On the day Phil Jagielka’s Everton career officially drew to a close, there was no pomp and circumstance. And not even the hint of a glamorous goodbye. He pinged a text to one of the club’s kitmen, Tony Sage, asking to gather his belongings together and arranged to meet at the entrance to the club’s Finch Farm training ground.
After 12 years and 386 appearances, a black bin liner containing a few pairs of boots and some socks, was handed over through a window of a car parked at the side of the road. “What do you expect me to get it in? A Louis Vuitton bag? It was fine,” Jagielka, 37, said. “I didn’t want to go in. It just didn’t feel right to go in. I don’t know why. It wasn’t because I was angry. I just didn’t want to come in and empty my locker.”
That Jagielka did not set foot in the corridors of the complex he once roamed as captain feels, at first, a rather bleak ending to his stay, although given he was denied the chance to say a fitting farewell to Everton’s supporters, perhaps it maintained a theme.
His return to Goodison Park today with Sheffield United, his career having gone full circle back to the club where he started and from whom he moved to Merseyside for £4 million, will be warmly received by Everton fans who took reassurance from his presence at the heart of the defence.
Yet it nags Jagielka that he was not afforded the opportunity to truly savour his last appearance in a blue shirt against Burnley in May.
The prospect of cutting ties had appeared likely with his contract expiring, but a final decision only arrived in June when Everton decided they could not keep him in limbo any longer despite concerns that signing Kurt Zouma permanently from Chelsea would be impossible, as proved the case.
The briefest of cameos in a 2-0 win over Sean Dyche’s side proved Jagielka’s swansong. “I remember myself and Leighton [Baines] were on the bench,” Jagielka, who repeatedly corrected himself for referring to Everton as “we”, said.
“Neither of us had committed or signed anything by then, so we were not sure what was going on. He [Marco Silva] put me on for the last two minutes or so, so I had a little laugh with Bainesy and said, ‘That must be me done, then!’
“It was strange walking around after the Burnley game. I don’t want to use the phrase ‘milk it’ but I couldn’t go out and react because I didn’t know if there was a chance I’d be back next year. I’d have looked like a clown doing this lap of honour and thanking everyone then getting another contract and unfortunately everyone had to see me again.
“I don’t hold any regrets and I am not upset with anyone. They were fantastic for me for 12 years and I would like to think I did OK for them. There is no ill-feeling.”
For Jagielka, there had never been any thought of retirement, but that his telephone was not ringing with a stream of offers added to the uncertainty. The rumour mill said AC Milan were interested, but Jagielka heard nothing.
He played golf, started training with Burnley just to stay fit and then the call came from the Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder and a deal was done the next day.
Sheffield United can leapfrog their hosts in the table with a victory today and Jagielka knows better than most how feverish Goodison can become at the sign of a setback. Certainly he will have no compunction in telling his new team-mates to feast on such insecurities.
He looks back on David Moyes’ tenure up to 2013 as the highlight, believing there has been too much change, both in managers and players, since. “Yes [they were the best] and the simplest times,” Jagielka said.
“There wasn’t much pressure on. We hadn’t spent much money, we didn’t have much money and everyone bought into that ethos. [Back] then there was a squad of 14, 15 players, predominantly British, with five or six foreign lads and young lads to make it up to 22. Now you’ve got 25 internationals and that’s not just our changing room, that’s every changing room. It’s difficult to get the unity.
“Basically you had diamonds you needed to polish whereas now, due to the fact the Premier League has changed, it is a totally different mindset for the club and players, spending £40 million, £50 million.”
He is enjoying life under Wilder, whose demands for “overlapping” centre halves contradict the perception that he is an old-school coach.
So will Goodison see Jagielka leading the charge. He smiles and adds: “He’s wise enough to realise there may only be one or two overlapping runs a half rather than ten or 12.”
