EVERTON's season of disharmony and rank under-achievement reached its inevitable climax yesterday with the departure of Joe Royle.

Some 30 months after returning to the club he had served with such distinction as a player, the manager resigned after an early afternoon meeting with his chairman, the multi-millionaire Peter Johnson. Royle will receive a golden handshake which could net him up to £500,000.

With seven Premiership games remaining, the dispirited Merseysiders lie only five places and five points above the relegation zone. But it was probably Royle's determination to push through the transfer of two little-known Norwegian players before yesterday's deadline which acted as the final straw.

A joint fee of almost £3 million had been agreed with SK Brann Bergen for the striker Tore Andre Flo and defender Claus Eftevaag but Johnson was not convinced that the deal represented value for money.

Seven months after he succeeded the sacked Mike Walker, Royle led Everton to the 1995 FA Cup, beating Manchester United in the final, but he leaves behind a club which is still actively flirting with disaster.

The club's recent record is indeed dismal. Since defeating Derby County at the Baseball Ground in mid-December to move up to seventh place in the Premiership, they have collected only nine of the 42 points available.

"I have been disappointed by recent results and by our current league position," said Royle in a terse statement yesterday. "Having spoken to the chairman it has been agreed we part company by mutual consent."

Johnson will now seek out a big-name manager. Last night the front runners for a post which will carry a high salary but the heavy burden of expectation were the Barcelona coach Bobby Rob son and his immediate predecessor at the Nou Camp, the legendary Dutchman Johan Cruyff.

As Everton began to look to the future Royle was believed to be considering his recent past and the possibility of a summer return to the club he left in November 1994, Oldham Athletic, whose current manager Neil Warnock is contracted only to the end of the season.

Everton will make no formal comment on the situation until after Easter but it seems likely that the veteran club captain Dave Watson will be handed the task of preserving Premiership status. The former England international defender is likely to be offered the chance to oversee first-team affairs until the end of the season, possibly in conjunction with the goalkeeper Neville Southall.

The working relationship between Royle and Johnson had been under considerable strain in recent weeks. The chairman was concerned that Royle was seemingly content to buy players of dubious quality from Europe's bargain basement while other less affluent rivals were successfully signing up the cream of Continental talent.

Royle's dream began to fray at the edges earlier this season when, despite investing millions on the likes of Andrei Kanchelskis, Duncan Ferguson, Nick Barmby and Gary Speed, his team's football lacked conviction, with the use of relatively crude tactics infuriating the more purist in a knowledgeable Merseyside audience.

If Johnson was in a position to unveil his "dream team" this morning, it would almost certainly consist of the 65-year-old former England manager Robson and the former Queens Park Rangers manager Ray Wilkins.

Bookmakers William Hill are declining the opportunity to open a book on who will succeed Joe Royle as Everton manager.

"Peter Reid would be odds-on favourite, but for all we know he may already have accepted it or turned it down," said their spokesman Graham Sharpe.

But Paddy Power are quoting former Newcastle boss Kevin Keegan as 4 to 1 favourite with Howard Kendall has already had two spells as Everton boss, joint second favourite at 5 to 1 along with Graeme Souness.

Another casualty yesterday was Alan Mullery who stood down as Barnet's director of football to focus on his original role as the club's scout.

Mullery, the target of fed-up Underhill fans in recent weeks, has now handed all first team duties to Terry Bullivant after admitting he has been unable to cope with the demands of a position he took up in October.