When opportunity knocks...

(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.

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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.

Dave Abrahams 2 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.

Ged Simpson 3 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!

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 unearnedauthority 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.

Ian Bennett 5 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.

John Pickles 6 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.

Brian Harrison 7 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 he didn't and they let it be known that Slot would be given more time; only last week, they allowed him to bring in an assistant manager, so why do that if you are going to sack him?

Also, Iraola told people weeks ago he was leaving Bournemouth, so if he was their desired choice, why weren't 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.

Don't forget, Iraola 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 aren't we producing good young English coaches? St George's 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, Italy, and Germany, and most clubs are managed by managers from their own countries. Even our national side looks more to continental coaches who have had very few English managers over the last 20 years.

Jeff Spiers 8 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!

Darren Hind 9 Posted 02/06/2026 at 09:39:02

Darrel Pugh.

You need to be posting more often on these pages. Excellent post.

Phillip Warrington 10 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.

It’s 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 can’t see either of them even thinking about Everton, so to me, it’s 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.

Dave Williams 11 Posted 02/06/2026 at 10:02:39

Good posts on here, especially Darrel.

TFG appear to be focused on creating a financial success with the stadium at the forefront. We supporters want to see entertaining football with excitement; making the step up to the supporters' ambitions for the club will be expensive and not without risk.

It's 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 it's not clever to reveal your transfer plans or budget for others to see but we need something to grasp to give hope for improvement.

Tony Hughes 12 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.

Paul Hewitt 13 Posted 02/06/2026 at 10:27:54

TFG’s 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.

Jeff Spiers 14 Posted 02/06/2026 at 10:48:39

Paul,

Sad but true.

Dave Lynch 15 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 at the moment.

Some are saying the Friedkins 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.

Scott Robinson 16 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 Utd etc...

I'd prefer stability over instability any day.

Paul Hewitt 17 Posted 02/06/2026 at 11:22:54

Scott. That's fine.

But don't expect entertaining football or trophies anytime soon.

Jimmy Carr 18 Posted 02/06/2026 at 11:29:44

That Roma have achieved Champions League qualification is a good thing, a pathway Everton can follow.

TFG have owned Roma for about 6 years, I think, and been at Everton for all of 18 months. Do the maths.

James Newcombe 19 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.

Andrew Ellams 20 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 Premier League cash to fund the Roma project.

Jimmy Carr 21 Posted 02/06/2026 at 11:46:54

Andrew (20), the jury's out.

If we saw £150M spent on the squad this summer, it might be fair to say European football is their target. I think that's a better metric.

Andrew Ellams 22 Posted 02/06/2026 at 11:55:13

Jimmy, it depends how many players that £150M is stretched across.

For example, 6 playera at £25M each doesn't get you much these days.

Raymond Fox 23 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 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's happening.

Christy Ring 24 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 7 games this season, thats shows what a stubborn and conservative manager Moyes is.

Just considering how he refused to change formation and shape, his total lack of use of the younger players on the bench, and waiting until the final 10 or 15 minutes to change things, instead of trying to win a European place.

We ended up just ahead of Leeds, and when asked could he understand the frustration of our brilliant fans? He replied "No". Is that an ambitious manager?

Stan Grace 25 Posted 02/06/2026 at 12:07:36

If Roma is the benchmark to measure TFG's footballing success level since they took over in August 2020, then it's worth looking at where Roma finished over the last 10 years.

2025–26: 3rd2024–25: 6th2023–24: 6th2022–23: 6th2021–22: 6th2020–21: 7th2019–20: 5th2018–19: 6th2017–18: 3rd2016–17: 2nd

So it's taken them 6 years to return the club to where they had finished just two years after taking over!

Now, if we compare that to the last 10 years of Aston Villa, whose owners took over in July 2018:

2025-26: 4th2024-25: 4th2023-24: 4th2022-23: 7th2021-22: 14th2020-21: 11th2019-20: 17th2018-19: 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.

Tony Abrahams 26 Posted 02/06/2026 at 12:08:15

Under David Moyes, the ambition at Bramley-Moore Dock 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 in 2013, 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 Davie's over-worked small squad playing football the negative way.

Iain Johnston 27 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.

Jim Bennings 28 Posted 02/06/2026 at 12:16:02

Why does anyone seriously think this summer will be any different to last, or the previous?

We are Everton; we are happy with the 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 then, I have serious reservations about what they are going to do with Everton Football Club; I certainly haven't seen nor heard much of ambition.

Andrew Ellams 29 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.

Steve Brown 30 Posted 02/06/2026 at 12:33:23

Andrew @ 20, I think the Roma fans are feeling the same about us!

Roma's net spend is €-122.43M 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 won't 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 summer's transfer spend will tell us a lot about the extent of TFG's ambition.

The real question is how much they will allow Moyes to spend, given he has 12 months left on his contract and doesn't seen aligned with their long term strategy, ie, focussing on young talent and the Academy?

