David Unsworth to leave Everton role

He should have left his comfort zone long ago. For the benefit of him and for Everton.

I wish him well.

Change is afoot!

He managed to win the U23's league twice with the players he was given, including the first ever league and cup double.

He is credited with some stellar U23 signings, including Calvert-Lewin, that could make us a fortune.

He stepped up twice to manage us, the second spell in dire circumstances.

Since becoming Academy Director and having an overall say in the whole youth process, we have seen the average age of the U23 squad decrease dramatically and greater opportunity for younger players to prove themselves against older opposition at an earlier age.

I, for one, would like to thank him for his service to the club and hope he becomes a success as a manager.

Good luck for the future 🦏

Good luck, Rhino.

Like you say, maybe we are finally waking up and starting to restructure. Finch Farm revamp. New stadium a few years away. Get this season over the line and the future could just be bright.

Credit for the work he has done and winning the PL2 etc though I (and others) have been open in the past over our doubts as to whether enough valuable first team players were graduating from the academy. That is not Unsworth's fault alone of course but it seems pertinent perhaps that he is leaving so soon after the appointment of a new DOF and Academy Coach Educator.

If I have any doubt about Unsie it was that perhaps at times he wanted to win games so badly it came before his primary remit to develop players; but if that's true then that desire should serve him well as first-team manager. Best of luck to him.

The club needs a massive overhaul from top to bottom.

Fingers crossed the present board follow very soon...

As a coach with strikers? That's not a full-time role for him, he needs to grow and show he has developed to a point where he is in demand as a first-team manager at other clubs. He has been passed over with the appointment of Lampard and his team; sentiment is short-lived.

I would love Big Dunc to grow and develop into a first-class manager and then come back and do the business for us.

Unsie, thanks and wish you well!

Sentiment and nostalgia? That's for idiots like me who know no better.

Let's get this club set up for the new stadium and future success. Enjoy and rejoice our history, but look forward, not back. Make new history Everton.

But like others, I think it is time for a clear-out of the old guard, who need to go and stand on their own two feet, outside of good old Everton.

On a human level, I wish him well; as a supporter, this is the correct move and others must follow in a full review of activity within all areas of the club.

On the other hand, the likes of Chelsea and Liverpool have been able to turn young talent into a revenue stream, selling them on for good money to fund some of those multi-million pounds overseas players… so why aren't we doing that?

Even our cousins eventually realised the "Boot Room" had had it's day and moved on.

The problem with that strategy is that we can't even call upon ex-Everton players who are winners.

Let's look forward just like other clubs have done so and not with ex-players.

What I do know us that the style of play adopted by our U23s (the sole thing he is in charge of) is very unsophisticated and not a good education for Premier League football.

It is lower-League style football based on forcing errors, set-pieces and counter-attacks.

There are no passing triangles, no structured movement of the ball up the pitch etc.

Players of ability / intelligence need more than what we are offering.

Hopefully this is the start of an improvement.

I wonder if the rest will follow? Beginning of the end of jobs for the boys. Good luck to him wherever he goes.

If memory serves me correctly, he admitted himself he does not have the experience to manage the club. So he has the decision to stay and be content or gain that experience and come back with it. Nothing demeaning in that, rather insulting to insinuate it, to be frank.

Good luck to David Unsworth. It's not his fault Everton is run like a boys club. It's a typically Kenwright romantic notion having the place full of ex-players but it has no place in the 21st Century Premier League, whether they “get us” or not (whatever that means). Change needed throughout the entire club.

As many have already said, the club has got to take the blinkers off if it aims to progress, on and off the park.

A great servant to the club who, in my opinion, did the job well.

Now is the correct time for us to be changing the old way of doing things.

Instead, they spent a huge amount of money on a superfluous appointment who failed to improve our League performance, despite having a lot more time & money to work with.

This could turn out to be the best thing to happen to Unsworth, even though he may not feel that way at the moment.

Now that Duncan has shown Frank around the place, he needs to do the same and either become a manager or not. Loitering on a bench is no place for him or are they too scared to tell him?

Best of luck, Rhino, you'll be a manager somewhere before the season's end, watch this space... Cheers, big fella!

