Sean Dyche is now the bookies’ favourite to become the next manager of Premier League side Everton.
The Burnley boss celebrated his fifth year at Turf Moor with a 1-0 win over Newcastle United last night, but speculation is rising about a move into the Everton hot-seat. Sky Sports says that the Toffees are expected to make an approach for Dyche.
Everton are without a manager after Ronald Koeman was sacked following a poor start to the season. David Unsworth is currently caretaker boss at Goodison Park and he is expected to be in charge for Thursday’s Europa League match against Lyon and Sunday’s match against Watford.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
But according to the bookmakers, Dyche is now favourite to take over the role on a full-time basis. SkyBet has Dyche at 4/6, while Oddschecker has him favourite with the majority of the bookies. Other names in the running include Sam Allardyce, Chris Coleman and Marco Silva.
After the 1-0 win against Newcastle, Dyche did not speculate on his future. He told Sky Sports: “I just keep getting on with my job, simple as that. We just keep getting on with it. That’s my focus and my team’s focus.”
“We have to do planning of course, but generally we take each game as it comes, we work on that, then we process the information, debrief it and we move forward again and keep that clarity of thought. That’s how we keep going.”
With Burnley now sitting in seventh place in the Premier League table, former Everton defender Joleon Lescott has said that if Dyche does leave it would “derail” the club’s progress.
Lescott said on Premier League Daily: “I think it’s evident that Everton need a manager more than Sean Dyche needs a club. He’s doing well at Burnley, so it can only bode well for Everton if they get him but it could possibly derail Burnley if they lose a manager of that capacity.
“No one is going to discourage Dyche going to Everton. It’s a step-up. As much as Burnley are above them in the league overall you expect Everton to finish higher than Burnley.”
Meanwhile Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher believes that Dyche “has to take” the job at Everton if he is offered it.
Carragher said: “If he has been, or gets offered the Everton job, he has to take it. He has to. Maybe Burnley fans don’t want to hear that, but he has to.
“Sean Dyche won’t go to a team in the Champions League in this country. Everton are the next step.”
Continue reading for free
We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.
Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.