It just had to happen. Maybe not in the hours before a potentially historic game at Goodison Park. Maybe without the frosty accompanying statement. But Sean Dyche's time at Everton was up.

The 1-0 loss to Bournemouth had all the makings of a final straw. Like the 2-0 loss to West Ham United which sealed Frank Lampard's fate in 2023, the Blues looked like a husk of a football team on the south coast.

They had no threat and no direction. No bite and no bustle. The manager, it was clear, had run out of ideas. He practically admitted as much in his post-match press conference in a tense exchange with ECHO reporter Joe Thomas.

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His claim that Everton's run would not be as bad if some wins were added to it to the club's in-house media was indicative of a garbled mind.

It's a run that has seen Everton pick up just three wins all season and in which they had failed to score in eight of their last 10 games. They sit just a point above the bottom three after 19 games.

Things are bad. But Dyche's antics at the weekend felt like they pushed Everton into a new threshold. For a while the results have been below-par and the performances boring, albeit enough in the past to keep their heads above water. But after Saturday, it felt comical. Everton were back to being a laughing stock.

That feeling was so jarring because it's one the club have largely managed to avoid under Dyche's two-year tenure.

At times, Dyche had helped restore pride to the Everton cause. With a leadership void at the top of the club, he was so frequently the spokesperson as the Blues lurched from crisis to crisis. The manner in which he steered Everton to safety in his first season and then through the PSR mayhem of last term is to be commended. Those 18 months could be key in setting up what should be a bright future.

But nothing lasts forever. Certainly not at Everton.

This season there has been a noticeable change in tone during press conferences, as Dyche's answers to questions have frequently been laced with a sense of self preservation. In recent weeks, he's turned the focus onto the players for poor performances - he bemoaned the team's efforts against Nottingham Forest, before singling out Jarrad Branthwaite for a mistake against the Cherries. When a manager reaches that stage, it's so frequently the end.

This type of approach has grown tiresome with some supporters. Meshed with the turgid style of football and the lack of results, attending Goodison Park in its final season has felt more like an obligation than an occasion.

And if the Friedkin Group do feel as though he had 'given up' in recent days as reported? There was only one decision to make.

Dyche still has his backers in the wider media and if Everton were to fall into the Championship there are plenty who will point back to this day with a smirk. After all, the man teams would typically go for in this situation is, well, Dyche.

But the current status quo couldn't continue. Of course, there are limitations in this squad and Dyche's successor will have to overcome those too. This is not an easy fix. But there is some talent there to be tapped into with a more positive and inventive mindset.

Still, Everton could quite easily mess up the next appointment. The amount of elite managers who are available and willing to take a job like this will be small, especially mid-season.

Whatever happens though, it doesn't make today's decision the wrong one. Dyche's time was up. It had to happen.