He had tremendous backing to get them up, spent very badly in the top division, never learned to defend, seemed to purposely tank the cups every year and has never had another top job anywhere else to compare the experience to.
I think it would be a really risky appointment and I would be nervous as an Everton fan. Getting smashed by the big teams consistently wouldn’t fly there.
I think that’s a harsh appraisal of the job he did at Bournemouth. There was decent backing in the rise up the leagues but it was still a hell of an achievement, there’s plenty of clubs who spent more during the climb, and taking a club from league 2 to the premier league, is a really incredible achievement that is often overlooked.
I also think the criticisms of his spending are very overblown too. People often point to Ibe and Solanke, who were admittedly disappointing, but both were young English players who both cost less than 20m. People often ignore many of his other signings like Ake who cost 20m and was sold for 40m, Mings was sold fordouble the price they paid for him, Wilson was bought for 3m and then sold for 20m. Then you have the likes of Mepham, Lewis Cook and Brooks who were purchased for very little, and if they were to be sold they’d be sold at many times the amount paid for them. Perhaps more pertinently than all that, is that their wage bill was consistently amongst the lowest during their time in the premiership, which is a really impressive factor as usually the wage bill is a good indicator to how a team will perform.
He hasn’t got the experience elsewhere admittedly, but taking a club from league 2 to the premiership, keeping them there for half a decade with lesser resources than most others, all while playing a progressive passing style of football isn’t something that should be ignored. Rodgers had done less when he was given the Liverpool job, Solksjaer had donee when he was given the Manchester United job , Lampard had done less when he was given the Chelsea job, Arteta had done less when given the Arsenal job. Admittedly that’s a 50% success rate (depending on one’s perspective) it shows that bigger clubs than Everton are willing to take a risk on managers without experience at the top level, why shouldn’t Everton? Especially when their last manager was a highly esteemed manager who has won everything, and it didn’t work out. It would be a risky appointment, yet Manchester United had hired 4 managers post Ferguson, and the one with the least experience has done the best job. Sometimes clubs need to look past the CV and see what a manager can offer. I think Potter would be a great choice for them, and he hasn’t got that top level experience either.
I’m going to end this overly long post with a quote from Ferguson that he shared the other day after being asked to name young managers that impressed him.
“Eddie Howe had a great period at Bournemouth, for a young manager.
I think he did very well.
Even though he's relegated it doesn't mean to say he's not a good manager, I think he is a good manager."