Everton manager Sean Dyche insists he has no problem with the relegation-threatened club potentially already looking for his replacement.
The former Burnley boss arrived late in January as Frank Lampard’s replacement with the challenge of avoiding the drop.
Things have not gone entirely to plan with the Toffees just two points above the relegation zone, although their fate remains in their own hands as they seek to extend their stay in the top flight into a 70th season by matching the results of Leeds and Leicester.
And reports this week suggested Everton were already thinking about what comes next.
“It’s fair to say ‘interesting’ reports, but I don’t know where they come from,” said Dyche.
“At the end of the day, good businesses should be succession planning. I’ve got no problem with that, even if that were true.”
Everton go into their relegation decider at home to Bournemouth without striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin or defenders Nathan Patterson and Ben Godfrey.
“They won’t be fit. We haven’t had Dom for two-thirds of my time here. We have still won games, still got points on the board and performed,” Dyche said.
“Patto has come into the side more latterly and performed well. We lose him as well.”
Dyche holds out some hope Vitalii Mykolenko – his only remaining full-back on either flank – could return after a two-match absence.
“He’s a bit better so we will see how he reacts tomorrow to training today,” Dyche added.
Dyche was already without Seamus Coleman, Ruben Vinagre, Tom Davies and Andros Townsend so more injuries just increase the pressure in an already tough atmosphere on Sunday.
“The fact is we should be under pressure because that is what we want from this group, that’s the demand of being at Everton Football Club and I’ve learned that very quickly,” added Dyche.
“Every game should be a pressurised occasion and it is because that is being a professional footballer, not just the final game of the season.
“I think it is part of being a professional footballer. You have to use the feeling in the stadium to your advantage and I think we have a decent experience level for the ups and downs of football to understand that.
“We want players to focus on the game, which is not as easy as it sounds, but focus on the game and the idea and don’t worry about the noise. That’s the clear intention.”
Why are you making commenting on HeraldScotland only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here