Former Everton manager Marco Silva has reflected on his time at the club and said the ‘connection was good’ with fans while he was at Goodison Park.
Silva was appointed as Everton manager ahead of the 2018/19 season and guided the Toffees to eighth place. However, his second campaign didn’t go to plan and he was sacked in December 2019 after a 5-2 defeat to Liverpool with Everton in 18th place upon his departure. The Portuguese manager has since aimed to rebuild his reputation at Fulham. He was appointed at Craven Cottage last summer and guided the club to promotion back to the Premier League this campaign after winning The Championship.
And Silva believes that his spell at Everton has been looked upon badly due to the final few months despite the previous season’s successes. “Sometimes when football is tough because of bad results, it makes people look for things in a different way from when the results are good,” he told The Athletic. “In the first season at Everton, everything was really good — style of football, developing players, the transfer market, the way we finished the season so strong. And after three months [of 2019/20], because of a bad run of results, it is impossible. I haven’t changed in three months, from one season to another. It’s not because of that.”
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Despite becoming extremely unpopular with Everton fans during his final few weeks, Silva believed that he had a good bond with Evertonians. He said: “The connection was good. The way we finished the first season was really on a high. The style of football we played was what the club asked me as well. We changed many, many things. After, we had a bad run, and the club decided in a different way. I haven’t changed many things.”
History has been kind to Silva - in the three seasons since his departure, Everton have finished 12th, 10th and 16th. Similarly, at his previous club Watford, he had the Vicarage Road outfit in 10th place when he was sacked. The Hornets finished 14th that year and have been relegated twice since. As Fulham return to the top flight, Silva will be looking forward to his return to Goodison Park next season.
