 Welcome to Toffy TV. Today I am joined by former Everton Defender played over 200 games for the Blues, the Man Mountain, the machine that is Silvan Distan. Silvan, awa ia. I'm really good, thank you. I've got to say you are still looking magnificent. Got to say it. I don't know about my miffison, but I'm trying to keep fit. I enjoy the feeling of being an athlete and even if I retire I try to remain athletic so it's enjoyable. It's still doing, sy'n gifton swimming and baichen and all sorts. I love challenges and I set myself the challenge to do a triathlon last year. The bike was okay, the running as well but then I started swimming. I realised I would be tough so I downgraded to a sprint triathlon so it's a shorter distance for swimming. It's still very challenging, 750m. I did it last year and this year I started to train in January. I started to train for a Olympic distance triathlon which all the distances are double since 1.5km swimming, 40km bike and 10km run. I had to stop because of the facilities. I'm going to try again. I think I'm going to try again. It's going to be a tough one but I'll try again. My options in Everton were one of them and for me again at the time that was the best option. How did you find coming to Everton? You've been captain of Paul Smith and obviously Everton, we just sold Jolyon Lescott and obviously we brought you in. What was that like coming into Everton? Was it easy to settle? What added you find in the club? Now it was really easy to be fair. I didn't have time to think. I signed on Wednesday, went back down south, packed my stuff, came back on the Thursday. Now on the Friday, came back on the Friday, the lads came back and played on the Thursday in Europa League. I came back on the Friday, trained on my own Saturday, trained with the lads and played on Sunday. You don't have time to think about anything. You have to be ready to play. I think that helped me to settle as well. Plus it was an amazing dressing room. It was so easy to settle. It was a group of lads who've been at the club for so long and anyone around. Everything was clear, everything was sorted. You know what you had to do. The manager was clear on everything. Great mentality, a lot of fun in the dressing room. I knew the area already. It was very easy. I never felt like I didn't even feel like I needed a couple of weeks or a couple of days to settle. You feel like you're in and that's it. You play it and here we go, roll on. You made it debut against Wigan and Leighton Bains got us the win in about the 94th minute, remember with the penalty? I think it was Wigan, yeah. That was the first game. A few weeks later you scored your first goal for us in the Europa League against Athens. We started a good moment for you. To be honest, Sylvan, the size, I always thought you should score more off corners. I know, I know. It's weird. It's like I have a defensive mindset and defensively I'm at the end of every ball. I just could not do something that's possibly like I always said I don't have any regret in football and that's possibly one of the regrets. It's just like I had that feeling and that anticipation in terms of defensive placement and where the ball would go. But offensively it was completely different for me and I do regret that but that's just the way it is. What was it that you still remember your first goal against Athens? No, I remember. You're not especially like a guy like me who don't score many goals when you score. It's special. You always plan what you're going to do and you forget everything. You just lose your head, you scream, you run around and you're like oh shit. I'm supposed to do this and I didn't do it. So it's always a great feeling. It's always an amazing feeling. And as well I just arrived at the club so that helped me a lot. Your first Premier League always at Amfield? Had that at the annual road end? Yeah, yeah, yeah. There's not many that I remember but I definitely remember this one. It was a great goal at Amfield. I think it's weird because I'm not scous. I'm not neither into like kissing the badgers or whatever. I've never done that. That's not me. That doesn't mean I've got no passion for the club at all. It's just not me. But at Everton we had some lads. We've been there forever. So you have, you buzz into that Everton Liverpool feeling right from the beginning. So that meant a lot to me. That did mean a lot to me and I enjoyed the moment, I have to say. I actually had the second goal of being to the loud. I still don't know why now but that's the way it is. That's the way it is. It's football again. It's just typical Everton. It's what it is. I look at times but that was a great performance. And the day that I actually thought we were going to go on and win, we played really well that day and went behind in me and turned it round after half-time. That was one of the rare occasions lately that I thought we had gone on at Amfield and win it. But it wasn't to be but what a goal. What a goal. The semi-final at Wembley. Obviously that season. It was strange because we'd come into a brilliant bit of form after Christmas and we were on a great runway and then David Moyes took a lot of stick because we probably moamed his fans. Daddy gave the Amfield Darby up a few years before the Sunderland game in the FA Cup. We went with a much-shamed team and got people. We get to Wembley and we played quite well. We were all over them really, made me in the first half and then obviously second half the back pass and we go on and lose the game but was that a tough one to get over for you? That's the most difficult moment of my career but at the same time I've learned so much from it about myself, about my teammates, about fans, about