I think he's the kind of coach that can get good results from an average group.

I was never convinced any of our Academy (or first team) coaches actually improve or develop individual players.

Like Stubbs, Weir and many others, he has proven himself as a good but basic coach. Time will tell.

A bit of luck at the right club and he may prove to be much better than that.

Cruising at two-nil and Tommy Gravesen has his rush of blood. Squeaky derriere for an hour. Everton that!

There is room for former players if they are the best we can get.

Bear in mind that, once we go down this pathway there will be much less emotional attachment to the club, much less looking after less-well-off fans, fewer moral lines drawn in the sand and a distinct rise in prices in the new stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock.

But let's look at this as something that should have been done several years ago. A reset. A setting of foundations, vision and strategy. That's my hope.

Out with the old, in with the new. Still work to do at other levels of the club in that respect. We know where.

Best wishes to Rhino. This could be the making of him.

Agree or not, they've safely sat in their comfort zone behind the gates of Finch Farm and hiding in the dugout at Goodison for too long. Who will take on a manager with no experience at the age of 50??

You can't even call them busted flushes. They are non-starters.

I also think this is something Duncan Ferguson should consider very carefully as, just like David Unsworth, he has gone as far as he is likely to go here at Everton.

Although supposedly still part of Everton's first-team coaching set-up, it's quite obvious even in the player warm-ups there is no role for Duncan in the present set-up. I know having been here a long time and like David Unsworth his family is settled here and may not want the upheaval of moving, but that's part and parcel of being a player or a coach.

So seems part of the revue into how the club operates is starting to make changes, and probably like David and Duncan, it's probably now the best time for Bill to step down from his Chairmanship and the board.

I don't have the same animosity to Kenwright that a lot of our supporters have, and he at least rid us of Johnson and, despite his protestations, Moshiri went ahead and appointed Benitez, who has nearly singlehandedly took us to the edge of relegation.

But the past is the past – and, while it should be respected, we have to be able to detach from those things, including loyalty which is often blind – and make the best possbile objective decisions. If emotions and sentiment get in the way, then we're in for trouble.

Keep the emotions, loyalty, history, nostalgia and sentiment (in fact that's mostly our job as fans) – but not when it comes to 'business' decisions and getting in the best people for the job. Good luck to Rhino.

Sadly, in this day and age, while it may help young players learn positional discipline and responsibility, it stunts any development in terms of expression and discovery.

It's nothing personal, Unsey. Just strictly business.

Good luck for the future, David.

Simms and Onyango have stood out because really they are bigger than everyone else. Also good but the physicality is a huge advantage.

I know you have fairly asked why Price is highly rated because he doesn't seem to dominate games.

I wonder if it's because he's able to shine in first-team training where (I hope) the style is more sophisticated.

Hard to know but I hope that we see a sophisticated style emerge from the academy which then drives the style adopted by the first team

For the sake of long term consistency, I think it should be that way around, rather the first team driving the style adopted by the academy.

Everton youth team managers in the past did not have this problem. In the 1960s, the golden era for local young talent, not just on Merseyside, but the whole of the north-west of England, Everton could pick and choose who they liked. The Everton back four in the successful 1969-70 title-winning side had 3 players who came from the youth team. 2 of them played for England. Then there was Colin Harvey and Joe Royle who also played for England. Everton also added Alan Whittle and Jimmy Husband also going from the youth team to their successful title-winning team.

If you believe it is just football that is suffering less playing time from kids kicking a ball in the streets, cricket has completely dried up. No wonder the English cricket team is finding it very difficult to beat any of the top cricket countries in the world.

Having said that, it is not before time that the ex-players club was dismantled, why employ ex-players who have won nothing, bringing through our future losers?

They are not stupid; how many young lads over the last few years have seen the light and cleared off to make a decent career elsewhere?

Having coaches who were players at successful clubs is surely more beneficial than Tiny Tears heartthrobs.

We need winners coaching our future players, not losers. Like it or not, Frank Lampard & Ashley Cole were winners, they must wonder what has hit them since coming here... not also-rans – the youngsters need winners to look up to.

