Roberto Martínez sacked by Everton after disappointing season

Roberto Martinez has been sacked by Everton and the club will formally announce the manager’s departure once compensation terms are agreed.

Everton’s new major shareholder, Farhad Moshiri, decided to end Martínez’s three-year tenure following talks with the Goodison Park hierarchy on Thursday and has begun the search for a successor.

Moshiri opted to spare Martínez the indignity of angry protests at Everton’s end-of-season awards dinner on Thursday and in the final home game of the season against relegated Norwich City. David Unsworth, Everton’s Under-21s coach, is expected to take charge of Sunday’s Premier League fixture.

Confirmation of Martínez’s exit will follow the resolution of talks between Everton and the Spaniard’s representatives over a severance payment. The 42-year-old has three years remaining on the lucrative contract he was given by Everton at the end of his first season in charge in 2014.

The manager is believed to earn at least £3m a year and the club’s hierarchy faces a substantial severance payment for the remainder of his contract and those of his backroom staff.

Moshiri acted following a dire run of form, a second poor Premier League season and clear evidence of support draining for Martínez from the fanbase, players and the boardroom, although the chairman Bill Kenwright was loth to part company with the former Wigan Athletic manager.

Everton have won only one of their last 10 matches and their latest anaemic away performance, Wednesday’s 3-0 reverse at relegation-threatened Sunderland, came with the manager demanding a reaction to a feeble 3-1 loss at Leicester City on Saturday. Martínez and his players were on a scheduled day off from the club’s Finch Farm training ground on Thursday.

Supporters, who have turned against Martínez in increasing numbers in recent weeks, have planned a protest outside the awards dinner at St George’s Hall in Liverpool and there would have been further calls for his departure at Goodison on Sunday had the owners delayed the decision until the end of the campaign.

Frank de Boer’s agent, Guido Albers, said at the weekend that his client “would love to join a club like Everton”. His departure from Ajax was announced by the Dutch club on Thursday after de Boer’s team blew the chance to win the championship on the final day of the season.

Moshiri, the British-Iranian billionaire who acquired a 49.9% stake in Everton in February, has promised new investment this summer but his first major call at the club will be a new managerial appointment.

Everton are 12th in the Premier League and lost both domestic cup semi-finals this season. Last season’s 11th-place finish was the club’s lowest in nine years and Martínez’s record over the past two Premier League campaigns stands at 22 wins from 75 matches.