick with the original plan. Liverpool, it seems, have decided to twist.
Don’t worry, this is not a Liverpool feature, but it does feel as though there is a growing sense of frustration within the Everton fanbase that TFG — and the people they have appointed to run the club on a day-to-day basis — aren’t showing the same appetite for change; the same willingness to gamble.
Some Liverpool fans will argue they were only going one way under Slot. Others might point to the fact that 12 months ago, he was the best thing since sliced bread (as our neighbours are, of course, prone to hyperbole).
But the club made a decision. Whether it was part of their plan or not (it seems not, given Xabi Alonso was there as a free agent for so long, yet Liverpool decided to stick with Slot until after the season had ended), they have made their move and a manager that many Evertonians feel would have been a realistic, but bullish, appointment, could now end up in charge of our rivals.
The frustration among the Everton fanbase in the wake of Slot’s sacking has seemed to focus mainly on “ambition”, or a lack of, from the club.
Everton finished the season with a whimper and David Moyes’s decisions backfired. There is a case to be made that an elite club simply would not tolerate that, especially with the likes of Iraola, or Oliver Glasner — fresh from leading Crystal Palace to their third trophy in the space of a year — available. But they won’t be available for long.
The counter-argument is the one Angus Kinnear has already put forward: that Everton value stability. The issue is, when does stability become stagnation?
A bit of perspective: Had Everton taken four more points from their final seven matches, they would have qualified for the Europa League, and none of this talk about Moyes would be happening.
That being said, it doesn’t mean the talk shouldn’t be happening. Questions should be asked, and I stressed last week that Everton need to act with urgency.
While there have been some tentative transfer links to a variety of uninspiring — albeit, probably realistic — targets, the main crux of the issue is that Everton, or namely, TFG, seem content with the radio silence.
Kinnear may well believe he has said what needed to be said. That he has made it clear Everton are not changing course, and that Moyes is the man heading into next season.
That probably is the case, but then it raises questions over the long-term future, given Moyes only has 12 months left to run on his deal.
In the meantime, the vacuum is being filled by Evertonians who want to see decisive action from their club, or at the very least, some open and more frank communication. Admit what went wrong and what they are going to do to try and fix it.
Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, one of the season’s success stories, said Everton were “miles off it” as he reflected on the woeful end to the campaign in a social media post last week. For that honesty, he received respect and appreciation.
Liverpool’s gamble with Iraola, who seems almost certain to take over at Anfield, may well backfire. It’s worth noting that as frustrating as Everton’s winless run at the end of the season was, Iraola has gone on several longer, worse such runs during his time at Bournemouth.
He has, however, proved he is a highly adaptable manager with a direct, attacking approach that, on paper at least, probably suits a club with elite players and high standards.
And as much as we all hate to see it, Liverpool have shown once again that they do not tolerate it when their high standards aren’t met.
Sometimes, it would be nice for Everton to show that, too.
Read more - The Rumour Mill — Close Season Week 2
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Posted 02/06/2026 at 08:37:10
A club with no ambition to compete doesn't care who the manager is.
Hope I'm wrong but keeping Moyes after that horrible style of play last season suggests the owners are happy to protect their interests by mid-table finishes.
I have no expectation whatsoever they will spend the full amount allowed on transfers.
Posted 02/06/2026 at 08:50:44
I think, at the very least, whoever is looking at Everton's interest here in Liverpool should have a good look at this manager's career and then make the decision to keep him for the next 12 months or to let him go, and let the owners know this.
I think even the most moderate and liberal fans would give the nod for him to leave now... although there would be a few with the opposite point of view.
Posted 02/06/2026 at 09:04:49
"Stability"..Makes me yawn.
The fights with relegation at least got the heart pumping compared with the second half of last season. To attack quickly can result in losing by more than one goal but surely practice makes perfect.
Seems we just practice passing side to side or back to Pickford to roll it to a defender, then receive it back before lumping it upfield. I know we had key injuries like Grealish but we just retired into our shells and hoped to 'nick one" or celebrate a draw.
New owners, new stadium... but a manager with a very old and tired style of selection and play.
New stadium syndrome, safe pair hands etc but how long for? I fear for quite a while yet but 🙏 I am proved wrong by TFG!
Posted 02/06/2026 at 09:11:20
I write not in the heat of a bad result, but in the cold clarity of sustained observation — and what I see at Everton Football Club is a slow, institutional surrender to mediocrity.
