David Unsworth

Everton Giant - Year Inducted: 2019

A powerful, fast and versatile defender, David Unsworth made 350 Everton appearances and was a colossus in the heart of defence when Joe Royle’s team won the 1995 FA Cup.

Currently manager of the Club’s Under-23 team – a role he combines with that of Director of Academy at Everton – he has nurtured the talent of a succession of players who have graduated into the First Team from the fabled Blues' Academy.

Unsworth trod that same path, joining Everton aged 13 and being handed his senior debut by Howard Kendall as an 18-year-old in April 1992.

He marked his Toffees bow with a stunning goal in a 3-3 draw at Tottenham Hotspur.

Unsworth would eventually cement a spot as a First-Team regular under Royle and his 302 Premier League appearances across two spells puts him fifth on Everton’s all-time list.

Unsworth had one campaign away from Everton in 1997/98 but returned for a further six seasons at Goodison Park.

He scored 40 goals for the Club and after leaving for Portsmouth in 2004 continued playing for five more years, representing another five clubs, including time with Ipswich Town where he reunited with Royle.

Unsworth came back to Everton as assistant to then Under-21 boss Alan Stubbs in September 2013. He was promoted to manager the following summer when Stubbs departed for Hibernian.

His young Blues were Premier League 2 champions in 2016/17 and went one better in 2018/19, regaining their title before completing an unprecedented double by claiming the Premier League Cup.

Unsworth has twice managed Everton on an interim basis, overseeing the final game of the 2015/16 campaign and taking charge for one month early in 2017/18.

He was appointed as the Club’s Director of Academy in September 2020.

Upon being named an Everton Giant in 2019, Unsworth said: “The line of men and players who have gone before me and won this award… to be part of that group is very, very special.

“I am very, very honoured and, to be honest, touched by it.

“I find it very hard to sum up what Everton means to me. I could say it means everything and that would not be enough. It has been my life since I was a 13-year-old boy.

“You spend so much time here, when you are honoured enough to win awards like this, it is quite emotional.”