 Welcome to Toffy TV. Everton have a new director of football. Kevin Felwell will be arriving from New York Red Bulls. So we're going to have a little chat about him. Baz, what do you know about Kevin Felwell? What I know is he starts officially today at the day of recording. Wednesday is his first day in the building at Everton Football Club so this hasn't got until Wednesday. This is the first day. Let's get the slides up because it'll explain everything and then we can have a chat deeper. So Kevin Felwell, 48 years of age, position director of football. Previous clubs Preston, Derby County, Wolves, New York Red Bulls. 1998-25 became one of the youngest coaches to obtain the FA and UEFA licence, the top licence. Also in 1980 he got an appointment with the Welsh FA as a football development officer concentrated on Denvershire but that's where he started. And then in 2002 he was appointed the director of education, coach education. So obviously coaching given the coaches their levels of what they have to do and everything to improve the quality. In 2005 he was appointed director of youth at Preston North End and then in 2006 became the youngest academy boss in the country when Derby County appointed him. Combined academy duties with FA team coaching. It was actually Billy Davis who had them at Preston and then went to Derby and he was part of the team and got promoted in 2007. And then next net, 2008 became academy manager at Wolverhampton Wanderers. It stayed there for 12 years but in 2017 he became the sporting director of Wolves and held that position for three years, well just over three years actually. And then in 2020 he was appointed the head of sport at New York Red Bulls and then obviously last week became Evans director of football. It was a potted history of Kevin Thelwell. He was a player, didn't make it as a pro but was a semi pro and then went into coaching very early and took that route. I think the thing I like about disappointment is the variation that he's had in his roles. He's been a coach, he's been a 13 coach, academy director, he knows all about the academy and how it should work. And then obviously being sporting director, part of Wolves team have got promotion after sporting director. Obviously we're closely with Mendes and people like that. And then went off to the Red Bulls group which is a huge, it's a huge group, sporting group and has had obviously two years experience there. I was reading some stuff on them last week about his time in New York Red Bulls. He went to the playoffs in MLS last year. To be fair he did a lot of years get to the playoffs but he had the youngest roster in MLS and a lot of that he looked at him. He's put structures in place, he's put something in place now which was a vision and a five year plan for them to go through to put them in a stronger position when that comes up. And he's had lots of plaudits from his time at Red Bulls. So I think it's a good appointment for Everton. Obviously Steve Hitchens, the other one who was mentioned and he was like head of recruitment at Spare's but it was very much that kind of it. And while that is important I don't give it a need, a bit more of a structural person. Dan Ashworth was someone who we would haven't looked at but obviously he'd already agreed to go to Newcastle. And he's got a similar background to what Kevin Thelwell has. He's just got the England bit in between which is obviously important as well. And Ashworth has gone to Brighton and put things in place and they work better as a club. So for me he was the better choice out of both of them. Yeah it's obviously an interesting appointment as you said because he has come through the ranks, worked obviously starting at the Welsh FA. And I know that's quite high regarded now with Welsh FA in terms of people getting their coaching badges. See a lot of top internationals going in, getting their coaching badges going through their system. And obviously it's gone through the levels, worked at a club like Wolves as it came back into the Premier League and obviously become the director of football. And then as you mentioned working with a club like Red Bulls in New York and how they work. And obviously they have a system for their clubs obviously in Austria and Germany and the way they work. There's a lot of different kinds of experiences in there that all fall into what he's been doing. And the fact that also now he's worked at the Premier League club, he's worked with an international FA, he's worked with an international club. It's all good experience for what we want. And as you mentioned Hitchens was a little bit more sort of, seemed only one sort of kind of idea of what he was doing. Where he looks like he's got all the ideas and all the different things we want. But putting practises in place that we need as a club that hopefully he's allowed to do as well. I mean that's another important thing. Marcel Brands I don't think had quite enough control because of the factors of coming from the owner and stuff. So I'm just hoping this fella's allowed to just get on with his job quietly without any fuss. No I mean that's a really good point. I think part of the discussions, he was in such a good position at Red Bulls and had that control and was putting those practises in place. So part of those discussions I imagine will have been well I'm what's control do I actually get and can I actually shape this. I mean a good job here that's sorted for the next five years because we've got a vision of following. And I think to get someone out of there. I mean when Brands come in, we'd had a bit of Steve Walsh was a scout in