Michael Keane has revealed how Everton’s players learned of Sean Dyche’s sacking.
Dyche’s two-year spell at Goodison Park was ended surprisingly just over three hours before the club’s FA Cup third-round tie with Peterborough.
Leighton Baines and Seamus Coleman took temporary charge for the 2-0 win as new owners The Friedkin Group eye a swift permanent appointment.
But Keane admits that the Blues’ squad only discovered Dyche’s fate ahead of the game when informed by the club’s director of football Kevin Thelwell.
He said: “It’s not been a good day for the club.
“Any time you lose a manager it’s really disappointing and sad. As players, we need to take responsibility for that.
“I don’t think we as players have been good enough as a collective and shown the quality we’ve got. So it’s not been a great day.
“With him leaving on a matchday, the preparation wasn’t what we usually have for games.
“We didn’t find out until pre-match tonight. It was the pre-match meal, so three hours before the game and quite late, but we’re all professionals.
“We know how to prepare for games and even when it’s been a tough day, you get on the pitch, work hard and know what you’ve got to do.”
Dyche’s departure mark an end to his lengthy association with Keane, whom he signed for Burnley and inherited as Frank Lampard’s successor in 2023.
“He’s been brilliant for me,” added the defender.
“He’s been a brilliant manager, is a brilliant manager, and his staff are as well. It’s just one of those things. It’s football and it doesn’t always work out.
“But when you look at his time here, the two years in general, he’s done a really good job.
“Last season we had deductions and ended up staying up relatively comfortably. There were a lot of good things and he’s a great manager.
“It’s just unfortunate the way it’s ended.”