football, about how things can turn. I had a really great season. We had a really good season and it's possibly a game where when we started the game we really felt like we've got this. That was really the feeling. We've got this, we can win that game. We see that goal change the momentum of the game. We were on top of this. It's not like for sure we'll win the game but we were on top of the game. The feeling we had as a player on the pitch at the time was like we've got it. We're on top of them. We're doing the right stuff and that goal from Suarez, that pass completely changed the momentum of the game and that was difficult as well. Mentally I think that's a big slap behind the head as well for the players. So it was difficult to come back and I regret now that I didn't at the time just said somewhere that half-time. Guys, I've done the mistake. Don't let this take us down. It's one-all. It's the same as if we started the game now. I regret it but it was impossible for me to do it because I was just down. I was just really down. I had my family over. It's a semi-final. It's against Liverpool. If you have to choose one game in my career, not to make that mistake, you will be this one. It was a really tough time. I bet in your mind you've smashed it into the stand about four million times, haven't you rather than saying it round? You ask yourself why, what happened, why would you do this. Football is made a mistake and you have to accept it. We often feel like this mistake is bigger than another. It's not, it's a mistake. This football is made a mistake and the best players in the world made a mistake. It just happened at a really, really wrong time. It changed the momentum of the game. It did but also we kind of levelled it out again. It was just one of those things, wasn't it? You went over and apologised after the game which I personally didn't think you needed to do but you did do it and on social media as well. Was that just something you felt you had to do like that would help you with almost like for yourself for me? Not really for anybody else but also for yourself? No, I just felt like at the time I just felt it was normal. It was completely normal for me to do that. I would make a mistake, I would not hide from it at all. When things go well, you take the praise and if things go bad, you take the criticism, you have to. So at the time I felt like that's what I have to do and I did it and I'm completely fine with it. And then I apologised again on social media and then I had to move on because football was, you know, keep going, we had games coming and I had to move on and when something like that happened, you either just like go in your shell and disappear or you try to grow from it and that's what I tried to do and it's difficult because that's so many messages of support but the few messages of like, not criticism but like, abuse that you get after one that touched you. You can have 100 messages of people telling you like, listen mate, we know it's a genuine mistake, it's a shame but keep going and then you've done great for us. You read it and yeah, it's not touching you as much as someone who said like you're absolutely rubbish. That went far, that went really far, had some horrible messages, had some really horrible messages. But to be honest with you, now at the time I didn't feel like it but now I realise I had way more support than I had abused but the abuse just touched you way more. But it's the reaction of my team mate as well that helped me a lot. They see me working every day, the fans is great and it's amazing and we love the fans but the ones who see you know who you are and know how much it affects you are not the fans. They see the mistake and they don't see how you react. It's the players and they know me and they so are reacted and to have the players behind me. For me that was amazing because I'm not going to lie, there is a point where you're on the train on the way back home just to walk on the train when you've got all the stuff, the family and everything. You don't know where to look, it was horrendous. Honestly it was absolutely horrendous. Two hours of journey fell like 24 hours and everything is going through your head. One of the things that went through my head was like I can't play anymore. I can't, I can't. I have to stop. I can't play anymore like after what you've done and everything I can't. Then you've got then that just come out of your mind what are you talking about? Just look how your guys around you trust you, look the support you've got from your family, look your support you've got from most of the fans. I'm going to let like a small minority loud but a small minority affect you, your career and what you do. You know it wasn't a genuine mistake. I never meant to do that. It just happened. So from that point on I thought well, there you go I move on. I'm going to carry on doing exactly what I've been doing. I'm actually going to work harder and I'm going to give my best no matter what every game. I think you just made an incredibly powerful point there about abuse online. People tend to look at footballers and I've probably done exactly the same Sylvan when I was younger. You look at footballers as almost inhuman. We look at you as a commodity. We look at you as a robot. So therefore every time we walk through the turnstiles and sit down on a Saturday we expect you to be 100% perfect every single time human beings. But even away from that people give players abuse online something I don't personally understand. If you're discussing a player with your mate online and you go he was crap today that's one thing. But when people at the players if I want to talk about Sylvan Distan making a mistake and then I put