Delivering results on the pitch remains the top priority for Sean Dyche, but the Everton manager said his work during two tumultuous years at the club should be measured by much more than just winning games.
Since Dyche took charge in January 2023, Everton were deducted eight points for past breaches of the Premier League’s financial rules and faced a long search for a new owner before the Friedkin Group’s takeover last month, while building a new stadium.
Dyche’s side have fought off relegation in the last two seasons and they face a similar battle this campaign as they sit 16th in the table, two points above the relegation zone, ahead of visiting seventh-placed Bournemouth on Saturday.
When asked if he was getting the best out of his players, Dyche said he was certainly trying.
“My job here has been endless but nobody really cares… we’ve saved hundreds of millions of pounds, wages, skinning the squad down, all the rest of it. It’s not relevant, it’s just, ‘go win a game,'” the 53-year-old told reporters on Thursday.
“It depends how you measure it. I know the work we’ve done here. I know the work we’ve done financially. I know the work we’ve done with players. Players here are worth 10 times more than they were when we got here, so there’s development.”
Everton had to sell some players and let others run out their contracts in the summer of 2023 in an attempt to avoid breaching the league’s profitability and sustainability rules, Dyche revealed last year.
The club sold and released 19 players between June and September that year, including key midfielder Alex Iwobi’s departure to Fulham.
“Some managers get the luxury of going, ‘your job is to just concentrate on the team and that’s it’ because everything else is in place. It clearly hasn’t been here and it’s still not. There is miles to go,” Dyche said.
Everton, who won only one of their last 10 matches, have the second-worst attacking record in the league, scoring only 15 goals in 18 matches.
“If you measure it on just winning games, we need to do better, I need to do better. If you’re measuring it on the whole job, I’m pretty happy,” Dyche added.