Under David Moyes, the ambition at Bramley-Moore Dock has been quietly dismantled and replaced with something far less noble: the annual ritual of survival. Avoiding relegation has become the benchmark. Not silverware. Not European football. Not even a top-half finish. Just survival — dressed up in press conference language as though it were a strategic vision.
Moyes delivers his post-match verdicts with the unearned
authority of a man who mistakes longevity for greatness, confusing his own durability with the club's progress. There is an arrogance in that posture — a refusal to be questioned, a disdain for ambition itself — that has come to define the culture at the top.
And then there is Angus Kinnear.
The CEO brings to Everton a particular brand of corporate detachment — the kind cultivated in boardrooms far removed from terraces, pubs, and the lived experience of genuine supporters. His communications read less like messages to a fanbase and more like internal memos at a mid-tier consultancy.
The language is polished but hollow: brand equity, stakeholder engagement, strategic realignment. It is the vocabulary of a man who views football people — the very lifeblood of the institution he stewards — as a demographic to be managed rather than a community to be served. Fans with decades of devotion to Everton find themselves talked at, not with. The condescension, though never explicit, is unmistakable.
What is most troubling is the combination of the two: a manager who has made peace with mediocrity, and a CEO who has made a career of packaging it attractively. Together, they represent a club that no longer dares to dream on behalf of its supporters.
Everton supporters deserve far better than a club that measures success by the absence of failure.
Posted 02/06/2026 at 09:14:01
Even if Everton were on pole position, I'd have little faith we wouldn't get trumped at the last minute for Iraola.
His stock is high, and he will be going into a club with a far better squad, far bigger wage bill and far bigger finances.
The disappointment from some on here fails to grasp that he won't make a decision until all options have been explored for him. He is a professional -- not a fan, so he will do what works for him.
This wasn't a missed opportunity; it was never an opportunity in the beginning. And that goes for Palace as well.
If you wanted an opportunity, then Everton needed to throw a ridiculous amount of money at him, sack Moyes, give him a huge improved wage bill and transfer budget. An outlay of £250M plus across everything.
I just don't see that happening. This is a slow fixer-upper of a club. The casino approach under Moshiri has been tried, and there won't be a rush to going back to it.
Posted 02/06/2026 at 09:20:04
I am one of the 'fanbase', you do not speak for me.
We are not an Elite club and haven't been for decades.
Posted 02/06/2026 at 09:20:55
Something must have happened between Friday and Saturday for the dramatic change of heart by the other lot to sack Slot. Alonso had been available for a while and most Reds wanted him to replace Slot but they didnt and let it be known that Slot would be given more time and only last week allowed him to bring in an assistant manager, so why do that if you are going to sack him. Also Iriola told people weeks ago he was leaving so if he was their desired choice why werent they in negotiations then to hire him.
I have to say I really like his approach and would have loved him here, but he hasn't had the experience of managing a big club and we all saw what happened to Franks at Spurs and Alonso at Real Madrid. Dont forget Iriola went a couple of months without winning a game at Bournemouth that wont be acceptable by the other lot.
I was saying to a mate only yesterday why arent we producing good young English coaches. St Georges Park was set up decades ago to do just that so why has it failed so spectacularly. There is Eddie Howe and hardly anybody else. Yet you look at the leagues in Spain and Italy and Germany and most clubs are managed by managers from their own Country. Even our national side looks more to continental coaches who have had very few english managers over the last 20 years.
Posted 02/06/2026 at 09:21:45
Liverpool are ruthless. Take no prisoners. We're not. I say this through 74-year-old gritted teeth!
Posted 02/06/2026 at 09:39:02
Darrel Pugh.
You need to be posting more often on these pages.
Excellent post
Posted 02/06/2026 at 10:00:31
I don't know why people think Iraola would even consider Everton. If we had made it to Europe, maybe… of which I still blame players more than Moyes.
Moyes is not the one who missed chance after chance and made mistake after mistake which led to most goals scored against us.
Dewsbury-Hall and Ndiaye are great players but they missed a ton of chances in the last 6 games that would have put us in Europe.
Rohl and Alcaraz run around a lot but their end product is crap and our forwards a waste of time. And there lies the problem: whoever they get to take over knows the amount of money it will take to turn this squad into a Top 5 contender is going to be considerable.
