After a search that always looked like it would produce the same result, Everton have announced the appointment of Roberto Martinez as their new manager.
The former Wigan boss joins the Toffees on a four year contract and will immediately face the challenge of building on the strong foundation that his predecessor David Moyes has left him. In a press conference unveiling the Spaniard, Chairman Bill Kenwright revealed that he interviewed David Weir, Alan Stubbs and Phil Neville for the position, but that Martinez was his first choice.
Kenwright said, “I met some of the finest individuals in football. The finest is sitting alongside me here today.” “It gives me great relief, joy and excitement to welcome Roberto Martinez as the next manager of Everton Football Club,” he added.
Kenwright also revealed in the course of the press conference that when Moyes first came to Everton 11 years ago, he had promised that he would prevent Everton from being relegated. In his first meeting with Martinez, he said, the Spaniard had promised that he would get the Toffees into the Champions League – a revelation that Martinez likely didn’t want to share with the media.
When it came to his turn to speak, Martinez said:
[quote]It is a really special day for me to join Everton Football Club.[/quote]
Further elaborating on his excitement about his new job, he said, “I am excited and honoured to come here and I would like to thank the Chairman and the board of directors for handing me this opportunity.”
Martinez went on to say that he wants to implement a winning style of football and that he is hoping to build on what the new Manchester United manager has left him at Goodison. He certainly has a good squad available to him that could be improved if the board are willing to give him transfer funds.
His first challenge though will be to try and keep players such as Leighton Baines and Marouane Fellaini at the club, who both may be attractive options to their former manager in Manchester.
His record at Wigan was as follows:
P174 W50 D47 L77
Giving Martinez a win percentage of 28.74% (stats via managerstats.co.uk). It’s nothing to be too excited about for Everton fans but they’ll take solace in the fact that Martinez won the FA Cup this season beating last season Premier League Champions in the final. There was no fluke element to it either, Everton have seen at close quarters what Wigan were capable of as Wigan demolished them at Goodison Park on the way to winning the Cup.
At Swansea Martinez’s record was a little better, although the competition wasn’t the Premier League:
P126 W63 D37 L26
The win percentage at Swansea was 50% which is excellent but as stated before it wasn’t in the Premier League. Everton have a good squad with some exciting players and Martinez plays a brand of football that will be appreciated if he’s given time to implement it. Martinez is also the type of manager that will want to take control of every aspect at the club and this is the part that would be promising for supporters as they’d know the club as a whole will be working towards the same style of play. Whether it works or not remains to be seen.
On the face of it Everton have hired a talented, young manager who has shown a talent for unearthing good footballers at cheap prices. With the resources the club has available to them, Martinez is just what they were looking for.
