Sam Allardyce, Everton Part Ways: Latest Details, Comments and Reaction

Everton confirmed on Wednesday that the club and Sam Allardyce have parted ways.

The club's official Twitter account relayed the news, bringing an end to the 63-year-old's stay at Goodison Park:

Henry Winter of The Times relayed a statement from Everton chief executive Denise Barrett-Baxendale about the decision to move on Allardyce:

According to BBC Sport's Phil McNulty, the favourite to take over on Merseyside is former Watford and Hull City boss Marco Silva.

Allardyce was appointed by the Toffees in November on an 18-month deal following the decision to move on from Ronald Koeman.

The former England manager took over with Everton in 13th position in the Premier League and pushed the team up to eighth place away from a relegation battle. However, Allardyce and his approach have been unpopular with the supporters.

As relayed by Luke O'Farrell of ESPN, while Allardyce defended the style of football he used at Goodison Park, the statistics paint a picture of a team lacking in attacking imagination:

While the recruitment of players like Cenk Tosun and Theo Walcott helped Everton improve in January, Allardyce's cautious approach also alienated some exciting young attackers on the club's books, including Nikola Vlasic and Ademola Lookman.

The latter, in particular, has made the decision to send him out on loan to RB Leipzig look foolish, as he's been excellent since moving to the Bundesliga. As noted by Matt Cheetham of Sky Sports, the Toffees would've benefitted from having someone like Lookman around:

While Allardcye has not endeared himself to supporters at Everton, he's by no means solely responsible for the malaise the club finds itself in.

Ahead of the 2017-18 season the club invested heavily in the transfer market, although director of football Steve Walsh and Koeman failed to find an adequate replacement for top scorer Romelu Lukaku, who moved to Manchester United.

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New signings Michael Keane, Sandro Ramirez and Davy Klaassen failed to find their feet, and the team lurched towards the relegation zone. When Koeman was sacked after a 5-2 loss to Arsenal, Everton found themselves in 18th position in the table.

Allardyce steadied the ship from that point on, although as noted by Royal Blue Mersey, his record doesn't compare favourably to his predecessors:

Any successor has some talented players to work with in the likes of Walcott, Tosun, Pickford and Gylfi Sigurdsson. Youngsters such as Lookman, Vlasic, Tom Davies and Mason Holgate also have a bright future ahead if they're nurtured correctly.

Silva would potentially invigorate the team with attacking and high-intensity football if he was to come in. Everton supporters will hope he can lift the club off its haunches after a spectacular false dawn.