at Sylvan Distan was rubbish today so you see it. People don't understand that. You're absolutely right. You can get a thousand messages telling you you're great but those two that tell you you're rubbish or you've done this or I'm doing this to you they affect you well more than the praise and it shouldn't be like that because you're right when you step away you go well hang on. 99% of the messages I receive are positive the 1% of the ones that stick in your throat on the or in your mind and you're absolutely that. I just know you made that point brilliantly there. Were you surprised when Moise left? Was there any indication a few months before he was going to go and now he hadn't signed the contract and there was always a little bit of speculation generally around Tottenham with David Moise even though he said he was never tempted. Was there anything with the players with a few months ago thinking the gaffer might actually go now? No, not at all. It's only when you start the speculation came with United that you know other player but that's something that will be difficult to refuse to go to one of the top four club at the time. So as a manager as well and you know the opportunity might not come twice so you know there's a big chance that a manager will be tempted but we had no indication. I was disappointed but again I can't hold it against him. He was a great opportunity and he took it. Beto coming that summer I've said before he wouldn't have been my choice at that time but he came in and we started that season it was excellent wasn't it? We played some fantastic football we finished with 72 points which was our record and Stephen Pienab saying the other day that the first season Martinis basically just kind of kept everything like it was and just tweaked attacking play. Is that how you saw it as a defender? Yeah that and as well the fact that as I said we are so drilled with Moise and we've been there for so long that he could have been healed for two weeks not be there and he would have still know who plays, how to plays and do the same because he was just everything was drilled. So I think it's like mentally you know what you have to do and even if he's a new manager some of Moise attributes and work ethic and everything was still there and possibly as well Martinis I've been wired enough the first season not to arrive and just like raise everything and start from scratch. So he's just quick few stuff he was a completely different mentality I ended up doing like 100 passes a game which for me I've always felt like I'm a defender I love to defend I take pride in defend I've got no problem passing with the ball so it was a different way of thinking a different you put as a defender as a centre back some time we were to be able to play from the back you put yourself in a position where that you don't feel comfortable at all because if we lose the ball I can't defend I can't do nothing there so I didn't feel comfortable but it's the manager you ask you to do it but I went really well because of that for me yeah Martinis didn't try and change too much too soon and as well we hold that that's David Moise mentality in us and and I think the mix of the two the first season was absolutely amazing I have to say that that felt really good everybody was a bit concerned because we knew what type of manager Martinis was but that went really well until the second season where it's a bit more him you've got a bit of your Moise mentality that fade away and now it's all on Martinis because we had obviously Romelu Lukaku coming after that first season was brilliant and Gareth Barry was fantastic and James McCarthy coming was excellent so we changed it a little bit there was some freshness there what happened in the second season then Stephen P and I were again just to keep quoting him because he was talking the other day he just said the second season he quoted it as the wheels came off he said Martinis started doing his own thing asking different things of the players as a fan I'll tell you how I saw it the pre-season from afar wasn't great when I looked at it it didn't seem to be great we were playing games at Tram here it wasn't great and then obviously Leicester we had Leicester first day and we let them score late on the week later we dominated Arsenal and gave them two goals in the last three minutes and then obviously Chelsea coming gave us a spanking in that 6-3 and then all of a sudden I think Swansea way in the cup we got B3 in England and we didn't see it again and that to me was what happened I'm glad it happened to me at this stage of my career I was 36 or something like that at the time so I was able to cope with it and deal with it but at the same time I had enough experience to feel it coming when you go from playing every single game even I broke my ribs and everything and they still ask you to play you feel like no matter what even if I've got one leg short they're still going to ask me to play which I don't mind I love it and I will always do that to like that pre-season and I just spoke about it I'm 36, I haven't played a full game yet and now it's fine, don't worry your stats are good my stats might be good on the computer but I'm 36, I know myself I know my body, I know how I feel I need a couple of full games before starting the season now I know it's fine that was a few signs that right away I felt like there's something wrong there that doesn't make sense and without getting into detail it's pretty clear, it just didn't want to play me anymore and I went from playing every game to not even being on the bench or not even being on the squad and that's the way it is the why, I never really spoke to him about it I think I had two discussions