Its probably too much for the owners to even consider, and there's the other problem: how much could Everton spend without braking any rules?
The only two managers I think could change things would be Glasner or Iraola but I cant see either of them even thinking about Everton, so to me, its better to stick with Moyes for another season.
Hopefully we can land a decant striker and right-back and would say we should have another year of stability and free from relegation. Then who knows… maybe we will be seen as a club fighting for Europe and not relegation.
Posted 02/06/2026 at 10:02:39
Good posts on here especially Darrell.
TFG appear to be focussed on creating a financial success with the stadium at the forefront. We supporters want to see entertaining football with excitement and the step up to the supporters ambitions for the club will be expensive and not without risk. Its far easier to detach themselves from the fan base and not answer to anyone rather than engage with loyal customers and give them something to get excited about.
I think they will sell one of our better players- Ndiaye if he has a good World Cup- and allow Moyes to use the proceeds. We might all be pleasantly surprised as its not clever to reveal your transfer plans or budget for others to see but we need something to grasp to give hope for improvement.
Posted 02/06/2026 at 10:17:25
The new stadium is like our Ferrari but in Moyesy we've put a battered old Austin Allegro engine in to run it.
Posted 02/06/2026 at 10:27:54
TFGs other toy, Roma, are now in the Champions League, they will spend most of their time, money and effort on them.
Moyes will stay; mid-table mediocrity will be good enough.
Posted 02/06/2026 at 10:48:39
Paul, sad but true
Posted 02/06/2026 at 11:11:30
People are saying we need a massive transfer budget, I don't agree.
We have good players, it's how they're coached and set up to play that's the problem. Yes we need 4 possible 5 new faces for key positions but we can offset that by unloading average players on big money.
It's absolutely heartbreaking what we are enduring atm, some are saying the Friedkin's just want to make money from the stadium, but you cannot run a stadium without income and by far the biggest income are the fans who turn up regularly.
Alienate them and attendances will drop and reduce the income. I honestly cannot fathom why they can't see through this charlatan of a manager.
Posted 02/06/2026 at 11:12:56
Every club that has had a revolving managerial door policy has been an unmitigated disaster — Spurs, Chelsea, Man U etc... I'd prefer stability over instability any day.
Posted 02/06/2026 at 11:22:54
Scott. That's fine. But don't expect entertaining football or trophies anytime soon.
Posted 02/06/2026 at 11:29:44
That Roma have achieved CL qualification is a good thing, a pathway Everton can follow. Theyve owned Roma for about 6 years, I think, and been at Everton for all of 18 months. Do the math.
Posted 02/06/2026 at 11:31:02
We pretty much need a new starting defence, and I think Moyes is the man to build that over a season or two.
Posted 02/06/2026 at 11:33:58
Jimmy, I just don't have the faith that's the intended plan.
I think they're here to cream off the PL cash to fund the Roma project.
Posted 02/06/2026 at 11:46:54
Andrew (20) jurys out. If we saw £150m spent on the squad this summer, it might be fair to say European football is their target. I think thats a better metric.
Posted 02/06/2026 at 11:55:13
Jimmy, it depends how many players that £150m is stretched across.
6 at £25m each doesn't get you much these days.
Posted 02/06/2026 at 11:58:37
I'll be surprised if the get rid of Moyes, what scares owners most is relegation.
While a fresh face as manager would be good, we have tried as many as I have had hot dinners to no avail before.
As Brian mentioned before our players have escaped much of the criticism for the flop in results in our last games. Our priority is better players, problem is top players prices have gone through the roof.
Moyes picked the same teams that had got us some good previous results, so who's to blame.
The owners will probably see that with a couple of better extra players and more luck with injuries we would have qualified for Europe no problem.
It's been an opportunity missed this season no doubt and I don't think you can pin the blame entirely on Moyes.
I, like many others would like to see a fresh manager but I don't see it happening.
Posted 02/06/2026 at 12:05:10
If the owners and the CEO turn a blind eye to our performance under Moyes in our last seven games this season, considering he refused to change formation and shape, and his total lack of use of the younger players on the bench, and waiting until the final 10/15 minutes to change things, instead of trying to win a European place, we ended up just ahead of Leeds, that's shows what a stubborn and conservative manager Moyes is, and when asked could he understand the frustration of our brilliant fans, he replied NO. Is that an ambitious manager?.
