How quickly and cruelly optimism can vanish in the hearts of football fans.

Back in July, when Wayne Rooney returned to Goodison and Ronald Koeman’s summer transfer spend was smashing through the £100million barrier, there was a glint in Evertonian eyes that had been absent for decades.

Most believed that with a rich backer who was translating his words into actions, an elite manager and a new stadium on the way, their famous old club mattered again.

They assumed the Romelu Lukaku-sized hole in the Everton attack would be filled in August, leading to a credible top six challenge.

Fast-forward three months to last Friday, the day after that ugly Lyon defeat and two days before that horrible Arsenal thumping and the contrast in mood and spirit was stark.

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They’d gone from being as high as the mid-1980s, when titles were being won, to as low as the mid-1990s, when they almost sleep-walked to relegation.

But should ditching Koeman so soon after such well-founded optimism really make them abandon all hope?

Big managers can get sacked early in a season and the club can bounce back, as Chelsea proved with Jose Mourinho and Tottenham with Andre Villas-Boas.

Sunday's home hammering by Arsenal was the end of the Koeman era at Goodison (
Image:
REX/Shutterstock)

The latter holds many parallels with Koeman's Goodison reign:

Seventeen months in charge, took them into the Europa League, sold his star man (Gareth Bale), spent the proceeds signing seven players who couldn’t replace him, watched a confidence-crippled side spiral into despair, lost the fans and was sacked days after shipping five goals at home.

But chairman Daniel Levy kept his cool and his long-term vision, took his time finding the right replacement in Mauricio Pochettino and Spurs have more than come good again.

Everton post-Lukaku and Koeman can draw inspiration from where Spurs now are after Bale and AVB (
Image:
PA Wire)

If Farhad Moshiri isn’t mortified at the eventual outcome of his pursuit of “Hollywood name” Koeman, and there’s nothing to suggest he is, then Everton are in the same position, medium and long term, as they were a few months ago.

The truth is, Koeman never bought into the Everton’s ethos or potential.

He took the job because it paid £6million-a-year and he believed it offered a higher profile than his Southampton one for attracting bigger fish.

He felt Everton were lucky to have him rather than the other way round, which is never a good fit.

If they get the right man for the building job ahead and restore summer's belief among fans that Everton are on the up, there’s no reason they won’t be.

Their squad may be unbalanced but it’s not as bad as it’s been made to look.

Jordan Pickford has already proved a shrewd buy, and there’s surely plenty to come from Gylfi Sigurdsson, Michael Keane and possibly Davy Klaassen.

Nikola Vlasic looks a decent prospect.

Pickford has looked the best of Everton's many summer signings so far (
Image:
PA Wire)

As do Ademola Lookman, Tom Davies and Jonjoe Kenny, who all deserve as good a run in the side as fellow youngster Dominic Calvert-Lewin has been given.

Idris Gueye and Morgan Schneiderlin are no slouches.

Seamus Coleman, Ross Barkley and Yannick Bolasie will soon return from injury.

Stalwart Coleman is closing in on a comeback after being out injured since March (
Image:
Everton FC/Getty)
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It shouldn’t take much to restore the optimism because the reasons for it are still there — including a rich backer, a season-ticket sell-out and that new stadium on the horizon.

Close observers of Koeman’s spell on Merseyside talk of his misty-eyed reminiscing, and social media posts that showed how much he was pining for a return to Nou Camp.

There’s nothing wrong with having a burning ambition to attract Barcelona, but it doesn’t pay to constantly look like Alan Partridge screaming “Dan! Dan! Dan!” in their direction.

If Everton are still intent on building something special over the next decade, crucial to it will be appointing a talented, hungry manager who buys totally into the golden vision.

And that was never Koeman.

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