I'm hoping the club is given a top-to-bottom clear-out. I'm looking forward to the day when a straight-jacketed Kenwright is dragged kicking and screaming to the ambulance.

Kenwright next out of the door, please!

In my view, Men's football, and cricket in terms of youth and development nationally is on a decline and the women's game, and fair play to the women's games in football and cricket, is on the ascent.

For me, there's less and less grass fields to play now than 40-50 years ago, and the last few years has forced some grass roots club to close down, due to Covid.

For all the money in the game, at the top level, there's not enough quality 3G and grass pitches left in the UK.

In Europe, climate driven Scandinavia, and in Holland, Germany, there's high standards and cultural importance given to football at grass roots level.

Sadly I don't see it getting that importance in the UK, at the moment.

We complain about not giving English / British talent a chance. I would counter that by saying we don't give them a chance by making them try to play football on uneven mud baths.

I challenge anyone to go to a local village club in Germany or Holland and compare the facilities as well as the way they are coached from a young age. Gravel / clay pitches to keep them on their feet and pass the ball, move the ball. None of this "get stuck in" or "get rid". Care for the football. Look after the football. And work hard to get it back.

I'm here all night.

I do miss coaching. I'm hoping to do a bit when I'm next out in San Antonio, Texas. I'll convert a few to the US Evertonian gang!!

I can't agree with you saying the biggest difference between English or British and other European countries is down to the quality of the playing surfaces.

As you well know, Danny, most British players playing in the Premier League and most other leagues in Britain, have or had been in many academy teams from the age of 10 and upwards and some even joined academies at an even younger age.

These kids will have been playing on beautifully manicured playing surfaces at the different academies. Now compare that to the South American kids who play most of their games on the worst possible pitches, so they learn very quickly to control the ball much better than British players. They always seem to have a better first touch than many of our players.

No surprise that we have to go back to 1966 since we last lifted the World Cup as most of those lads couldn't join a professional club till they were 15. But had learnt their trade playing in the street or on old bomb sites, not the perfectly manicured pitches of the academies.

Also, most of the Premier League teams are managed by Europeans so it just isn't poor British coaches who are to blame.

My gripe, and I accept, it's a personal one, is watching lads at grass roots play on utterly appalling facilities.

I agree, those fortunate enough to make the academies have the privilege of playing on the best facilities available. But what is that in terms of the percentage of young players who take to the pitch throughout this country. I guarantee, in Germany, most young players are afforded way better conditions and facilities regardless of whether they make it to an elite academy or not.

We've tried to build from the top down, not the bottom up. I used to take my Hayes and Yeading Youth team onto a 4G pitch to coach them. £100 an hour out of my own pocket. I didn't mind as I wanted to teach them how to play football the right way rather than kicking mud around.

In my opinion, the proof is in reference to your comment. Since 1966, what have England done? In a similar manner to Everton, rested on old fashioned laurels and stood still whilst others surpassed them. Look at the trophy count. England since 1966? Everton since 1987 and a by chance FA Cup in 1995?

Having experienced playing and coaching in England, Germany and Holland, I know which methods and facilities I prefer.

I think my concern is more the poor facilities that these kids have,e to change in rather than the state of the pitches, which are a lot better now than I ever played on and that's after we had removed the dinosaur droppings. I am talking about kids' football, not academies.

Yes, the game has moved on, players are fitter than they have ever been, and the game is quicker than it was back in the day. But I am not convinced the players are better, in fact ,I tend to think that those players from the '60s and '70s were generally better.

I know both Messi and Ronaldo are special talents but ,for me, not in the same league as Maradona or Pele; you could also throw Cruyff into that argument. Maybe I am living in the past but there are very few in the modern game that truly excite me, and considering we seem to have the 2 best teams in Europe in the Premier League, apart from a couple of exceptions, they aren't full of brilliant players.

I wonder if he ever gave up his dream of managing the Everton first team, which was never going to happen? But now he has no choice but to pursue managerial ambitions in the lower leagues. At age 48, he's still young enough to build a new career there. I wish him the best.

I have a ticket for Leicester home and have just got one for Chelsea home as well. Meet up for a drink and a debate / chat?

I have a season ticket for next season too. My middle brother has donated. I'm made up. First time since 1989.

