Sean Dyche makes major admission over Everton survival after surprise problems emerge

Sean Dyche said keeping Everton up this season was his biggest achievement in football.

The Blues boss said the battle of this campaign, one in which his side had been hit with two points deductions and the uncertainty of a takeover saga yet to end, had been tough - particularly with no-one to rely on outside the club and the fanbase.

And he said the challenge had been made even more severe because it was different to one pitched to him when he took the job.

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Speaking after Everton confirmed survival with three games to spare Dyche said this season had been fraught for both him and his players. Often the figurehead amid a chaotic campaign, he has had to lead from the front on and off the pitch. That had been the case when he was appointed in January of last year and led the club to a last-gasp avoidance of the Championship.

The summer that followed did not see him receive the resources he expected to build on those early months, however. That, combined with eight points of deductions that undermined the progress in results that was being made, added to the pressure.

Asked to put into context how remarkable the achievement of staving off relegation was this year Dyche, who turned Burnley into a Premier League side and took the club into an unlikely season in Europe, said: “It is certainly my biggest one. To lead a group from where it was to where it is. It was different last season, that was tough enough. But this season has been incredibly tough and to see through the feeling and the noise at times. I have taken a few hits myself but