New Everton manager Sam Allardyce says he was seduced by the club's ambition after previously claiming he was not interested in returning to the day-to-day job of a club management role.
Everton announced an agreement was in place on Wednesday and officially confirmed Allardyce's appointment a day later, finally hiring a full-time successor to Ronald Koeman.
The Dutchman was dismissed on October 23 and after just two wins in nine Premier League games despite spending an estimated £142million in pre-season.
David Unsworth took over on an interim basis but failed to inspire much of an improvement, with the club having also been heavily linked with Marco Silva and Sean Dyche.
Eventually Allardyce, who left Crystal Palace at the end of last season, became the frontrunner and he joins despite insisting in the past that only an international job would bring him back into management.
| Sam Allardyce has sat down with evertontv for his first interview as manager.Full video November 30, 2017
"I've always thought Everton was a great club," he told the club's official website.
"It is a great club. Obviously, the club has gone through a difficult spell and hopefully I can put that behind us as quickly as possible and start looking upwards again.
"Because, ultimately, it's the ambition of the club, the ambition of the owner and the board, allied to the fact that it's Everton and all the fantastic history, which have proved to be key for me.
"Ambition is important for any manager or coach, owner or director. It's what you need to have and hopefully we can deliver to the fans to get this club high up the league. That's what we're aiming for.
"I think that whatever has happened before, we've just got to all rally around together. Our will to do it all together would be my way forward."
Majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri added: "I'm delighted to confirm Sam as our new manager. His strong leadership will bring great motivation and get the best out of players.
"Sam understands the long-term ambitions we have for this great club and I know he is a man who gives it his all and is focused 24 hours a day on the club.
"Evertonians are the most passionate and best fans in the world and when the club does badly we all suffer. But in football everything changes very quickly, so I hope this will help to propel us to where we should be.
"I would like to put on record our thanks as a club to David Unsworth for stepping up when we needed him over the last few weeks. He is a real Evertonian, embodying the commitment, pride and passion we all feel for the club."
Everton also confirmed that Unsworth will return to his role with the Under-23s.
