Football

SEAN DYCHE insists he left Everton “in good shape” for David Moyes.The 53-year-old was sacked in January with the Toffees sitting 16th in the Premier League and a point clear of relegation.Sean Dyche has opened up about his departure from EvertonCredit: GettyThe former Burnley boss was replaced by fan favourite David MoyesCredit: GettyDyche succeeded Frank Lampard in January 2023 and guided them from the relegation zone to safety with a final day win over Bournemouth.The ex-Burnley boss then guided them to a 15th-place finish last season despite an eight-point deduction for breaching Premier League financial rules.Speaking to Gary Lineker on The Rest Is Football podcast, Dyche said: “The kind of things thrown at me – and other managers by the way – I couldn’t manage a big club.”Well, what about a big club in crisis? Because that’s what I had to do.READ MORE ON FOOTBALL”You get in there and you go, ‘What on earth?’ It was like every day there was another bomb going off.”Dyche said he had no idea about the upcoming PSR breaches but suspected Goodison chiefs “knew a bit more”.He said: “We went in there, and we’re thinking, ‘Goodness me, this is all over the place.’ “And that’s not questioning any other managers. Everyone has their own style of what they want to do. I’m not on about that.Most read in FootballBEST FREE BET SIGN UP OFFERS FOR UK BOOKMAKERS”I’m on about the fans don’t want the owner there, they don’t want the chairman there, they don’t want a legend, Sharpie [Graeme Sharp], there, they don’t want the chief exec there. “They’re not allowed to come to the games because they’re getting all kinds of threats.Former Everton manager Sean Dyche lands new job two months after Toffees sacking “Then the crowd is against the team because the team have not been doing well. and then the negativity, the cloud around [the club] was huge.”So without even worrying about winning your first game, you’re going, ‘Hang on a minute, I’ve got to somehow calm this a little bit and bring alignment. “I always say there’s a truth line in a club, and this truth line was miles off! It was miles off the truth. And I thought, ‘Hang on, someone hasn’t been telling these fans what the reality is.”Off-field issues were eased when the Friedkin Group completed their £400m takeover in December and weeks later David Moyes returned to Goodison as Dyche’s replacement.You get in there and you go, ‘What on earth?’ It was like every day there was another bomb going off.Sean DycheThe Scot has guided them 17 points clear of the relegation zone ahead of this summer’s move to the Everton Stadium at Bramley Moore Dock.On Moyes, Dyche said: “He’s someone I admire as well. “I think his career, he’s taken some nods, but I think overall he’s been brilliant.“I spoke to him in the process of the changeover and I assured him, I said: ‘Moysey, they’re in good shape mate.’READ MORE SUN STORIES”But the weight of it’s got too much and they’re dwindling. A new face, a new voice, a new feel, a new change, whatever you need to change.”And he also hit back at his critics, adding: “The one thing I stand by, if you remember me leaving when I put my statement out, I did put they’re in good shape and I got battered for it.” More

DIEGO MARADONA’S autopsy showed he died in prolonged agony after going hours without treatment. The bombshell details have reportedly come to the fore as seven medical professionals stand trial for culpable homicide over Maradona’s death.An autopsy showed Diego Maradona died in prolonged agonyCredit: Getty Images – GettyThe Argentina legend passed away in 2020 from a heart attackCredit: AFPThe Argentina legend and World Cup winner died aged 60 from a heart attack in 2020.And now, a forensic expert has claimed Maradona suffered in pain for 12 hours with an enlarged heart that weighed more than a football.According to Argentina newspaper Clarin, Carlos Mauricio Casinelli showed the court pictures of blood clots which apparently confirmed the “signs of agony” that Maradona went through.He claimed the football icon’s heart became double its size in the time leading to his death.READ MORE ON DIEGO MARADONAWhile Maradona’s organs are also said to have accumulated four-and-a-half litres of fluid due to his heart failure.And Casinelli argued that any competent medical professional should have been able to see what was happening to Maradona before his passing.Casinelli said: “The heart was completely covered in fat and blood clots, which indicate agony.“This is a patient who had been collecting water over the days; that’s not acute.Most read in Football“This was something that was foreseeable. Any doctor examining a patient would find this.“The water he had in his abdomen, in both pleurae and in his heart isn’t normal; it doesn’t form in a day or an hour.Diego Maradona’s daughter fights back tears as she says family live in fear of mafia ahead of trial into his death “It’s been forming over several days. There’s no exact time. It could have been from the time he was expelled (from hospital) until he died.“This is likely to take at least 10 days, given the addition of cirrhosis and myocarditis.”Casinelli went on to describe the dark and dank conditions Maradona was left in before he died.He added: “It was a dark, partitioned room with a bed in the middle and a portable toilet.“It didn’t seem like a suitable place for what we later learned was home hospitalisation.”Casinelli’s claims were backed up by forensic doctor Federico Corosaniti.He said: “From my experience with the generalised edema, the difficulty he must have had breathing and exchanging gases, and the sounds in his lungs that are audible just by bringing his face close.“In my opinion as a doctor, it wasn’t a sudden event.”READ MORE SUN STORIESThe seven medical professionals on trial for culpable homicide over Maradona’s death deny any wrongdoing.They face up to 25 years in prison if found guilty. More