Sam Allardyce reveals he could not turn down the lure of Everton as he joins club on 18-month contract

Everton have confirmed Sam Allardyce as the club’s new permanent manager on an 18-month contract.

The former England manager replaces Ronald Koeman, who was dismissed in October with Everton third-bottom in the Premier League table.

Everton embarked on a protracted search for a replacement, with Allardyce initially pulling out of race earlier this month after talks with the club’s majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri.

Marco Silva, the Watford manager, was approached but the Hertfordshire club would not accept Everton’s £10m compensation offer for the Portuguese coach’s services.

On Wednesday, Everton confirmed that talks with Allardyce had been re-opened and the 63-year-old finalised terms at the club’s Finch Farm training ground.

In a statement, Allardyce said: “The attraction of the club itself, the people I’ve known at the club - Peter Reid is one of my best mates, so are Andy Gray and Paul Bracewell whom I worked with at Sunderland – these people have always made me aware of just how special and unique a club Everton is and I feel really enthused and energised to come in as manager. I’ve always thought Everton was a great club. It is a great club. Obviously, the club has gone through a difficult spell and hopefully I can put that behind us as quickly as possible and start looking upwards again.

“Because, ultimately, it’s the ambition of the club, the ambition of the owner and the board, allied to the fact that it’s Everton and all the fantastic history, which have proved to be key for me. Ambition is important for any manager or coach, owner or director. It’s what you need to have and hopefully we can deliver to the fans to get this club high up the league. That’s what we’re aiming for.

“I think that whatever’s happened before we’ve just got to all rally around together. Our will to do it all together would be my way forward. Because we are all in it together and let’s all pull in the same direction. Let’s try to get a healthy spirit around the club. That’s difficult when you’re losing but the win last night over West Ham and the magnificent atmosphere around Goodison, which was just brilliant, well that’s lifted everybody around the club.

“And we’ve got to try to keep our heads up and push ourselves until we make sure we get that better. The fans are the most important people at any football club, of course, and we have to give the players every possibility to play to their best, really give them no excuses for not playing to their best and get them right back up to the top level we believe they’re capable of. Last season showed what the club is trying to build and we need to demonstrate that level of ambition and assuredness again. We can. It’s a question now of putting in the work to do that and I’m really enthused by the prospect.”

Allardyce was present at Goodison Park alongside Moshiri and chairman Bill Kenwright later the same evening as caretaker manager David Unsworth’s spell ended with a emphatic 4-0 win over West Ham United.

Wayne Rooney’s first ever hat-trick for his boyhood club and an Ashley Williams header lifted Everton up to 13th in the Premier League table, five points away from their opponents and the relegation zone.

Unsworth, who will resume his role as the club’s under-23s manager, instructed Everton supporters to rally behind Allardyce in the hope of turning the club’s disappointing season around.

“The board have made a decision and like any manager he needs to be afforded time and patience and given the chance and the backing from the whole football club,” Unsworth said. “He certainly has my backing.”