New beginning at Finch Farm

Jul 30 2007 by Chris Wright, Liverpool Daily Post

STARTING a new job and moving house at the same time would be stressful for most people. But Everton’s latest crop of youngsters will be hoping it is beginning of a big future for them.

The latest teenagers – 11 taken on as first-year scholars – at the Everton Academy have been in pre-season training for the past three weeks at Netherton as they build up to the FA Premier Academy League opener at home to Bristol City on Saturday, August 18.

But it is the move to the new Finch Farm training complex that under-18s coach Neil Dewsnip and the rest of the staff at the Academy are also looking forward to. The aim is for the new state-of-the-art facility to help make the Goodison conveyor belt of talent run even smoother.

With the likes of James Vaughan and Victor Anichebe the most recent successes of those to have joined Tony Hibbert and Leon Osman in moving through the ranks to David Moyes’s first team, Everton are hoping the new facility – where they will be working at the same venue as the Goodison manager and his players – can be of huge benefit in terms of development.

Dewsnip said: “It is a massive plus for us. We can’t wait to move in. In terms of issues such as communication and the youth players being around great role models it will help. I don’t know for sure exactly until we are living it, but we believe it is the right way to go.”

Rubbing shoulders with the first team on a day-to-day basis and having Moyes and his staff in close proximity will aid the progress of the youngsters. While seeing those who had trodden the path from youth ranks to first team can show the new hopefuls what can be achieved.

Dewsnip hopes that will will be the case.

He added: “It will certainly be a massive help to see people like James Vaughan, Victor Anichebe, Hibbo (Tony Hibbert) and Ossie (Leon Osman) having come through the system and thriving in the first team. And others as well who are on the fringe of the squad. All being on one site will be more powerful in terms of those issues. They will be seeing those players almost every day, and that is one of the reasons why we all want to be on one site.

“But the facilities will help in all aspects. They will help in the coaching because suddenly we will have more top class pitches, more areas to work on. It is purpose-built and then every need medical, technical, physical and even for performance analysis will be there. It is all top class and it is up to us to make the use of it and quickly and positively as we can.”

Things, so far, have been going well in pre-season preparations.

Dewsnip said: “Everything is smashing at the moment. It is still very early. But everybody is fit and healthy and so far, so good. We are trying to build week by week trying to get ready for that first game on August 18.

“We go on tour next week down to the West Country in a mini tournament with Plymouth Argyle, Middlesbrough and the Latvian National team and I guess we are pretty ready after that. We have one more possibly Coventry to play and then we are at it.”

Everton are naturally looking to finish as high in the North West division of the Academy League as possible, but as always player development it key.

For the majority of the squad they are full-time footballers for the first time and how they react to that over the coming months will decide how well they do.

Dewsnip said: “We took on 11 schoolboys. It is a very young squad this year, because we have a small intake of current second years. They are all in our reserve group as present. So it is mainly a first year group but that could change once the first team settles down with more numbers and so on.

“It is a different level for all the players. One or two of the schoolboys have played lots of games, but others haven’t played any yet and it is a lot different now they are full-time as opposed to schoolboy players. It is very different for all of them. But we just need to bed down first and it is probably too early to say how we’ll do. Obviously we want to do well, but the main thing is getting the players to progress individually in their performances and into the reserves.”