‘New Everton manager’ Sean Dyche grew up a Liverpool fan - but don’t worry, he’s already annoyed Jurgen Klopp

With Everton set to announce Sean Dyche as their new manager, it’s worth noting that the Evertonian-to-be was indeed a Liverpool fan growing up.

Reports suggest that Dyche has beaten out the former Leeds United manager Marcelo Bielsa and will take charge of the club, despite owner Farhad Moshiri’s preferred choice being the Argentine manager.

However, fans may be interested to know the former Burnley manager grew up loving the era of the brilliant Liverpool sides in the 1970s and 1980’s, and he even played in front of the Kop aged just 15.

Now 51, his childhood consisted of watching Liverpool dominate English and European football, and he looks set to take charge of their city-rivals in the coming hours.

He spoke out on his affiliation with the likes of Bill Shankly, Bob Paisley, Joe Fagan and Kenny Dalglish in the past, praising all the legends of yesteryear as his heroes growing up.

“I was a 70s child so everyone was a Liverpool fan but I lived in Kettering so I couldn’t get up there all the time, I was a distant Liverpool fan.”

“My first recollection of them was at seven years old, then at about eight or nine when you start zooming in on what it’s really about,” he told talkSPORT back in April.

“You start getting your favourite players, mine was King Kenny – as a kid why wouldn’t he be your favourite player? [Graeme] Souness as well,” he added, while hailing the character of the late Ray Clemence. “What a fantastic player, no airs and graces. That whole Liverpool thing was quite a powerful thing in the 70s.”

In his time at Burnley, he also managed to annoy Jurgen Klopp, as the pair shared words in the tunnel at half-time in a game during the lockdown period – a game which Dyche won 1-0.

“We are allowed to actually try to win,” he said after his opposite number engaged in a fiery exchange at Anfield.

It’s clear he has a love for the club from the memories of those glory days; he even went onto say in an interview in 2022 that he’s “always had a soft spot for Liverpool” and he’ll have to quash any personal feelings as he takes charge of Everton.

It’s a far cry from the appointment of former Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez, which went down like a lead balloon amongst fans.

At player level, there have been plenty of Everton fans who went on to play for Liverpool and vice versa, including Jamie Carragher, Ian Rush, Steve McMahon and Robbie Fowler.