ALAN IRVINE admits that the lure of working at Everton FC once again persuaded him to change his career path.

Irvine returned to EFC for the third time this week to head up the Academy after earlier spells as a player and as assistant manager to David Moyes.

The Scot left his post as number two in November 2007 to pursue his own managerial ambitions, taking over at Preston North End before moving on to Sheffield Wednesday last year.

But having been out of the game since leaving Wednesday in February, Irvine will now reprise previous roles held at Newcastle United and Blackburn Rovers by overseeing the development of Everton’s youngsters.

“This is not the kind of job I would have taken at too many other places, so the lure of coming back to Everton and the lure of working with David Moyes again were big factors,” said the 53-year-old.

“I thoroughly enjoyed working in an academy set-up when I was with Newcastle before I came to Everton and I was very lucky that it was a job I enjoyed and we had some success at and I'm hoping the same will happen again.

“It is a change of direction for me but I don't feel as if I'm giving anything up, I feel I'm actually benefiting from this change.”