Jonathan Northcroft of The Sunday Times met up with Everton’s Director of Football, Steve Walsh at USM Finch Farm to discuss his plans for the Club, working with Ronald Koeman and his work so far.
Below is an overview of their discussion. For Northcroft’s piece in The Sunday Times, click here.
JN: Describe your first meeting with Ronald…
SW: We used this tactics board here, actually. I asked what systems did he believe in, what structures did he like to have, how did he like to set up his team and who are the key people in it?
Then you do a player audit and try to fit the people that you’ve already got into Ronald’s way of thinking, and then you decide on how we’re going to make ourselves better.
Ronald’s a manager with a plan B: ‘I’ll play direct when I need to play direct and I’ll play out when I need to play out.’ That’s a good strategy. So, very quickly, I felt that we sing from the same hymn sheet.
JN: I know from how you worked at Leicester that you like to plan two windows in advance. But you had to hit the ground running at Everton…
SW: I came halfway through, well, towards the end of the transfer window – which made it very difficult for me. But still we were able to do some sensible business – and that’s the key, sensible business. You come to a club like Everton with a certain reputation…everyone goes Kante, Mahrez, Vardy, he won the Premier League. And it’s hard to do that wow-wow factor every time. But I’d like to think
Ashley Williams was solid recruitment. Then there’s Gana. He’s been terrific for us and, as my first signing, that’s not a bad little start. I watched him a few times because Aston Villa was just down the road. I always thought he had the ability but he was playing with a really poor back four and he was being bypassed quite a lot. It made his job so much more difficult. I remember thinking, ‘If I get a chance, this guy is better than he’s showing’.
He’s a very grounded character, he gets whacked, gets up, very much like Kante. He gets around people when they have the ball. And his use of the ball is good. I look at his stats and his attributes and go, ‘Wow’. I think he’s got the best stats in Europe (for tackles and interceptions) even though he’s been to the African Nations, and that says it all.
JN: The impressive thing, for me, is Ashley and Gana are such ‘Everton-type’ players...
SW: They look like they should have always been in a blue shirt, don’t they?
JN: Does the fact your brother, Mickey, played here give you that knowledge of Everton’s DNA?
SW: That helped, of course. Growing up in the North West, you always knew what a big club Everton was.
When my brother went from Blackpool to Everton I made that journey with him to a certain extent. I was playing but in midweek I’d come and watch. They beat Man U 3-0 at Goodison. Absolutely tore them apart.
That was before Christmas and Mickey was out for 12 weeks after that with an injury he picked up in the game. Everton were third before his injury and desperate to get him back in the team. He made a comeback game against Wolves on a snow-covered pitch … but things were never the same once he’d had that injury and eventually he moved on to QPR.
JN: Tell me what you’ve done in terms of revamping Everton’s recruitment department.
SW: I’ve got some great guys working now for the Club. I brought in Laurence Stewart from Manchester City (as senior recruitment coordinator). I’ve got Dan Purdy as technical scout and brought in Martyn Glover as chief scout from Sunderland, who previously worked at West Ham and Sunderland with Sam Allardyce.
I had a good look at everybody’s work before deciding and kept the good scouts who were already here. I’ve got people in all the five major European countries and recently sent guys out to South America to further our knowledge.
We have information coming in all the time. The scouts go to three games per week minimum. I work my scouts really hard. They have to write lines about every player on the pitch. So straight away you’re getting a database on maybe 28 players per match, and close on 100 reports from one scout per week.
We target games. I’d say, ‘Jonathan, you need to go this week and watch this individual player. Just concentrate on him.’ That builds me a dossier on particular players.
My German scout might come to me: ‘Steve, this is what we’re looking for, I really feel this is the guy...’ At that stage I’ll get involved. I’ll go across and see them. At some point someone’s got to put it all on the line and say, ‘This is the man for us,’ and that’s me, and I won’t sign a player I haven’t seen live.
I’ve completely refurbished our youth recruitment, too. I’ve appointed Jamie Hoyland as Under-21 head of recruitment and given him two full-time people, Damian Matthew in the south and
Tony Grant in the north. I’ve said to those three to go away and find me the best five or six players where they’re at an age I can invest. We might have to pay a bit of money but, if they’re the right people, we’ll do it.
JN: That policy led you to Ademola Lookman.
SW: Ademola’s the future. He’s come in and done well but he’s still got a lot of development to do. But putting him and
Tom Davies in the first team sends out the right signals and really does help when it comes to attracting more young players to your football club. Even the best talents are interested in Everton. You get a pathway through to the first team which you might not get with another club.
I think if you can buy those players and integrate them with your own youngsters of quality then it’s a potent mix. It gives you that energy and vitality. Then you put your Gana in there, Rom, Ross, Ash.
Morgan Schneiderlin – I mean, you look at Morgan and think, ‘He’s a real player who can advance you as a club, no question.’
JN: What did you see in Lookman?
SW: I saw him against Oldham Atheltic for Charlton, and never changed my mind on him.
He’s got two feet. He’s not one of those people who shifts it to his stronger foot to finish. He has an eye for goal. When he came on (against City) and scored the goal that took him into the fans’ hearts. He looks to get his shots off, he does things that are unusual, he tries to find a yard with his first touch. Has a little pace.
There are things we’d like him to add to his game but he’s a young kid who has stepped up two leagues and so it’ll take him time.
It was a coup to get him here from London, but he didn’t think twice – he looked at the pathway. He thought, ‘I could get in that first team,’ and he was right. I really wanted the player and the Chairman backed my judgement. To do that for a teenager is great.
Mola is just one of those players who wants to get better. He’s not arrogant to talk to, but there’s arrogance in his play, which is a good thing. But I know Ronald will be looking at what he does when we haven’t got the ball, how he responds to situations – and Ronald’s the best man to do that.
JN: You’ve worked with some top managers. Where does Ronald fit in?
SW: Yes, I’ve worked with Jose Mourinho, Nigel Pearson, Andre Villas Boas, Sam Allardyce… but Ronald? He’s a top manager. A top manager. What I like about him is he’s straight. He will pick the best 11 players who he feels are going to get the three points for Everton Football Club. Irrespective of their age, their reputation or their international caps, their standing in the game. Doesn’t matter. That’s not always the case, for there are certain players at certain clubs who pick themselves but his only thought is the team.
JN: What are the challenges in your job?
SW: Well, proper recruitment takes time. The time you spend after a window closes is a crucial time. That’s when you formulate your ideas. That’s when you have time to get out and watch players.
What scouting does is it minimises the risk. Until you actually go out there on the training pitch and see how they integrate with the people who you already have it’s an unknown quantity – and further to that, until they put on that blue shirt for real you’re never sure.
You try and have a shortlist for every position
