- 3 months ago
Ian Evatt spoke to the press for the first time following his appointment as Blackpool's new head coach on a deal until June 2028.
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00:00So how does it feel, obviously waking up in the morning thinking I'm Blackpool head coach and being back in the stadium and being back at Squires Gate?
00:06Yeah, I mean, it's taken some time to bed in. I think I've always felt some kind of destiny towards me having this role.
00:19Look, I take no pride in what's been happening so far this season and I don't ever like to see coaches or managers or staff lose their jobs.
00:33And as I said, there has to be ownership across the board for that. It's not just down to the staff.
00:37I have a huge amount of respect for Steve. I think he's an incredible man and an incredible manager that's had a fantastic career.
00:44But the players, as I said, have some responsibility towards that and we have to make them understand that being where we are right now isn't acceptable.
00:54And it's my job and opportunity to turn this around and give them the confidence they need to start improving performances and in turn improving results.
01:03Yeah, I've got to be bluntly honest. There's no hiding away from the fact the club is bottom and that performances have been below what they should be.
01:10No, and look, I've shared with them my feelings on the season so far. I've shared with them some data to back up what I was saying.
01:19And as I said, they have to take some ownership of that. But that isn't, you know, to knock them down or beat them with a stick.
01:27It's to make them understand that from now we have an opportunity to change things and make sure that this gets better pretty quickly.
01:36And what I've seen on the training pitch, they're really engaged. They've really enjoyed it. I think they've understood where I'm coming from.
01:44I think if you speak to any player that I've worked with in the past, I've always managed to build a really strong connection with them.
01:54I've really had that respect and that honesty. And I think honesty in football is rare, but when you've got it, it can create really good things.
02:02And the players will get nothing but that from me. But I'll be there for them. I'll support them.
02:07I'll give them everything they need, every tool that's required to help them get the right resort on a Saturday.
02:13I know there's been a lot of change here since you left. Obviously, things look different. The training ground, I'm told, looks completely different.
02:19But is the spirit still the same? Is it still what you remember?
02:23The feeling I get when I'm here is still absolutely the same. There's no denying that.
02:28I think the amount the town and the community and the fan base care about this football club hasn't changed.
02:34Speaking with Simon, obviously Simon's a fan and the amount of love and care that he has for this football club is incredible.
02:42And David's done a brilliant job on building a really good squad and also making the changes that's been required here and at the training ground to give the players the best possible chance to succeed on a Saturday.
02:56Sometimes people don't get to see that. They want to see the players and they want to see performances on the pitch.
03:05But some of the stuff that's been going on behind the scenes is incredible and it's transformational from what I've seen as a player here.
03:14So, as I said, it's our job on a wider aspect, holistically to take excuses off the table for the players.
03:21And certainly now there'll be no excuses if performances don't improve.
03:25Are you big on this place being more than just a football club, being a community hub, obviously, but getting the town behind and being for the people?
03:31Absolutely. I mean, again, I've seen it firsthand. I think the two go hand in hand. I think when the football club succeeds, the town succeeds and thrives and vice versa.
03:43And we both have to have a responsibility for that. It's a two way street. We can't just rely on the fan base to pick us up.
03:50We have to pick them up as well. And once that starts to happen, as I said, I think we can create a really special bond again and make them proud of this team and proud of this football club again.
03:59And that's what I want to do and what I want to achieve.
04:03When you left in 2013, was it on your mind that's a see you later, not a firm goodbye?
04:08Yeah, I felt like it was too early. I felt like I had unfinished business. But in hindsight, that was just my journey.
04:16And as I said, I've always felt like I was going to return at some point. And as a coach, this job's been available a few times and I've been linked with it a few times.
04:26And I've always felt like I was ready. But in hindsight, I wasn't. The coach I am now is much better and completely different to the one I was last year, let alone four or five, six years ago.
04:38So I feel like I'm ready for it now. I feel like I can give it what it deserves. And hopefully we sat here in years to come because I want to be here a long time and create something really special.
04:50And we can say, yeah, that it was my time and it's been a huge success.
04:55Yeah, I've always been backing in mind, I want to end up here as a coach. This would be my dream kind of job.
