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My Everton #46: Unmatched Intensity And The Unwritten Rule – Lee Carsley

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Jimmy Martin introduced himself on my first day at Everton by telling me, ‘This is the best club you will ever play for’.

He likes to get to the point, Jimmy, but he was was right – and I am enormously proud that after a 20-odd-year playing career, Everton is the club people most readily associate me with.

Jimmy followed his words by thrusting this big book on the history of Everton into my hands and ordering me to read it.

I did, too. I’d go back after training to my room at the Suites in Knowsley and do my studying. I was reading about these great players and matches and achievements and thinking, ‘Crikey, this is not what I am used to’.

And the expectation around the Club didn’t tally with what the team was doing.

Let’s be honest, it was a difficult period when I came early in 2002 and I was a thoroughly underwhelming signing. I’d been relegated in two of the previous three years and Everton were in a perilous position.

The media interest on the day I arrived from Coventry City, however, provided a clue over the size of the place I was walking into.

It felt like the world’s press had descended on the Club. But I quickly discovered they were all there for David Ginola, who signed on the same day, which was a bit of a blow.

I also found out very rapidly that as an Everton player you were bound by an unwritten rule.

Lee Carsley
The connection between the fans and the team is crucial; that is where I think we stand apart from 95 per cent of clubs.


Regardless of how good you were, you tried your best, you ran around and showed passion for the team and the badge. It means that much to the fans. Players who fall short on any of those counts are worked out in no time.

It is not an easy club to play for and better players than me have failed to deal with the expectation and intensity.

There are no days off.

You have to get your head round that, understand that performing at 70 or 80 per cent, or coasting through a game, is unacceptable.

When Everton sign a player, they have to consider, ‘Is this person mentally robust enough to perform at Goodison Park?’

It is a challenge to consistently take the ball and impose yourself on games, no matter the situation or opponents.

That part of it suited me down to the ground. I was always going to give everything I had and the Evertonians appreciated that; they could relate to me, I think.

I’d had a glimpse into the relationship between the Everton players and supporters when I first played at Goodison.


I was in the Derby side Joe Royle’s team beat in the third round of the FA Cup in 1995, the year Everton won the competition.

The first thing that struck me was the size of the Main Stand, I couldn’t comprehend it. It seemed monstrous: so imposing and steep and high.

And it was packed that day.

Every time Andy Hinchcliffe took a corner, it felt like a shot. It was almost impossible to defend the Gwladys Street End, there was so much pressure when Everton attacked and it really did feel like the fans in there were sucking the ball into the net. It was suffocating as an opposition player. 

I’d never experienced such a connection between a team and its fans.

Watching those final games last season, it seemed like that bond is coming back. The supporters and players and staff were united and it was brilliant to see.

Everton without the fans buying in and being part of it, is just another club. The connection between the fans and the team is crucial; that is where I think we stand apart from 95 per cent of clubs.

The old training ground at Bellefield was steeped in history and character. Walking through the doors for the first time, I was immediately conscious of the giant footsteps I was treading in.

It struck me, too, that the successful figures in the background, the former players who had won major honours in the 1980s and were Everton legends, were fully behind the team and the Club.

We weren’t as good as them, but they were supportive of what we were trying to do because there was never any lack of effort.

Those old players around the building can be very daunting at some clubs but I never felt that at Everton.

David Moyes was appointed manager about five weeks after I joined and The People’s Club title he coined couldn’t have been more pertinent.

I am not just playing to my audience here when I say, it felt to me that people in the city supported Everton.


That the city was behind the team.

I lived in the city centre, which was a big deal.

I was visible to the fans and I got a sense of how they felt the team was doing. If things were going well, it was brilliant. If not, they told you.

I think I gained their respect from never hiding away.

It took a while to establish myself, though. When David came in, he put me at right-wing and David Unsworth on the left-wing; we went defensive to restore some stability.

I had to wait for a chance in the middle of midfield.

I spent time as substitute. Or out of the squad altogether, I wasn’t a very good sub, not a player you brought on to change a game.

I had to be patient – and at times thought, ‘I am not sure this is going to be for me’. My family were still in Birmingham, while I was living in an apartment block with Tommy Gravesen.

Thank God, I persevered with it.

I played 198 games in my six-and-a-bit years and every one of them was special. People enjoy talking about my goal to win a Merseyside derby in December 2004. Yes, it was a fabulous moment and I am extremely proud of it.

But I was more bothered about the team and finishing fourth that 2004/05 season was a fabulous accomplishment.

So many times we were down and out in games but came back to win or draw.

It was a contrast from the previous season, which we’d finished poorly. I’ll tell you a story about the final day, when we lost 5-1 at Manchester City.

Our performance was pretty horrible, we didn’t compete. But deep down, I felt I’d done okay. The team coach dropped a few players off on the way home, so I moved to sit next to Jimmy.

Everyone likes to hear praise and we all seek reassurance, nobody more than footballers. And I thought Jimmy might tell me I’d played well, assure me that amid a bad afternoon for the team I at least had done myself justice.

I’d barely got comfortable in my new seat when Jimmy turned to me and asked, ‘How does it feel to be part of the worst Everton performance I have ever seen?’

I didn’t say another word.

And that comment sat with me all summer. I couldn’t get it out of my head. It was another reminder of the Club I was representing and the standards expected as minimum.

Lee Carsley
It is so close to my heart, a club I think about and worry about and am concerned about every day, in the same way any fans cares for their team.


I came back for pre-season so determined to do well, for myself and for the manager and the staff and the supporters.

The Evertonians should never underestimate their part in that equation. They filled stadiums in Nuremberg and Alkmaar when we played in Europe, wherever we went it felt like a home game. Those are more precious memories.

At some point, I would love to go back to Everton. But I have an idealistic view of how it would be and wouldn’t want to ruin that vision.

That is a thought for another day a long way into the future.

I adore what I do with England Under-21s and it has been great having Ashley Cole with me. Not only do I have a connection with him, I have a connection with Everton, which is wonderful.

I still speak to Tony Sage and, of course, to Jimmy, and I still have a huge affinity with Everton. It is so close to my heart, a club I think about and worry about and am concerned about every day, in the same way any fans cares for their team.

And what Jimmy said holds true two decades later: A footballer couldn’t hope to play for a better club than Everton.

By Lee Carsley, 198 appearances + 13 goals for Everton (2002-2008)

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