Is the Everton hierarchy stalling for time?

It is fair to say that things have not gone to plan for Everton and head coach Marco Silva this season. A promising season has turned into a potential relegation battle.

The Portuguese boss has failed to turn things around and struggled to find his best starting eleven from his expensively assembled squad. A 2-0 home defeat against bottom of the table Norwich last time out was the last straw for the long-suffering Evertonian’s.

Not helped by injuries

Although Silva has appeared out of his depth at times this season, it has to be said that injuries have not helped the Portuguese boss. Currently the Toffees are without first-choice central midfield duo of Jean-Philipp Gbamin and Andre Gomes, both of whom will reportedly be out of action well into 2020.

Gbamin was the replacement for the influential Idrissa Gueye. Unfortunately, due to the injury, he has hardly featured for the Toffees. Then there is the absence of mercurial but creative winger Bernard. He has been highly inconsistent for the Merseysider’s but provides that bit of flair often needed to win games.

Those players absence has no doubt affected the way Silva has set-up his team and results for the Merseysider’s.

A reported split at the club

Reportedly there is a split at the top of the club between long-serving chairman Bill Kenwright and majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri. Reports from Merseyside suggest that the pair have different opinions on what should happen with the managerial role.

The reports suggest that Kenwright favours former boss David Moyes coming in on a temporary basis at first. However, the Toffees chairman and Moyes have a close relationship from Scot’s previous decade-long spell at the club.

It has been suggested that Moshiri favours appointing a more long-term solution. The majority shareholder wields more power at the club, Kenwright has been part of the club for a long time and is a lifelong Toffees fan.

There are suggestions that the pair should not be the ones deciding on the club’s new boss. Marcel Brands is the club’s director of football and is also now on the board. It should be the Dutchman who decides on the clubs, next boss. That was the point of his appointment, that he would run the football side of things.

However, if reports are true, then both Kenwright and Moshiri want to play a big role in the clubs next move for a boss. Both are strong characters and that may well be damaging the Toffees chances of moving forward.

Just stalling for time?

It seems that the Everton have allowed Silva a stay of execution. However, there is a theory that the Portuguese boss has only still got a job because the Toffees next two games away at top-two Leicester and Liverpool. On current form, the Merseysider’s are unlikely to pick up results in either game.

The same theory lends itself to the new boss coming in on an easy run of games, which I suppose in some ways makes some sense in a twisted way. If that’s the truth, then the situation is unfair on Silva and everybody connected with the club.

Moyes remains the favourite to be the next Everton boss at odds of 4/6, while Bournemouth head coach Eddie Howe the second favourite at odds of 11/2. The likes of Mark Hughes, Rafa Benitez and Jorge Jesus high in the betting.

The likes of Moyes, Hughes and Howe would not be universally popular choices amongst Evertonian’s, as graffiti on the side of Goodison Park recently illustrated.

The problem is there seems to be no ideal replacement for Silva. That has likely led to the Portuguese boss getting more time than he probably would usually.

The situation is a mess and it may get worse over the next week and the Toffees may have no other choice than to sack Silva, which now seems inevitable.

Is the Everton hierarchy stalling for time?