Former Crystal Palace Chairman Simon Jordan has tipped Leeds United boss Marcelo Bielsa to be the ideal candidate to replace Marco Silva at Goodison Park.
Silva is reportedly on the brink of being fired after losing 2-1 at Leicester City on Sunday, but will be given Wednesday night’s Merseyside Derby at Liverpool.
The board’s patience is understood to have grown thin despite their relentless desire to see the Portuguese head coach succeed at the club, and met on Monday to discuss his position in the dugout.
Silva’s tactical decisions at the King Power Stadium at the weekend also left some senior club members furious, who felt his change of formation after losing at home to Norwich City went against his case for staying in the job.
Back-to-back defeats have left us just one place above the relegation zone, while Southampton’s 2-1 win over bottom-placed Watford on Saturday closed the gap to two points.
Jordan has now suggested that we should look towards the Championship for our next man in charge, and appoint a proven head coach in Leeds boss Bielsa, as the Argentine would be able to invigorate the club in a way Silva cannot.
“You need to find the type of manager who is going to invigorate the squad, invigorate the board room and invigorate the fans,” Jordan told talkSPORT. “You can see this in certain managers like clearly Jurgen Klopp and clearly Pep Guardiola, and you can see it in Brendan Rodgers.
“There is no reason why Everton shouldn’t be able to attract an elite manager to come to the club. When you talk about Marcelo Bielsa managing Leeds, why wouldn’t he be managing a team like Everton? That’s the sort of appointment in terms of quality of thinking that would ultimately take Everton forward.”
Bielsa has been in charge of Leeds since the summer of 2018 and led the Elland Road natives to the Championship Play-Off Semi-Finals in May, where Frank Lampard’s Derby County beat them 4-3 over the two-legged tie before losing to Aston Villa at Wembley.
The Whites are again fighting for automatic promotion this season, and sit inside the top-two positions after 19 games having won 12, lost three, and hold the second-tier’s best defence having allowed just ten goals to be scored against them.
Bielsa is a journeyman of a head coach, having previously worked with LOSC Lille, Lazio, Olympique de Marseille, Athletic Bilbao, Espanyol, Club Atletico Velez Sarsfield, CF America, Atlas Guadalajara, Club Atletico Newell’s Old Boys, plus the Argentina and Chile national sides.
Who would you prefer to be in charge?
Bielsa
Silva
Jordan is no fan of Silva, it can be said, as he went on to suggest that the boss’ reputation has been built on shaky grounds, and may now have been found out.
“When you look at this Everton side, there’s a better tune that should be had from them,” Jordan added. “I’m not an admirer of Marco Silva. I think he’s somebody who has a reputation that doesn’t appear to be based on a lot.
“He did a decent job at Olympiacos, but Hull got relegated on his watch and Watford had a few decent games under him and all of a sudden he was the must-have manager.”
Silva won 38 of his 48 games during his spell in charge of Olympiacos, whom he moved to after being fired by Sporting CP, having lifted the Portuguese Cup there in 2015.
Hull City were later relegated to the Championship under Silva’s tenure and Watford won eight of their 26 matches with the Portuguese in charge across all competitions.
Losing at Leicester on Sunday made it 24 defeats with the Toffees from 60 games, and frustrations will grow far wider and carry more weight if another defeat is added at Anfield on Wednesday night.
In other Everton news, a former England striker has called for a 74-cap Toffees man to step out of his shadow and be our difference-maker.