Is a history lesson really necessary to explain why the Everton job is so attractive now resources are plentiful?

The football map of England has not changed so much since the Premier League was formed in 1992 but a generation has suffered collective amnesia. Everton are lords of the English game and although their capacity to challenge for the title has been dormant for too long, they’ve remained poised and waiting to resuscitate themselves.

Those spitting out that well-worn phrase ‘it’s about money’ win this year’s prize for stating the bloody obvious.

What an odd, and frankly immaterial, expression that is when applied to football. No sentence is delivered with a more blistered tongue. You don’t get it in any other profession.

When someone decides to leave one job, any job, to do the same thing elsewhere there is usually a casual shrug of the shoulders and presumption they’ve gone to do similar work for more cash. As you do.

“But he said he’d never leave us and then turned his head as soon as he was offered a £4 million a year pay rise…”

Well, quite… and your point is what exactly? I'm not speaking from experience here, but I'd take a stab in the dark £4 million quid extra tends to get your attention. Every declaration of allegiance in football – from both sides – is conditional and subject to immediate change in the event of extraordinary developments. It’s no reflection of Koeman’s character that Everton’s determination to get him shifted his view.