Departing Everton with nine losses from his last 13 matches in charge, Rafa Benitez proved to be an unpopular figure as Toffees manager.
It felt like it wouldn’t really work from the get-go, the Spaniard synonymous with Liverpool as manager before switching allegiances to Goodison Park – Benitez lifting the Champions League, the FA Cup and various other trophies in a celebrated spell at the Reds.
It was a doomed appointment, something that the former Everton boss has spoken on since departing the Toffees last year.
Speaking in an exclusive Sky Sports interview about his troubled time at the Toffees, Benitez admitted that his prior connections to Liverpool made the job a difficult one.
He said: “So I realised we had to change things inside, but I couldn’t do it straight away because I was a former Red and it could be seen as ‘oh, he’s come in to change our club’.”
It was no surprise, therefore, when the manager was given the boot from the club in January last year.
The Toffees would go on a torrid run under the reign of the Spanish head coach, only winning one match between matchday seven and matchday twenty-two of the Premier League season.
Shortlisted names to take over from the unpopular figure were former Toffees players Wayne Rooney and Duncan Ferguson who was already with Everton, whilst rumours surrounding Frank Lampard would come true with the ex-Chelsea man appointed.
Yet, another fancied name on the shortlist could well have been the uplifting appointment Everton needed at the time; Graham Potter.
According to The Argus, Potter’s name appeared on the Toffees shortlist for a new manager after Benitez’s exit.
Everton would have hoped to tempt Potter away from Brighton to join Everton at the time, Brighton and Hove Albion absolutely flying when the rumours began to surface.
It wasn’t to materialise however, a story of what could have been for the Merseyside club who continued to struggle under the short-term tenure of caretaker manager Ferguson and then Lampard after him.
Potter would stay with the Seagulls and achieve unprecedented success for the club, finishing ninth in the Premier League during the 2021/22 season – shrugging off any outside noise linking him with a move away to clinch Brighton’s best-ever top-flight finish at the time.
The 48-year-old would win plaudits for the attractive football he made his Brighton sides play, getting the best out of his talents which included Alexis Mac Allister, Neal Maupay and Leandro Trossard.
It would lead to Potter joining Chelsea at the start of the 2022/23 season, the Blues poaching the ex-Swansea City boss from the Seagulls having been labelled a “genius” for his exploits on the south coast.
Whilst Brighton have gone on leaps and bounds with their next manager in Roberto De Zerbi – European football now being played with Ansu Fati even playing for the Seagulls now – Potter’s reputation took a battering as Chelsea manager.
He would leave Stamford Bridge with a mere 12 wins from 31 games played, a bruising experience for the man who enjoyed so much success with Brighton before leaving for London.
Could his career have turned out differently if he opted to join Everton? Could he have been the heroic manager Everton needed in their time of crisis after Benitez’s exit from the club?
All those questions are up in the air, but Everton fans certainly wouldn’t have minded Potter joining the club at the time. If his record against Dyche speaks for anything, he’s certainly better tactically, boasting an 85% win record from seven matches.