Everton question lingers after Liverpool make ruthless Arne Slot sack decision

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Liverpool have sacked Arne Slot but all is not well at Everton given how they finished the season under David MoyesUnlike David Moyes, Arne Slot never had a statue erected for him outside Anfield but just what might the sacking of the Liverpool boss mean for neighbours Everton?Moyes’ ‘monument’ of course was a cheap shot following his dismissal at Manchester United in April 2014, when a certain bookmakers known for their publicity stunts – who were also understood to be behind the scythe-wielding spectator dressed as the Grim Reaper on his Goodison Park return with the Red Devils – threw up the mock statue with the inscription “For services to Liverpool Football Club.”The 63-year-old is still winless in matches at the Reds; home but then no Blues boss has triumphed there in front of fans since his fellow Scot Walter Smith back in 1999.On the one hand, Liverpool’s dismissal of Slot could be seen as a warning to the likes of Moyes that nobody in the cut-throat, results-based business he works in can rely on their past glories. Of course there is plenty of credit in the bank having steered Everton to nine top-eight finishes, including their highest-ever Premier League position of fourth in 2004/05, but talking of stadia with supporters inside, the Dutchman led the Reds to a first title triumph in such circumstances only last season.What followed in recent months though was nowhere near to the stellar levels demanded after the biggest spending spree from any football club in the world in a single transfer window.

After splashing out over £400million just to go backwards, with 20 defeats in all competitions this term, Slot’s head has rolled. Unfortunately, the Blues know all about squandering funds only to get worse.In 2022, then majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri apologised to fans when he admitted: “We have not always spent significant amounts of money wisely.” A year later, Everton posted the lowest equivalent points total in their history, avoiding what would have been a first relegation in 72 years by a single goal on the final day of the season.The campaign after that witnessed an unprecedented brace of points deductions for single PSR rule breeches.

Hopefully, that reign of chaos is now over with the club having just about survived and come out the other side.Under stayaway new owners The Friedkin Group, who have adopted a very different stance at Hill Dickinson Stadium than their more hands-on approach with Roma who they have just steered into the Champions League for the first time, beleaguered Blues are still pondering just what direction their club is going to take after what Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, one of their key signings from last summer this week admitted was an “awful end to the season after a promising campaign,” with the team “miles off it to be honest.”FOLLOW OUR EVERTON FC FACEBOOK PAGE! Latest EFC news and analysis from via the Liverpool Echo’s dedicated FB pageIn relative terms, perhaps Slot’s first season at Liverpool could be compared to Roberto Martinez’s inaugural campaign at Everton where he built upon the solid foundations of a predecessor but tweaked the tactics to his own style to freshen things up and initially reaped the rewards before the wheels came off the following year.The cool, calm and collected Slot (apart from when he lost his head at Goodison Park) was never the same kind of kindred spirit with the Kop though as the passionate Klopp though and looking in from the outside, it seems as though he never enjoyed that type of bond with widespread sections of the fanbase.Whatever you think of Moyes’ tactics, on the whole – and this means his initial 11-year spell plus the first 15 months after his return rather than just the last six weeks – he knows what kind of football Blues supporters respond to and can harness the power of the crowd in a way that generally eluded the likes of Sean Dyche and other predecessorsThe aforementioned Martinez once had talks with Liverpool owner John Henry the year before being appointed as Moyes’ Everton successor in 2013 but in another twist of fate, departing Bournemouth boss Andoni Iraola, a name being championed by some Blues to take charge of their own team, is now an early favourite to take the reins at Anfield.Throw into the mix, Tranmere Rovers hiring a new boss in Darrell Clarke after they only just stayed in the Football League on the final day and the football waters by the Mersey are choppy right now.As always, the only way to navigate them is through winning matches and after chief executive Angus Kinnear declared he was “happily dissatisfied” in his programme notes for the Sunderland game, which proved to be a chastening end to the first season at Hill Dickinson Stadium, loyal but long-suffering Evertonians are waiting to see what their own club’s strategy will be going forward.