- 6 weeks ago
Amos Wynn provides the latest on Ian Evatt's appointment as Blackpool manager
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00:01Hello and welcome to this special Blackpool Gazette video, following news that Blackpool
00:06have announced Ian Evatt as manager. My name is Mark McMahon and joining me today to discuss
00:11the developments of Bloomfield Road is the Blackpool Gazette's Amos Wynn. Amos, can I
00:18just get your initial reaction on Ian Evatt's appointment as the new Seasiders boss?
00:24Yeah, well, he was the obvious name. When Steve Bruce was sacked, he looked at the managers
00:28who were out of work and Ian Evatt's name stood out for two reasons. One, he's a former
00:33player, he enjoyed success, he got two promotions and it's always nice to have someone who does
00:39know the club. It probably wasn't the most important thing, you won't appoint him based
00:43on that alone, but his record as a manager is pretty decent. He got Barrow up to League
00:492, he got Bolton up, he won the EFL trophy there. I know things did go sour towards the
00:54end of his time with Bolton, but on the whole, he did a very good job there and they grew
01:00under him and were 90 minutes away from reaching the Championship. So, yeah, bar probably a sour
01:06last six months with Bolton, on the whole, his managerial record has been very good.
01:11Is he a good fit then for Blackpool, Burnham and the position to fight themselves in?
01:15Yeah, it is interesting because you think formation-wise, in the last few years of his
01:22time at Bolton, he liked wing-backs. Blackpool have spent the last 12 months, the last two
01:27transfer windows, moving away from that, ripping it up. I think with injuries at the moment,
01:33for any manager who's got any pre-existing ideas how they want to play, it probably would
01:36be hard because they're so thin in so many areas. But in wing-backs in particular, there's
01:42probably not enough centre-backs available to sort of rotate and keep changing. There's
01:46probably too many wingers who aren't wing-backs. So, yeah, if that was still his ideology,
01:51then that'd be quite tricky. But in terms of the character, you know, he knows what the
01:55club's about. His first interview with the clubs in house media, you know, he said all
01:59the right things. He has the passion and, you know, he will be someone that should be able
02:03to get the squad motivated. You know, the way he spoke, it was sort of uplifting watching
02:08as an outsider. So, if you're in that dressing room, yeah, he should be able to get
02:12sort of a rocket up some of them to, you know, make them play better than what they
02:17have been.
02:18Yeah. Apart from the formation side of things, but do we know what he will bring to the dressing
02:23room? What's his style? What's his managerial way of going about things? Do you know anything
02:29about that there at all?
02:30Well, something else from his interview. He said, you know, he wants attacking football.
02:34He wants to entertain the fans. And maybe more so than his other clubs. I think he will
02:39be determined to bring that to Blackpool because he worked under Ian Holloway, of course.
02:43He knew, you know, he knows what Blackpool were at the very best. So, I think he will
02:47want to sort of, you know, tap into that and think, this is how this club ticks. This is
02:52what this club needs. So, I think very much he will try to play, you know, attractive
02:56attacking football. He's someone that will try different things. I'm sure, you know, he
03:00will try different. He won't just stick with one tactic. He will go with like maybe more
03:06abrasive ways to sort of break teams down. That's just direct as well as passing around
03:11a bit. So, I think he will mix it up based on, you know, look at what he did at Bolton
03:14and what he did at Barrow.
03:16Yeah. The pressure has been on the club to get this appointment right. Does that explain
03:21the long, drawn-out process that has been involved in this managerial search?
