Six games into the season and already his team - written off by a majority of commentators - are grazing on the sweet grass of the Champions League meadows.
If he keeps this up, he'll find one of Goodison's glitterati gliding up to him and suggesting that now perhaps he doesn't need the promised £17m for new players!
* WHAT is the most over-used and much abused phrase in soccer-managment circles?
Well, Middlesbrough majordomo Steve McClaren used it on Sunday after his team struggled to make sense of new armour-plated Everton.
Thought we deserved something from the game for our late pressure, bleated the man who (God help us!) may one day succeed sultry Sven.
It's nonsense and rarely convinces. Yet managers, seeing a completely different game to the rest of us, cling to it like George Best clings to opening time.
* EVERTON should always be capable of winning The Carling Cup. Except they seldom make even a token appearance in a competition left open to anyone by the snootiness of the Premiership's elite.
Will this year be different for Everton? It must be.
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