What do Pep Guardiola, Jurgen Klopp, Thomas Tuchel and Antonio Conte have in common? That’s right, none of them have had to defend their managerial records and talk up their accomplishments on Sky Sports News to try and land a Premier League job.
On Tuesday night, it looked as though Vitor Pereira was set to be confirmed as Rafa Benitez’s successor at Everton. By Wednesday afternoon, the out-of-work Pereira was outlining his credentials to a nonplussed David Garrido on live television, following a backlash from Everton fans over his potential appointment.
It was certainly a novel approach if the intention was to win the approval of Farhad Moshiri and Bill Kenwright. “It’s perhaps a little unique that you’ve come on air to speak to us,” was Garrido’s rather accurate assessment.
Pereira began his impromptu phone-in with a monologue straight from the Jose Mourinho copybook: “If you look for the managers even the top managers in the world, we have eight titles, it is not easy in different countries. It is not for everybody, you understand?”
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It hasn’t all been plain-sailing. The big blot on Pereira’s CV is from an ill-fated spell in charge of 1860 Munich which ended in relegation from Germany’s second tier in 2017, while his most recent post at Fenerbahce lasted just six months.
“We cannot have a career with everything, with positive things,” he reasoned. “In Munich, it was a very difficult situation, a money situation you understand because they didn’t have money and they were relegated because of the money because they cannot pay to manage the club, pay the players. It is difficult to deal with this kind of situation and it was [a] very short time. It means you cannot look for the negative things, you must look at how many titles in different countries that I got.”
Everton fans will point to Pereira’s limited shelf life at previous clubs and nightmarish spell in Munich as reason enough to steer clear.
“His career is littered with countless jobs and sackings,” Mike Richards, from the Unholy Trinity Everton podcast, told i. “He’s not managed in the Premier League before and the fact he was brought in to save 1860 Munich and he took them down is not winning much – if any – favour with Everton fans. Frank Lampard is the favoured option because he isn’t Vitor Pereira. For me, it’s that simple. The fans are so against him, it’s a case of anyone else but him.”
More than anything, though, the anti-Pereira sentiment is less about what he has or hasn’t achieved in the game and more about what he represents. He is a client of the renowned “super agent” Kia Joorabchian, who is fast becoming as unpopular among Everton fans as he is with Sheffield United supporters. Joorabchian was greeted with a “Kia not welcome” banner at Goodison Park as he kept Farhad Moshiri company in the directors box for Saturday’s 1-0 defeat to Aston Villa.
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“The backlash centres around the influence of Kia Joorabchian,” Richards states. “He’s been involved with the decision-making aspects of the club for a while and that’s frightening for us as fans. He did similar at Reading and QPR and look what’s happened to both of them. Taking advice from a “super” agent whose interests rest solely in the lining of his own pockets, is concerning.”
Although Pereira hasn’t previously felt inclined to hop onto daytime TV to big himself up, this wouldn’t be the first time that the Everton job has bypassed him. And he was bullish that if he misses out again, he will one day end up in the Premier League regardless.
“I will move on with my life, move forward with my life and if they want me they must call me. This is something that I cannot control you understand? I’m a professional, I did my work and now I will wait for the decision and that’s all. I’m sure that now or in the future I will be in the Premier League.”
That may prove to be the case, but the last act of a desperate man routine might have pushed him further away from his dream destination than he might think.
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