Roberto Martinez could be sacked next week with Everton board meeting scheduled for Friday 
Matt Law, football news correspondent
28 APRIL 2016 • 10:30PM
Everton are due to hold a board meeting on Friday in which thefuture
of manager Roberto Martinez will be discussed with the Spaniard on the brink of being sacked. Should the meeting and Saturday’s Premier League game against Bournemouth go badly for Martinez, then the 42-year-old could even be dismissed next week. Barring a major U-turn, it now just seems like a matter of when and not if Martinez will go – even if Everton decide to wait until the end of the season. New majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri and chairman Bill Kenwright are expected to be present at the meeting, with Moshiri said to be particularly concerned by results and supporter dissatisfaction.Supporters have held banners calling for Martinez to go at recent games and backed Leighton Baines after the left-back was forced to apologise to his manager for saying the Everton side lacked ‘chemistry’. More protests are planned for Saturday. The Everton board are aware that a number of players have been losing faith in Martinez for some time, with questions raised over his tactics and public comments.
Sitting in 11th place in the Premier League table after taking three points from the last 21 available, Everton were defeated by Manchester United in the FA Cup semi-final at Wembley last Saturday.
Everton produced a superb second-half performance that was almost enough to secure a place in the final, but sources close to the club credit the half-time turnaround to senior players calling for an improvement, rather than Martinez. The Toffees already face a major battle to hang on to star trio Romelu Lukaku, John Stones and Ross Barkley this summer and keeping Martinez on would make that task even more difficult. Once a decision is made on Martinez on Friday - although an announcement could be delayed until the summer - Everton will turn their attention to who should replace him.
Moshiri and Kenwright will look at candidates both at home and abroad, with Frank de Boer, Ronald Koeman, Manuel Pellegrini, Mark Hughes and Eddie Howe, who is a big Everton fan, all likely to be considered.
Martinez succeeded David Moyes as Everton manager in 2013 after winning the FA Cup in the same year he could not prevent Wigan from being relegated.
During the unveiling of Martinez as Everton manager three years ago, Kenwright revealed that his first words had been to promise to get the club into the Champions League but it seems he will fail in that pledge.
Martinez got off to a good start at Goodison Park, finishing fifth in his first season, but Everton flirted with a relegation scrap last season before climbing to 11th – the position they currently hold with four games to play of this campaign.
Asked about the prospect of a board meeting being called to discuss his
future, Martinez said: "I understand it completely. I never felt being Everton manager should be judged on being in an average position.
“I encourage huge expectations. As a club, we have to drive for silverware and top four, and when you aren't there the scrutiny needs to be there.
“That scrutiny needs to be there, but not a scrutiny of the last two or three months, but a scrutiny of the last three seasons. A scrutiny of taking a squad and developing a team to play the type of performance we had in the second half on Saturday.
“That scrutiny I welcome and accept and I would not want to be judged on having the ninth budget in the league. I want to be judged on the scrutiny of being the Everton manager and I expect to be challenging for silverware.”
Martinez also asked for the Everton fans planning to once again call for his head against Bournemouth to stick with him, but the appeal is likely to have come too late with his fate on the verge of being sealed.
“The message is that we are all hurting together,” said Martinez. “I understand their passion and football without passion makes no sense, but in the same way I would say to those fans it's only when you get through these painful moments that you get a renewed drive.
“I am ready to fight more than ever and to find a way to challenge for silverware.
“I look at the last three seasons and in the first season we had our record points total in the Premier League. Last season we were the last British team to be knocked out of Europe.
“This season we got to two semi-finals. So the signs are there, but clearly we are not the finished article.
“I'm more capable now to find those final adjustments to make us better, to make us a team who can compete at home as we do away.”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2016/04/28/roberto-martinez-could-be-sacked-next-week-with-everton-board-me/ [ 此帖被羅力亞在2016-05-12 23:27重新編輯 ]
