Everton coach talks about plans to overhaul academy approach

John Ebbrell is Everton’s new Head of Academy Coaching and is working hard to overhaul the playing style at youth level.

He told the club’s official website about the work he is doing with Marcel Brands and David Unsworth to revamp the club’s youth coaching.

There are plans for sides of various age groups to play in the same, distinctive style.

That is geared towards providing the first team with the players they need at a club where producing their own players has always been high on the agenda.

“We are looking for everything on the pitch to be done quicker, for the ball to move faster and for us to press with more intensity,” said Ebbrell. “We want to improve technical speed and accuracy.

“To play in key areas at the highest level, you must have magnificent skills and be able to perform them quickly. It is right we take that into the academy and make sure we are seeing those qualities at all ages.

“We want to align all age groups in what we do. My main task is to make sure there is consistency, certainly from Under-12 to Under-23, which feeds into what the first team needs.”

Everton fans love seeing their own talents going into the first team and shining, with Anthony Gordon making the jump last season.

There will always be changes in the first team manager during a young player’s progression through the club.

The task facing Ebbrell is to ensure their education and development remains unaffected by those changes of style.

It’s a modern approach infused with the classic Everton values Ebbrell learned from Colin Harvey.

Evertonians will hope to see the results on the pitch for years and years to come.