Paper Round: Rafa Benitez says no deal to Everton as pressure mounts on Ronald Koeman

As Everton manager Ronald Koeman admitted on Wednesday “maybe I am in crisis”, Thursday’s papers report that Newcastle manager Rafa Benitez has rejected an offer by the club to take over at Goodison Park. Benitez, who was a fan favourite as Liverpool manager, is said to have been approached by Everton this week after the Toffees scraped a draw against Brighton at the weekend.

Paper Round’s view: There’s always something rather ominous about a struggling football manager who claims to have the board’s backing, but to be fair to Koeman, he’s not even really doing that. After admitting the club’s main shareholder Farhad Moshiri was at the club last week along with chairman Bill Kenwright and other board members, Koeman said: “There was not really a message but the feeling is that they are behind the team, they are behind the manager.” Logic tells you the Everton board would want to be seeing a greater return on their considerable investment over the summer. Despite takeover distractions and transfer frustrations, Benitez is having a decent run at Newcastle, but does he feel he has more to achieve there?

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Jack Wilshere has defended Arsenal against jibes by Watford captain Troy Deeney on the eve of their Europa League test against Red Star Belgrade. Wilshere, who has recently enjoyed something of a renaissance at the club, responded to Deeney’s comments that the North Londoners had no “cojones” following their 2-1 defeat by the Hornets on Saturday, saying: “Nobody can question our character.”

And Wilshere wasn’t the only person at the Emirates dismissing Deeney’s scathing attack. Manager Arsene Wenger, who was angered by what he called a “scandalous” penalty decision during Saturday’s game, defended his players, and said: “Everyone is entitled to talk…I love my players and I trust their strength of character to respond quickly.”

Paper Round’s view: While conceding it was disappointing to lose after going 1-0 up, Wilshere promised to “bounce back” against Belgrade. Meanwhile Wenger pointed out that six wins and one draw in the seven games prior to the Watford horror show proved the comments were unjust, and all teams have the occasional bad day at the office, it’s true. But it's also true that Arsenal’s character, or rather Wenger’s inability to take his players to task on their character, is a massive part of the problem currently facing the club.

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Greg Clarke and Martin Glenn are reportedly fighting to save their careers after it emerged on Wednesday at a Culture Media and Sport Committee that sacked former England women’s manager Mark Sampson had been found to have racially abused Eni Aluko and Drew Spence – and that it had taken three investigations to come to that conclusion. Aluko accused the FA of almost “blackmail” as the committee chairman Damian Collins called for chief executive Glenn, chairman Clarke, technical director Dan Ashworth and HR director Rachel Brace to consider their positions.

Paper Round’s view: The whole sorry saga of the response to Aluko’s claims, the initial investigations into them, Sampson’s eventual sacking for “inappropriate behaviour” outlined in an investigation that took place during his tenure as England manager and this U-turn have been embarrassing for the FA but worse still distracting and damaging for the team. And it’s not the first time the board have shown – at best - poor judgement.

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