a faith team coach really. He was given the task of doing a job that he wasn't qualified for. And I don't know, he'd have been great with Marcel Brands probably because he knew a player as well. And Brands never really seemed like you say never seemed to get a grasp of it all for whatever reason. I think there was quite clearly there was interference from the owner. But also I'm not quite convinced that he got a grasp on what was required for the Premier League. You know buying technical footballers is great but do you make it in this league? You know that's why I think we've been left with certain aspects of the squad that we should not have been left with and things like that. Where Kevin fell well, there's obviously had the Wolves stuff, he's had Darby, now he knows what these leagues are like. But like I said before I do like the other side of it where Red Bulls is a group, it's a franchise, it's successful in Germany, it's successful in Austria. You know they've got obviously New York where he was, I think they've got another club out of Brazil. Brazil isn't it yet where that's just going. Again another thing, academy, going in at the academy manager. He's setting that up doing really well with Wolves. Wolves have got a very strong academy down to this fella and then taking it over and building on it when he was the sporting director. And that's something that we've all been on, Evans Academy. It's not that it's terrible because when you're actually loving it some players do get through and things like that but just pathways and making that stronger environment. I don't think it's terrible, I think what it's done in the last few years has tried to put success ahead of development and then keep older players too long. So the pathway was non-existent by the time they got to 21-22 and we've obviously seen players who are much older still hanging about because the club is almost trying to keep an asset, trying to get them out of the asset that they've put in. I think for this fella, I think it's what for me, what I want to see is a guy who comes in and just puts a structure in place for the clubs or that the club. You'll have good players, you'll have bad players inside in the youth team. Not everyone makes it, that doesn't always come down to coaching or structures or anything but you've got to give everyone the best possible chance to get through. And we've had players that maybe haven't been good enough but then we don't make any money on them because we keep holding them too long or they don't get the right loan opportunity at the right time. All these things need to be put in place of course but just in the club in general I think what we've seen is a very disorganised football club I think. For me I look at sort of a transfer deadline date of what happens when you haven't got the good structures in place. We bring a new manager in and he goes and gets a couple of players but we don't truly get what we actually need because we don't have a director in place in my eyes that understands what we've got at the club already. He's not going to know everybody at that time so I think that's where your director of football is needed in those situations and that was a complete one off. But it's about knowing, it's about a manager saying to a director of football I need this player and him saying well you know what we've got one of those players coming through and how long can we get through for, how long do we need. You know broswd and there's another kid somewhere else or there's another place somewhere else and it's balancing. It's having all that information isn't it? Well what about, no it is, there absolutely is a spot on there but what about do you think it makes any difference that either in the kind of like the same age you had a bracket like Lampas 43, 48 or English and I know where definitely not. Like it's got to be English for everything I've made. I just want the best but maybe that might work a little bit where they tap into each other's thing. I think what's interesting is that both the manager and the director of football are both quite early in their careers. They're trying to build something, they're trying to go forward. They're going to have the same outlook I imagine on football because they've come from the same generation. I think that's important and the other side of this is this, if you're going to look at the pair of them, Frank Lampard there's a huge name. The director of football isn't looking down on Frank Lampard. I think that's sort of, in previous times there's never quite understood what the hierarchy is. There's been just little things, back for Benita's and obviously brands were on the same page. But I think with someone like Frank Lampard obviously him, he's in charge and this guy's coming in. He's not a massive name. It's not going to be a clash of personalities. You look at what Liverpool have had with Klopp and Michael Edwards, Michael Edwards stays very much in the background. But he's running the show, but obviously Jagan Klopp is the overall person. I think it's similar to that. I think if you get people who complement each other, that's massively important. It's interesting that the talk is Tim Kale had a big influence on this. He's got links with New York Red Bulls. He's been mentioning all this, being a part of that and he had a part in bringing in Frank Lampard. I find that interesting that him coming in is almost like an outside person. Of course there's talk of him getting a job at Evans as well, but him being that outside person who can see the aspects of both those people and him being part of that generation as