In an interview that first appeared in the Official Matchday Programme, Assistant Manager Ian Woan and Men’s Senior Team Coach Steve Stone reflect on a whirlwind start to life in the Everton dugout, while also plotting the road to a brighter future, revealing details on the relentless work and honest conversations behind the scenes to ensure that happens...
Ian, Steve - we’re well into your first full season at Everton now. First of all, how are you enjoying it?
Ian Woan: I'm loving it. I've said many times, this was always my dream job. Growing up as a Toffee and being here, playing, as a kid and getting close but never quite managing to play, coming back as a coach is the dream for me. It's been difficult, we're not going to lie about that. We came into a situation where it was just: fight. The thought of being associated with taking this club down didn't bear thinking about and we fought so hard to ensure that wasn't the case. Last year, I don't think we ever came up for air, it was just on to the next battle and the next until we got the job done.
Coming back after the summer break, then, how much of the work has remained the same and how much have you changed from the second half of last season?
Steve Stone: The directive is the same, in terms of how we work, what we do and what we look to try to achieve every day. We want to build culture and an organisation. That's always been the same whenever I've worked with Woany and the Gaffer, even when we were at Burnley. But now we're here and we fully understand this is a different entity... This is Everton Football Club, with the history, the huge fanbase and everything that comes with it - there is a different feel to it.
The culture we want to bring here is consistent but with a recognition that it's a foundation to keep it moving forward, because you can't just survive here. We've got to be progressive. We survived last year, now we want to progress this year and it's moving it forward little bit by little bit. It takes time. It takes time for us to get the squad that we want and fully imprint the traits we want to see on the players on a consistent basis. It's not just the players, either, it's about taking everyone with us - all the staff around the building and something for the fans to get behind as well.
IW: The culture bit, it doesn't happen overnight. You have got to feed it all of the time, water it, nurture it, because as soon as you just leave it then that's when you lose it. Every day it's our job to keep nurturing it, keep the messages coming through to everyone and the camp, for me, at the moment it feels like it's the best it’s been since we've been here.
Is that how you see it, Ian, in terms of building similar foundations but also recognising the long-term scale is different from previously?
IW: Yes. This is a way bigger stage than Burnley, way bigger. No disrespect to Burnley but if you're not born there, you're very unlikely to be a Burnley fan. You can go anywhere in the world and you will bump into an Evertonian, 100 per cent. The size of the Club and its history - I know Burnley has good history, don't get me wrong - but Everton is a much bigger club.
Tell us about the work you do with the analysts and Insight department. The manager has spoken before about how much data and statistics are available to you - how much do you use that information?
SS: You have to. If you're doing good work on the training ground - or you think you are doing good work - and the analysts turn around to us and tell us it's not reading right, then you have to look at what you're doing. We're not in that position, though. The analysts, who are purely analytical rather than football, are coming to us and saying the numbers are strong. The bodies we're getting in the box, the xG has been spoken about quite a lot but that's looking good as well, all of it.
The data has backed up what our eyes have been telling us and we have to continue working how we have been. Also, it must be said, the analysts aren't here just to tell us how good things are - they are here to tell us when things aren't looking right as well - and, of course, we welcome that when that is the case.
IW: Absolutely. They're not here just to be our friends. They want the best for Everton Football Club. We want to be challenged, 100 per cent. We're all big boys and we know why we're here - to make this club better.
Ian, as an Evertonian yourself, knowing how much that front-foot football resonates with supporters here, how much of those coaching beliefs come from what appealed to yourself growing up?
IW: For me, growing up as an Evertonian, we felt like a gritty, honest, hard-working football club that was the heart of this city. I grew up on the mid-80s team when it was 4-4-2 and that was a proper team - they worked hard and they could absolutely play as well. Every team they came up against knew they were in a proper game and that was the kind of thing, with my background, the Gaffer knew I could maybe help him with the history a little bit. The things I've just mentioned are all the things we are trying to get back to right now.
You've both spoken in the past about your passion for coaching and keenness to improve the players we have in the current squad. We've seen two great examples of that so far this season with James Garner and Jarrad Branthwaite becoming very important players in the senior team. How pleasing has their progression been for you, particularly given it's happened in such a short space of time?
IW: It's always nice to see young lads coming through and thriving. It's early days for both of them, really, but Jarrad went away and had a year of playing which you just can't replicate with anything else. We obviously had to wait a bit before seeing him properly after coming in, but he looks like he's had a season playing and learning the demands of playing week-in, week-out. He's flourishing at the moment, but he is a young centre-back and young centre- backs will make mistakes every now and then. We just have to stick with him and to see all the good he's been doing and how hard he's working on the training pitch has been great.
Jarrad has been a very quick learner in terms of picking up what we’ve asked of him. Then there's Jimmy [Garner], who had to be patient. Look at last season, he played right- back, wing-back, wide midfield, but he never questioned anything once and that's a massively impressive attribute. He just wants to play football and he'd ask the gaffer where he wants him to play, what he wants him to do and go out and execute it. It was amazing. You see his performances now in central midfield, which is probably his preferred position, but to have a young player you can ask to play anywhere and he'll go out and do it is a dream.
We made five new signings over the summer transfer window. How much have they helped and have they changed the dynamic of the group?
IW: Bringing new faces in brings the level of the rest of the squad up. If you don't change your personnel then lethargy is more likely to creep in and you don't want people to think they're going to play regardless of how they perform or train. The manager has spoken before about speaking to Sir Alex Ferguson about regenerating the squad and how important that is. Every two or three years, you want to regenerate the squad because if you don't, the group can get sick of your rhetoric.
You want to keep it fresh. New faces coming in, new voices... It's amazing how the whole squad raise their levels when you do that. The new players we brought in here over the summer has bumped up our level in training, for sure.
