Inside Sean Dyche's doomed final days at Everton: Shock criticism of a star man, weary players – and the ownership dithering over hiring Graham Potter

The end effectively arrived seven days ago. At the Vitality Stadium, Everton had been beaten 1-0 by Bournemouth and everything about Sean Dyche told you he was a man who had been driven to distraction.

His answers in a five-minute press conference became increasingly short but every statement was pored over. One, which referenced his surprise that Jarrad Branthwaite had come up short in the build-up to David Brooks’ decisive goal, certainly caused ripples in Everton’s dressing room.

There was a sense of disengagement from several players, who had grown increasingly weary of Dyche. But, crucially, there were signs that the manager’s reserves had all but emptied. He had been in constant discussions with the Friedkin Group (TFG), Everton’s new owners, but the energy he emitted caused concern.

Was he the man to keep leading them forward? The answer, firmly, was ‘no’. When you have just made a colossal investment but Premier League relegation stalks you like a big cat in the wild, ready to pounce, there is no choice but to start making contingency plans.

It was why, on Sunday, the prospect of Graham Potter becoming the new man to lead Everton was real. The new owners had assessed the landscape and started due diligence on the former Chelsea boss, making discreet enquiries to learn more about his way of working.

At Finch Farm, Everton’s training base, that same day, the sense that change was coming was real. Those who have been around the club for a long time know the signals and some even felt that a severance with Dyche would be announced before the weekend was out.

The disappointing 1-0 defeat by Bournemouth last Saturday proved to be the final straw for him

Everton’s new owners The Friedkin Group (pictured Dan Friedkin (left) and Ryan Friedkin  (right)) felt the 53-year-old was no longer the man to lead the club forward into a new era

But Everton paused and, spying an opportunity themselves, West Ham moved in for Potter. The hesitation would have a significant bearing on how the next few days panned out, a sliding doors moment for all involved.

On Monday, with Finch Farm closed and Dyche’s squad having a scheduled day off — they rarely train on what is called ‘matchday minus three’ — Potter headed to meet David Sullivan, West Ham’s chairman, and spent the evening at his house, discussing his vision.

News of Everton’s interest emerged while Potter was with Sullivan and, on Tuesday morning, it was still considered by some with knowledge of the situation that it was 50:50 whether the 49-year-old would stay in London or head north. West Ham, with more time to work, got the deal done.

Back up in Merseyside, Dyche and Everton’s squad reconvened for their FA Cup tie with Peterborough. Training had been put back because of the freezing conditions and there was little sign of a thaw in the atmosphere around the facility.

When he faced the media early in the evening, he spoke with honesty and passion but, again, those present were left with the overriding impression it all felt very ‘end of days’ — how could it not be when Everton were so closely linked to another manager?

‘There’s no facts,’ Dyche countered. ‘Nobody has come out and said, “By the way, we are talking to all these people”. It is only alleged. That’s the way it works. Nothing changes for me. Try to get the team right, win the game and do the right thing which I am doing.

‘Resilience is a strange thing in life and I have plenty of it. So far, I’ve handled it pretty bloody well I think. I’m working really hard with my staff and the players, taking the hits, absorbing them and making sure everyone knows it is on me. End of.’

There are only so many hits a man can take, though. Dyche had entered the same realms as Ronald Koeman and Sam Allardyce, Marco Silva, Rafa Benitez and Frank Lampard, feeling totally helpless and unable to find solutions. Soon his fate would be decided.

His criticism of Jarrad Branthwaite at Bournemouth certainly caused ripples in dressing room

Everton did due diligence on Graham Potter, but dithered and West Ham pounced instead

On Wednesday, the situation came to a head. TFG had made clear that the relationship was over. Staff who worked closely with Dyche were told that he would be sacked, with a legal team arriving late in the afternoon to start working on the severance terms.

When Ian Woan and Steve Stone, his trusted allies, left the facility that night, they never came back but Dyche arrived on Thursday to say some goodbyes. The game that night, even though he had selected the team, was not going to be his problem.

So Leighton Baines, the Under 18s coach, was summoned from the academy and Kevin Thelwell, the director of football, went to the Titanic Hotel, where the squad were preparing for Peterborough, to break the news that Dyche had gone and Baines and Seamus Coleman would take charge of the game.

It is understood that there was a noticeable uplift in the atmosphere. It would be wrong to say there were celebrations but, certainly, not many — if any — were going to shed tears. This behaviour has been seen many times before and it is something about which David Moyes will be fully aware.

Moyes will be reacquainted with some familiar faces when he steps into Finch Farm officially once again, 12 years since he left for Manchester United, but so much has changed around the place in terms of the atmosphere, the working environment and the attitude.

Coleman, whom Moyes signed for £60,000 from Sligo Rovers in early 2009, has done his best over the years to instil the standards in new players that the Scot demanded of him as a young man: the need for respect, professionalism and the determination to do your best every day.

Too many have arrived at this club down the years not particularly caring about where they were — one player, in the Ancelotti era, was unaware that his manager had actually been a dual European Cup-winning midfielder — and conversations with Coleman, and others, will be beneficial.

David Moyes is set to be the man tasked with sorting Everton out, 12 years after he left 

Do not think that Moyes, who spoke to the Friedkin Group on Thursday and again yesterday, will have kidded himself that he will walk in and everything will suddenly be rosy. He knows full well what deficiencies there are in the squad.

Everton, you can guarantee, will get a couple of good results in the next month — that is what this squad tends to do — but it is what happens after the initial bounce that matters. It proved beyond Dyche to keep it going and, eventually, left him beaten.

After 101 weeks, Dyche ended in Everton’s room 101. The Friedkin Group, with their lofty expectations and demand for immediate positive results, will be expecting Moyes to switch back on the lights of a club that, for far too long, has been cloaked in darkness.