with him this season and that's it that's about it, it's not much to say I did my best, I trained hard you can ask any of the staff apart from him maybe but any of the lads I was working my ass off I was training hard, you can't even say he didn't train hard, that's why I didn't play him I was training really hard, I was doing a lot of extra asked to play he was Stubbs no, he wasn't Stubbs, he was Enzy, the manager of the under 21 at the time and asked me if he was okay for me to play because you can train and do as much training as you want a game is a game I want to keep playing next season I knew already that he would not be here I'm not stupid even if nobody is asking to me you can feel it but I want you to carry on playing so I asked him if he was okay for me to play with the under 21 which at 36 years old is a bit weird but I said yeah, listen he's a great guy, you helped me a lot as well we talk a lot so I said I'm not going to play every game because I don't want to take the place I feel a bit guilty for taking the place of one of the kids but at the same time I need to think about myself and keep fit but I didn't ask anyone the authorization apart from the manager of the under 21 obviously and after I think you must have played three or four games I've been told that I wasn't allowed to do that anymore and then you just like now you clearly try to make it personal all that without talking I'm not the type of player who's going to go and knock at the door and say what's going on that's just not me I'll just keep myself low if you want to play me great if you don't want to play me then just never mind and I know I tried to play it as if I was disappointed because the stones took my place you can speak to stones the way I think even the season before I got to I think I was suspended or injured or whatever you can ask Duffy any of the young players who come and play every time I told them I'm too old I should not be playing the only things you have to do is keep me out do exactly what you've been doing so far keep me out I'm not going to make it easy for you I'm going to fight but keep me out that wasn't even like a problem with stones not being happy that's pure crap I don't really speak about it because what matters is the players and the players know and I left it there but did I understand it no even up to the last game of the season where you feel like three months but I'm trying every game every day and everything you're going to have a minimum of respect but even there I think it was the day before the game you were saying out loud that there's no reason for me to play he's not here to do a send-off and I just didn't understand but at the same time that show that show his personality that show his personality and that last game something happened because he clearly didn't want me to play at the end I ended up being on a bench somebody above might have said to him you have to do a minimum because it's disrespectful I don't know the players I don't know what happened but even to that point he tried to make it difficult for me just asking me to come to his office just before the game which the discussion was really short I said what I have to say and I just left you don't want to play me it's not going to change the six years I spent here and it's not going to change me being on the pitch at the end of the game and enjoy the moment but I don't know it's a difficult form for him but he still decided to play me for five or ten minutes or whatever and at my moment but yeah disappointing especially when he played him with born with the season after he bumped between me to the corridor and he's not even looking at you he's looking at his feet and he just feel like how, why, what's I don't know all I can tell you in this time I do the headline or not I absolutely don't care I've had a lot of manager I had argument with David Moyes but I've got ultimate respect for him and we clashed a lot of time I speak my mind I always say what I feel there is no one in football that I lost respect for apart from him, players, staff fans that's the only person that I lost respect for because he tried to make things personal and from my point of view he looked like he was trying to break me so yeah that's why I said I'm happy that it happened at this age because I was at an age where I could deal with it I couldn't understand that as a supporter because so there was no falling out after that Swansea game you don't know why you were out the team because there was a rumour and you can debunk this you can say no comment but there was a rumour that there was a dressing room bust up after the Swansea defeat in the league cup because then all of a sudden you were as if you didn't even play for us for months which was absolutely bizarre as a supporter yeah well I would like to have my lawyer if you don't mind that's fine leave it then no no no it was no but step honestly it was no but step I just went and see him can't even remember it was nothing Swansea related I just went and see him and explained him I still physically don't feel right cope for the games that I didn't play during the pre-game and I'm trying to cope for it I have to do some extra to gain my fitness and be much fit and ask for help and his answer was just take a week off go away I'm like no hold on I'm here I just try to explain no no take a week off go away and from there it seems changed and as I said I never had a bust up with him possibly as I said the last game of the season I felt like I'm going to tell him what I feel and I did and about any what not to read a bust up it was just me speaking my mind and that's about it I never had a conversation with him never he stopped playing with me under 21 I