Sean Dyche can laugh about it now – the moment he took the angry Anfield lion by the tail and gave him a good twirl.
It was a heated disagreement with Jurgen Klopp in the tunnel of the famous old stadium, with the two standing toe to toe exchanging frank views on an afternoon when his Burnley side ended Liverpool’s spectacular unbeaten home record under the German.
Dyche was pointed afterwards, suggesting: “You are allowed to fight at these places you know!” But now, on the eve of an even more passionate meeting with Klopp, the Everton boss produces a smile when he references his rival from across Stanley Park.
Dyche said: “I didn’t mean me and him by the way, when I said you are allowed to fight at these places! And it wasn’t a bust-up… it most certainly wasn’t a bust-up! There was no actual coming together (with Klopp) either. It is just a moment in time and I don’t think there is anything wrong with that.”
For Dyche, it is the natural passion and emotion that comes with the territory of being a manager – and the natural instincts too. As he explains on the eve of one of the most famous derbies in world football, it all stems from the fundamental desire to win.
Dyche added: “That’s the point – the intention of a team is to go and win there. You have to do what you have to do – you have to fight, you have to play, you have to work, and all those things. So when that’s happening, you know, we are allowed to do it.
“And equally, the two managers within reason, I don’t think there’s anything that wrong with that approach, so long as it’s not untoward. I really don’t think there’s anything wrong at all. We all have a moan up at each other, at any given decision or moment, we all have our different styles.
“There are different ways of dealing with it, some are calm, sit in the chair, I am always on the sideline, that’s just my style – I’m quite active with it. You know I talk to the fourth officials a lot, I’m aggressive with them, I am not swearing at them, I am not calling them names.”
Dyche and Klopp hardly swap Christmas cards, and the Everton manager freely admits he has never had the occasion to speak to the German coach in a social setting. But there is mutual respect.
And even though there is a massive amount at stake in a derby which will be watched all over the globe – with Liverpool trying to stake their title credentials and Everton aiming to ease away from the relegation zone – there will be an understanding between the two managers that everything is fair game.
One thing is certain, Everton will fight. But even that, for Dyche, is simply the natural instinct in a derby… and he insisted he is more concerned with the consistency of his side rather than the emotion. “Of course Everton are allowed to fight, but it’s not really about that,” he said.
“This a derby, the biggest I’ve been involved in, and in terms of the emotional ups and downs, it is natural (that it goes up for a derby). But I’m more interested in our consistency. The emotion is a natural response, or it should be for a derby, but raising the actual baseline of our level is the thing I’m working on, and we’re getting there.”
