By Dan Carter

17th Sep, 2023 | 1:40pm

Sean Dyche admits first Everton season was 'hardest' of his footballing career

Sean Dyche has admitted that his first season as Everton manager was the “hardest” of his footballing career so far.

The former Burnley boss took over partway through the 2022/23 campaign after Frank Lampard was sacked at Goodison Park and managed to keep the Toffees in the Premier League with a win over Bournemouth on the final day of the season.

Despite being involved in several relegation battles at Turf Moor, the mix of on-the-field and off-the-field difficulties on the blue half of Merseyside under the ownership of Farhad Moshiri has made it a more difficult job than Dyche first anticipated.

Speaking to Sky Sports (17 September) he said: “Certainly last season was by the far the hardest in my football life, you can’t tell every story but what we were having to sort out inside, trying to win games, all the speculation, all the noise, going down to the last game of the season, injuries, everything that could go wrong, going wrong.

“Very, very difficult to manage, to bring that all together and still get a team out there and win enough games as it happens which we did do. Going into the summer I did think there would be a little bit more available to shuffle the pack, that wasn’t the case.

“I’ve always been a great believer in tell me what to manage and I’ll manage it, I’ll certainly manage it the best I can, there’s no excuses that’s the reality, now we’ve got to move on.”

Move on

Dyche has had an intense career in football over the course of his time as both a player and a manager so for him to admit the last 12 months at Goodison Park have been the hardest of his life speaks volumes about the trouble on Merseyside.

Despite it being far from pretty towards the end of last season, the Everton boss did exactly what was required of him to keep the Toffees in the Premier League and now he hopes to kick on and bring more success to Goodison.

Many managers would have spoken out about false promises or owners going back on their word with Dyche not having much money to spend in this summer’s transfer window, but instead, he has knuckled down to try and get the best out of his side.

While many will suggest several new names that could or maybe would do a better job if they were given the Everton manager’s job, for the current tumultuous situation at Goodison, there are few better equipped than Dyche to get the best out of the limited resources.

In other Everton news, Dyche has revealed he is yet to meet the new owners but expects talks with 777 Partners