Former England footballer Frank Lampard has been offered the vacant managerial position at Everton.
Lampard, 43, has been unemployed for a year after being sacked as Chelsea manager in January after only 18 months in charge.
On Friday, Vitor Pereira of Portugal and caretaker Duncan Ferguson of Scotland had their second interviews for the post, but the club chose Lampard.
Rafael Benitez was fired after only one of his past 13 games went well.
The former Liverpool manager lasted a little over seven months in charge, and his team is currently 16th in the Premier League, six points above the relegation zone.
Pereira initially looked set to be offered the job after holding “very positive” talks and said club officials were “enthusiastic of what I proposed to them”.
‘Pereira out, Lampard in,’ wrote graffiti on Everton’s Goodison Park this week, opposing the deal.
On Wednesday night, roughly 100 supporters protested at Goodison Park against the club’s management.
Formerly known as Toffee Wayne Rooney was also a contender for the job, but he declined Everton’s offer to speak with them because he wanted to stay at Championship strugglers Derby County.
Lampard, the former manager of the Rams, was in discussions to take over at Norwich in November before dropping out and being replaced by Dean Smith.
By the time Everton play Brentford in the FA Cup on February 5th, he might have been named manager.