Everton show Allardyce the door as favourite emerges for job

Everton have dismissed Sam Allardyce as manager – with the hunt to find his replacement already well underway, the club have confirmed.

Allardyce took charge of the Toffees back in the autumn as a replacement for Ronald Koeman – and soon had the then-struggling Everton upwardly mobile as they finished 8th in the Premier League.

But their style of football was seen as extremely divisive among fans and it is no shock to see the former England manager shown the door.

In a statement on their official website, Professor Denise Barrett-Baxendale said: “On behalf of the Chairman, Board of Directors and Mr Moshiri, I’d like to thank Sam for the job he has done at Everton over the last seven months.

“Sam was brought in at a challenging time last season to provide us with some stability and we are grateful to him for doing that.

“However, we have made the decision that, as part of our longer-term plan, we will be appointing a new manager this summer and will be commencing this process immediately. Again, we’d like to place on record our sincere thanks to Sam for his work with us over the last few months and wish him well for the future.”

Former Hull and Watford manager Marco Silva is the odds-on favourite to be appointed as Allardyce’s successor, with Paulo Fonseca, Louis Van Gaal, Andre Villas-Boas and Unai Emery the outsiders.