Koeman: They're living in the past at Everton

He certainly didn't appear to have a game plan. He didn't improve or get the best of of the players. That was all of his responsibility.

If he can't handle the expectation of Everton fans, what's he doing at Barcelona?

Please just admit it was a good opportunity but he wasn't upto the challenge. Nice pay off either way.

Never wanted, never liked, thanks for nothing. Nothing personal, our board made a bad appointment.

We have moved on.

And You're the One to Blame, Ronnie

Koeman was, and remains, a complete ass.

At the time of his appointment I was really optimistic, such a let down. His treatment of Niasse says everything you need to know about Ronald, an arrogant dick.

With or without the money Koeman blew, I bet Ancelloti would never utter those words.

Plus, if anyone is looking to their past too much it’s Barcelona, by appointing a former good player who is again proving to be a very average manager wherever he ends up. I’m surprised he’s lasted this long there but don’t worry, it won’t last.

I suppose if he's going to sit for an interview like that he has to fight his corner, as it were, but a tenure best forgotten barring a few fleeting exceptions.

All in the past now, RK.

His all too public mismanagement of Barkley which in the end cost the club about £30m, his inability to build rapport with anybody be they players, fans or media, revealed his limitations as a manager, leader and communicator. I would have sacked him after the debacle of the 3-0 defeat at Atalanta. The final few weeks after that were chaotic. He showed no clue how to arrest the decline.

He is arrogant, and ultimately lazy.

He is the one manager who had everything to succeed. He had an already decent quality squad - a world class striker and some solid players with a couple of high quality youngsters. He had money to spend.

And he absolutely blew it.

Lazy in training. Lazy in recruitment. He thought his name would make him a success.

The horror irony is, when he came I remember the scepticism of "he's only here until he gets the Barcelona job".

I always countered this with "if he gets the Barcelona job, then it means he'll have been a success with us".

If only.

The blame is not on fan expectation but the inability to use that expectation as a driving force as Klopp has managed at monkey island,

Watch the fan reaction when we won under Martinez at OT the potential here is monumental for the right man

He didn't care enough about the club, he's a vile man.

This article sums him up, arrogant and shows up his disinterest that we all saw from him.

Shows how disparate Football can be allowed to be, from both the grass roots and against the loyalty of the fans, who unfortunately remain victims, while the guilty have gone free.

I assume that the appointment was instigated by Moshiri, who has obviously learned very expensively the error of his ill-suited, and ill- advised decision to appoint him in the first instance.

Hopefully we are now in the Recovery Room, and things can only get better.

On point 1, yeah in a sense e.g we all love to make remarks like "remember back in 1985. " so in a nostalgic sense we live in the past but I think he's implying we think it's 1987 and we assume we will win the league. I don't see much of that among our fan base. On point 2. Fans I know in the real world, and most people on ToffeeWeb, I definitely don't think anyone is living in cloud cuckoo land with expectations.

Priority trips to golf courses and not taking enough interest in the club contributed to his downfall.

Floored operation and poor transfer policy and buying players for the wrong need, and to play out of position.

Being a very good player doesn’t mean you can be a very good coach.

Let’s see how long his tenure at Barca as manager, lasts.

Fair enough. I don't go on the live forum much

There are arrogant people, there are those that like to project arrogance, then there are those that are arrogant and like to project it. Koeman is one. Goes out of his way to be an arsehole.

The Barcelona talk for so long; based on what precisely? A complete mystery. As is the fact he's got the positions that he has. His record is pretty much the same throughout his management history. Southampton was the exception.

As to "Expectation" - in competitive sport? Not having hope and expectations is the defeatist position.

I can't believe he's not been found out, as it were. Maybe it will happen after Barca sack him.

A reality check is needed. Barcelona are on their knees and the elite coaches won’t touch them with a shitty stick at the minute. €1 billion in debt and the greatest player in history about to leave as soon as the last ball is kicked this season. They are a mess and that’s the only reason he’s manager, because he’s the only one that would take it.

His first day in charge he absolutely Niasse’d Suarez and look at him now Atletico flying and top of the league 14 goals in 15 games. The man is an utter c**t.

