The Everton squad is back home this weekend following a week away in Portugal, although the club is having to play down reports that a trip intended to forge tighter team unity was almost undermined by a brief flare-up involving the manager and some of his players.
An incident involving Nathan Patterson and Sean Dyche, described as “jocular clip” to the back of the head by Matt Hughes of the Daily Mail, was said to have provoked a reaction from some members of the team during a team meal in the Algarve resort of Quinta do Lago on Wednesday.
The report suggests tempers flared to the point that James Tarkowski had to step in to play peacemaker and remove Dyche to allow the situation to simmer down.
Club insiders have been at pains to say, however, that there was no major bust-up, claiming that the incident was just a clumsy joke that backfired and that there is no lingering ill-feeling in the group.
Dyche quickly apologised to Patterson, who was said “to have been embarrassed to have been the centre of attention”, and the squad trained as normal on Thursday and Friday before flying back to Merseyside where they will continue their preparations for their first fixture on the other side of a three-week break from action when they travel to Bournemouth.
The Blues are out of action for much of March due to the FA Cup Quarter-Finals which take place this weekend and the international break that follows where some of the players will be on duty for their countries.
It was hoped that the break would allow the players to rest and reset following a run of 11 games without a Premier League win during which they have struggled for goals and seen their renowned defensive solidity start to erode.
In the meantime, the club was expected to have gone before a second independent commission in the middle of this month, with the panel convening either late this past week or early next week following Nottingham Forest’s own hearing after being charged by the Premier League for breaking Profitability and Sustainability Rules.
Forest are set to hear the outcome of their hearing on Monday while a verdict on Everton’s is expected by the end of the first week of April.
A decision on any appeals must be delivered by 24 May, five days after the 2023-24 season concludes.