I think Dunc will be next. Frank has his team. Duncan frankly turned down the managerial job, and because Frank has a team he wants, Duncan needs to move on and push himself to become a better manager elsewhere, in my opinion.

Good luck to the bloke but a change in that department is way way overdue.

They take all the best young players away at age 8, meaning standards at grass roots instantly drop, then they slowly get rid of those best players over time, with a system that isn't beneficial to at least 95% of these young kids imo.

Good luck Unsy and thanks for your time with us.

Technology in the last 20 years has changed youth culture beyond recognition.

Secondly the over the top safety culture doesn't help. Only playing in safe environments, rather than the streets.

Smaller softer balls and smaller pitches to encourage control, skill and team work isn't encouraged. It's just less running which helps the big strong lads.

But there's still thousands of children who happily play football wherever they can with whatever they can for hours on end.

In term's of comparing coaching, we'll it's a global game. Most of the best players, managers, coaches, owners, fans are no longer 'local' or even British / Irish.

I'm struggling to think of a single Premier leagues team where the best players are British. Kane (a world class player) and Crystal Palace buck the trend, even if Zaha no longer qualifies. They have some very good ex-Chelsea youngsters... wink-wink, Frank.

I have two friends who spent over 20 years each in family businesses, holding it together as they seen it, only to get the inevitable kick in the arse. I told them the same and they were able to move on and are now doing very well.

Just the way of the world today. There's no going back.

Good luck Dave and thanks for your service and efforts in the past.

Is this the start of things to come maybe?

It's all about competence, rather than whether they 'know the club'. Once there's more competence throughout the club, we'll be more successful, and therefore happier.

I also think in the past 20 years, the club has got into the habit of not making the distinction between legend and loyal stalwart and that also affects recruitment and competence.

I did some work at the Etihad not long after Man City were bought out. While I was waiting in the 'green room', Mike Summerbee was waltzing around, waiting to be recognised. I was the only person old enough to recognise him. He was a club ambassador, not on the coaching staff. They recruited competent people at all levels to instill good winning habits throughout the club.

It's our club. We always know what we stand for. I'd also like us to stand for competence. If we don't stick to that soon, there'll be none of us around who remember success...

It's why I counter the "only Evertonians win things with Everton" debate.

No they don't. Probably only Joe Royle was the only boyhood Evertonian that fits that mold.

It doesn't matter who they are or where they come from or who they supported or who they played for.

We just want winners in charge of the club.

Watching Everton preseason tours for years was a good insight into the facilities and coaching methods across Europe.

I recall years ago and meeting up with somE Ajax fans going to their supporters club which is right by their training facility. Pienaar was there and Litmanen, amongst others.

Even then, they had the right-size kits, bibs and footballs for the kids age groups and the right-size pitches for their age group.

This is now standard in the UK over the last 20 years, but the Dutch, Germans and Swedish, Norwegian, Danish teams were ahead of their time in view of football facilities, for their youth teams.

But I hope over time, looking on the bright side of life, there will be a day when some of the mega books drop directly into. grassroots football.

If this doesn't happen, I see the flatlining of youth football in the UK going downhill fast.

Paul Tran @75, that's a very good call out. And in my view spot on.

Hopefully Everton will become professional in the total running of the club at football and business, commercial levels.

Hope eternal.

Yes, rabid savaged animals. I make no apologies for that comment. I take no pride and I'm no hard man, but I could always turn on the scouser when I needed to down here in West London, but the behaviour at times needed it.

Good luck to Unsworth and Dunc, without them it could have easily been worse at several junctures.

By the way, I won't hear a word against Harvey, I'll criticise the people who 'persuaded' him to reluctantly take the job.

Let's have competence. The more of that, the more chance we have of success. Our lack of success has led to too many creating myths about our success and our 'curse'. The three title-winning sides I have seen oozed competence.

These days, 'knowing the club' means knowing failure and a lack of accountability for it. That must change.

It's a bit like Kenwright. Never been a hater, but after many years of underachievement, his time was done years ago and he should have gone by his own accord.

https://cbcdutchtouch.com/images/TheAjaxYouthDevelopmentScheme.pdf?msclkid=11a01b15ba7a11ec9a0fc9f8e4d47b4c

Somehow I doubt Unsworth was doing any of this.

