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Former Everton captain Alan Stubbs has responded to a report claiming the Friedkin Group could hire Jose Mourinho

A report claimed the Friedkin Group are considering Jose Mourinho to be the next Everton manager

Former Everton captain Alan Stubbs has slammed suggestions Jose Mourinho could replace Sean Dyche as Blues boss. With the Friedkin Group having agreed a takeover deal to obtain wantaway majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri’s 94.1% stake in the club, a report from Football Insider claimed Mourinho is a contender to become the next Everton manager once the Americans gain regulatory approval for their purchase.

Dyche’s current two-and-a-half year contract expires at the end of this season when the Blues move from Goodison Park to their new 52,888 capacity stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock. Mourinho – who has already been hired and then fired at the football club Dan Friedkin already owns, Roma, – is in his first season as head coach of Turkish side Fenerbahce having previously managed in England with Chelsea (2004-07 & 2013-15); Manchester United (2016-18) and Tottenham Hotspur (2019-21).

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The self-styled ‘Special One’ lifted the inaugural UEFA Europa Conference League for Friedkin at Roma in 2022, the Italian club’s first European trophy since they won the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup in 1961, but lifelong Evertonian Stubbs, who played 193 games for the Blues, scoring seven goals, in two spells from 2001-05 and then 2006-08, believes it would not be a wise appointment at this stage of the 61-year-old Portuguese coach’s career. He told BestBettingSites.com: “If Everton were going to appoint the Mourinho of old, the young Mourinho who was so successful and charismatic, then I would say yes bring him into the football club, and without being disrespectful to Sean Dyche, I think most Everton fans would because peak Mourinho was a very special manager.

“If Everton were going to move for him now, I don’t think it would be a good move to be honest. His last few spells in management haven’t really worked out for him.

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“He still provides that bit of sparkle on occasion, but it’s rare. I think he has got a little bit bitter and dour over the last decade.”

The 53-year-old from Kirkby who had managerial spells at Hibernian, Rotherham United and St Mirren, steering the former to their first Scottish Cup success in 114 years in 2016, added: “Jose has obviously had an amazing career. I’m not too sure whether he's the right man, and whether or not this is the right time.

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“Obviously, the Friedkin Group knows him well, so if they make a decision and want him to come in, I’ll have to get right behind that. If Daniel Friedkin thinks that Jose Mourinho can take Everton to the place the club wants to be, then he would have my full support in the job.”