And excuse us Ronald. Excuse us for wanting better when we know what success has tasted like. Excuse us for showing ambition and for expecting our manger to be able to fucking do something with £200m in transfer funds. We should take this prick to court for the spending of that money we gave him. We’re only just putting his mess right 3 years later!

He’ll be unemployed very soon and I’ll laugh my head off when the axe falls.

Cunt.

Absolute ocean-going thunder-c**t of a man.

“I don't know that he was lazy, how do any of us?”

There’s a lot of irony in your post given that your default response to any defeat is to come on here and accuse the players of not caring, not being impacted by it, going home and not dwelling on their performance, being overpaid etc. So I would ask you: how do you know they do not care, how do any of us?

Living in the past? Of course you can find an argument for this, but I’d say at least 33% of our fans have never seen us win a trophy, so this doesn’t really make sense to suggest such a thing to these fans.

He had no feelings for Everton, and never tried to hide the fact, and for a manager who spent a fortune and was also an absolutely fantastic footballer, I honestly couldn’t believe how poor his method-less football was on the eye.

Yes, strange. There must be many players who are good footballers, perhaps for instinctive reasons, perhaps because they understand their specific role in the limited context of the couple of positions on the pitch which are close to them, who religiously follow a manger's instructions - but who don't really understand the bigger picture, and the changing picture, in a game, and who would just never make a manager.

It all started to unravel when Lukaku left and he didn't land Giroud. Without a striker, his stockpiling of misfits was always going to bite him on the arse.

Playing more golf than training, blaming everyone else meant that he was more or less manoeuvring his own sacking. Sure enough, his arrogance and past reputation have got him 2 massive jobs since leaving us but God knows how. Barca will soon enough give him the chop but it will always be someone else's fault.

How wrong I was. His performance at our club was a disgrace. And this interview is utter bullshit. We don’t have unrealistic aspirations, they are simply high.

Koeman was such a player, and was arguably one of the most comfortable ball playing defenders I’ve ever seen, but watching Everton play under him was the total opposite, and was mostly very uncomfortable viewing, because there was imo, absolutely no real method whatsoever.

I also wonder if the story about Kenwright refusing to allow him to bring in Sammy Lee, (if that’s true) affected his feelings before he’d even got his feet under the table? But if this was true, it would only confirm that he only came because he got an offer he couldn’t £e£use.

I'm pretty sure it's quite an industry within the game. Unfortunately, we've been suckered into appointing Martinez, Koeman, Silva and Allardyce who were all at it. It has brought our club's future into jeopardy. Personally, I don't see Carlo as belonging to the same coterie but, if he is, we are in very serious trouble.

Derek #48, it's because I'm secure in my masculinity that I'm able to openly confess here... that I love you.

Barbed wire, private parts, fast car... I will be laughing until breakfast tomorrow.

Mike G, glad I made someone happy, no point in being Les Miserables, although we have a full supporting cast on here at times.

No class whatsoever and I will piss myself laughing when he makes a bollocks of his ‘dream job'.

I was one who was pleased at the time with the Koeman appointment. I admit in hindsight to being blinkered by my admiration of Koeman the player vice Koeman the manager. I was uncomfortable with us appointing Martinez and dismayed at our pursuit of Silva. With Koeman, I thought this could be something.

A great player, possibly one of the best centre backs I've seen and my word what a shot he had on him. An unstoppable straight arrow that frequently pierced the net. That probably warped my view as I have continuously preached a great player doesn't translate to a good manager. I should have known better.

I liked his straight talking, but that is what probably comes out in this interview. I don't think he is purposely being offensive. He is being Dutch. Those who have worked with Dutch people, lived in or near Holland will understand they are naturally blunt straight talking people. Even by a "tell it how it is" scouser standard, they border on rude at times, but that must be taken in the context of them not speaking in their native language too. That aside, they are a very direct people by nature in my experience.

So, with that in mind, in Koeman's head and given the time he was at Everton and our recent history over the decades since the 80s, I can see his "living in the past" perception. Sometimes the truth hurst. I do personally wallow in the past longing for future success. But that's me the life long Evertonian, not someone from Holland who has achieved huge success on the European club and international level.