Danny I would love to meet for a chat, but I take my 2 Sons and my Grandson to the game, but if you ever get a ticket for the Upper Bullens, that's where I have my season ticket, and we get there at least 30 minutes before kick-off.

When that blue heart parts this world, I believe there will be no greater outpouring of grief.

If I could only be half the Evertonian that Colin Harvey is, I will go to Goodison in the sky a happy man.

The probability is he was 'asked to leave' as part of a wide-ranging change in the backroom staff behind the scenes.

It was long overdue, the number of young players ready to challenge for a first-team place is negligible.

Viva the revolution...

I think one's sense of honour which is what you are appealing to is a bit warped on the inside of institutions. Not that values and principles are mutable but that outcomes are not fluid and one person leaving a position can shift things in a rather drastic fashion.

If we can all keep believing and keep the Everton faith, and try and do our best in life and be decent people, then we've done our best.

In January it was reported that 97% of players who come through top (elite) academies never play a minute of top-flight football and 70% are not even handed a professional contract at a Premier League or English Football League club. One in ten has gone on to make more than 20 league appearances in the top four tiers of English football. Fewer than half received a scholarship deal at a Premier League or EFL club, the contracts awarded at 16 years old when a player leaves education to train and play full-time.

The analysis was of academy players born 1995 to 2000 — 4,109 players who were registered at Category One academies.

I recently read two books at the same time -- "Journeyman" by Ben Smith, an Arsenal academy player who washed out into the lower leagues, and "The Bottom Corner" by Nige Tassell, which is rife with similar stories.

Finding talented youngsters and training them up properly is the objective of every academy system, but no system can identify in advance whether a kid has that indefinable "something" that projects to top-level success.

Most don't.

And many that do never get the opportunity to prove it.

But the myth of course is anyone can make it. They just have to be better, try harder, track back more diligently... etc. Just 3% making it to play at least a minute of senior football. Depends how you start counting, of course. Is that everyone age 7 or up who enters an elite Categrory A academy?

From my records for Everton's senior Academy sides, which go back about 20 years, I think we are probably doing better than that 3% figure – but that would ignore the attrition rate from 7 to 17 which will skew the percentages. And then the real problem is so many of the 3% leave for a career of lower-league football.

But that's what Unsworth got such unremitting stick for – holding on to the better players so he could win games "at the expense of player development". So he could win trophies. So he could be a winner. So they could all be winners.

Isn't that the 'identity' we say we want for our club? I'm confused.

The bigger problem these days is development teams, most smaller and even some of the bigger clubs have them. They invite kids to join, but they're not the elite, they're just good players. The parents pay to send them into these development teams so they think it's the big time, it's not, it's just a money-making scam.

They spend 4-5 years there and nothing happens. Yes, they get coached; yes, they can tell their mates they're in so-and-so club's academy, but they'll probably never be promoted to the real elite academy. If a club gets 1% of entry moved onto bigger things, it's a result for them, but they never lose out financially.

The difference between those that make it and the vast majority that don't is between their ears, not in their feet.

I don't care if we win the U18s league, the PL2 (or whatever its called) or the FA Youth Cup. The aim of the youth system is to produce and develop players for the future. Ideally for Everton, but if not then so they can have a career in the game.

I think the same applies in any elite activity. There is a fashion for saying that anyone can reach their dreams if they work hard enough, but of course it's not true, and it can do a great disservice to youngsters. Working hard is a necessary condition for reaching the top, but not a sufficient condition. You can't put in what Nature left out. You can train a donkey to run faster, but you can't turn it into a racehorse.

A couple of newspapers have been running investigations into academies over the past year or so particularly around what happens to youngsters when they are released or told they won't make the grade. Especially so since the suicide of a youth player at Man City. Crystal Palace has started a 3 year aftercare package for those who are released. This may become the standard for other clubs.

Personally I don't see why all the bitterness by bringing in Unsy, Ebbrell and Dunc, former players, if they have their coaching badges.