03:27Yeah. Obviously, the pressure is on. You know, they do need to get spot on. The club
03:31found themselves bottom of League One. You know, like I say, the squad's very thin
03:35at the moment due to injuries. You know, it's not something they could really, they
03:39can't really afford for it to go wrong again. Could they have done it maybe a week
03:44faster? I'd say so because, you know, like I say, Everett was the obvious
03:48candidate. He was the man who had connections to the club, the man who was
03:51available, the man with League One experience. Look at some of the other names,
03:55links, you know, they have a big, with Richie Wellings, a big fee would have been
04:00involved to get him out of Orient. You had, obviously, Matt Bloomfield's name was
04:04there. He'd only just been sacked. You do want someone who's straight out of a job,
04:08straight into another one. And then Liam Richardson's name was doing the rounds as
04:11well. You know, he's been out of the game for quite a while. So Everett sort of had
04:16the right balance of everything. So it was surprising that, you know, while he was
04:20there for taking, they didn't do it a week ago. I know maybe they might have been
04:24thinking about his style of play, whether or not they want to rip up what they've done
04:28in the last 12 months. If he did choose to go down the wing-back route, they might
04:32have also wanted to give him Stephen Dobby an audition. Now, albeit I'd make the
04:35argument it was an unfair audition for Stephen Dobby, considering, you know, the
04:40confidence being low, the lack of players he had to choose. You know, it weren't
04:43really, you know, an audition where he was set up to succeed. It was more, you know,
04:48he would have been done very well if he hadn't gone out with two league games and
04:51played fantastic football and won 2-0 both times. So they might have been the
04:56factors behind why it took a bit of time and maybe just because they were so
04:59conscious, they had to sort of look down every avenue, make sure they were getting
05:02it right, make sure they weren't like someone else who fit the bill better. So,
05:06yeah, they've taken the time and hopefully on this occasion, you know, they've come to a
05:11right conclusion because they took the time with Steve Bruce and 13 months on, it
05:15wasn't the right decision.
05:16Yeah, yeah. I'm going to ask you about Stephen Dobby in a second, like, but what can
05:20you tell me about Everett's backroom staff? What's he, what's he done there?
05:25Yeah, Stephen Craney, another one who knows the club, you know, all the backroom
05:29staff with obviously the existing members of Dobby and Banks, you know, have played for
05:33the club. So he's someone that will sort of understand the fan base. He was there for a
05:37long time. He enjoyed success as well. He's obviously worked for Fleetwood. He's worked for Wigan.
05:41He was with Everett at Bolton. So, yeah, he's been around, you know, he's coached different
05:46places. He's probably just, you know, a safe pair of hands for Everett. He's someone who
05:50he knows and can sort of bounce off in terms of ideas. And once again, I don't think the
05:55appointment should be made based on purely knowing the club and being at the club before.
06:00Yeah, it's sort of that thing again. He's familiar. He knows the expectations.
06:06Yeah. In terms of Dobby, one, do you feel a wee bit for him that he, he didn't get the
06:11job full time? And how important was it that he remained within the, within the club to
06:17have his influence on everything on the playing side at Seasiders?
06:23Yes and no, whether I feel so. I mean, whether or not, it would have been too soon, too tough
06:26a situation for any new manager to step into. You know, I think that might have been the
06:30biggest consideration, you know, whether or not it was Dobby or someone else who was coming
06:34out of the academy or whatnot. Is it a situation where you take a gamble and it's probably not,
06:39you don't want to risk going down to the league too, just based on like that, taking that risk.
06:44But you do feel so for him in the way that, you know, he's been there a while, he's earned
06:47his stripes, he's worked his way up through the club. And, you know, he's probably someone
06:51who will want to be a manager at some point. But like I say, the audition, you know, it
06:57was pretty much an unfair one based on what the limited resources he had. You know, his
07:02hands were tied behind his back. I know people maybe weren't impressed with performances,
07:06but that weren't particularly his fault. He was just trying to keep things ticking over,
07:10try and get results. And, you know, as an interim coach, you can't grip up everything
07:15immediately and change the world in a week. But I'm pleased that he stayed, you know, he's
07:20someone, once again, like, you know, he's not only does he know the club as a player, but
07:24more importantly, he does know the club as a coach. He's worked under Steve Bruce, he's
07:27worked in the youth department. He's always been that nice bridge between the development
07:30squad as it was the under-18s now and the first team. So, yeah, it's good that he's
07:36stayed on and he's someone that always comes across very well when you speak to him as
07:39well. So, yeah, happy for him.
