Everton tried to appoint the manager twice, who failed to keep his promise to Bill Kenwright

Roberto Martinez was unveiled as Everton manager on this day in 2013 and as one of life’s optimists who likes to do business with a smile, he is best remembered for the joy he brought to the Blues.

Unlike when Martinez claimed that the 9-1 thrashing of Tottenham Hotspur was actually a good thing for his side at Wigan Athletic, this is not an attempt to cover up his failings – and they will be covered here – but while it is the nature of the game for football bosses that tenures end in tears, it must not be forgotten that the Catalan led them to the most points in the Premier League.

A man of great footballing principles, Martinez, who was very much an advocate of the beautiful game, led the Blues to play a distinct brand of football than many Evertonians – at least initially – believed represented a return to their own proud heritage , supported by the Gwladys Street anthem proclaiming: “The School of Science … is on the way back”.

Less than three months before his unveiling at Goodison Park, the then Wigan Athletic manager enjoyed a perfect audition for the job when his side dismantled Everton 3-0 on their own turf in a quarter-final of the FA Cup with three goals in as many innings. minutes. Of course, the Latics went on to lift the trophy at Wembley in May with a shock 1-0 win over Roberto Mancini’s Manchester City, but were relegated from the Premier League after a 4-1 defeat at Arsenal just three days earlier Late.

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Such contrasting fortunes have left many Blues debating whether Martinez, a month before turning 40, was the right man to succeed David Moyes, who headed for Manchester United after 11 years in charge at Goodison . In-house candidates Alan Stubbs, David Weir and Phil Neville were all untried at the time, and when chairman Bill Kenwright asked permission to speak to Martinez, his Wigan Athletic counterpart Dave Whelan immediately granted it, the two clubs they took out a compensation package of around £. 1.5 million.

With a typical sense of theatrics, when speaking at the press conference where Martinez was unveiled as Everton manager, Kenwright recalled how he had once again made up his mind about the appointment at the start of the conversation. He said: “When David Moyes first came to see me, 11 years ago, I was in a bad way and he said, ‘You’re not going.’ “Roberto’s first words were: ‘I’m giving you the Champions League.’ I’m not going to tell you it was like David, who caught me in 30 seconds – it took at least 45 seconds.”

Although an initial £28million bid from Manchester United for both Leighton Baines and Marouane Fellaini was snubbed when Moyes initially called when planning a raid on his former employers, his move last on deadline day at Old Trafford for just £500,000 less helped allow Martinez to reshape his midfield by bringing in James McCarthy and Gareth Barry, while the type of prolific striker who has so bypassed time his predecessor was found in Romelu Lukaku at first arrived on loan. Building on the solid foundations left over from Moyes’ 11-year tenure, including a parting gift from John Stones, who quickly established himself as a pivot in the side as a ball-playing centre-back, the added attacking flair of Martinez’s approach he adjusted perfectly to produce a 72-point shot in his debut season.

It was Everton’s highest ever tally in the Premier League era – some 11 points more than when they finished fourth in 2005 – but despite being victorious in six games in a row between March 15 and April 12, including a 3-0 win of their own. Champions League rivals Arsenal, while Martinez won the battle, Arsene Wenger usually won the war, with the Gunners finishing around seven points ahead of them in fourth to claim their 16th out of 19 consecutive qualification for the competition seniors of UEFA clubs. As a reward for his impressive first campaign, the Blues boss was rewarded with a new five-year contract, but it proved to be a costly decision for the club, who ended up paying him more than £10m after he was sacked in 2016.

Lukaku’s move from Chelsea was turned into a club record £28m at the start of the 2014/15 season, with Everton’s attacking options further boosted by the arrival of legendary Cameroon international Samuel Eto’o – a recruit Martinez hailed as “a gift from the football gods”, but despite possessing what was widely regarded as the Blues’ most talented squad in the Premier League era, they were on course to commit to an 11th consecutive . The Europa League group stages were safely negotiated with Swiss side Young Boys sent strongly into the first round, but Eto’o has already moved to Sampdoria, Martinez’s men’s continental campaign came to an abrupt halt in the round of 16 against Dynamo Kyiv . , the same stage where Fiorentina had beaten Moyes’ side on penalties some seven years earlier.

What turned out to be his final season in charge at Everton featured several shambolic defensive capitulations. It was a 3-3 draw at Bournemouth, leading 2-0 after 80 minutes and 3-2 five minutes into extra time; a 4-3 defeat to Stoke City, leading 3-2 by the 80th minute; a 3-3 draw at Chelsea, 3-2 up after 90 minutes, but conceded an equalizer eight minutes into extra time; a 3-2 defeat at home to West Ham after being 2-0 up with 12 minutes to go and missing a penalty to make it 3-0; a 4-0 defeat to Liverpool at Anfield and with just one FA Cup run keeping the boss in place, a 2-1 Wembley semi-final defeat to Manchester United.

Such repeated breakdowns ensured that one of Farhad Moshiri’s first tasks as Everton owner was to sack Martinez after a 3-0 defeat at Sam Allardyce’s Sunderland. Even with just one game left to play, his presence on the bench for the home game against already-relegated Norwich City was deemed too much of a risk when it came to the potential for the atmosphere to become toxic for the long-serving goalkeeper. Tim Howard has said goodbye to Goodison Park after a decade of service.

He probably had to go and it is telling that Sean Dyche has led the current far less talented squad this season to a total that would have had his side level on points with 11th-placed Brighton & Hove Albion without deductions and a bizarre attempt to bring Martinez back to Everton after the sacking of Rafael Benitez in January 2022 went awry. The Blues are understood to have made a formal approach to the Belgian FA for Martinez, who was keen on a return with the hope that his employers in Brussels will agree to the kind of club-country job quota rarely seen in football modern only for advances being rejected with an understandable insistence that his sole focus should remain on the World Cup finals.

However, the fullness of time and the club’s subsequent downward spiral should allow for a reassessment of his tenure. It wasn’t always ‘phenomenal’ or ‘pristine’ – some of Martinez’s favorite adjectives, usually upbeat – but ‘Bobby Brown Shoes’ brought a lot more to Everton than his funky taste in footwear.

There was Manchester United’s first away win since the start of the Premier League week in 1992 plus, in addition to the aforementioned Arsenal hammering, other memorable 3-0 wins at Newcastle United; the 2-0 home triumph against Manchester United that saw Moyes sacked; beating Wolfsburg home and away; a 3-0 demolition job against Louis van Gaal’s Manchester United, plus a 6-2 rout of Sunderland and a 4-0 demolition of Aston Villa in back-to-back home games and Lukaku’s inspired FA Cup success against former club Chelsea.

Just like when he got the last laugh on haters who tried to undermine footage of him throwing some shapes at a Jason Derulo concert, he’s still grinning, and it’s no surprise considering he’s now taken on another job to the leadership of Portugal. national team that he will take this month to Germany for the final of the European Championship.