Sam Allardyce replaced Ronald Koeman as Everton manager in November 2017.
Everton decided to bring in the experienced Sam Allardyce following his short five-month spell with Crystal Palace.
Allardyce wasn’t the most fashionable appointment, but he actually managed to lead the Toffees to an eighth-place finish.
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Towards the end of the season, Everton’s chiefs sensed that a section of the fanbase weren’t happy with his style of play, and so they actually sent out a survey.
That was the start of the PR disaster.
Sam Allardyce said Everton made a marketing slip-up
Around April 2018, with a handful of games left of the season, Everton chiefs decided to send out a survey to supporters asking them to rate Allardyce’s performance on a scale of zero to 10.
It came after the Everton manager was subjected to fan abuse following a 1-1 draw with Swansea City.
Some only gave Allardyce a score of one, so naturally, it created some really unnecessary stories in the media.
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Speaking in a press conference after it all unfolded, the Toffees boss said: “The director of marketing and communications has clearly slipped up.
“Our department has not been asked what we think of this survey that was going out, even though I believe the survey has been recently passed out before.
“From my point of view, it was a big mistake. I think it has allowed you (the media) to write some beautiful headlines on that situation.”
Allardyce explained that he did receive an apology from the club: “(I had an apology) off the chairman, yes. That’s it. Let’s move on. Don’t ask me how many marks you’d think I’d get out of 10 either!”
Everton ended up sacking Sam Allardyce at the end of the season
Ultimately, Everton did sack Allardyce at the end of the season, despite only finishing five points off Europe.
The former West Ham United boss was under contract until June 2019, but the board decided to dismiss him a year early.
Allardyce has since admitted that his Everton sacking was unfair, noting that the style of play he was deploying was only what his players were capable of.
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Everton chief executive Denise Barrett-Baxendale thanked Allardyce for his short tenure: “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.”
Wayne Rooney recently said Allardyce doesn’t get the credit he deserves, and he also added that the Toffees were harsh to sack him.
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