But, the guy never had any conviction in Everton. For me the alarm bells started ringing when he seemed to need convincing. I believe at the time we were also linked with his Dutch counterpart who ultimately flopped at Palace. He never seemed to buy into Everton and it never really felt like he wanted to be there. Much more comfortable on the golf course by all accounts.

I hope that is a balanced view.

I remember watching Klaassen in the Europa League Final against Man Utd; I think he touched the ball once. Barkley, the one man who kept trying to play football and always showed for the ball, he hung him out to dry and used him as the scapegoat. That finished Ross at Everton, in my opinion.

Koeman is a smug. overrated manager. Overrated by himself and what baffles me most, by the football world. Most of his tricks have been reminded in the course of this thread, and it's not pretty reading. At one time I seriously wondered whether he was trying to fail here.

Martinez may have struggled when the going got tough, and he was a frustrated corporate PR at times, but his intentions were right. He probably over-hyped the players in public and was too defensive. Koeman, on the other hand...

I agree about the "Strange" aspect!

Also, sometimes as much as we get defensive, an outsider's view brings home some uncomfortable truths. Everton's woes go way back before Koeman's tenure.

But, I make no excuses for Koeman's indifference to Everton, just trying to add some context and perspective.

It also took us years to replace Baines, Distin and Jags. Poor planning all round. I don't even want to add up all the signings made that we wont recover a penny on, that have cost us millions. Bolasie, Sandro, Siggy, Scheids, Walcott, Tosun. £150m+ to buy, plus wages. And sold for next to nothing. Not only that but we let Sandro, Walcott, Bolasie and Tosun go and will still be paying a lot of their wages... probably up to 500 grand a month so they can play for other clubs.

I cant stand Koeman. First game vs Spurs l knew it would be shit. But l put the blame solely at the feet of Moshiri who went from one style to another and threw ridiculous sums of money around. Icing on the cake when he hired Silva.

His treatment of Niasse was despicable - who for all his faults...which were legion, was worth every penny we paid out just to see the look on cloggies fat grid when those 2 goals went in.

He had a great career, but was an absolute awful snide of a player...and as we've seen with Niasse a human being.
I was going to say tailor made for the rs, but I doubt even thrry would have him.
Then you add on to all that the red and white Christmas tree.

His tenure nearly ruined us and set us back years.

He said that Lulaku needed to leave in order to realise his ambitions and potential.

He consistently criticised Ross Barkley in public.

He consistently failed to accept accountability for bad performances on the pitch, always blaming the players.

He should have been sacked sooner.

His appointment was a very bad mistake.

At least now we have an accomplished and highly professional manager, a top manager, in Ancelotti.

“The desire to be a politician should bar you for life from ever becoming one.”

He had absolutely no respect for anything or anyone except his pay packet, no respect for the club, its supporters or players, no respect for why he was appointed or what Moshiri was trying to do. It was beneath him.

Danny made comment re the fact he was being Dutch, no, and I have worked in Amsterdam, he was rude and dismissive but more than anything he couldn't have cared less.

Frankly every Everton supporter KNOWS what he did and how he left us, for all the moaning about how we are currently playing, its because of the players koeman bought in, the players still on our books and now only getting rid. THATS why we are in the position we are now, THATS why on the pitch we are a fragmented half team thats being replaced by Ancelotti.

Its been a dreadful legacy, we are living in the past because its all we have had to hold on to after the disgraceful tenancy of Kenwright, the naivety of Moshiri and the bad management of Koeman. The perfect storm.

Next week Ronny tells us how the COVID pandemic could all have been over in a matter of weeks if only they'd banned chop suey rolls in all the chippys.

He is right in so much that his second season was blighted by the loss of Lukaku and him not being replace
He is right that fan expectation is based on former glories and often not realistic

But it is also right that fans can point to the signing made in his second season as being poorly planned and imbalanced
Its also fair of the fans to be critical of his attitude

He had more money than any Everton manager in history at that point, and was part of a team that sold the most prolific striker in recent history and replaced him with, well, no one.

As for Niasse, I actually side with Koeman. He should have gone. It was a mistake to sign him. He has only just gone and even as a free agent struggled to get a team. He was crap.