07:41Okay. I suppose the pressure is on, Evatt, to hit the ground running. Blackpool, bottom
07:46of the league, two wins from 13 league games so far. Last victory was back in, what, September
07:53the 20th against Barnsley. There's a lot riding on this appointment and he needs to, he
07:58does, he needs to have the ground running, doesn't he? Yes and no. I'd say if, you know,
08:04this month is about slow progress, you need to, you can't let the hole get any bigger.
08:08The four points off Satan at the moment. Yes, we're only in October, but you can't let that
08:13hole get bigger and find yourself battling because, you know, you've seen it multiple
08:17divisions over a number of years. No one's too good to go down. Even though Blackpool's
08:21got a very good squad when fully fit, you know, they can't find themselves fighting in
08:25the second half of the season. So, yeah, the pressure is on in terms of that. He
08:30does need to sort of get some results. But equally, I think, you know, you need a bit
08:33of patience. He's a new manager coming into a hard situation. As long as you can see
08:37sort of steps of progress, you know, they are sort of more competitive than what
08:41they have been. I'm sure over the next month, you know, that patience will be there
08:44to think, yeah, they're going in the right direction. You don't expect him to come in
08:48and maybe win his first six games or whatnot. You know, if it is hit and miss, then it is
08:52hit and miss. I think as long as, like, they've got that patience now and they're sort of just
08:56letting crack on and, you know, they do sort of climb slowly out of that hole, then that
09:01is the job he needs to do. And then hopefully, you know, it can be a springboard. Finish
09:06this season strongly and then you can have a springboard into next year because Blackpool's
09:10expectations, no matter how bad the start is, is still to be battling at the top end of
09:13the table. This club still wants to be in the championship and that's, you know, the
09:17biggest disappointment about Steve Bruce's reign. They're back to him in the summer
09:20and it's just not happened so far.
09:22Okay. And finally, for me then, how's the appointment went down with the Bloomfield
09:27Road faithful?
09:28Yeah, I think everyone, because, you know, he has got goodwill in the bank from his
09:32playing days. You know, everyone's saying, give him time, they'll get behind it. Some
09:36are more excited than others. I think some maybe, I don't know, maybe in some ways would
09:40have liked the new fresh face. Maybe might be a bit concerned that he's previously played
09:44winged backs. But on the whole, you know, everyone knows who he inevitably is. Everyone
09:48knows how much he cares about the club. So I think, yeah, it's got, I think it would have
09:53been more of a shock if he hadn't got it and someone unknown had got it and it would have
09:58been maybe more negative towards that person saying, why didn't we go forever? I think it's
10:04a decision the club had to make. And when you've got a club legend there with a decent manager
10:08of your records, you've got to take it while he's available when no one else is sort of screaming
10:12out at you. And yeah, we keep mentioning this wing back. Who knows? He's had, you know,
10:17nine months out of the game. He may have come up with a completely new philosophy. He might
10:20be seeing things completely different than what he did. He's not always been a wing
10:23back coach. He did try other things, you know, with Barrow and yeah. So I don't think
10:28we should get hung up on that because like I say, whoever would have got the job, have
10:31their hands incredibly tied because hardly anyone's fit. I think up to eight players could
10:36be out a Saturday. So yeah, I think it's just going to be a play, play however you can
10:41for now. Good stuff, Amos. Thank you so much for your insight there. We'll all be looking
10:47on eagerly, especially with Blackpool next in action against Peterborough on Saturday,
10:52Ian Evans' first game in charge. Thank you again for your help, Amos, and thank you all
10:56for watching. We'll be back again soon. Goodbye.
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