'From the minute I walked in' - Sean Dyche on why Everton is the hardest job in the Premier League

Sean Dyche believes the Everton manager’s job has become the most difficult in English football in recent times. The 53-year-old spent almost a decade in charge of Burnley in his previous position but is the eighth Blues boss in as many years under Farhad Moshiri who this week agreed a deal to sell his 94.1% stake in the club to The Friedkin Group.

Having taken charge of Everton in late January 2023 with the team joint bottom of the Premier League table, Dyche steered them to safety on the final day of the season.

Despite posting the lowest equivalent points total in the club’s history, they avoided a first relegation in 72 years by a single goal as Abdoulaye Doucoure netted to hand them the victory that would guarantee their survival against Bournemouth.

READ MORE: Sean Dyche drops major Jarrad Branthwaite Everton selection hint for Crystal Palace

READ MORE: I think sacking Sean Dyche would be the biggest mistake Everton have made and that's saying a lot

Last term, Dyche guided them to a points total that would have been level with 11th-placed Brighton & Hove Albion last term if it hadn’t been for a brace of sporting sanctions for PSR breaches, finishing the campaign with five consecutive home victories and clean sheets.

But after five Premier League games so far this season, Everton are still searching for their first win as they prepare to host Crystal Palace. Asked if he had the most difficult job in the Premier League, Dyche said: “I have been fortunate to be in the company of people who have won lots and don’t forget it is a different kind of pressure having to win.

“Of course it is a more comfortable environment being up at the top but when you have won once, the people expect it more and more and more. I thought Leicester carried that feeling for a long time.

“The expectation was so high after they won the league, and it just stayed up there. That is a hardship, in a different kind of way.

“What I would say is that it has arguably been the hardest job over the last few years – if you add in everything. In modern football, you have management, and you have coaching.

“This has needed management. This didn’t need a coach.

“I’ve blended everything. Bring wages down, getting players in and out. It hasn’t just been me, other people have been involved as well.

“This has needed management, restructuring. If you go to just a head coach, then you are just coaching the players.”

Dyche led Burnley to European football for the first time since the 1966/67 season with a seventh-placed finish in the Premier League in 2017/18 – the Clarets’ highest position since they came sixth in 1974 – but having operated at a much smaller club with lower expectation levels, is he now better for the experience of being given a chance with one of the game’s giants, albeit under challenging circumstances?

He said: “The thing with experience is that you don’t know you have got it until you need it in the future.

“I had experience, as you know. But I have been learning about the in-house culture, the media culture, everything around the club.

“Here, you are a bit of a lone voice. I’m trying to answer everything as best I can, and I am trying to get the team to win some games. It has been a tough job and it remains a tough job.

“Pep (Guardiola) will be sitting there saying: ‘I’ve got to win three trophies this season.’ It’s a more enjoyable toughness.

“His version of a tough job will be different, dealing with 25 mini-companies. But, to finish off my ramble, yes – this is a very tough job, Everton Football Club, from the minute I walked in.

“And it remains it now. And, yes, the experience will be valid at some point.”