As for supporter expectation and the lack of a proven goalscorer - did he think the Barca fans would have any lower expectations that Everton's and as for lack of a proven goalscorer, well, he can't get at tune out of that lazy mug Messi, can he?

I can honestly say I’ve never disliked an Everton manager as much as I disliked Koeman, perhaps with the exception of Allardyce. Interestingly, perhaps, I disliked them both from day one but I was willing to give each of them a chance.

Koeman complains that he lost Lukaku and couldn’t replace his goals. Well, he had plenty of money in the kitty and failed to do so. In that second season, it’s not as if we were creating chances left, right and centre and failing to put them away. We were god-awful all over the pitch - and that’s down to the manager.

As for expectations - they come with the job. Moshiri will have set those expectations. If you feel they’re unrealistic, you don’t take the job. Instead, we chased Koeman across Europe that summer, gradually offering more and more money until he was prised away from Southampton - naively as it turned out.

This was a man who couldn’t be bothered to delay his holiday, or make a quick trip back to the UK to sign his contract and do a couple of interviews. Instead the club had to “announce” him using footage filmed in his hotel lobby.

Once he took the job, he was the last in and the first out of the training ground on the days he bothered to turn up.

He was never interested in living in Northern England, nor up to the challenge of awakening the biggest of the country’s remaining sleeping giants. He was surly, disinterested, uninspiring and downright lazy. Yet he puts his failures down to the lack of a striker? All we’ve learned is that he’s still as arrogant as he ever was.

I was staggered by the money he was allowed to spend with no obvious plan. Surely someone at the club asked the question as to why Sigurdsson, Vlasic, Klaassen and Rooney for the same position? Moshori just as much to blame for letting this fool loose with bags of cash.

I apologise for this as Christine Foster is the only lady on here and I applaud her for that. Like every other comment about Koeman's words regarding we Evertonians, I thoroughly enjoyed yours too, Christine, but I get a miffed when anyone has a go at Kenwright.

Why? He's an Evertonian, like us and too many clubs are foreign-owned. Although this isn't bad in itself, I am well proud we have an Evertonian on point at our football club.

Why? Because, after 60 years of being an Evertonian and the first 15 playing footy against the Goodison Road gates next to St Luke's, I really appreciate the importance of a man at the helm who I know will always put the football club he loves before himself.

Personally, if I were ever good enough, I would play for Everton for nothing and I wouldn't play for any other football club in the world. And I wouldn't give a shite being paid as I would just live off and feed off the sheer overwhelming pleasure of doing so and living my dream.

I sincerely believe Kenwright is no different and, whilst he is alive, he should be respected as such as I am convinced he has always done the very best he could do for our football club.

Secondly, it was Kenwright who spent years at Highbury "courting" Mr Moshiri that convinced him to come and finance our club, our dreams. As a typical Scouse bloke, who has had the last rites umpteen times as a much younger man and therefore has never taken anything for granted, especially my life and being alive, I will not believe Bramley Moore is actually happening until I am sitting in my seat but it is down to Kenwright persuading Mr Moshiri to come here that is giving life and expectation to a greater dream.

Without Kenwright's love of EFC, he would never have got Moshiri to come here and we would never even be able to moan and get angry about Koeman's tenure at all, nor the money spent if it wasn't for Mr Kenwright.

I love you for being an Evertonian, Christine, but without Mr Kenwright and all those before him, with him and Moshiri after him, we would not have our beloved football club and people like me would not have had the sheer delight of the Kendall & Harvey days and my life would be so much poorer except for my 23-year-old boss Evertonian lad, Gabriel; the only experience and joy that can top the lot.

God bless our football club and all Evertonians.

And now he wants to use it as an excuse as to why he was no good at the job. They say those who forget the errors of the past are doomed to repeat them: Messi, anybody?

In terms of living in the past, I assumed when I saw the headline that it referenced his management philosophy and style. Fascinating to see that unravel real-time at Barca.

Lousy manager (had some success in Holland, years ago... not much since).

Been collecting a paycheque on reputation alone since 2009.

In it for the money. (I can't blame him for that. I'd do the same if clubs kept throwing millions my way...) I wish he'd shut up, though.

