Everton’s recent managerial history has been something of a fever dream – it doesn’t feel real in a lot of ways.
Indeed, Everton are perhaps the only team in world football who could employ both Sam Allardyce and Carlo Ancelotti within a few years of one another.
The Rafa Benitez saga at Everton was bizarre to say the least, while Jose Mourinho was linked to Everton at one point.
Now, David Moyes is back at Everton a decade on from his first spell, bringing this whole thing full circle.
However, before Moyes was even Everton manager first time around, the Toffees’ managerial situation was still very strange.
Speaking on the Royal Blue Podcast, Joe Royle has been discussing his time at Everton and how he departed the club.
Royle says that he still really doesn’t understand why he was sacked by Everton, claiming that it was a very strange situation.
Joe Royle baffled by Everton sacking
The former Everton boss spoke about his departure from Goodison Park.
The gaffer says that he still doesn’t understand why he was sacked, and that the pressure he was under seemed to come from out of the blue.
“Yeah. I mean, does it still perplex you, the way that Everton finished then, and that season, you went in for the meet with Peter Johnson, and you said, you’re still not too sure to this day, really, why it panned out the way it did?” The host said.
“I would repeat that, yeah. You know, I went to see him, we’d gone on great. He’s a really nice fella,” Joe Royle said.
“I thought he was a good chairman as well, you know, I couldn’t understand what it was, but he said, I’ve been talking with one or two of the other board and we know the press feeling at the time. The press, for whatever reason, had jumped on my back. I’m sorry about your paper, your paper especially.
“And quite honestly, it just fizzled away. It did. I couldn’t understand it, you know, when I was getting the occasional letter saying, you know, what’s happening?
“I went back to the ground having met Peter Johnson and understanding what he’s saying, you know, we would like you to leave, you know.”
Everton’s record in final season under Joe Royle
Royle says that he can’t understand why he was sacked by Everton, but, looking back now, 30 years later, it is much easier to see why.
Indeed, while managers were given more time and patience in the 1990s as the sacking culture in football hadn’t quite set in the way it has now, results under Royle in that final season weren’t good enough.
Everton had finished 6th in the 1995/96 season, and that was down to Royle’s good management, as was the FA Cup win in 1995.
However, one year later, that momentum had evaporated, and by the time Royle was sacked, Everton weren’t a million miles away from the relegation places.
| Games | Wins | Draws | Losses | League position | |
| Everton position when Joe Royle was sacked | 31 | 9 | 9 | 13 | 13th |
Ultimately, Everton would stay up by just two points that season, and when your team declines in such a way, a change is needed.
Royle’s sacking was harsh, especially as he was a local lad and a club legend, but sadly, that decision does look a lot more justified in hindsight.