never went and asked him why I never had a chat with him never that's just the way that something happened I'm not sure why and now I don't care for me the most important is I show respect to my teammates there is no one in the club player who can say anything you can ask anyone they will all say to you he works thousands of it's went hard and in my mind he's like if they need me one day cos he's maybe five players injured and two yellow two red cards if they need me I need to be ready not for him but for the club and my teammates and that's what I did that helped me to live with my head high and not feeling ashamed or anything to be honest at Mirrors watch they even said the other day obviously how he left the club a year after you it was a very similar circumstances as well and even to the point where with injuries when he had an injury and yeah very very bizarre it's things as a supporter when you look at it it's things like obviously a short comment the other day that you've made about John Stones as well what did you think of him when you first saw him and he was coming into the evidence side cos as a fan I remember him making his debut at Stoke and he played it up at Newcastle and he had the headband on and he seemed like a proper defender that liked to defend that was the first impression I got of him he was a defender who was good on the ball but he did he liked to get it you know tackles in and stuff and then that flipped to being someone who decided Cruyff Tames were better in the penalty area and not defending so what was your what was your impression of John Stones it wasn't a short comment it was part of a part of a discussion a bit similar to this one I think he's a great player I think he's got amazing attributes and I just think he's lacking a little bit of defensive mindset as for centre back defensive mindset but now again is perfect for the manager you've got now and at the time he was perfect for Martinez because he's the type of player try and try but the problem I've got with this and I think it's football in general now everybody want to start and play from the back it's like you don't give responsibility to the players for their mistake you just let them make a mistake and then you tell them it's fine that's the type of mistake I want you to make just do it again and for me as a defender that just don't see it right you have to explain to that that's the way I want to play but just be more responsible if you allow someone to make mistakes and don't give him critics or don't give him any any help on how not to make a mistake then I feel like mentally you go in a state of like well I can make mistakes I'm not saying that's what happened to Stonzi at all but that's the type of manager that Martinez was that happened very similar at City with the goalkeeper for the first season when he kept making a mistake but that doesn't stop him in the season after to replace him what is it, are you saying that for the press but then in the back of your mind you know like I get rid of that guy as soon as I can and when I see a guy like Stonzi like a young player quality you've got not playing or sometimes he's coming back from injury and they've got like a midfield and they rather play the midfield as a centre back and having him on the bench I just don't see it right I just don't like it you've got qualities he can be an amazing player and he's already a good player but I just would like as a centre back I just would love to see him a bit more have a bit more responsibility defensively that's me I'm a bit old school that's our three things I'm not his manager, I'm not his agent I'm not his dad that's me looking at it we speak like that tomorrow Barcelona and ended up being like the player that everybody believe it could be we don't know, I'm not saying he's not going to do nothing I'm just saying as a centre back a bit old school that's the side that is missing for me forget about the play, forget if you've got enough technically it's good enough to do the type of things if defensively is strong enough if defensively you make some mistakes and then you try and play from the back and you make mistakes as well then you're going to be open to criticism the feeling I have is sometimes does his manager believe in him and that's just a question but he's an amazing player and he's still young and he's still learning and I just hope that something is going to click in his mind and he's going to have that defensive mindset and possibly that's what he needs he possibly needs a different type of manager a manager will say we want to play for the back but you have to be responsible for what you do and you can't do those types of mistakes I always thought he'd be just the way he's gone better just playing in front of the back in front of two centre backs almost like Fanandino does for City but not in the back four because he's so good on the ball I think he played there a couple of times as well with City that's something that I might suit him for now only but he needs to find his position enough there looking from centre back to in front of the defence to in this position settle down and learn the trade just take you back then to that final game you mentioned it when obviously the manager had had a change of heart or maybe he just got a bit of a conscience for ten minutes how to ask him shot that maybe had the finger from above telling him what he had to do what was that like coming onto the pitch that was the last time he was amazing you know that keeping strong for like six months not saying not saying training hard I was just doing like double session every day I was training, having food and then staying behind and had the tabs under the fitness coach