Ronald Koeman failed to connect with Everton fans and his approach jarred... he was cut from a different era

  • Ronald Koeman has been sacked by Everton after falling into the relegation zone
  • The Dutchman finished seventh in his one and only full campaign in charge
  • Everton spent £135m in the summer but failed to replace Romelu Lukaku

In the end, one picture will give you an insight to this full story. 

On Sunday evening, as Evertonians fumed over their team's latest abject performance, Ronald Koeman was photographed strolling into a plush Manchester restaurant.

There is nothing wrong, of course, with a manager having a social life. Far from it. But, once again, a smiling Koeman had given his critics reason to believe that Everton's troubles and fortunes were the furthest thing from his mind.

Ronald Koeman has been sacked by Everton after a disastrous start to the season

Ronald Koeman has been sacked by Everton after a disastrous start to the season

Everton are 18th in the Premier League and bottom of their Europa League group

Everton are 18th in the Premier League and bottom of their Europa League group

It felt as if it had been like that from the very start. Koeman was appointed Everton manager on June 14, 2016 after leaving Southampton but he never started working properly until the first week of July after he had finished holiday in the Caribbean.


He spent a lot of time jetting away, even after Everton were beaten 1-0 at home by Burnley at the start of this month Koeman jetted away rather than stay behind to work on the problems with performance that were continuing to mount.

This approach jarred around the club, not least as the two previous incumbents - David Moyes and Roberto Martinez - lived by the maxim of being first into work and the last ones to leave. Koeman never followed that path.

Given we are now in an era where those men who roam the dugout are borderline obsessives, studying and scrutinising every last detail to get marginal gains, Koeman was cut from a different cloth from a different era.

The Toffees have struggled in front of goal after the departure of striker Romelu Lukaku

The Toffees have struggled in front of goal after the departure of striker Romelu Lukaku

Director of Football Steve Walsh should be held accountable for Everton's summer failings

Director of Football Steve Walsh should be held accountable for Everton's summer failings

PERMANENT EVERTON MANAGERS - PREMIER LEAGUE RECORD 
Manager Joined Left G W D L GF GA Win  % Points  Pts per Game
Howard Kendall 05/11/1990 05/12/1993 60 22 11 27 73 78 37% 77 1.28
Mike Walker 07/01/1994 08/11/1994 31 6 9 16 29 52 19% 27 0.87
Joe Royle 10/11/1994 27/03/1997 97 36 31 30 136 116 37% 139 1.43
Howard Kendall 27/06/1997 25/06/1998 38 9 13 16 41 56 24% 40 1.05
Walter Smith 01/07/1998 13/02/2002 140 41 40 59 172 188 29% 163 1.16
David Moyes 14/03/2002 01/07/2013 427 173 123 131 568 503 41% 642 1.50
Roberto Martínez 05/06/2013 12/05/2016 113 43 34 36 165 144 38% 163 1.44
Ronald Koeman 14/06/2016 23/10/2017  47 19 12 16 69 62 40% 69 1.47

There was, it must be said, an immediate impression. As one of the greatest defenders to play the game, boasting a trophy cabinet to match his swaggering talent, you only had to spend a couple of minutes in a room with him to appreciate his aura.

When he arrived, Koeman was shocked by the levels of fitness of the players he inherited from Martinez and he set about rectifying that, as well as imposing a series of new rules such as all players needing to be at Finch Farm for 9am.

Results early on were good and suggested that Koeman could rub shoulders with the other big characters who were in close vicinity, with Farhad Moshiri, Everton's majority shareholders, calling the North West 'Hollywood' for Premier League managers.

The players liked his no-nonsense approach and even after what proved to be his final game, that ruinous 5-2 defeat to Arsenal, some were still talking about how much they admired him as a character and felt the blame for the disastrous run of result should have laid with them.

'We've been s***,' one said bluntly.

Wayne Rooney looks dejected after Everton lost 5-2 to Arsenal which cost Koeman his job

Wayne Rooney shows the strain of another defeat as Everton crumbled against the Gunners

Koeman was desperate to sign Gylfi Sigurdsson but waited until August to get him in

Koeman was desperate to sign Gylfi Sigurdsson but waited until August to get him in

KOEMAN'S EVERTON REIGN IN NUMBERS 

18 - the Toffees occupy the Premier League's final relegation place

£135m - the total spent on summer signings including Gylfi Sigurdsson, Jordan Pickford, Michael Keane and Davy Klaassen. Around half of that total was funded by the sale of Romelu Lukaku to Manchester United

8 - their points total after nine games

5 - Everton are winless in their last five games - defeats to Burnley and Arsenal in the Premier League and Lyon in the Europa League, and draws with Brighton domestically and Apollon Limassol on the continent

2-5 - the scoreline in his last game in charge, at home to Arsenal on Sunday

41 - Koeman's winning percentage as Everton boss, with 24 victories from 58 games in charge. His side lost 20 and drew 14

3 - Koeman is the third managerial departure in the Premier League this season, following Frank de Boer (Crystal Palace) and Craig Shakespeare (Leicester)

9 - clubs managed by Koeman in his career, with Everton his second Premier League job after Southampton

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That may be so but for the money that Koeman was being paid - and the money that Everton invested during the last transfer window - it was down to the manager to find a solution when things were going wrong but, increasingly, he looked to be a man without answers.

