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.
Dyche 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.
“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.
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“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.
“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 Dyche
The 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.'
“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.”