well. Being the same age, understanding where football is going, understanding. I like the fact that this guy was a coach. Tim Kale has got coaching badges and is now working on it from the Welsh side. Exactly. So it's interesting that you've got three men there who are all part of the same footballing generation, all in their early 40s, have all got similar outlooks, obviously different careers. If Tim Kale can sort of see the traits what he thinks that Evans needs, I think that helps as well. Everything of course is in proof of always being the pudding. I like the fact that, again I've mentioned this a lot of times, I'd love to see Tim Kale involved in Evans because I think he understands and I think he's got the right business agreement but also the footballing. If Farad Meshiri can have less to do with all of this and he's got good people in place that he trusts and then people almost buff it and buff it in front of them as well, then I think that's all really important. This guy can hopefully just get on with his job. You mentioned Dan Ashworth there, he was quietly allowed to just get on with the job at Brighton to create a structure within the football club where it's not about him running the club, it's about him organising the club. He had a director of football under him at New York Red Bulls as well. So he was head of sport, the footballing, all of that, but the other aspect as well, where he had someone who we would look at as a director of football, as a sporting director, reporting directly to him as well. I like again as well because he's been the sporting director, he's been the head of it, he's been the coach, he's been a first team coach, he's been an academy coach. He's done it all, you know, and I think that, and he's only 40, 80, he's got 25 years of experience, he's 40, 80 years of age, I think that's incredible. If we can then, and that's where the kale thing I think is really interesting because it wouldn't surprise me if once Qatar's there, kale comes in and is under him as a sport, maybe a sporting director or something, where he's dipping his hand in and doing the business side and maybe doing a bit of the, and becomes, like you said, becomes that buffer to whoever it's far out my sherry or whoever it is. He becomes that but does a bit and he's the face because I don't know whether where kale will get him here, he might do, get him here full time. Like every day I don't know what he's to sell and electric cars to produce, but maybe he will when he's done all of that and really get hands on him with Evan because it wouldn't surprise me if in the future he becomes Evan and that sport. That's true though, he's with Qatar at the moment and I think, you know, they've got the well cup coming and it's going to be huge, but I think once that well cup's done I think even the stadiums are leaving. He's building, he's building, that's what I'm saying, he's building, but he's not just building, he's building towards something, he's building towards a huge thing which is a huge well cup and I mean it's not, that's not his job. Of course he's working for a spire and he's working, but he knows that for this year all eyes are going to be on that and there's a lot of, you know, there's a lot of work going to that and you know, and I do think once that's done the beginning of 2023 I could see him coming back to Evan and getting a role which may start as just part-time, but it might be full-time because it just depends. I mean at the moment he might be sort of working, not part-time for Evan, but he's obviously got a role to play, he can call upon him as a consultant and I can just, I can see him being part of something once he gets back and he's not got the experience, he's just mentioned it, he's got 25-year experience, Cale's not going to come in to our football club and go, well I know more than you because he simply doesn't. So hopefully he does come into the football club, hopefully he lanes underneath this guy, but hopefully you get that thing of like, it's not just one big fella at the top, no, you do need people underneath for different ideas. And he understands the football club and he understands the fan base and he's a winner, he's at a fight for everything, he's had us and he come over and the odds were against him when he made it and the odds were against him when he made it in the Premier League and four well cups and all that, he's got all that wealth of, like on the playing side he's got that wealth of knowledge. Now he's having the business side of it as well, it's brilliant, but hopefully like Delwell can come in and get some good people in place, build that recruitment team, because there's a lot left, didn't he? And get everything in place to structure what do we need, what does Frank Lampard need? I'm quite sure that'll be the first thing he goes and really does. He'll be like, what's happening where are we up to? Build that relationship with Lampard and the other coaching staff and start doing that and working towards it and have a look at the academy and what can we do better there. I'm surprised if you've got a loans manager, a good loans manager. Funnily enough reading about Matt Jackson, who's loan manager this morning and the job he has to do and that kind of thing and they need all of that structures in place. Because if we get the structure right off the pitch and we get those relationships going through, if you've got this director of football that's working well with Frank Lampard and with the coaching and we've seen the fans are behind Lampard and then the fans start looking and going, this fella's actually really good, he's