Everton has finalised a deal for Sam Allardyce to become their new manager. This comes as a result of Ronald Koeman’s dismissal in October following an abysmal start to the campaign.
The 63-year-old will take over at Goodison Park with the club in a very precarious position in the Premier League table, with the Blues sitting just two points off the relegation zone. The club’s hierarchy put David Unsworth in caretaker charge as they searched for a new manager but he miserably failed to have a positive impact on results.
Unsworth’s final game in charge will come against West Ham United at Goodison Park on Wednesday night which is a huge game considering the poor form of both sides heading into it.
A perfect ‘short-term fix.’
There is no doubt that Allardyce is arguably the best manager around at being able to keep teams in the Premier League. The Blues will become the seventh club that Allardyce has managed in the top flight, and he has an impressive record with all of them. He has been in charge of Bolton Wanderers, Newcastle United, Blackburn Rovers, West Ham United, Sunderland and Crystal Palace in his career so far and has an overall win percentage of 33.8%.
When you take into account that this percentage covers all 488 top flight games he has managed, it is a pretty impressive record. It is, therefore, no surprise that he has never been relegated from the Premier League and everyone connected with Everton will be hoping that record continues come next May. If Everton’s ambition for the rest of the season is to survive, then this appears to be a very sensible appointment.
Does Allardyce suit Everton?
The main issue that Everton supporters will have with the appointment of Allardyce is his style of play. The club invested more than £130 million in the summer as they heavily backed Koeman. However, the players who have come in are all suited to the style of play that Koeman was trying to implement at Goodison Park. Allardyce’s style of play is far more direct, and it will, therefore, be interesting to see how much he changes the starting line-up to suit this.
Considering Allardyce has signed a contract until the summer of 2019, that suggests that he will be backed in the upcoming January transfer window. If he is, that could cause further complications down the line as he would bring in a number of players which the manager who is appointed in the summer, might not fancy. After spending so much money in the summer, one thing the club will not want to do is waste even more money in the next transfer window without making any progress.
However, as it stands, Allardyce is the ideal manager to save them from relegation down to The Championship.
