Why do you rate him? His objective seems to be to keep teams up, he did well with Bolton but at immense long term cost to Bolton. He has never came close to winning a cup.
Well, he did reach the final of the League Cup.
The long term cost to Bolton is as much the indictment of present-day football. Their debt was sustainable while he had them progressing, it was falling down that cost them. Now, you could blame the manager, but the manager did exactly what was asked of him. Indeed, at the time Bolton were held up as a template.
Since then, he's been pigeon-holed, for better or worse, as a manager who only gets a chance when a team's in trouble. That doesn't give him much opportunity! Nonetheless, to my mind both Blackburn and West Ham had progressed from where he found them. Sunderland could have maybe been his opportunity to progress too had England not come calling.
Like I said, if he gets the chance to mould a team next season at Everton, we might get a chance to see if he can do that with long term planning. Chances are he'll be shuffled onwards and/or quit however. I'll also grant you there's an argument that he's motivated more by the cash than the desire to fight for honours (and that could have affected his long term staying power) but I'd stick that into the mix rather than it being the sole issue. To my eyes, it's as much impressions and stereotypes as anything else.
Well if Everton maintain their spending in the summer, he has a chance to change that.