05:01Yeah, I've got to say like this is one of my life goals that has been achieved. And that's probably why I can't stop smiling.
05:09But yeah, as I said, I didn't want this job on a motion. I wanted it on a meritocracy. I wanted to be the best guy out there for this football club.
05:19And I believe that I am. I believe what I can bring right now can really help. And nothing I've seen so far being in and around the players has changed up that mindset.
05:30I'm excited to see what I can bring alongside the rest of the staff who I think are extremely talented as well.
05:36And yeah, hopefully we'll see improvement really quickly. Yeah, I urge some caution because of the injury list and some patience and calmness.
05:47But I think pretty quickly everyone's going to see what this football club should stand for out on the grass. And that's what's most important to me.
05:55And some people, you know, with your reputation, strong reputation at the club might think as a manager, I don't want to risk that.
06:01But it's your determination to succeed and obviously that ambition to do well here.
06:05Yeah, I mean, obviously that gives me some credit with the fan base because of what's happened before.
06:10But I'm not here to live off the past. I'm here to create new memories.
06:14I want to be remembered as Ian Everett, the head coach, as well as Ian Everett, the player.
06:19And they are two separate entities. I want to do this job justice and prove to everyone just how good I am at this job.
06:27I think I'm good. I think I have a lot to give, a lot to offer.
06:31I think I've had a huge time of reflection and can do things better and I will do things better.
06:37And yeah, just bring a different side to me, to this fan base in this football club than what they've seen before.
06:45I'm excited to do that. And as I said, hopefully we can see some success pretty quickly.
06:50How much, looking back, does obviously Simon Grace and Ian Holloway, the managers who enjoyed success here under,
06:55how much do they sort of influence you long-term and look back to what they were doing?
06:59Yeah, I mean, this is quite topical at the moment because I don't think the game's actually ever changed.
07:06I think the game's the game. Obviously the terminology's changed, but the ideology hasn't changed.
07:13I think just as a player, what you do is you pick up things from different managers that you worked under,
07:21things that you didn't like, things that you did like, and put that together in your mind as to the way that you want to move forward
07:28and the way that you want to work. And that's what I've done. And I have taken things from all of the coaches and managers I've worked under.
07:35Obviously with Ollie, like he's just a different breed. He taught me the importance of culture, environment, mentality,
07:48more than any other coach, you know, separately to the tactical side of it.
07:53But if you can have that and have that togetherness, that magical things can be achieved.
07:59So if we could create that somehow, that togetherness, and I mean, holistically, the fan base, the senior management team,
08:06Simon, the owner, the players, everyone, all the staff, if we can come together, work together and row the same boat, so to speak,
08:15that you can do brilliant things. On top of that, if we can start adding some of the modern ideology,
08:21some of the tactical detail that I believe I can bring to the table, I think we can achieve really good things together.
08:28And that's what I want to see, really. I just want this club to get out of the mire in at the moment and then start to look forwards.
08:35Is culture, obviously it's mentioned a lot in sport now, but how important is that? And is it a hard thing to sort of build quickly?
08:42It is a hard thing. And it's a hard thing in the modern day, in the modern world, because I think it's a societal problem.
08:49I think we've become very selfish in our thought process and mindset. I think it's a lot more me rather than we at the moment.
09:01And we need to flip that and understand our responsibility of what we are to this football club.
09:08We're custodians. We need to make sure that we leave it in a much better place than when we found it.
09:13And as I said, once you get that togetherness, it really is palpable and you can feel it.
09:20And it almost gives you a sense of, you know, being indestructible.
09:26And then if you can add in the other bits, the more technical bits, the world's your oyster really, you'll have takeoff.
09:32And that's my job to sell that to the players, to make them understand the importance of that.
09:37But what I've seen so far, I've got to say that they're a really good bunch.
09:41They're a really nice bunch, but in some ways too nice. I'm happy for them to have that niceness and that human side of them off the pitch.
09:55But on the pitch, I want them to turn into different people. I want them to want to win at all costs.
10:02And if you can do that and create that, then, as I said, we'll see progression really quickly.
10:07Yeah, probably in any other walk of life, you won't want to say, I want a bit of nastiness in our players, I want that bit of, you know, grit.
10:12But that is important when you're out in the field to compete that way.
