Just In: Dyche feels Everton leave occurred at ‘the correct time’.

Dyche was fired just hours before Everton’s FA Cup match against Peterborough last

Thursday by the club’s new US-based owners, The Friedkin Group,

with the Liverpool club one point above the Premier League relegation zone.

David Moyes returned as Everton manager within two days,

after previously holding the position from 2002 until 2013.

Dyche, in a statement provided by the League Managers’ Association,

said: “It was an honor to manage Everton,

a football club with a huge tradition and an enormous fanbase in

Liverpool and throughout the world,

through one of its most difficult periods in history.

“Despite the challenges we faced,

I wanted to ensure that the club’s narrative was focused on the positive

direction it will take in the future and that the team could focus on

competing in the Premier League in the present.”

The 53-year-old Englishman praised his staff, players,

and Everton fans for their support, adding: “The moment has come to leave the club,

with the team in terrific shape.

“David is a manager who I have great respect for and I believe he and his

staff will help to push the club forward again and build on the stable footing

we have implemented in the past two years.”