Sean Dyche has said he is determined to manage Everton at their new stadium next season but has admitted there are no guarantees over his future should the Friedkin Group take control.
Dyche is out of contract at the end of this campaign and has had no contact with the club’s prospective ownership since the deal to buy out Farhad Moshiri was announced on Monday. He believes it is too soon to expect the Friedkin family to outline its vision for Everton, with the deal still to be ratified by the Premier League and several previous takeover deals falling through.
But the manager, having helped restructure the club’s finances, rebuilt the squad and secured Everton’s top-flight status for the past two demanding seasons, has made clear he wants to see the job through and lead the team out at Bramley-Moore in 2025-26.
Dyche said: “Of course I do. What, dig this out for 21 months, or whatever it will be by then, for them to go: ‘Thanks for looking after us, off you pop’? Of course I would, but there is no divine right that they will say: ‘You are definitely the person to do this.’ And, if not, that is the way it goes.
“I don’t guarantee anything. What I do guarantee is hard work. I can’t guarantee that I am here, I can’t guarantee they finish off the ownership deal, I can’t guarantee they put £100m in or £10m. I can’t guarantee any of that. All I can guarantee is my own hard work, helping others the best I can and trying to balance out the situation.”
Dyche has lost two previous jobs shortly after a takeover, when the Pozzo family bought Watford in 2012 and after ALK Capital’s acquisition of Burnley. The Friedkin Group sacked Daniele De Rossi at Roma, the club it owns in Italy, four matches into this season and three months after giving the club legend a three-year contract. Dyche insists De Rossi’s treatment does not make him apprehensive.
“Until they give a feel or a steer on it, everything is conjecture,” he said. “I did a great job at Watford: finished 11th, brought in £4m worth of players, spent £1m and got removed from that because it was a complete change of business. I respected it. I didn’t get removed because I had done a good or bad job, I just got removed because their whole business model was different.
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“I don’t know what their [the Friedkin Group’s] business model is yet and no one really does. I don’t know the Italian league and their depth of football clubs but I would imagine that is a different feel, a different club and a different culture to what it will be here. They might try to replicate or they might look at it a different way. That is what I will find out if it gets over the line.”