Posted 02/06/2026 at 12:07:36
If Roma is the benchmark to measure TFGs footballing success level since they took over in August 2020, then it's worth looking at where Roma finished over the last ten years.
2025–26: 3rd
2024–25: 6th
2023–24: 6th
2022–23: 6th
2021–22: 6th
2020–21: 7th
2019–20: 5th
2018–19: 6th
2017–18: 3rd
2016–17: 2nd
So it's taken them 6 years to return to the club where they had finished just two years after taking over.
Now if we compare that to the last ten years of Aston Villa, whose owners took over in July 2018:
2025/26: 4th
2024/25: 4th
2023/24: 4th
2022/23: 7th
2021/22: 14th
2020/21: 11th
2019/20: 17th
2018/19: 5th (Promoted via Championship play-offs)
2017/18: 4th (Championship)
2016/17: 13th (Championship)
The improvement, while taking a number of years too, has been much more significant.
Emery became manager in November 2022, suggesting a change to a successful, quality manager DOES make a difference.
Posted 02/06/2026 at 12:08:15
UNDER DAVID MOYES THE AMBITION AT BMD, HAS BEEN QUIETLY DISMANTLED AND REPLACED WITH SOMETHING FAR LESS NOBLE.
If anyone spoke for me, then this more than anything is definitely the line I would use Darrel, mate👍
We are not an elite club anymore but when I look back over the years, I think the moment when I truly realised this was when David Moyes, was clapped out of Goodison, being treated by the fans like he had performed miracles.
For the people who genuinely believed this, then the acceptance of Bill Kenwright, was even harder to understand, and now we have just moved into a stadium fit for kings - playing centre backs out of position and watching Dour Davies, overworked small squad, playing football the negative way.
Posted 02/06/2026 at 12:13:47
During the latter years at the Old Lady it was once said that we are now EITC, a charity with a football club.
I'm wondering if TFG see us as a multi venue asset with a football club?
As a club we earned just under £132m last season for finishing 13th, for this season it's around £150m. An extra £18m for standing still, TFG don't need much ambition to achieve a financial windfall.
Posted 02/06/2026 at 12:16:02
Why does anyone seriously think this summer will be any different to last, or the preview or the previous?
We are Everton and are happy with status quo and the comfort zone of stability and safety.
We are slow with transfers, slow with ambitions, slow off the pitch, other clubs are marketing new kits, we'll wait all summer then no doubt fuck it up.
TFG disappoint me.
They acted sensibly when they appointed Moyes after replacing Dyche, it was what we needed at that time.
But since, I have serious reservations about what they are going to do with Everton Football Club and certainly haven't seen nor heard much of ambition.
Posted 02/06/2026 at 12:20:29
I fully expect them to spend just enough to keep us ticking over Jim.
No way will there be any exciting marquee signings.
Posted 02/06/2026 at 12:33:23
Andrew @ 20, I think the Roma fans are feeling the same about us!
Romas net spend is -122.43 million euros in the last 5 years. They have relied heavy on free transfers and loans to manage FFP restrictions, with very low net spend figures. Construction on their new stadium wont start until 2027.
The Premier League is the cash cow of European football, and that is particularly true of a club wth a brand new 52,000 stadium and all the commercial opportunities that opens up. Everton have the opportunty to become a very wealthy club, but this summers transfer spend will tell us a lot about the extent of TFGs ambition.
The real question is how much they will allow Moyes to spend, given he has 12 months left on his contract and doesnt seen aligned with their long term strategy i.e. focussing on young talent and the Academy?
Posted 02/06/2026 at 12:47:02
Darrel@4, very nicely put, I agree with you entirely.
Posted 02/06/2026 at 12:51:37
The owners are happy for Everton to be midtable, not spending their own money.
They got a bargain with us. £300m quid and probably with a billion now
Posted 02/06/2026 at 13:14:25
Reading this rest of your post makes me sad Darrel. I am a cradle to grave Evertonian, or at least I always thought I would be, but “that something inside so strong” is slowly being replaced by a feeling of anger, although that might be the wrong word because its more a feeling of apathetic boredom, that only becomes painful, when I look at things a little bit closer, which is something your excellent (sadly) post, has made me do.
Keep the faith, Ive been keeping the faith for fucking years, but without ambition, we might as well be dead
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