Battle-hardened Sean Dyche says his expiring contract at Everton\u00a0is the \u2018least of his worries\u2019 after the club\u2019s potential new owner John Textor openly discussed\u00a0the beleaguered manager\u2019s Goodison Park future this week.<\/p>\n
Crystal Palace chief Textor claims he has an exclusivity agreement to buy Farhad Moshiri\u2019s 94.1 per cent stake in Everton and said on Wednesday that he would like to speak to Dyche to ensure they are on the same page if he was to successfully take over the club.<\/p>\n
But Dyche, after a 10-year stint at Burnley, instead insists he is most familiar with being questioned.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s standard, in 10 years as a manager if you think I haven\u2019t been down this road before you would be wrong,\u201d said the Everton boss.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven at Burnley they would talk about managers for years \u2013 \u2018what about that, they should do this.\u2019 It\u2019s standard in the business now. Unless one is among the legendary managers with legendary status at certain clubs, it is unlikely one is not going to get questioned in that way.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cArsenal boss [Mikel] Arteta has signed a new deal. Three years ago at the beginning of the season \u2013 three games in \u2013 there were people saying he\u2019s got to go! I remember they won a few games 1-0, next thing they look like the old Arsenal, three years later he is signing a new deal.<\/p>\n
\u201cArsene Wenger of all people was questioned \u2013 a manager whose trading paid for a stadium! Everton has had nine years of that kind of thing every 12 or 18 months, with noise generated either from bad results or a feel that, \u2018You\u2019ve got to change it.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cI look at the club, where we are at \u2013 the player trading, the money we have saved, the players we\u2019ve got, the injuries we\u2019ve got \u2013 and say, \u2018Could this happen? Yeah. Do I want it to happen? No. Am I working hard to stop it from happening? Of course\u2019. The outside noise won\u2019t go away.\u201d<\/p>\n
With his contract running out this summer Dyche was asked if he would need to speak to a new owner before committing to a new deal.<\/p>\n
He replied: \u201cAbsolutely not. I don\u2019t have to. These things take care of themselves. The last thing on my mind if I spoke to a new owner \u2013 if there was a new owner \u2013 would be my contract. That will sort itself out one way or another.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s the other side of the business. They want to know you, what\u2019s happening, where we are at. My contract is the least of my concerns at the moment. The first of my concerns is the team winning football matches.\u201d<\/p>\n
This is exactly what Everton will try to do on Saturday when they travel to Aston Villa for the tea-time kick-off and the club released a statement on Thursday afternoon reiterating their support for Dyche after Textor\u2019s comments.<\/p>\n
The statement, penned by interim chief executive Colin Chong, read: \u201cWhile positive conversations and progress continues to be made with Mr Textor to formalise any deal with him, there remains some work to be done to complete the transaction.<\/p>\n
\u201cAccordingly, the comments made by Mr Textor merely represent his personal view on Club matters. Everyone at the club is staying focused on providing the best support possible to Sean and the squad as we head into the weekend\u2019s fixture.\u201d<\/p>\n
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