10:15It's absolutely okay. Provided you do it in the right way. You know, I want us to be competitive.
10:20As I said, I want us to attack with and without the ball. You know, we should be competitive.
10:24We should want to win. We should have that insatiable desire to do well.
10:29But then off the pitch, we want to be human. We want to have empathy.
10:33We want to connect with our fan base. We want to give back.
10:36But yeah, I want to see that nasty side. I want for them to understand that having challenging, honest conversations isn't a negative.
10:46It's where growth happens. You know, it's okay to criticize providing it's for the good of the cause.
10:52There's no point in personal insults. That's not going to get us anywhere.
10:56But if we're just trying to give information to make the team better, then that's what's required.
11:01The difference between feedback and critique is just the way you hear it and interpret it.
11:06And I've got to get them in a place and space where everything that we say to each other, you know, player to player or staff to player is deemed and seen as feedback.
11:16And if we could do that, then we're going to get better and we're going to get better quickly.
11:20I know you said you didn't want the job based on your history, but it might not help in a football sense.
11:25But in terms of culture and the environment yourself, Stephen Craney, obviously Stephen Dobby and Stephen Banks are out here.
11:31People who know the club, that must be a huge, you know, help that you know what it's all about here.
11:36Yeah, I understand what the club is. I understand what that badge means.
11:40I understand what it means to the town. I understand what it means to the community.
11:44And I have to get that across to the players. But I also can't keep talking to the players about the past.
11:50I've got to make sure that they understand what that means and they have a respect for it.
11:56But I also want them to understand what they can create. And I want them to be excited by that.
12:01I want them to be excited by, you know, they're the ones that have been discussed and spoken about 10, 15 years down the line.
12:08They have that chance. They have that opportunity and hopefully they'll take it.
12:12I know at Bolton at the end, you was obviously focused on wing back and that kind of system.
12:16Do you come here with sort of a set ideology of how you want to play or are you more flexible?
12:21Do you come here thinking, at the moment you're playing, do you have to work with what you've got?
12:24Yeah.
12:25Do you have a place where you want to get to this style of play?
12:27Look, I've played every system as a coach. I've played 4-2-3-1. I've played 4-3-3. I've played 3-4-3. I've played 3-5-2.
12:35I think it's really important that we don't get locked down into one system.
12:40You have to be fluid. You have to be innovative, tactically. The game changes all the time.
12:47And in-game you can be in different systems. And I think that's what really I think everyone's focus should be on.
12:54That whatever system we start the game with, it's probably not going to be like that in-game.
12:59We're going to tactically change to try and combat the opposition's plan.
13:04And it's my job and duty as a coach to give the players the solutions to every tactical plan the opposition can have.
13:11Obviously, that's not going to happen day one. But as I said, as we evolve and grow and progress, I think you'll see that fluidity and innovativeness.
13:19I remember, again, going back to the past, I was a centre-back that was overlapping long before the days of Chris Wilder's Sheffield United team.
13:28We had that freedom and licence to just play fearless front foot football and that's what I want us to get to.
13:34Is it head-scratching that this team is bottom of the table, this club is bottom, considering the investment that's gone in, the optimism that's around the place?
13:43I think it's a reality check. I think it just shows you that you can't ever take things for granted in football.
13:51You know, there has been huge investment on and off the pitch at this football club and Simon and David Downs should get a lot of credit for that.
14:02But the players have to take a responsibility that we are where we are and things haven't been going well or going right.
14:08Obviously, somebody's lost a job because of it and that's not nice and that's just the nature of football.
14:14But for me, it should never be down to one individual. It's a collective.
14:18And as I said, as long as we all take ownership of that, try and understand what's been going wrong and correct it moving forwards, then that will do for me.
14:27As I said, I know this football club better than most and I know what's required.
14:32I know what the fans want to see. I know what the owner wants to see. I know what David wants to see.
14:37And it's down to me to create it. I've been recruited to turn this around and I have great confidence that I can do so.
14:44And it's down to me.
14:45So.
14:46So.
14:47So.
14:48So.
14:49So.
14:51So.
14:52So.
14:54So.
14:55So.
14:56So.
14:57So.
14:59So.
15:00So.
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