Sean Dyche caused an altercation involving Nathan Patterson in Portugal after slapping the Everton defender, according to the Daily Mail.
The paper reported via their website late on 15 March that during a dinner on the Toffees’ training camp trip the manager had jokingly hit the Scottish full-back on the head and landed with more force than he intended, leaving a number of players “unimpressed”.
With Patterson embarrassed by the situation tempers reportedly became “sufficiently heated” that James Tarkowski had to step in and take his manager away from the table until the situation died down.
“Everton sources” insist that it was just a “clumsy joke” which backfired, although it reportedly caused “a stir” among others eating in the restaurant.
Everton boss apologised after James Tarkowski stepped in
A relatively minor disagreement like this should probably be nothing in the grand scheme of things and probably the sort of thing that happens all the time at clubs all over the world.
The situation sounds less than ideal, and must have been awkward for everyone involved, but with manager and players under such pressure at the moment is perhaps not a huge shock.
It presumably didn’t help that former Rangers defender Patterson has been demoted to fourth choice by his boss so probably wasn’t the best target for that banter.
