Former Everton defender Alan Stubbs believes that Duncan Ferguson’s mini-revival at Goodison Park will have played a part in bringing Carlo Ancelotti to the club.
Reports on Thursday suggested that the Toffees remain hopeful that the club can bring the 60-year-old to Merseyside, with talks continuing as they look to find a permanent replacement for Marco Silva.
Ferguson, who has taken interim charge of the club since the Portuguese’s sacking earlier this month, has overseen a four-point haul from fixtures against Chelsea and Manchester United, before being knocked out of the EFL Cup on penalties by Leicester City in midweek.
Speaking to TalkSPORT, Stubbs feels that should Ancelotti finalise his move to the blue half of Liverpool, the feel-good factor left from Ferguson’s stand-in spell will have played a part.
He said: “Duncan has had a short-term impact on the team, he’s given them a bit of life and more importantly he’s given Everton fans a bit of optimism.
“He has shown, with a little bit of razzing up and with a little bit of heart and desire what is possible.
“Duncan has given Ancelotti a better platform to work from than what he inherited from Marco Silva.
“So I would have thought Ancelotti will be very thankful that he’s coming into a club with a bit more optimism about it than there was three weeks ago.”
Stubbs’ assertion that Everton’s hopes of bringing Ancelotti to the club on the basis of their most recent performances sounds a little far-fetched - if not complete guesswork.
Links between the Italian and the Toffees were apparent when he was sacked by Napoli - just days after Everton had been guided to victory over Chelsea by temporary boss Ferguson.
That suggests results almost certainly had no effect on the club’s ambition to pursue the former Real Madrid boss, while someone like Ancelotti - who has also been linked with the Arsenal vacancy - would surely base a decision to join a club outside of European football on more than a mere handful of scorelines.
At most, Ferguson’s promising interim spell may encourage Ancelotti’s beliefs of turning Everton into a success if he agrees to take over, while Stubbs crediting his fellow Scot for the potential incoming of the ex-Chelsea manager is perhaps a little harsh on the ambitious Everton board.