Part of me wants to keep it in house...

[Axlswhk]

Hope Unsworth gets to keep his u21 job after this. Done a stellar job.

This absolutely.
I remember during one of our preseason game when Martinez field almost an entire team made up of U21 players and you can see the sharp contrast in the way they play. Movement, speed, off the ball movements and willing to get the ball forward more often than what the first team is doing. A complete contrast to what Martinez had instill into our first team. Obviously Unsworth did a good job in drilling them good footballing fundamentals.

 

[Huyton Layne]

Could watch that all day

 

[catcherintherye]

If I were running Everton I'd do the following:

Set up a structure which is Everton - this would encompass youth training, sports science, medicine, analytics, scouting, recruitment. This would be staffed by Evertonians with the best training/internships you can get so that best practice could be bought in from around the world.

When a new first team coach was appointed they would simply bring in themselves and 5-10 others who would deal with the first team. Training, tactics and motivation would be their remit.

My worry was that after Moyes left we lost a lot of infrastructure that he'd set up. Our old analytics department was regarded as the best in the business but they are now all at Man City. Some of the academy staff are now at United as are some of our scouts with one at Chelsea.

For all the talk of Moyes "neglecting" the academy he appointed trusted people and let them get on with it. A first team coach should focus on the first team. Everton should be Everton regardless of who the manager is.

I wonder if this is partly what the DOF appointment is looking at? Getting a strong structure in place. I remember people laughing at me when I said we could keep it in house after Moyes. However if we would have kept that infrastructure and possibly moved the guys working with the younger players to the first team to bring them through I genuinely believe we would be in a better position than we are now. That was made very difficult as Moyes took a lot with him, including Round, Neville & Woods who played a big part.

There is no doubt Moyes built a fantastic structure of scouts, analysts, fitness coaches, academy coaches. The criticism would be at the end of the day he didn't use those players enough when they became older at the end of his regime and I think he probably took for granted what he had here as much as the fans.

However while it pains me to say it I just don't think that's right now. I see that training session, and you see Fergusan, Ebbrell, Unsworth and Royle all involved and it brings a smile to my face. You can just see how happy they are. Beyond anything I really saw from Moyes or Martinez. I do think at the moment though we do need a really big name manager in. I think it's a shame we didn't take the brave decision and sack Martinez earlier. Had we have given those lads 6 or 8 games you never know what might have happened.

The only way I could see it working would be to go back to the original point, that we are getting a DOF in. If you got someone like say Joachim Loew who was the face of the club to agents and players and had his expertise on recruitment of players and look for him to implement the changes he did within the German federation to Everton it might work? I maintain our academy remains very strong but could always go in a different direction.

I don't care what anyone says though, after the Arsenal game the brave decision would have been to relieve him. We would not have been humiliated at the derby with Unsworth in charge. Ebbrell/Sheedy & Fergusan are respected as good coaches and Royle is a wily old head. Osman and Hibbert could easily part retire and take over some of the youth coaching. Long term I'd like to see us try to go that with, a top a top DOF like Loew who could deal with the transfers side of things but at present I do think we need a big name manager too.

 

[catcherintherye]

Interesting comments, my first thoughts to your "set up a structure" was , " well we've got all that in place already" at least we have in terms of those positions . You're suggesting that we've lost some of the best people over the years? For me Alan Irvine was a great loss to our Academy structure.
Martinez, in fairness to him, was regarded as very supportive of our Academy structure, without having too much involvement I.e he didn't change much , let them get on with it his job was taken up with the 1st team. I think everything from u21 down should be retained as we are, pretty obvious really that, but we need an external person to take us forward. I'm hoping that if we do get the likes of a De Boer he will bring a flavour of the Ajax Academy with him , introduce new concepts at an Academy level, let the existing coaches carry on and allow them to develop too .

I think some things are being conflated. We have lost a lot of our fitness guru's, our top scout and some analysts. The youth coaching has remained strong and in fairness we have been adding to that with lads like Jeffers& Jevons getting involved.

Our structure remains quite good, Martinez also added Lynn who will have an impact. As I've indicated elsewear I would love someone like Joachim Loew who was quite a central figure within rebuilding German football to come in as director of football. I have some doubts about whether he is strong enough to be a club manager but I think he would be perfect for a DOF role.

I do think Martinez tried to add his flavour to the academy. Increasingly though we can see his strategy in it's purest form was just not suited to England or Everton.

 

[ianefc]

 

[chazzle_dazzle]

Why is Funes Mori so touchy feely? jumping on someones back always with his arms around people...

BACK UP LAD - ITS CALLED PERSONAL SPACE.

 

[Timak]

Poor Kev looks gutted Roberto has gone

 

[Coffee and TV]

Hope Unsworth gets to keep his u21 job after this. Done a stellar job.

He's been great but I'd also love to see him get a job as an actual manager in the football league. If not thought then I hope he stays with our U21s, they've been great this season.

 

[zandvoort blue]

Could watch that all day

smiles on faces

 

[johnnydawg68]

Could watch that all day

Me too. If we can't get Mourinho, why not put Royle in as head man with Unsy as the #2 and heir apparent. Is it really a bigger gamble than bringing in some continental type?

 

[Timak]

He's been great but I'd also love to see him get a job as an actual manager in the football league. If not thought then I hope he stays with our U21s, they've been great this season.

When I'm DOF that will be the plan.

The likes of Unsworth, Stubbs etc would start with our youth teams before going out into league football. They'd then be able to choose players from our U21 to take on loan.

Managers that did well would then be appointed when our first team coach left.

 

[EvertonRhys]

Why is Funes Mori so touchy feely? jumping on someones back always with his arms around people...

BACK UP LAD - ITS CALLED PERSONAL SPACE.

He could jump all over me like.

 

[Mountfield1985]

When I'm DOF that will be the plan.

The likes of Unsworth, Stubbs etc would start with our youth teams before going out into league football. They'd then be able to choose players from our U21 to take on loan.

Managers that did well would then be appointed when our first team coach left.

Yeah i'd love us to create a pathway like that.

It'd be nice to see Unsworth as assistant manager to the new fella, with a view to him getting the gig a few years down the line. But whether those "boot room" models still work in the 21st century, I don't know.

 

[Coffee and TV]

When I'm DOF that will be the plan.

The likes of Unsworth, Stubbs etc would start with our youth teams before going out into league football. They'd then be able to choose players from our U21 to take on loan.

Managers that did well would then be appointed when our first team coach left.

That's what I'd love too, encourage our lads to go out and prove themselves with a different team. I don't want us to take chances on someone like Unsworth just because he's from our academy but I'd love us to be in the position where there are people like Unsworth as viable options when we're looking for a manager.

 

[dholliday]

It's deffo romantic: especially with Unsworth glowing about how Everton is the only club he'd love to manage, and how "massive Evertonians" like Dunc, Royle and Ebbrell are involved:




But on the other hand he first says "win, lose or draw it's just important we get a performance from the players". Then later he says "a win is an absolute must to send the fans out on a high".

He's also got only superlative words for Martinez, no hint that there might've been some unrest. And he's honoring Roberto's wish that Howard gets game-time just so he receives a 'special send-off for his fantastic services' to the club.


I really like Rhino, and would love for Evertonians to manage & coach our club, but I'm not sure if he'll have the temperament to really push us on to where we wanna be.