Back page On Thursday evening, Everton looked to shuffle the deck in the dugout as they moved Marco Silva out of the club after inconsistent and lacklustre performances from his men.
The sacking of Silva came as no surprise to many and was possibly even dragged out too long as Everton dropped further points to Leicester City and Liverpool in the past seven days following their embarrassing home defeat to Norwich City.
In the wake of Silva’s dismissal, the Everton board appointed cult hero Duncan Ferguson as the interim manager for this weekend’s clash with Chelsea.
Straight into his first interview, the former Everton striker spoke openly about instilling what it means to play for Everton Football Club into his squad ahead of Saturday’s match.
Bringing back the dogs of war style from the 1980s is what the Toffees have been missing, lacking the fight, tenacity and aggression, that is expected when you pull on the royal blue jersey.
The Evertonian took to the dugout at the Old Lady and fought every fight with the eleven he selected on the field. Ensuring each player won their individual battles and exerted all their energy leaving everything out on the pitch.
The Goodison faithful were well and truly satisfied with the display shown by each player both individually and as a team.
The energy and the passion shown, firstly from the interim boss, followed by the 14 players involved, very much epitomises what it means and what it takes to be an Evertonian.
A hard fought, high energy and dedicated display produced a 3-1 win over Frank Lampard’s Chelsea.
So where do Everton go from here? Do they stick with Duncan as an interim boss? Ferguson has certainly given the board some breathing room by digging out a huge victory over Chelsea.
It seems that victory will now allow them to bide their time and select the right man to wake up the sleeping giants.
The ambition of the supporters and the majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri, as well as the new Director of Football, Marcel Brands, has Everton seeking top names to fill the permanent managers position.
The performance from Saturday’s game will certainly give the board members something to think about.
No doubt they would relish appointing an experienced manager with a winning mentality, who can drive Everton back to the top where their fan base believe they belong.
They may be tempted to give Duncan Ferguson a string of games in which he can keep the confidence buoying.
Clashes against Manchester United in the Premier League and Leicester City in the Carabao Cup quarter final clash are next on the agenda for the blues, the Chelsea game could be the turning point with Everton gathering momentum into these next two games.
Both sides play similar fluid attack styles to Chelsea and with Leicester also liking Frank Lampard’s sides defensive display, could it be Ferguson who can get the best out of his side again to perform in the same manner?
The dilemma for the Toffees is now; do they stick with Ferguson and if so, how long for? Or do they twist and bring in their ambitious target before the next fixture?
Ferguson was only asked to be in charge for the one game, however it appears likely that he will be stepping into the away dugout at Old Trafford after selecting his second starting 11.