Ian Wilkins 31 Posted 02/06/2026 at 12:47:02

Darrel @4, very nicely put.

I agree with you entirely.

Ryan Holroyd 32 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 and probably worth £1B now.

Tony Abrahams 33 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 it's 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? I've been keeping the faith for fucking years... but -- without ambition -- we might as well be dead!

Kunal Desai 34 Posted 02/06/2026 at 13:55:43

TFG bought the club and saw a commericial opportunity. Rinse its fanbase in the ground on season tickets and explore other sporting opportunities at the venue.

Kinnear is a puppet master to front TFG. I had my doubts when he joined. Why did it take TFG over 6 months to search for a CEO, only to come up with him?

He saw an opportunity to jump at a well-paid job. Why not? He's just an employee. Moyes, one final pay day. All greed, none of the above, similar to past owners and CEOs, have any genuine interest in making this club ambitious again.

Michael Connelly 35 Posted 02/06/2026 at 14:12:16

Let's not forget that 'mediocrity' is a big improvement for us relative to the last few seasons, whereas the RS have dropped from Champions to scraping a 5th place finish.

It was much easier watching us on the last day, relative to previous seasons.

The performance of the manager is directly related to the quality of player at his disposal, and we are woefully short at right-back and up-front, and less so, but still short at left-back, holding midfield, and an attacking midfielder without Grealish.

Considering the tools at his disposal, I don't think there is a better fit than Moyes.

Hopefully a few of those tools get an upgrade this summer.

Alan McGuffog 36 Posted 02/06/2026 at 14:12:17

Darrel... one of the most concise posts I've read about the situation at Hill Dickinson Stadium. Well done.

It was rumoured, in the wake of the Southampton - Boro spygate saga, that we'd been spied on in training by an elite European outfit. Seemingly Catalan Dragons.

Stan Grace 37 Posted 02/06/2026 at 14:20:06

Michael #35,

"The performance of the manager is directly related to the quality of player at his disposal."

So why has Emery done so much better than his predecessor at Villa? And Carrick at Man Utd?

Andrew Ellams 38 Posted 02/06/2026 at 14:37:27

Sorry Michael but's delusional at best.

Tony Abrahams 39 Posted 02/06/2026 at 14:39:00

If you thought it was easy watching Everton performing very badly at Tottenham, then you are very much part of the problem, Michael @35.

"We haven't got a clue because we don't know what goes on at Finch Farm", is something that is often quoted on these pages, but we can see what happens on matchday though...

How Moyes picked the same tired players at Spurs as he did in the previous two games against Palace and Sunderland was an absolute insult to every single Evertonian, who spent good money making the journey to London.

Moyes should know best because he's the manager, but by playing the same tired players (our energy only improved when he brought Alkaraz, Armstrong and George on, as did the balance when Coleman replaced the central defender at right-back), it looked like he was trying to work it up his old employers at West Ham, who wouldn't give his son a job scouting.

Dave Lynch 40 Posted 02/06/2026 at 14:52:53

The title of the post.

"When Opportunity Knocks".

It knocked a few times in his first tenure and he fucked it up good and proper.

It's knocking now on TFG's door and they won't open it...

For fuck's sake... just get rid of him ASAP!

41 Posted 02/06/2026 at 15:03:48

In your article, you write:

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.

It's not our final position that is the problem. The problem is Moyes and the manner in which he treats his squad. The disdain with which he treatsme as a supporter.

He could not give a shit about going out of both cups early doors. He does not give a shit about not giving Dibling a fair crack of the whip.

The talk of him staying or leaving should be the only topic of discussion right now because Liverpool have grasped the nettle. Why have they done that?

They have done this to improve. We are settling to keep our old Skoda and they have chopped in their Jaguar for the latest, better model. It might not work out for them but at least they are willing to give it a go. He who dares, Rodney, he who dares...

Jay Harris 42 Posted 02/06/2026 at 15:12:18

Nil Satis Nisi Optimum died with Sir John Moores and was buried when Kenwright took over.

Every success story starts with a champion whose desire and energy motivate followers. We don't have a champion and even those long-hardened followers are becoming weary.

My young grandson is a red, something I wouldn't have tolerated years ago but something I have resigned myself to now.

At the age of 75, I have had the pinnacle of joyous moments with Everton and some emotionally draining times but the continued slump to mediocrity gives me little hope for the future.

We are no longer one of the elite, having been raped by Kenwright and our expectations brought down a few pegs by Moyes.

The days of KEOIC and True Blues have had their moments only to be replaced by a fans' representative group that are fodder for the hierarchy.

I remain hopeful that, before I die, we will at least return to competitiveness... but alas it may be blind faith with statements like "Happily dissatisfied' from the mouth of the person who should be spouting"Nothing but the best is good enough!"

Please, Everton, surprise or even shock me by taking some decisive action -- the operative word beingaction.