who was there at the time who helped me it was hard to train hard and not play it's really difficult and that's those ten minutes made all the hard work I've done for six months worse it that's the moment when you feel like I'm so glad I didn't just start it to feel like you know what I'm not playing well I'm going to be a dick now I'm going to talk to the press I'm not going to train I'm going to pretend I'm injured I was so happy that I did the right thing because you get respect from all the players will speak for you you don't even have to speak to the players who speak for you and and even if sometimes after that that semifinal you've got doubt or like that's the fancy like me those ten minutes just clear everything you know what again it's what we said you get influenced by a very small minority just because they're loud enough but this for me was like it was great it was great, strangely great I was living so it was emotional and everything because I didn't want to leave I would have enough to finish my career at the Everton but I left with a smile and that's what mattered to me that's really what mattered to me I left with a smile and proud and that's it the rest is just people trying to do their stuff I can say we still love you we still love you now so that didn't change after nonsense comments from a noisy minority ignore that because like I say 99% of Evertonians love you and still do if you had to pick a five a side team of the players you played with you've got to be in it though you have to be in it oh five a side well you have to be Timmer Ward in the goal the problem is like do you pick your mate or do you pick a team to win that's the problem so team me I'm going to get team me Pinar Luisa Ha Felini that's a sad that's a tough sad that is a tough team the king of front actually play five a side with him I go to my mum living south of France so I go to visit her and that's the only time I play football I go play five a side over there and I play with Louis and trust me he didn't lose nothing oh my god he's finishing and he's short this time so he don't have to run he don't have to defend he's really happy but yeah he's still have it now we have some good games we play a really good team over there it's kids obviously 20 years old and they win the league the five a side most of the year so that is a good player so you have to be in it though but it's now it's a I love it I love it I've been there you know I went from main road to the 80 at stadium and main road was it's a bit like good decent part it's like old sad very close possibly not the comfort possibly not but the atmosphere was amazing and it took us a good two season if not three to build an atmosphere the new stadium because they split all the fans who've been there for so long you know there's something that maybe every attend should look at and the people in charge of the stadium at Spurs because I spoke about it I went to some TV work at the new Spurs stadium the atmosphere was great and they explained me that they moved the fans by section instead of one by one and split them around they keep like section of fans and move them in different places so you still know who's around you and that helped them to rebuild the atmosphere really quickly and I have to say when I went there so that's something that is really really important but I think about Everton now yeah maybe a moment the season is not going exactly as they want and everything but the future looks really bright and financially they've got people can back them up not as much as you can have in the top six or whatever but still enough to be able to compete a new stadium coming a lot of young players is great when the only stuff I'm missing when I watch Everton is that I don't feel that Everton mentality yet but the team is young and they have to rebuild it and they have to rebuild it their ways because as an ex-player you feel like you want them to have the same mentality we had but it's not, it's different players different generation they just need to find their Everton spirit that's the only stuff that's missing but the future looks bright I would say We surprise you are able to get Carlo Ancelotti in and is that a good appointment for you? It's an amazing appointment if you want to break into that top four you want someone who's been there you don't want someone who's never been there and end up having like the best group of players you've ever had you want someone who's been there know how to get there not someone that you're just going to get not disrespect for any manager they had before just that for me that's a big volume about the club intentions we get like a manager with the experience who had like amazing players been into amazing clubs and proved himself at the top level and that's great you can feel the change even in the stadium the atmosphere the player around the player have to respect him that's really important you know when you speak speaking about his experience not guessing not trying to pretend that's really important so I think it's an amazing appointment for the club it's a great opportunity for the club Sylvan Lysen thank you so much for taking time out it was absolutely pleasure to see you fantastic stay safe keep that fitness going you look like a machine that's the only step you have to do so honestly thank you so much for joining us today and absolutely pleasure to speak to you look after yourselves thank you take care big thanks there to Sylvan Distan Waraman what a man former Everton defender of course some very frank open discussion there absolutely brilliant make sure you give the video a thumbs up subscribe if you haven't and if you want more videos join us over on page see you later