Sean Dyche says his expiring contract at Everton is the ‘least of his worries’ after the club’s potential new owner John Textor openly discussed the manager’s Goodison Park future this week.
Textor, the Crystal Palace chief whoclaims he has an exclusivity agreement to buy Farhad Moshiri’s 94.1 per cent stake in Everton, said on Wednesday that he wouldlike to speak to Dyche to ensure they share the same vision if he was to successfully take over the club.
But Dyche, who spent 10 years at Burnley, insists he is accustomed to being questioned. ‘That’s standard, in 10 years as a manager if you think I haven’t been down this road before you would be wrong,’ said the Everton boss.
‘Even at Burnley they would talk about managers for years – “what about that, they should do this”. It’s standard in the business now. Unless you are the legendary managers with legendary status at certain clubs, it is unlikely you are not going to get questioned in that way.
‘(Arsenal boss) Mikel Arteta has signed a new deal. Three years ago at the beginning of the season – three games in – there were people saying he’s got to go! I remember they won a few games 1-0, next thing they look like the old Arsenal, three years later he is signing a new deal.
Sean Dyche says his expiring Everton contract is the ‘least of his worries’ and accepts the noise
Dyche’s contract runs out this summer and has suffered a torrid start to the new season
Prospective new Everton owner John Textor (pictured) openly discussed Dyche's future
‘Arsene Wenger of all people was questioned – a manager whose trading paid for a stadium! Everton has had nine years of that kind of thing every 12 or 18 months, with noise generated either from bad results or a feel that, “You’ve got to change it”.
‘I look at the club, where we are at – the player trading, the money we have saved, the players we’ve got, the injuries we’ve got – and say, “Could this happen? Yeah. Do I want it to happen? No. Am I working hard to stop it from happening? Of course”. The outside noise won’t go away.’
Dyche’s contract runs out this summer and, asked if he would need to speak to a new owner before committing to a new deal, he replied: ‘Absolutely not. I don’t have to. These things take care of themselves. The last thing on my mind if I spoke to a new owner – if there was a new owner – would be my contract. That will sort itself out one way or another.
‘That’s the other side of the business. They want to know you, what’s happening, where we are at. My contract is the least of my concerns at the moment. The first of my concerns is the team winning football matches.’
Everton will try to do just that on Saturday when they travel to Aston Villa for the tea-time kick-off. The club were forced to release a statement on Thursday afternoon reiterating their support for Dyche after Textor’s comments.
Penned by interim chief executive Colin Chong, it read: ‘While positive conversations and progress continues to be made with Mr Textor to formalise any deal with him, there remains some work to be done to complete the transaction.
‘Accordingly, the comments made by Mr Textor merely represent his personal view on Club matters. Everyone at the club is staying focused on providing the best support possible to Sean and the squad as we head into the weekend’s fixture.’
Dyche will be without Jarrad Branthwaite and Nathan Patterson against Villa, while captain Seamus Coleman is ‘touch and go’ after limping off injured in Republic of Ireland’s defeat to England last week. Deadline Day signing Armando Broja is injured, though fellow new boy Orel Mangala could feature.
Everton suffered a humiliating defeat against Bournemouth in the last game before the international break
Dyche will attempt to get Everton's first points of the season when they travel to Aston Villa at the weekend
The manager, whose side capitulated to a 3-2 defeat against Bournemouth in the last match despite leading 2-0 after 87 minutes, added: 'The ambition here changes weekly, different stories – it's going to be sold, it's not going to be sold, you're here, you're not here.
‘I've heard it all since I've been here and I've only been here 20 months. It's been an up and down period that's for sure but that's for the club not just for me. I think it is still there. We've brought some levels of calmness during the process.
‘But at the minute it is a volatile situation on and off the pitch with talk of ownership change and not getting the results we want to get. Football very rarely surprises me – it did against Bournemouth for seven minutes, but very rarely does it surprise me now.’