Do Everton Stick or Twist with Marco Silva?

Having been defeated in three of their past four games, Everton are on course to spend the remainder of 2018/2019 fighting for a top half finish, a fact that is widely regarded as unacceptable by fans of the Toffees.

With around £89 million spent in the summer transfer window, the board will have been expecting Everton to compete for Champions League positions and perhaps earn some silverware in either the League Cup or FA Cup.

However, their shock elimination from the FA Cup versus Millwall ensured that Silva’s men would not win the club’s first trophy since 1999 as they were knocked out of the League Cup on penalties against Southampton in October.

Now ninth in the Premier League, supporters have turned on the manager with many calling for his head. History suggests that his sacking is inevitable, or even imminent, but what would be best for Everton?

Every football club relies on stability in one way or another, and each board have their own unique way of implementing it into the identity of the club. Unfortunately for Everton, this stability appears to be non-existent, and has been for some time.

Since David Moyes’ eleven year reign at the club came to an end in 2013, Everton have had six changes of the guard, with David Unsworth taking over as caretaker manager on two occasions.

Each manager’s exit was virtually the same story over and again, the only difference being the names and dates. Roberto Martinez and Ronald Koeman could not get the results the fans desired, while Sam Allardyce seemed to almost be an embarrassment amongst Blues.

Marco Silva has been in the job for less than a year, yet the tradition in recent years more or less guarantees that he won’t see next campaign. This is not an unusual position for the forty-one year old to be in however, having not lasted more than a year at any of the English club’s he’s worked for.

In fact, his longest tenure at a club was three years during his first stint in management with Portuguese team Estoril. In each of his four other jobs, he has not lasted more than fourteen months.

With great unrest amongst supporters and results taking a turn for the worst, along with little to play for in the remaining three months of the campaign, it looks as though it would be in the best interests of both parties to part ways.

Silva is well versed in leaving a club relatively early into his time in charge, while the club itself has got a system in place to find a new manager soon after letting the previous boss leave, as it has shown in the past.

If Silva is to maintain his job and possibly see it through to next season, it is likely that the toxicity in the stadium and in fans’ conversations regarding the club will only grow.

In conclusion, it does look as though a separation of club and manager will be the correct course of action, as Silva will undoubtedly have many teams lining up to gain his signature, while Everton are a big enough club to be an impressive job for any manager, regardless of whether they are a veteran of the game or just starting off in football.