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The role of worst manager in Everton's history is unchallenged.

By almost universal consensus Mike Walker holds that unfortunate tag.

His managerial reign was so ignominious it lasted barely 11 months. And even that was very close to being two months too long, with Everton needing one great escape four months after he took over, and then another, three months after the worst start to a season in the club's history.

Everton will not need a great escape this season because Roberto Martinez is an infinitely more convincing manager than Walker.

But worryingly there are parallels.

Mike Walker earned the Everton job by coaching an unfashionable club to a handsome win at Goodison Park, then pulling off a spectacularly unexpected victory in a major cup tie.

His cavalier Norwich team demolished Everton 5-1 in front of their own supporters, three weeks before they became the first English team to defeat Bayern Munich in the Olympic Stadium.

Fast forward a couple of decades and Roberto Martinez led Wigan Athletic to a 3-0 win in an FA Cup tie at a shell-shocked Goodison, then outwitted Manchester City in the final.

It was enough to earn him the prestigious Everton job.

Martinez, of course, also guided Everton to a fifth place finish in his debut season as Blues boss, with a record Premier League points haul.

But Mike Walker also guided Norwich City to third place in the inaugural Premier League season, with a points haul The Canaries have never come near since in top flight football.

(That Norwich team also conceded a staggering 65 goals in 42 matches. Everton are two-thirds of the way to that unseemly total with 10 games to go).

So far, so similar.

But it's both men's refusal to budge from their footballing philosophies which is most disturbing.

Walker had a vision which he refused to budge from.

He picked teams which were easy on the eye and attractive to watch, but didn't defend.

His first league match as Everton manager saw Swindon demolished 6-2. But until Swindon striker Andy Mutch was sent off it was a game which could easily have swung either way.

Resilient, disciplined individuals like Joe Parkinson, John Ebbrell and Andy Hinchcliffe were abandoned in favour of the more elegant talents of Vinny Samways, Anders Limpar and Iain Durrant throughout his reign.

And even when he had the opportunity to bring in new talent, he insisted on adding even more style than substance, enlisting Daniel Amokachi from FC Bruges and trying to sign misfit Brazilian, Muller.

But not once did he receive calls for his head from the terraces.

Evertonians desperately, dearly wanted him to succeed – much as most craved to win the football pools.

Each had about the same chances of success.

And Mike Walker's refusal to change cost him his job.

He left bemoaning that his team had 'turned the corner' after the streakiest of 1-0 wins over West Ham and a dire 0-0 draw at Norwich.

Everton are nowhere near that level now.

But 12 place with only four league wins from 14 home games all season is simply unacceptable for Everton Football Club.

Roberto Martinez insists that Everton aren't far away from a turnaround in fortunes.

“We are very close,” he said after Saturday's defeat.

“Do we do things right enough? The away form tells us that we do.”

Everton's away form has, indeed, been impressive.

The least number of defeats since 1911 points to a team capable of much, much more.

But that is countered by a thoroughly wretched run of home defeats – and a failure to accept responsibility for those failings.

When Everton founder, as they have done frequently this season, it's usually someone else's fault .

At Stamford Bridge it was a linesman, in the Capital One Cup at Manchester City it was the referee, against Stoke it was Mark Clattenburg's fault for awarding a last minute penalty, the referee bore the brunt again on Saturday for dismissing Kevin Mirallas.

There was even a suggestion that Romelu Lukaku's missed penalty was a turning point, even though replays showed the penalty shouldn't have been awarded in the first place.

It was a refusal to accept the blindingly obvious which cost Mike Walker his job in 1995.

A different manager came in, took over the same squad of players, and immediately won three games in a row against opposition as formidable as Liverpool, Leeds and Chelsea.

Joe Royle also delivered the last piece of silverware to adorn an Everton trophy cabinet.

(Image: Action Images / Tony Henshaw)

The only problem he had to worry about was the fashion police querying the style of his football teams.

He even turned that criticism into a positive by celebrating his 'Dogs of War' – and planting a psychological seed whenever anyone lined up to face his side.

West Brom boss Tony Pulis has had to endure those brickbats, too. But he has also turned it into a positive.

His West Brom side climbed a point clear of Everton in the Premier League table on Saturday .

Only a point. And Everton do have a game in hand and a superior goal difference.

But the change was significant.

West Brom are managed by Tony Pulis. Everton are managed by Roberto Martinez.

One is the champion of pragmatic football, the other an advocate of the beautiful game.

Yet both have a remarkably similar record.

Martinez's results in the Premier League at Wigan and Everton are almost identical to those achieved by Pulis with Stoke, Crystal Palace and West Brom.

Martinez has 80 wins, 74 draws and 102 defeats from his 256 matches, while Pulis has racked up 84 wins, 74 draws and 102 defeats in his 263 matches. In fact, Pulis has won a higher percentage of his matches (31.9%) than Martínez (31.2%).

A refusal to yield from 'footballing' principles appears to be offering no greater likelihood of success.

Sure, no-one wants to watch a team play pragmatic football, and playing percentages is not going to get the Gwladys Street singing about the School of Science.

But equally no-one likes watching their team lose home matches to Manchester City, Manchester United, Leicester, Stoke, Swansea, West Brom and West Ham.

Even the hapless Walker only managed to lose six home matches in his 11 months in charge.

But there's one more similarity which Martinez should be concerned about.

A change of club ownership saw Mike Walker replaced as Everton manager.

The Moores family were the majority shareholders who oversaw Walker's appointment, Peter Johnson was the chairman who sacked him.

Everton are about to enter a new era with a new major shareholder.

And new owners want quick returns.

We are told Farhad Moshiri will be at Goodison Park on Saturday – and a visit to Wembley for an FA cup semi-final from his very first match is a surefire way to win friends and influence people.

But the only way to win more friends and influence more people is to win more matches – and Everton simply aren't doing that often or effectively enough.

Evertonians desperately want Roberto Martinez to succeed.

An increasingly growing number have lost faith in him doing just that.

He won't go down as the worst manager in Everton's history.

But like the man who is, his refusal to change may cost him dear.