Fifteen years ago, a manager of Ronald Koeman’s calibre would have been given time to turn things round.
Even if it meant his club ending a season with relegation, the board would have looked at the bigger picture of buying players, creating a team and stabilising the club.
Football doesn’t work like that any more and it doesn’t matter who you are, you are going to get the sack looms if your team is losing to clubs people believe they should be beating.
I read an interview with Peter Reid the other day in which he said Koeman’s Everton should be a top-four side.
And when you have club legends turning the screw like that, it’s not good for the Dutchman.
There’s very little wriggle room left for him now and if his side loses against Brighton today then something could well give.
Everton is a premium job and there will be coaches from around Europe touting for it
already.
If the club have anything about them, they will have their list of replacements lined up, too.
So what Koeman needs to do now is appeal to his players in the dressing room at the Amex Stadium and say, ‘Right, it’s up to you guys. If you don’t want me here, you know what to do – go and perform with the ineptitude you have in recent months.
‘If you feel like I am doing the right thing and I’m taking you on, and we’re going to go on to bigger and better things together, then you know what to do, too’.
Because, believe me, players will answer managers when they say things like that.
In a way, Koeman’s future is almost out of his hands now. He can lead his team to water, but will they drink?
We’ll have to wait and see.
But what I do know is that we’ll learn a lot about what sort of support he has from inside the dressing room by Sunday’s display.
Whatever happens, whether Koeman stays or goes, Everton are going to need two things to get themselves to the level they want to be at. Firstly, to spend a hell of a lot of money and not just on the £50million striker they so clearly need.
Secondly, they need a clear and cohesive plan.
I wrote not so long ago that Koeman needed time but if I were in charge at Everton, Carlo Ancelotti’s sacking by Bayern Munich would have changed my thought process.
There’s talk of the former AC Milan, Chelsea, Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid boss going to China for a big payday now his Bundesliga adventure is over.
But Bill Kenwright and Farhad Moshiri should be finding out what sort of money is on offer over there and match it… then throw in the kitchen sink.
I’d be saying, ‘Carlo, whatever it takes we’ll give you, we want you here for three or four years, come and get your mojo back and grow a project. You have the cache, experience and contacts in the game to take our club forward’.
If he said ‘Yes’, I’d be pulling the trigger on Koeman now. Ancelotti is the sort of manager who, with the right backing, could get Everton into the Europa League twice and Champions League once in the next three or four years – and even win an FA Cup or League Cup.
He’d want one of his trusted allies alongside him on his management staff, but he has shown a willingness to work with people already inside clubs – and David Unsworth and Duncan Ferguson could really learn from the Italian.
He could teach them, grow them, be seen in restaurants with them so fans can see what’s happening, that there’s a line of progression and a plan in place.
He could let them take a team talk here or the team for a cup game there, and Evertonians would buy into that.
Ancelotti might not fancy that, he might fancy a job away from the spotlight that shines on Europe’s big leagues.
Either way, the clock is ticking on Koeman.