As a coach, I think he's stayed far too long without testing himself elsewhere but hopefully I'm wrong and he can go on to have a successful career somewhere. He could be another Sean Dyche type?

Whoever he manages, I'll be keeping an eye out for their results and wishing them well.

However, that sophisticated approach cannot start and stop with the U23s - which is all Unsworth has ever really been in charge of (despite his title).

It needs to be the part of the DNA of the academy right down to the elite U7s. I think Ajax work on the basis that you must master technique by age 8. Everything beyond that is about understanding of team dynamics, tactics etc.

That's how the very best academies do it. The buck doesn't stop with the gut overseeing the end of a conveyor belt. The person at the start should be at least as accountable.

Look at what Schalke have produced over the years even though they probably went too far in cashing in on the academy. Likewise Ajax. Oh to have the current Ajax academy coach and former Everton player at Finch Farm?

But mostly, I wish Everton Football Club better wishes. Maybe now we can move on from this '90s / 2000s trap we have been trapped in.

Gut?! I guess that is a typo but many a true word, as they say.

Regards John Ebbrell, it perhaps is that he's staying with Everton, as there's been no mention of him leaving.

I also wonder if there will be changes within the Everton board as well, in lieu of changes to the under 23, set up, as also the Everton Ladies are hiring a new coach in the summer.

Hopefully if the very harsh lessons of where the club is are now at, and lessons are being learnt, then there may be some deliverance and a fresh course on the road to a better place for Everton FC.

What should an academy do? Build silky ball players, comfortable with both feet, put some sand down at Finch Farm and find the new Pele.. or win, win and win and produce winners.

He wore the shirt with pride, Had Mark Hughes in his arse pocket during the cup final. Was nailed on whenever we got a penalty, He even forced a move back to us. (How many players have done that). He Managed us with pride and was dignified in all of the shenanigans that have gone on over the last few years.

I wish him all the very best.

On the academy debate. We are in a position of being 4th choice in the North West and probably about 15th nationally and maybe 100th in Europe pre Brexit.

I think most of the points above are valid, nice pitches, good facilities, coaching instinct out of kids. Though the national team is doing well with some great young talent playing in the biggest games in world football.

As a club I can't see us being able to compete locally with City, Utd or Lpool any time soon.

We need to innovate and think about things differently. Whether that is specialised coaching per position, having a strategy that runs throughout the entire academy, paying more for youngsters or just recruiting more scouts and paying them more than the competition.

The new academy manager has his work cut out!

I've never been comfortable with the 'jobs for the boys' approach.

But I'll throw a counter in that Evertonian credentials do matter. If you've got two good candidates then it's reasonable for a Blue to have the edge. Culture, passion, caring about the club, continuity can be positives.

Unsworth is nearly as old as Ferguson, who is now 50. 50! And yet neither of them has ever sought to advance their "careers" from beneath Kenwright's skirts.

Contrast them with Neil Critchley, a total no-mark as a player, who's now the manager of Blackpool. Critchley won a place with THEM as a youth coach with zero affinity with THEM beforehand.

He is one of only sixteen coaches worldwide to have obtained UEFA's elite badge, unlike anyone under Kenwright's umbrella.

Critchley after a few years with THEM then resigned to guide Blackpool to promotion, via the playoffs, from League One to the Championship in 2020–21, in his first full season in charge of the club. This season he has them safe and playing well on their limited resources, and, not least, he's developed young Josh Bowler into one of the Championship's best midfielders, and young Shayne Lavery into a Northern Ireland international striker. At Everton under Unsworth neither of them ever got a game before being moved out. Critchley's also displays the knack of signing players for next to nowt and then visibly improving them in the first team.

Still, let's applaud "Rhino" eh, so named in the previous century by fans at the time on account of the expanding vastness of his arse.

Yet some still term him a good servant to us. Jeez!

To Kenwright, deffo - to the club meh!

It sounds like we are on the same page. I've been critical of charity cases like Jose Baxter finding refuge under Unsie etc. But, he was part of our FA cup winning team. He was a decent, heart on his sleeve Evertonian as a player. And he may become a good manager so I wish him well. But I think it's time for a change. His stock has fallen as he is no longer the first choice caretaker boss. So he can accept a diminished role or try and move on up. Seemingly he's chosen the latter so good luck to him

Shuffle off and get your pension granddad.