Link

Christine, I am generalising and stereotyping on the Dutch psyche. Amsterdam is the capital and generally more outward looking. I worked / lived on the border with Limburg in the south.

Just as our capital is more cosmopolitan and liberal in comparison to the North West (for example) who are more direct and hard faced by nature. And yes, on both counts that is generalising and stereotyping as you will find examples of both in either region.

We all agree, Koeman was a poor manager for Everton. The worst? I still feel sad that Sam Allardyce was ever associated with Everton Football Club and Mike Walker's reign still gives me PTSD.

Looks like Sam's firehose has lost it's connection to the hydrant and run dry by the way.

Your post just has a kind of slightly Trumpy (?)..um.. 'evangelical' tone.

"U.S-manov!! U.S-manov!! U.S-manov!!"

The antithesis of someone like Joe Royle.

Believe it or not, there are quite a few females who post here on TW. This is about 15 years all up for me, so have seen the good the bad and the ugly.

My singular line regarding the tenancy of Bill Kenwright is my opinion and I am sure you are just as adamant in yours; there has been so much written already regarding that, I would rather not dredge up the debate but leave you with your perspective.

Suffice to say that it was mentioned in relation to the comment by Koeman that we are living in the past, especially when the near present was filled with a club that barely survived financially with no investment and poor management throughout.

As a result, we did live in the past because it was all we had and the hope it would get better. Koeman in his comments didn't "get" Everton and did not understand exactly why we believed in something he clearly didn't.

Dane, I hope the club has now entered a new phase in its being and we can leave all that behind; it may take a few more years but I hope the corner we are turning is not another roundabout!

A clever man is Blue Bill. He has to be, given the amount of disciples he accrues.

I'm positive there are more Evertonians who like Kenwright than dislike him.

The one point that always irks me is when people say “Kenwright is one of us”. Well I've followed Everton for a long time and never met a Blue who even remotely resembled anyone like Kenwright as a fellow Blue, never ever.

If Bill had been around in the 1800s he could have made a living out of charming the snake oil charmers, such is his ability.

Koeman has won nothing as a manager yet displays all the arrogance of a man who has won everything you can in the game, whereas Ancelotti, who has won everything, shows not one jot of arrogance.

Koeman decided to live way outside the City region instead, choosing to live as far away as possible. For those who think there is no issue with that, could you imagine a Man Utd manager living in the suburbs of Liverpool? Where Ancelotti based himself a short bike ride from the City centre, as he was quite happy bumping into fans.

Koeman sold most of our promising young players: Barkley, Deulofeu, Lookman – and actually encouraged Lukaku to leave to better himself. We have seen the difference under Ancelotti with more youngsters training with the first team and getting game time.

I know that Ancelotti has got his critics on TW but thank God we have a proven winner rather than a serial loser and moaner, and during this interview his arrogance shines through as not once does he admit to his mistakes. For me personally, I think he looked at Everton as being a tiny step up from Southampton, but it gave him a massive hike in his salary.

The only thing that was constant with Koeman was his desire to manage Barca, well it doesn't seem to be going very well but that won't surprise any Evertonian.

Koeman 2016: "If Romelu was to play at Everton until the end of his career, I know he has left something (behind). His potential is greater and higher than Everton as a final destination."

(Independent.ie: "Ronald Koeman makes bizarre statement suggesting Lukaku needs to leave Everton to fulfill potential")

So, you arsehole, who was responsible for literally escorting Lukaku out of the door?

The worst manager in my years of following Everton (Moyes years onwards) bar none – not even Sam Allardyce. At least Sam did what he was asked to do, ie, keep us up in the league.

As much more eloquent posters before me have posted, Koeman's tenure was the most damaging in recent history, and we were lucky, very lucky that we managed to claw back from the brink of relegation. As someone else suggested, if I was Moshiri, I would sue him in court for dereliction of duty.

A cold fish. A mercenary and a cunt.

that's a great find. It's him!

Koeman was more than welcome to buy a new striker if that was the key missing element.

I thought at the time it would come good. How very wrong I was.
Another one one of Koeman's mistakes was not to bring Dusan Tadic with him from his old club. His fee would have been similar to Klassen's, never mind Sigurdsson's...
Tadic is still playing Champions League for Ajax, and is mostly one of their best players.

