Everton points deduction: what happened when Sean Dyche heard news as players WhatsApp group goes off

Sean Dyche was in Dubai when the news came through. It wasn’t yet public, but the announcement of Everton’s 10 point deduction was imminent when director of football Kevin Thelwell spoke to him on the first Friday of the international break.

It was a phone call that redefined Dyche’s season as the club he had led away from peril on the final day of last season was plunged into the bottom three just when the fear and uncertainty of recent relegation battles looked like it might become a feeling of the past.

There was no shouting and swearing, according to Dyche. Instead, he said, his focus immediately turned to analysing what it meant for the season. He said: “I just said: ‘Right. What are the realities? Where do we go from here?’ It is pretty much how I am. I am not one for falling over, woe is me. That is not my style. I said: ‘What is the next step, what are the realities, what are we doing, how do we take it from here?’”

I was at the Everton press conference - there has been a defiant mood shift after points deduction

Sean Dyche speaks out on Everton points deduction for first time

Thelwell explained the technicalities of the independent commission’s ruling and the process that will follow, with Everton launching an appeal against the sanction.

That appeal creates an uncertainty about what will happen next - with the hope fuelling the application being that the punishment could be reduced. Dyche will attach little merit to that, however. For him, this is now the state of play and -10 is the challenge he will attack. In the Blues boss’ mind there is no asterisk next to the four points his side now has - not that he pays attention to any table other than the one when 38 games have been completed, he claims.

He said: