Ian Holloway gives scathing Everton assessment and offers managerial solution

Ian Holloway took both Blackpool and Crystal Palace to the Premier League and in an exclusive interview with Ladbrokes: Fanzone, he spoke about where relegation-threatened Everton are going wrong, and whether Frank Lampard was to blame.

Everton lack ambition and recruitment has been absolutely horrific

It’s been a funny season so far. Some clubs are outdoing all sorts of expectations, while others are really languishing in almost a pit of despair. Everton fall into the latter, but they’ve made it for themselves. They’ve tried too hard to change their style and what they want to do. You have to find identity, look at what your fans want, and try to give them that.

Everton fans want a team of fighters, they want battlers, they want to see their players wearing that shirt with pride. No one is expecting them to be outstanding and knock the ball around every team in the division, but fans are right to expect to see their team fight.

David Moyes’ approach when he was there perfectly explains what I’m talking about. Since then, they’ve gone from different manager to different manager. I don’t blame Frank Lampard at all for the position Everton find themselves in. He picked up a ticking bomb, I’m afraid.

As for where they go now, Everton need to decide on a style of play and stick with it, whether that’s for the Premier League or the Championship, because they’re flirting so close to going down. They sold their best striker in Richarlison and tried to replace him with two players, and it’s just not worked. It doesn’t look like an ambitious club, to me.

They’ve got to start from scratch. I’d urge them to bring in someone with experience who loves the club, someone who understands the situation they’re looking at. That doesn’t necessarily have to be the manager – I’m talking about someone who can come in behind the scenes and be that link between the manager and the supporters.

It comes down to recruitment which has been absolutely horrific. When your manager doesn’t have a say on those sort of things, you’re in terrible trouble. The likes of Thomas Frank at Brentford, and Brighton are probably an even better example. They’re so well run and the manager knows what’s happening, who’s coming in and is heavily involved in those decisions.

Everton are in a terrible state, but it’s not Frank’s fault. They need to look above and get someone in who knows what they’re doing. They need a long-term plan which seriously needs to take into consideration a manager who might have to come in and get this team up out of the Championship, because they’re teetering far too close to the drop for my liking.

Bring in Sean Dyche or failing that, bring back David Moyes

What about Duncan Ferguson? I think he did a brilliant job at Everton, and he worked alongside Carlo Ancelotti when they were absolutely buzzing. Whatever they do next, they have to stick to it. I live in Bristol and I urged directors at Rovers and City a few years ago to please stop sacking managers. I asked for it two years ago, and I’m really proud to see Nigel Pearson and Joey Barton still in jobs. You can’t just keep blaming managers, there’s so much more to it.

Football is chaotic, other businesses aren’t. Whatever the next move is from the Everton board, they’ve got to stick with it. Even if it means the fans don’t like you for it, it’s not about being popular; it’s about doing the right thing for the long-term stability of the club.

I’m glad it’s not me who has to make this decision because I would not like to choose their next manager at all. If I was pushed, I’d probably pick Sean Dyche, simply because the style that he plays, and the job he did at Burnley, getting a club of that size into Europe, he was incredible there. Yes, they had a bad season, but I don’t think they’d have gone down last year if they’d have kept him in charge. I would be looking at Sean Dyche, and I’d be bringing in a Duncan Ferguson or a Wayne Rooney to work alongside him, so that the fans are absolutely tied into what Everton means.

If not, then go back to the best manager you’ve had in years in David Moyes. Sometimes, going back to what you once had isn’t that mad in football, it really isn’t.