Andy Gray has become the latest Everton legend to lay into Roberto Martinez as he offered a damning indictment of the Catalan’s performance as manager.
The under-fire Blues boss could well be in line to lose his job in the coming weeks after a below-par season effectively came to an end with Saturday’s 2-1 FA Cup semi-final defeat against Manchester United.
And Gray, who won a number of trophies during a glittering spell at Goodison Park, has heaped further misery on the misfiring Catalan in a hugely critical column for Sport360.
He said: “Everyone keeps telling me that this is the best group of players they have had since my day in the eighties when Everton were winning things.
“Well, let me tell you, if that’s true and if they have got the talent – which for me they clearly have – then it’s up to the coach to bring out the best in them and get them playing in a way that brings success and he has failed to do that.
“They have won only four home league games this season and with this group of players that is just not good enough.”
Gray also suggested that the Blues boss has failed to adequately develop John Stones this season, with the prodigiously talented centre-back enduring a difficult campaign that has led to him losing his place in the England eleven for this summer’s European Championships.
He added: “I think he has lost John Stones because of the way he has treated him this season and maybe one or two other players.”