Agent Rafa’s sacking at Everton and the big finger of blame | Soccer

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GOODISON NARK

Caring owners who are quick to spend money? Check. A highly decorated manager with a Big Cup-winning pedigree? Check. A chic and luxurious new stadium being built on the local quays? Check. Joined at the top of the table or thereabouts after four games of the season? Tickety-tick, tick…tick! Rewind just four months and life must have seemed like a pretty boss for your average Evertonian who might have wandered around Bootle. Like an inverted Mike Ashley, majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri seemed to have the club’s best interests at heart, was happy to pour money on new players and replaced one European heavyweight manager with another, although a man not everyone was ready to welcome because of his association with Liverpool.

Of course, that was then and this is now, a day after agent Rafa was sacked following an embarrassing loss to Norwich. The latest in a long string of largely diabolical performances that yielded just two league wins from 15 matches, with the side dropping to 16th in the table, it was the nadir of an already terrible season. “Everton Football Club can confirm the departure of Rafael Benítez as first team manager,” read a brief statement from the club. “Benítez, who joined Everton in June 2021, has left the club with immediate effect. An update on a permanent replacement will be given in due course.

Short and blunt to the point, the terse announcement made no mention of the talents matching the key players who had wasted Rafa’s time in charge, failed to thank him for his admittedly weak efforts, and certainly did not wish him well for the future. In short: “Sling it! And don’t let those Goodison doors hit your back on the way out. After recovering his P45, Rafa returned home and started a relatively epic blog in which he pointed his Big Finger Of Blame at lack of transfer funds, injuries, impatience from his employers and uncle Tom Cobley for the almighty mess Everton are currently in. And while there’s a lot of blame for the current mess, Rafa didn’t seem ready to accept anything.

And now for Everton, who find themselves looking for their seventh boss in six years? Belgian manager Bobby M is the current disappointing favorite for the gig, despite having already been fired by the current regime. While Wayne Rooney, Big Dunc and Frank Lampard have also been mentioned. Moshiri is also known to be an ardent admirer of Jose Mourinho, who could be in line to withdraw his latest multi-million payment from Roma any day now. If only to please those of us who are intrigued to see how much gas might be left in this particular explosion, we implore the owner of Everton to give it to Big Dunc until the Special One is available.

LIVE ON A GREAT WEBSITE

Nick Ames is following Cape Verde 0-3 Cameroon in the Africa Cup of Nations right now and joins Will Unwin for gong-by-gong updates of the Fifa Best Awards at 6pm GMT.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“I’ve had a few times where I’ve been up there this season. It was a special moment. I hope we will make the nation proud. [Sierra Leone] still rises but our job isn’t done” – England wonder Steven Caulker, who is an integral part of the Afcon underdogs defense, on how he ended up surging forward to establish the equalizing goal against Ivory Coast which gave a chance, against all odds, to qualify for the round of 16.

Steven Caulker keeping an eye on the ball at Afcon, earlier. Photography: Charly Triballeau/AFP/Getty ImagesLISTENING RECOMMENDED

Get your listening gear around for the latest Football Weekly podcast.

FIVE LETTERS

“José Mourinho to Everton will be the ‘logical’ next step in the Premier League’s confirmed confidence in Da Vinci’s perpetual motion machine” – Krishna Moorthy.

“According to the French revolutionary calendar, Sunday was the 26th day of the month of Nivôse, the day reserved for the celebration of pewter. I hope the Fiver clan enjoyed the day” – Richard O’Hagan.

“When I was a brat, I loved TV’s The Bionic Man, the story of handsome and athletic Steve Austin, an astronaut who got roughed up when his spacecraft crashed. But government-sanctioned surgery on Austin, and the boffins reconstructed various pieces of him with machine parts, turning him into a cyborg-like specimen with superhuman powers I was a little skeptical even at my young age, but it was fun to As a stricken man for years, it’s fun to watch Newcastle United’s oil-money sanctioned surgery, but suddenly even Austin’s transformation is believable” – Lindsay Williams.

“With the drinking culture in Downing Street seeming to be as lively and unhealthy as Arsenal in the mid-90s, I think I’ve found something for Arsene Wenger to do (apart from trying to overthrow the World Cup and the laws of the game). Some of these ministers really seem to stand to benefit from the increase in broccoli consumption that Wenger’s appointment would bring” – Neil McGwyre.

Send your letters to [email protected]. And you can always tweet The Fiver via @guardian_sport. Today’s winner of our invaluable letter of the day is… Neil McGwyre.

NEWS, BITS AND BOBS

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has returned from the Africa Cup of Nations after doctors detected heart damage following his recovery from Covid.

Christian Eriksen could return to the Premier League with Brentford, to work with fellow Dane Thomas Frank.

Over 80,000 tickets have been sold for El Clásico between Barcelona and Real Madrid in the Women’s Big Cup quarter-final.

After successfully securing the North London derby on Sunday with Tottenham postponed due to lack of numbers, Arsenal loaned Pablo Marì to Udinese. They are due to face Liverpool in the Rumbelows Cup on Thursday.

Real Madrid won the Spanish Super Duper Pot by beating Athletic Bilbao 2-0 in Saudi Arabia, with 87-year-old Luka Modric scoring the opener.

Brave underdogs Real Madrid win another pot. Photography: EPA

And Diego Costa, still only 33, is now a free agent after terminating his contract with Atlético Mineiro. “Thank you so much for being part of my childhood dream of playing in Brazilian football and winning titles,” he roared at the end of a five-month marathon.

WANT EVEN MORE?

We’ve got some Premier League and Women’s Super League talking points to get your teeth into.

Torino is the Megadeth of Serie A, writes Nicky Bandini.

Megadeth gives off some serious Turin vibes. Photography: Suzanne Cordeiro/AFP/Getty

Yann Sommer saves penalties but he cannot save Borussia Mönchengladbach alone, according to Andy Brassell.

Even the Bordeaux sponsor thinks they are terrible, says Ligue Urrrrrrn enthusiast Eric Devin.

Rafa is gone but Everton still have a lot of issues to deal with, argues floating football mastermind Jonathan Wilson.

And if that’s your thing…you can follow Big Website on Big Social FaceSpace. And INSTACHAT TOO!

HE ALWAYS HAS HIS SALT AND PEPPERS

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