Sean Dyche eyes long stay at Everton as he lauds the Toffees’ ‘demanding’ fans despite financial restrictions this summer

Sean Dyche wants to stay at Everton for the long term after bonding with the club’s ‘demanding’ fans.

Dyche sees dealing with supporters as part of his job and recently went out for a night out in Lark Lane, regarded as one of the best areas in the city for pubs and restaurants.

Despite Everton missing a slew of chances in their first 1-0 home defeat to Fulham, Dyche will side with Aston Villa on Sunday confident they will have more firepower than last season when they survived on the final day by beating Bournemouth.

Centre-forward Dominic Calvert-Lewin is in contention to return from injury, while Everton are on the hunt for Southampton’s Che Adams having already loaned Horace Danjuma and Jack Harrison and signed Portuguese teenager Youssef Chermiti.

No manager has lasted more than three years at Goodison Park since David Moyes left in 2013, but former Burnley boss Dyche says his early experience has left him wanting more despite the club’s financial constraints.

“There are Burnley fans everywhere, but not in the same number. Everton is a bigger club, there’s just more of it. There are Evertonians everywhere you go,” he said.

“If I can have five minutes with a fan, why not? No problem for me. If they want to put something on social media, that’s up to them.

“I was on Lark Lane last week, it was on social media within 15 minutes. I had a pint, possibly two! You have to live your life and I don’t mind hanging out with the Evertonians.

“You get a little bit of warmth, friendly fire, from some of the Liverpool fans and you get a little bit of respect from the Everton fans. All part of the job.

“I’ve talked about the relationship with Everton fans that has diluted in recent years and about bringing it back, embracing the team and having that bond.

Certain clubs have that history and Everton is one. They are demanding fans, but they are there when you need them. Certainly in my little experience so far, hopefully for many years to come, they’ve been there at home and beyond.

That in itself is a powerful thing. They do demand, but they pay you back. I think that’s pretty fair. We want to build on that.’

Everton were the second-lowest scorer in the Premier League last season with 34 goals in 38 games. Injuries limited Calvert-Lewin to just two goals, while Neal Maupay has not scored since last season’s second game.

Dyche is convinced that this term should not be such a struggle.

“If Dom stays fit, you have to say we have better options because of his track record. Danjuma coming in, Jack Harrison when he’s fully fit in a few weeks, Dwight McNeil getting fit again, Alex Iwobi who’s been strong.

“If they are all active, it will give us more options. It is clear that there are no pots of gold. We have to work with the team and that is good for me as a coach.

“Evertonians know deep down that building blocks need to be put in place. My goal is to definitely outperform last season, both visually and in terms of results.

“I thought last week was a good performance, but we lost. Our job is to change all bad luck stories. I told the players: don’t wait for the story to change, let it change. Tree.

‘We have to deal with that. Last week there were some good individual performances. Alex Iwobi has been great, Ashley Young is a true professional. Amadou Onana is young, just turned 22 and has had one season in the Premier League. We want him to keep learning both sides of the game.”

Dyche is the 10th manager including two interims Everton have had in the last six years.