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Homepage Article David Unsworth To Leave

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blue1948 said:
I too played morning til night in the entry so I know what you are saying but to me it seems very simple ,we have a new DoF and he has come from the States where everything is numbers and graphs ,bearing that in mind the production line has failed and it may just be that he has acted now instead of doing what we normally do and subscribe to the old boys club .
Defending him with the DCL signing is a bit stretching the facts ,Walsh discovered Vardy but came here and signed a lot of rubbish .
Any way I wish him well and there he goes .
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….oh, I’m not defending him. On the contrary, I think his tenure in temporary charge was dreadful.

What I’m saying is, it’s lazy to blame him for the lack of numbers coming through. The issues are much wider and complex that that. I feel he gets the blame for much too much.
 
Steve EFC said:
The lack of youth progression into first team is possibly down to the poor scouting at the club as much as anything else.
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It could given our other record with recruitment but it also could be down to poor youth coaching though. There have some stories about some younger players being frustrated at the setup and not being given a fair chance. Only time will tell I guess when we see what the new guy does.
 
Up to Thelwell now to find a solid replacement, at least I hope it's his responsibility anyway, you never know with this Iranian clown.
 
The question for me about this is… if Unsworth genuinely had/has managerial ambitions, why didn’t he pursue them in the immediate aftermath of his ‘guiding’ the u23s to PL2 success ? when his stock would have been relatively or considerably higher in the eyes of say, League One or Two clubs.

Personally, I doubt he’s ever had such ambitions as he’s enjoyed the unwavering support of Kenwright and DBB and in effect wallowed in having ‘a job for life.’

If he’s successful wherever he ends up, fair enough and good for him but, I can’t help feeling that his personal desire to win trophies has been hugely detrimental to player development within the Academy.
 

Eggs said:
….oh, I’m not defending him. On the contrary, I think his tenure in temporary charge was dreadful.

What I’m saying is, it’s lazy to blame him for the lack of numbers coming through. The issues are much wider and complex that that. I feel he gets the blame for much too much.
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I think the difficulty is, he put himself in a position where he was academy director, which was sort of putting himself in the firing line. I'm not sure he was suited for that role.
 
Lanolin said:
We have though? Dobbin, onyango, branthwaite and simms have come in at times to plug holes. Welch and price have had run outs too. How many are we realistically expecting?

Again, I’m not defending unsworth how because I think he’s great, just because some of the criticisms are unfair and some (like this one) are simply untrue.
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To some extent, Unsworth is a bit of a victim of what he looks like, the fact Liverpool are doing well and people assume the grass is greener. In his 6 years here, we've had Kenny, Davies & Gordon make their way through. He's also brought in Holgate, DCL & Galloway who made first team appearances. In 6 years or so, that's really not that bad a record. Underneath that, you've currently got Dobbin, Brainthwaite, Onyango who look close to making the step up. I'm not saying it's amazing, but it's not as bad as people make out.

I've got no issue with Thelwell making changes, and if it leads to better results that's a positive. This will be a bit contrarian but I happen to think the turnover of managers we've had, as well as the short termism in recruitment has probably done more damage than Unsworth has. People also talk about why there's no consistency between the 23's to the first team, when the first team have changed approach 5 or 6 times over his tenure. He has actually got a style of player in place for the under 23's. Not everybody likes it, but it probably suits where the club is at and what it probably needs. There's an argument to say it's not well suited to moving players on to "bigger" clubs.
 

Chairman Bill Kenwright added: “Since coming back to Everton as a coach, Unsie has shown everyone what he is - a great coach… a great Evertonian… and a winner.

“While we’re sad to see someone with his talent and love for the Club moving on, we completely understand and respect his decision.

“On behalf of everyone at Everton, I wish him well for what I am sure will be a successful career in management.

“From everyone at Everton, thank you and good luck, Unsie.”



Can't stand Kenwright, the man makes me sick with the nonsense he spouts.
 
AndyC said:
The question for me about this is… if Unsworth genuinely had/has managerial ambitions, why didn’t he pursue them in the immediate aftermath of his ‘guiding’ the u23s to PL2 success ? when his stock would have been relatively or considerably higher in the eyes of say, League One or Two clubs.

Personally, I doubt he’s ever had such ambitions as he’s enjoyed the unwavering support of Kenwright and DBB and in effect wallowed in having ‘a job for life.’

If he’s successful wherever he ends up, fair enough and good for him but, I can’t help feeling that his personal desire to win trophies has been hugely detrimental to player development within the Academy.
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I suppose it's always possible he's changed his mind about his career plans? Or that he's lowered his sights after initially believing he could get better jobs than were available to him at that time? Have you honestly had your entire career mapped out in your head for your whole life and never wavered from it?
 
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About time. It beggars belief how many potential 'starlets' have passed through the Academy but failed to push on and in my view a lot of that stops at his door. He has been an ever present for a decade or more yet I can think of very few that have made the step up to first team level...and most of them were brought in from other clubs. I accept that a kid with potential at 15/16 years of age does not always develop the way we would wish but I also think his job was to push on those who did and get them promoted up the food chain.
And yes, it probably hasn't helped his cause that we have had numerous managers in recent years who weren't prepared to give youth a chance as their remit was to get success on the field as an immediate priority so went out and brought in a lot of established deadwood instead...and look how that has turned out.
But good luck, David, wherever you end up and thank us for your service!
 

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