Izuchukwu Okosi
Everton on Sunday cut ties with Rafa Benitez after six months of his ill-fated tenure as manager of the club.
The atmosphere at Goodison Park since his appointment was never welcoming due to his past job in charge of city rivals Liverpool with whom he won the UEFA Champions League in 2005.
Benitez whilst in charge of Liverpool also once referred to Everton as a ‘small club’ and vowed that he would never coach the sky Blues.
The Spaniard who was the seventh managerial casualty this season in the English Premier League did not win any of his last nine games. The Toffees played 12 games under his watch.
The club said in a 40 word statement: “Everton Football Club can confirm the departure of Rafael Benitez as first team manager.
“Benitez, who joined Everton in June 2021, has left the Club with immediate effect.
“An update on a permanent replacement will be made in due course.”
After a relatively bright start to the season, things deteriorated quickly, going from the tail end of September until early December without a league win.
Benitez’s win percentage was 31.8% in his time as manager.
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
In October 2004, Okosi joined Complete Communications Limited, publishers of Complete Sports newspaper and Complete Football magazine as a reporter and later script writer for the Complete Sports studio.
He worked there for 13 years until October 2017.
Okosi also worked various times as Correspondent, Content creator and Editor at Sports Market International Magazine, Opera News, All Nigeria Soccer Media and Iconic Media Watch.
He also undertook freelance writing gigs for some local and international organizations.
Okosi is a member of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), Association of Movie Producers (AMP), Association of Voiceover Artistes of Nigeria (AVOA), Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) and Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).
He has been part of cast in some Nollywood movies and radio dramas including Blood Money 2, Scores To Settle, Dead End 2, Another Campus Tale and Battle Line.
Aside mainstream media and the entertainment industry, he has interests in scouting/unearthing of talents in the sports and creative sectors, exports business and property development.
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