Subtle.

They are not happy with his inflexible approach and over reliance on Benzema. The exit in the Copa del Rey and the trouncing by Barca were low points.
There have also been complaints that they should be further ahead as Barca and Athletico have imploded.

Imagine them shower giving Sammy Lee a job because he gave good service and is now a half-decent coach. No chance. Albeit I think some other club tried him out!!

Importantly I also remember when his playing days were finished he would sit near us as an ordinary supporter. I think it would be fair to think of him as a True Blue Evertonian.

The other club that has a Managerial Vacancy (recently) is Crewe. Like many have said, I will always look out for results at clubs, for ex-players, and coaching staff alike.

Unfortunately to date, not many have been ripping up trees, or setting fires.

Maybe, just maybe we are slowly looking like a professional serious club and less embarrassing, but more need to leave (and yes we know who they are).

It brought home to me the importance of who coaches the young player and family Involvement.

Through reports I have not ibeen mpressed by Unsworths handily of young players.

I'm not scrutinising there playing careers, it's more what they have offered post playing days but largely thats due to Kenwright.

Personally I hope the tide is turning, for the better. No more jobs for the boys.

Only once in a blue moon do you get freaks like Rooney, but in general, the output of our academy has not been what it could be over the years in my opinion. For most, coaching is crucial in the formative years. It's why I think Barkley never hit his potential and is now unlikely to.

Not restricted to Everton, I still think there is too much emphasis on results rather than player development at youth level.

I too was underwhelmed by John Ebbrell. I had hopes for Michael Ball - he was a classy footballing full back if I recall. Shame injuries got the better of him. Do we overplay these youngsters too much, too young, as they come through and burn them out? I know each individual is different.

Another I had hopes for was Francis Jeffers. Now, whether it was him throwing a strop and getting above his station or the club managing him out to cash in, I'll never know. But at face value, it always struck me as he went too soon rather than establish himself and play football. Scott Parker done similar in leaving Charlton to sit on Chelsea's bench and dare I say, Fabian Delph when he moved to City. Always a balance between taking the big move or playing regular football. Some of these players literally wasted years and subsequently their careers in my opinion.

Rodwell; another one. Unfortunate or just didn't want it enough? Or wasn't coached and motivated properly?

Let's hope Anthony Gordon continues his development and I'm hopeful that Lewis Warrington isn't too far behind in being involved next season.

I think quite a few stick around and get a job at their playing club. It might even have been in a contract offer in their last year or so. I doubt we are unique in that regard.

Jose Baxter was a bit of a special case. I'm sure he wasn't given great responsibility so I'm happy that we help out where we can.

The only issue I've had is that we've invested in the development of guys like Ferguson only for him to seemingly show a lack of ambition. What was the investment in him worth then? Did anyone ask him what his plans were? Or have we just been a source of employment? That role could have used on an up and coming leader at the club.

Anthony Gordon is for me another Rooney type, who just has the gift, Tom Davies is another who could have benefited from proper coaching.

Bringing in Nicholson could be the start for Whittaker, Warrington, Dobbin, Mills, Ellis, and the likes to advance and improve.

Would like to wish Unsworth all the best in his next job, he served us well, however we need to be dragged into the 21st centuary, and bring in professionals and phase out jobs for former Everton players.

This is a good start, I just hope we continue right throughout, from top to bottom, weeding out amateurs, and bring in professionals, who know how to run a football club.

There's been too much complacency and laziness when appointing academy coaches. Too much of an old boys' network, instead of a fully-fledged professional approach.

That said, Dave Unsworth has been a great servant of our club, and I wish him well.

To say Josh Bowler never got a game under Unsworth is just daft. He suffered with injuries but played regularly and when he did play he was one of our best U23 players last season. The question is really why we let him go.

I could never understand why we have all these ambassador roles on inflated salaries for example and as for some of the coaching staff enough has already been said.

I've liked what little I've seen of Mills, he's impressed me too Brian.

Good luck to Rhino. Great servant to the club, but should have left a wee while ago.