The thrashing at home by Atalanta, I'm still angry about, it was on my birthday.
Many have used the adjective's arrogant and clueless. Spot on.

I wonder how long he'll last at Barca? He'll get fired at one point, I've said so to a mate in the Summer.

Here's a little quiz for you.

Q: Assuming Bill Kenwright actually paid for his Everton shares with his own money, how much has he subsequently pocketed from the club as pure profit?

a: None
b: Only what was due him as the beloved Chairman of Everton FC
c: Only reasonable business and travel costs in the line of duty
d: A couple of million pounds
e: Over £20M pounds

Take your time. No prizes.

MK. "Assuming Bill Kenwright actually paid for his Everton shares with his own money." Have you evidence to suggest otherwise?
I'm asuming you do all your work pro bono?

Eugene (strange comment even by your standards) Dane and I wear MEGA hats. You should try one.

The failures always make excuses. Fat Sam still can't understand why he wasn't liked and claims he got the boot because of a press campaign.

But for what it is worth, I do not despise or hate Bill Kenwright. In my own simple (and as I say not very well read up) view. I see someone who is an Evertonian as much as the rest of us. I get Dave's point, he is a Blue who demonstrates more overly sentimental, over-the-top emotional sentiment that I would associate with a Kopite, but I don't doubt his Everton-ness.

As I see it, he picked us up when no-one would touch us with a barge pole and at the time, I was just glad to be rid of Johnson.

He has hung on too long and even in the Moshiri years has been until recently wielding too much influence. But then maybe that is Moshiri's problem to sort out.

The Bill debate isn't really my thing but thought I'd chip in as I don't believe he is the demon many make him out to be. Well, not through intent anyway.

Look, I think Kenwright should have let go years ago and his continued influence even when Moshiri came in. set us back yet again. The "our Wayne" homecoming, the manager appointments, they all had Kenwright stamp on them until we appointed Ancelloti.

But the rot had set in before that. I believe it goes back to the very season after we won the league in 1987. Our only player investment was Ian Wilson - remember him?! With Dr David Marsh at the helm, we went into reverse and failed to jump on the inevitable Premier League bandwagon when were still a name. We are still a name of course, but you get my meaning. By the time we woke up, we were surviving on the last day of the season and damaged goods.

Onto the match tonight. I haven't seen the team yet!

Still can't believe Barcelona give him the Manager job. It will take years to recover after he is gone.

Still can't believe Barcelona give him the Manager job. It will take years to recover after he is gone.

$300m to you Ronnie

He's now at the pinnacle of where he wanted to be, at Barcelona. When he doesn't win as much as he should from his privileged position, it will be everyone else's fault. Exactly as it was when Holland failed to capitalise on winning the Euros in '88. No team could live up to his ego as a player except Barcelona... and it's the same for his managerial career. It wasn't Southampton's players who did well, no, it was him.

I'm sure in his own mind he single-handedly got Holland to the heights of the final of the mighty 2018–19 UEFA Nations League... only to lose, which undoubtedly was a surprise (he did get 'surprised' a lot in his disasterous Everton spell by other managers), in the final.

He is now at his beloved Barca. Before long he'll be rewriting history, his own history, in bars to whomever will listen to the curly-tailed turd.

That was caused by players not able to pass, players not available for a pass, and an absence of final-third play. Koeman talked about the high press. He had not a clue how to implement it or the type of players required.

If someone at Everton had read Pass Spanish Newspapers, that information was there in black and white. Koeman at Everton was a carbon copy. Southampton performances were based on a solid backroom regime, not on Koeman. That's why someone (or group) is going to get hung in Barcelona for letting him be the manager.

The fans can read Spanish Newpapers and they are raging, according to a cousin of mine who lived in Barcelona for 25 years and still has friends there.

Miserable clown.

Wasn't there a rumour he spent most of his time on the golf course?

Of course he had the opportunity to make us great again but he wasn't up to it, the arrogant bitter old man.

As the Dutch commentator put it, Koeman didn't think him good enough, so he bought Pickford. A real improvement...