Sean Dyche has explained that his muted reaction to Everton securing their Premier League status was due to the fact that staying up is nothing to celebrate.
Leicester City and Leeds United were relegated to the Sky Bet Championship after Everton beat Bournemouth to preserve their top-flight status on a dramatic final day of the Premier League season.
Abdoulaye Doucoure scored the most important goal of his career and possibly Everton's history to secure his side all three points against Gary O’Neil’s side at an extremely tense Goodison Park.
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A year ago, Frank Lampard greeted a rollercoaster 3-2 comeback victory over Crystal Palace by dancing on top of one of the directors’ boxes. However, history did not repeat itself this time around.
Following Stuart Attwell’s full-time whistle, a small pitch invasion ensued, with euphoria and relief evident. However, after clapping the fans and shaking hands with members of the Bournemouth coaching staff, Dyche headed down the tunnel and back to his side’s dressing room.
"I expect more from the Everton players and myself, so I expect us to not be in that position," Dyche revealed when asked about his celebrations.
"I thought we did a lot of work to not be in that position; there’s been a lot of injuries and suspensions and all that, but I was more like, 'What are you celebrating really?’
"We’re Everton Football Club, and I’m Everton manager. I’m not celebrating just scraping by; that’s not what I went there to do. Of course it’s a longer-term job to remodel it, reshape it, and move forward again."
Everton headed into the game against the Cherries knowing that a win would be enough to preserve their top-flight status. However, at half-time during last Sunday’s matches, the Blues were heading to the Championship as they were being held by O’Neil’s side and Leicester were beating West Ham United at King Power.
But Dyche, despite being without a number of key players for the game, always had total belief that his side would be able to get themselves over the line.
"I had total belief when we got there," he told talkSPORT. "We just had too many injuries; the strikers weren’t in form; we had no fullbacks; we had to change the shape.
"On the other hand, because those decisions were made early, we could work on that all week, so I went into the game confident we could get something."
The Everton boss then added: "I didn’t know it was going to be a magical goal like it was that did the job, but it was nervy and it was difficult.
"As I said after, there was no glory in that for me, but there is when it’s done. Of course, we’re Everton Football Club, but they’re ugly games; they’re really really tough games, very taxing on players, managers, and of course the fanbase, but when you get it right it’s a glorious feeling."
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