Everton sack manager Sean Dyche hours before FA Cup game against Peterborough

• Sports presenter Mike Hall joined Katie and Gamal in the studio to discuss what's next for Everton.

Under-18s head coach Leighton Baines - who made more than 300 first-team appearances between 2007 and 2020 - and Toffee's captain Seamus Coleman will now take charge on an interim basis, starting with their tie against Peterborough at Goodison Park.

The Toffees have won just one of their last 11 Premier League matches under Dyche.

The club’s new owners, the Friedkin Group, will now begin the hunt for Dyche’s successor, with former Chelsea and Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho having already been linked with the position.

Everton said members of Dyche’s backroom team Ian Woan, Steve Stone, Mark Howard and Billy Mercer had also left the club.

In a statement the club said: "Everton Football Club can confirm that Sean Dyche has been relieved of his duties as Senior Men’s First Team Manager with immediate effect.

"Ian Woan, Steve Stone, Mark Howard and Billy Mercer have also left the Club.

"The process to appoint a new manager is under way and an update will be provided in due course.

"Under-18s Head Coach Leighton Baines and Club Captain Seamus Coleman will take charge of first-team affairs on an interim basis."

Dyche was appointed to the role in January 2023 after a near 10-year stint as Burnley boss between October 2012 and April 2022.

He kept the club in the Premier League for two seasons, surviving relegation at the end of the 2022-23 season by just two points, and finishing 15th despite an eight-point deduction for twice breaching Premier League financial rules in 2023-24 season.

But recent form has seen the team just two places and one point above the relegation zone.

Their most recent loss, 1-0 at Bournemouth was their eighth league defeat of the season, and the team has failed to score in eight of their last 10 games.

Dyche spoke about the speculation surrounding his position at a press conference on Wednesday 8 January.

“I think the noise has grown very powerful here. It does do,” he said.

“But we’ve had it before. We’ve had to push that away and move forward again. We’ll keep working with the group, keep reassuring, showing the good side of what we can do.

“The players haven’t lacked effort but it’s obviously affecting them because you can see it in their performances.

“I think down at Bournemouth we looked tight. We couldn’t really find anything that meant anything in the forward department.

“So we’re trying to open that up, give them the freedom to play. It’s a massive challenge.”

Mourinho has emerged as an early contender to succeed Dyche. The Portuguese is currently with Turkish club Fenerbahce but has expressed interest in returning to the English game.

He also has experience of working with the Friedkin Group at Roma, although the Italian club sacked him just under a year ago.

David Moyes, who managed Everton between 2002 and 2013 before leaving to become Sir Alex Ferguson’s successor at Manchester United, has also been linked with a return to Goodison.