I’ve been really full on with work and life over the last few days so unfortunately not been able to give my thoughts. Lots of fantastic insights and posts from many who regularly watch our young lads so will try to add my feelings.
The overarching sense I get is it’s been a culmination of a fantastic journey for the younger lads themselves and David Unsworth. He began 3 years ago, relying heavily on lads like Kenny (also Dowell played a fair bit) and one or 2 others. We were a very young team. I haven’t evidence but I never remember seeing an opposition with a younger team than us back then. I remember Chelsea being very shocked and praiseworthy that we could include 2 schoolboys and be competitive (Kenny & Ledson).
When he first came in there was a big emphasis on performance. Generally they played well for him every week, but struggled to get over the line. I remember winning away at Liverpool 2-1 and conceding 2 late goals to an older team to lose. It was a real gutwrencher. We spiraled a bit after that in results, and had to win on the final day to stay up.
I do think he learnt a bit from that in the second season, as did the players. There was more of an emphasis on not being sucked into it at the bottom. In pre-season Evans (then a 16 year old) came in and was brilliant. We won 6 or 7 on the bounce in pre-season. I remember there was a huge buzz around Evans at that point, including Arsenal looking at him. One game at the end of pre-season we lost narrowly and Unsworth tore a strip off them. This was quite a marked change and showed a different side to Unsworth. As a group they responded well and ended up towards the top of the league with a strong defensive record and the star player at that level Dowell scoring lots of goals.
Going into his 3rd season and the question was really about whether we could add goals. Everyone who watched the 23’s cold only be impressed by the defensive set up Unsworth had put into place. All the players worked hard, defended properly, pressed, cleared balls away etc. The final piece of the Unsworth jigsaw was adding the goals at the other end. His acquisitions of Sambou and Calvert Lewin really helped in that regard and he got the best out of Niasse.
What is clear from Unsworth is each season he has improved on the season before and overcome hurdles. He is doing this alongside making players better footballers. This season lads like Charsley have noticeably kicked on. For us to win the youth league is a fillip for him. Sides around him spend massive sums of money on young players and he has done in, in the main with a group of local lads who cost nothing.
I have said on numerous occasions (even before this seasons triumph) he should be in strong consideration for the next Everton managers job. I look at Stubbs and the excellent work he did up at Hibs and while Stubbs did a good job with us Unsworth is on another level for me.
He seems a fantastic people person- most noticeable in the clips when he met Koeman. He was very at ease with him, calm but assertive and helped bed Koeman in. Likewise he worked very well with Martinez, and showed he could get a song out of a group of players last season who’d downed tools. Whenever you hear him post match he’s honest but also clear in the expectations he has of the team.
Generally promoting from within has a mixed success rate. That being said I do think for a club like Everton it has all the reason to work. We have a clear culture and a proud history. I think whoever managed us needs to know what the club means to it’s local fan base. There is a strong DNA and that’s carried through with the number of young local players who get game time for us. You look at Guardiola and what he did at Barca, and I see a lot of similarities with Unsworth. Guardiola focused centrally on humility and hard work, which seem central to Unsworth’s DNA. I do think at some point, we will either give him a chance, or he will go elsewhere.
I’ve gone on for too long, but it also worth mentioning the convergence was also that of a very talented group of players. I had always said it was at least our best since 1998, if not that we’d ever produced. It was interesting to see Ray Hall say something similar (that this year group was our strongest).
You had the older age group who were strong. Lads like Ledson, Kenny, Williams and Charsley were all impressive (I also liked Dyson & Graham). They were the best in the country at that age.
Yet it was the year below where there was even ore talent. Dowell, Davies, Brewster, Donuhue, Walsh and Connolly all looked very strong talents. As often happens not everyone of them kick on but at 15/16 they all looked like they had a chance of making it. Normally if you have 1-2 players of that level you’d be delighted. As a youth team they didn’t lose for about 3 years and would just annihilate opposition (often by margins of 5 or 6, sometimes even by 10 or 11).
They won the youth league, finished second the next two seasons (though had it not been for the Dallas cup would have won at least 1 if not both of them). They have now gone on, 3 years later to win the reserves league.
Unsworth said he wanted to keep the group together. I think this will prove very challenging. As I’ve said in another thread, talented young players don’t remain talented young players forever. They either break through, don’t fulfill potential, or leave to fulfill potential elsewhere. When I look at this team, you see this summer as central to keeping some of them. Walsh, Dowell & Kenny you imagine will need to have first team involvement or will look to pursue avenues elsewhere. We have shown, with Ledson, even highly thought of players will be allowed to leave if they don’t wish to wait much longer.
lol