It shouldn't have been this way. Pre-season could not have gone any better, with Koeman basing himself at a hotel in Enschede, Holland called Bloemenbeek; it was here that he launched many successful campaigns with Ajax.

Two statistics leap out from the last three troubling months: the first is that Everton conceded the first goal 10 times in their last 12 matches; the second was Koeman made a substitution at half-time in nine of their 17 fixtures. It suggested he kept picking the wrong team.

He will argue that after signing nine new players he should have been given the chance to bed them in. The counter to that, however, is the men who he wanted and put his faith in have, to put it bluntly, done nothing.

In Davy Klaassen and Gylfi Sigurdsson, Koeman asked Everton's board to invest £70million to bring the pair from Ajax and Swansea respectively. Sigurdsson, in particular, was the one he implored his board to buy and negotiations with Swansea began in May.

But why was he so set on going all the way through to August to get that deal done when the absolute necessity was to buy a striker after Romelu Lukaku joined Manchester United? 

He must be held accountable for that error, as must Steve Walsh, the Director of Football.

Oumar Niasse scores the final goal of the Koeman era in a 5-2 defeat by Arsenal on Sunday

Oumar Niasse scores the final goal of the Koeman era in a 5-2 defeat by Arsenal on Sunday

Last week also saw a dramatic, bad-tempered Europa League defeat by Lyon

Last week also saw a dramatic, bad-tempered Europa League defeat by Lyon

Koeman and Walsh should have been working in tandem but their relationship was at the best distant, at the worst strained. Koeman has paid the price but that does not mean Walsh is no longer subject to scrutiny. 

He remains under pressure as the next window looms into view.

Come January, Koeman is likely to be somewhere warm - assuming the Dutch FA don't ask him to resurrect their national team's fortunes - with his memories of Everton fading. 

The same will be true for those who remain at Goodison Park.

Put simply, Koeman never had a connection with Everton. He cut himself off from the figures around the training ground who are part of the club's fabric and give Everton its identity and never bought into the history.

Koeman defended his summer signings after spending over £135m in transfers during window

Everton spent £135m in the summer transfer window and brought Wayne Rooney back

There is a story from a sportsman's dinner, held last May at the Titanic Hotel near Liverpool waterfront, when Koeman was the guest speaker. 

A crowd of enthusiastic Evertonians had gathered and were eager to hear what was next.

His talk, though, left them puzzled. The 54-year-old told them to be realistic and understand their position in the table but he never grasped the mood. 

They wanted him to give them reason to dream. Instead he left them feeling despair. It is why he finds himself back on holiday.

EVERTON PREMIER LEAGUE RECORD AFTER NINE GAMES 
SEASON P W D L F A GD PTS FINAL PLACE
2004/05 9 6 1 2 10 7 3 19 4
2013/14 9 5 3 1 14 10 4 18 5
2006/07 9 4 4 1 15 8 7 16 6
1999/00 9 5 1 3 15 9 6 16 13
2012/13 9 4 4 1 17 11 6 16 6
2016/17 9 4 3 2 13 8 5 15 7
1993/94 9 5 0 4 11 11 0 15 17
2001/02 9 4 2 3 15 12 3 14 15
2007/08 9 4 1 4 12 11 1 13 5
2015/16 9 3 4 2 12 11 1 13 11
2014/15 9 3 3 3 19 17 2 12 11
1992/93 9 3 3 3 10 10 0 12 13
1996/97 9 3 3 3 10 11 -1 12 15
1998/99 9 2 5 2 6 6 0 11 14
2002/03 9 3 2 4 11 14 -3 11 7
2009/10 9 3 2 4 12 15 -3 11 8
2010/11 9 2 4 3 9 8 1 10 7
2011/12 9 3 1 5 10 13 -3 10 7
2003/04 9 2 3 4 12 14 -2 9 17
2000/01 9 2 3 4 12 16 -4 9 16
2008/09 9 2 3 4 13 19 -6 9 5
1995/96 9 2 2 5 11 14 -3 8 6
1997/98 9 2 2 5 11 16 -5 8 17
2017/18 9 2 2 5 7 18 -11 8 -
2005/06 9 1 1 7 2 12 -10 4 11
1994/95 9 0 3 6 7 20 -13 3 15