qualified, he's just, you know, things are moving forward. All of a sudden you're starting to, we say lots of them, so we quiet in the noise. If everything can just stay up, which I think they will do what they need to do, but just do that. I think we get to the summary in a hell of a strong, much, much, much stronger position. More organised. Organised than we were 12 months ago, even, and we get there with a likable manager and likable staff where we can all get behind it. Because Saturday, you know, everyone's made up because Lampard's lambasted the FA and the Premier League and referees. Ashley Cole's come on and had to go with them. And people are like, they're like my manager and my coach and all that. The crowd, the day together. You can already feel there's like a togetherness with the manager and with the fans. Not so much the players, but you know, it's there sometimes. If this fella can come in and be allowed, what you should be able to keep, be allowed to just do his job and be able to put these structures in it and then the people start getting, Farad's got to go through four people to get to the person you need them to. All of a sudden, the club can actually go. We've got a new stadium on the go. We've got a new director of football. He's got his staff rather than it's working well. We've got a bright young manager with some really good coaching staff. We've got some good players. We need other ones not very good and we need to swap that over a bit. And we've got some good kids coming through as well. And I'm a fan base. That's the editor of Pop, a fan base that is staffed and it's just like, give us something to believe in. The club can pop to a certain area. We might not get... We're in the right direction. We can all get enthused by it all again. I think, like I said, out of the people mentioned, if you're not getting down that way, and you're not getting Michael Edwards who's done well at Liverpool, for me that names that were mentioned and him being in there especially with Steve Hitchens and stuff, I think we've made the right choice. And to be honest, I was a little bit pleasantly surprised. I was saying to you the other week, he's the one I want, but Steve Hitchens now you're thinking, OK, you know, Michelle, he will be seduced by this fellow who's being at Spares. So the fact, and it might be the fact that they've lent on Kale and they've lent on someone else and Kale might have said, well, I've got loads of contacts at Red Bulls. I'll find out what he's like there. And all of that's come back and you see Bill Kenneight saying, you know, the glowing report from him and we may have to make sure he was experienced, you know. It feels like they've made the right decision but like you said before, obviously, it'll be clear. Yeah, we'll see what happens. It's just a case of having them in, getting them up, getting the club organised over the next few months, heading into the summer and we'll see what happens. Do you feel like it's... Do you feel like where we were in December when it would be where all that rock bottom and the derby and the brand stuff and all of that? Do you feel like things have moved forward a bit? I feel like, yeah, I think it's fresher. I think it's the, as I said, that generation of people is a lot, is younger and it is that sort of when you look around the Premier League now and you're seeing less of the older manager and you're seeing more of the younger, energetic people who put 24-7 into the job. That's all going to help. And as I said, I think it's important as well you have people in there who don't get swayed by or can say no to the man in charge. I think that's so important. And also, I can imagine this fella will have so many good ideas and understand what modern football is all about and understand where things are heading rather than where things have been and I think for me that was... I look at people like Bill Kenmite, I just think you have got, for me, no real concept of where the game is going. You know where it's been and you've been part of it. I'm fair enough and you've got a lot of contact and all that. But for me, it's about these fellas understanding where the game is going and I think there's so many new parts of football now which are growing all the time and are getting bigger and bigger and after being included in all this and data and science and all the rest of it and someone who's been part of that journey, someone like him, but still relatively young, I think that's really important and if someone like Kyle can come in and lay off him and I think that's big and Frankelham part being part of it as well. I think for me it's a lot fresher. It's a lot fresher and it's someone from the outside as well not someone who's bogged down by the club or anything within the club. It's fresh eyes, somebody can go into the club and look at what's happening in the academy and be like maybe it's time you moved on or you moved on or you moved on because I think this needs a new fresh outlook. So interesting times obviously everything I've got to get things right on the pitch immediately but in the long term hopefully this is going to help massively. There you go. Let us know your thoughts in the comments. If anyone out there was a fan of Walls or a fan of New York Red Bulls and has seen what this guy has put into practice let us know your thoughts in the comments. Please do, we'd love to hear from you. Don't forget, give this video a like, subscribe if you haven't already. If you want more great videos, join us over on Patreon. The link is in the description and it's on the screen right now. See you later.