Phil McNulty
BBC Sport chief football writer

Andy, long suffering
Evertonian: Hi Phil. With Sean Dyche
seemingly saying he had taken the Everton squad as far as he could, is
criticism of The Friedkin Group unfair? I’m not sure he left them with much
choice.

Morning, Andy. I think
the criticism of TFG is unfair in that if Sean Dyche felt he had taken Everton
as far as he could (or perhaps this particular squad as far as he could) then
they could not wait before acting as the current situation is very worrying.

The timing was certainly
unusual, a couple of hours before the FA Cup tie against Peterborough United,
but we must assume negotiations over severance terms were taking place.

My view, stated many
times here, was that Dyche was never going to be the manager taking Everton
into their new stadium, but I’m sure in an ideal world TFG would have preferred
to have made this decision at the end of the season, not three weeks into their
reign.

In the end,
circumstances forced their hand.

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