He was given a clear shot to show his stuff on loan at Fulham and was so crashingly bad he was subbed out a couple times in the first half. Subsequently flopped at Wigan and Oxford as well.

Glad he finally pulled himself together and salvaged a career (unfortunately he's out for this season with a knee injury), but I don't think we missed anything there.

I by no means am an apologist, but it is very easy to slate these young players and accuse them of being privileged, which they are. But they also sacrifice the normal things in life we take for granted.

At 17 or 18, having lived in a bubble, they are injured and sat at home with time and money to burn. Sounds great, but I just hope the support network is there for young players coming through now that perhaps wasn't in the past.

Not saying he could have been a Premier League player, but, as stated, he's more than holding his own at Blackpool. Well, he was before the knee injury in January. He's more of a wingback and, in the right team, he's a good player.

Sustainability: Everton's Tom Davies does not 'want to leave the world a worse place'

Sounds interesting. Save your chopsticks for Tom.

I too wonder about Kevin Sheedy, Christy. I wish Colin Harvey was younger and, to repeat myself, I think Leon Osman is wasted as a pundit and would much rather see him at Finch Farm. Alongside Steven Pienaar, who is currently plying his trade at the Ajax Academy. Now there is an ex-Everton dream team.

- the academy structure is already better than it was, with 18- to 20-year-olds in the U23s and after that out on loan.

- the current crop shows some promise. I could see 3 or 4 of the current U23s and U18s making it in the first team squad. The classiest I've seen play is Samuels-Smith.

Some negatives to address:

- standard of coaching, style and sophistication of play. And given Nicholson's resume it sounds like this is what he's here to address.

- unlike top academies we don't seem to buy in much talent, especially from abroad (which can include Scotland and Ireland). Okoronkwo looks a good signing. Where are the others?

It took Chelsea about 15 years and a few false dawns to get it right. Man City have also taken time. Both now have a pipeline of really good players - although City's are only just coming through now, like Palmer, McAtee, Harwood-Bellis and Doyle.

It won't be overnight and it won't make much of a difference just replacing Unsworth. Hopefully that's just the visible bit of a lot of hard work behind the scenes.

But people, is it really so important if he leaves, or being pushed?

Okay, he has never showed the passion like Duncan, but still he has done a decent job for us. And he is at an age where he really has to try something else before it is too late... probably a League One club, but it will be a place to start.

So I wish him well for the future and thanks for the job well done, he has three trophies to show for in his time at U23.Thank you, Unsie!

Where has Okoronkwo gone to, he hasn't played for the U18s for the last few games and there hasn't been a mention of him on the club's website, is he injured?

My thoughts and prayers are with ‘another poster' tonight

I know it's very early days but I thought he had a real spark about him in the couple of games I saw him play.

But crazy how the years fly by, but remember Roonies shot at Spurs when he cracked in a 34 yarder, in the youth team, Everton won 2-3.

I was there at Spurs, that night with a few lads, as we were working away, in London.

Billy Kenny, Billy Wright, and more If.. and there's, more players, be it by injury, bad luck, bad injuries.. but it makes a life time, with Everton.

That's Life!

“Whats Our Name?”
UTFT!

But let's see the plan to start the next season. That's my view, but till it's seen, can it be true?

If..

UTFT!

Robert #156, didn't somebody post here about Okoronkwo scoring in every FA Youth Cup match? Has he not played since then?

His stats are weird. He arrived in September but didn't get selected for the U18s until the end of November. then, In a run of just seven games (U18 Premier and FA Youth Cup) he scores a goal in six of them. He also plays just once for the U23s.

That takes us through to mid-February. He plays in 4 of the next 5 games with the U18s but fails to score, taking us to mid-March. Then over the next month, he plays no part in the next 5 games, bringing us to mid-April, and not a word of explanation for his 'disappearance'.

I think we paid a decent sum of money to get him from Sunderland with a few add ons if he continues to improve, when he finally arrived here after a long wait he brought an injury with him which delayed his debut, then he looked like he had been well worth waiting for, now he has gone missing again!!

Michael (161) you'll have to get your private detective on the case, mind you if he is like that word checker of yours it will be a waste of time, he couldn't find a gas leak with a match.