Everton boss Sean Dyche has called on the club’s fans to back him moving forward after securing Premier League survival.
The Toffees survived on the final day with a 1-0 win over Bournemouth, but the club’s fans are still far from happy with the state of the Goodison Park team.
However, Dyche - who took charge of Everton in January - insists that the fans need to believe in him.
“I came to change the mentality and overriding I said we should not be here, but at the end of the day this has to change, loads to change and this is a big step,” said Dyche after the win over Bournemouth.
“We have let some big moments go, but the mentality has been pretty solid since we arrived.
“Work on next season started the day I came in here, I know the fans want this club to be at the top end – but we are not performing as a big club, we need to build to a bigger future.
“The Evertonians have to remember this is a bigger project than this just staying up, I haven’t got magic dust there is a massive amount of work to be done.
“People tell me this has been coming for three seasons, this is not just buy a player and it is fixed – this is about the environment, this is about the club in the long-term.”
Dyche insists that the he wants to play ‘good football’ but it is not that easy and he needs to build solid foundations first.
“I want to build a base, I want to play good football I want to play entertaining football but it needs to be more than that. Don’t think Pep’s side just play good football they work really hard on top of that.
“I have my own style and my own way of doing it, and I have taken a step towards that.
“I know this industry and I know what I am doing. I will find out what we can do, what we need to do – but this was the main job and we have done that, this was the key focus and now we re-focus on the rest of it.
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“The fans have been with us all the way, but they have backed what we have. It is a joyous occasion, but we need solid thinking going forward, we are going to have to build and I need them to understand that, it is a work in progress.
“I will be surprised if there is a war-chest we have to recruit wisely, they have to know what it is to play for Everton, but talent to. I speak realistically but that is boring, there is a time to be realistic. There is a hard number of fans who know I am right I we need to connect them back to the team.
“There has to be reality, we are trying to build a stadium down the road, lots in the community and build a team, we need a heartbeat and my feeling is we are getting that.
“I am bereft of giving people nonsense, this is going to be hard work and in my opinion this club was always about that – an earthy team with a heartbeat but yes we want to play good attacking football.”
This article was originally published on 90min as Sean Dyche calls on Everton fans to back him after Premier League survival.
