There are many names that the bookies and fellow Evertonians are suggesting are in the running or should be the next manager of our great club. One name I have not seen mentioned in any articles, blogs or on TW who I believe should be seriously considered as the next manager of the mighty blues is that of Laurent Blanc.

Currently unemployed but previously having been manager of the French national team and prior to this manager of Bordeaux. Blanc managed to win the Ligue 1 title and League Cup in only his second season in management, his first season in charge Bordeaux finished runners up.

There may be those of you that will question the quality of the French league compared to the Premier League but before you do please read the excerpts below some direct comments from Blanc himself and some stats from articles written from his time in charge at Bordeaux:

"For me, playing football means ­having the ball, conjuring moves, ­harnessing your strengths, posing problems to your opponents, scoring goals and ­taking risks," he said last week. "Obviously I want my team to win, but I also want them to play ball. That's a state of mind, a fundamental principle, and Manchester United and Barcelona share it."

Bordeaux were down in fifth after Week 27, but they won their last 11 matches, a French record, with their final victory sending Caen into Ligue 2. "We worked so hard on our fitness back in January to be fit for this part of the season," said Blanc, "and that's what made the difference in the end."

It was not the only difference: this season, Bordeaux were unbeaten at home (their last defeat at Stade Chaban-Delmas was in October 2007), and earned 12 more points at home than the runners-up, Marseille; they showed huge mental strength, not least in the nine-man 1–0 win over Grenoble in Week 6, the comeback from 3–0 down to beat Monaco away 4–3 in Week 19 and, in Week 33, the 3–2 win at Rennes after having a player dismissed in the first half-hour. Their youth policy is working, as evidenced by the emergence of young local talents such as Benoît Trémoulinas and Grégory Sertic and their recruitment has been spot on, as the yo-yo pairing of two Yoanns – Gourcuff and Gouffran – proved on Saturday night.

Blanc had taken France to Euro 2012 on a high, with their 23-match unbeaten run only ended by a 2-0 defeat to Sweden in the last group game of the competition.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurent_Blanc

Maybe it's just me being too optimistic but if we are going to push on as a club with the foundations that Moyes has laid I think we could do a lot worse than appointing Blanc.

There is a good mix in the current squad of aged heads in the form of Distin, Jags and Osman with the flair of Pienaar, Mirallas, Baines and Fellaini along with the likes of Barkley, Coleman, Vellios, Duffy, Bidwell, Lundstram, Stones etc in the youth set-up that would give Blanc something to really work with to create a solid platform to build off. I would hope he would also be able to get Jelli firing again!

My thoughts are that if the club are going to try and retain the best players that the appointment of a manager with a solid reputation and proven track record is a must.

Lets just hope the hierarchy at Goodison are truly listening to what the fans think!

Brendan Fox, London     Posted 18/05/2013 at 11:05:50

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