Sean Dyche says he cannot focus on his Everton future while dealing with a “volatile situation on and off the pitch” after the club distanced themselves from comments from the prospective new owner, John Textor.
Everton travel to Aston Villa on Saturday bottom after losing their opening three Premier League matches. Over the international break the focus has been on Textor’s potential takeover, which he is confident of completing before the 30 November deadline.
The American businessman is the fifth bidder granted a period of exclusivity by Blue Heaven Holdings, the company that owns Everton, and he spoke to Sky Sports about the progress of the deal and the future of Dyche, whose contract runs out at the end of the season.
“The last thing on my mind if I spoke to a new owner – if there was a new owner – would be my contract,” Dyche said. “That will sort itself out one way or another. That’s the other side of the business. They want to know you, what’s happening, where we are at. My contract is the least of my concerns at the moment. The first of my concerns is the team winning football matches.”
Textor suggested he would sit down with Dyche and ask whether he would work with players recommended by the American and whether he could adapt to coaching players such as Botafogo’s Igor Jesus or Luis Henrique. Textor played down rumours he has lined up Palmeiras’s Abel Ferreira to replace Dyche.
“That’s standard,” Dyche said. “In 10 years as a manager if you think I haven’t been down this road before you would be wrong. Even at Burnley they would talk about [other] managers for years.
“This club has had eight or nine years of that kind of thing [happening] every 12 or 18 months, with noise generated either from bad results or a feeling that ‘you’ve got to change it’. You’d ask why: ‘I don’t know, they just do.’ I have never worried about it. Full stop. I just get on working dealing with realities.”
Everton’s interim chief executive officer, Colin Chong, said of Textor’s comments: “While positive conversations and progress continues to be made with Mr Textor to formalise any deal with him, there remains some work to be done to complete the transaction.
“Accordingly, the comments made by Mr Textor merely represent his personal view on club matters. Everyone at the club is staying focused on providing the best possible support to Sean and the squad as we head into the weekend’s fixture.”