 Welgym yn y Toffey TV, Everton a'r Oeddiyn, y United States. Pwyr oedd, pre-season. Pwyr oedd, rydyn ni'n gweithio i'r ystafell. Everton a'r Oeddiyn yn y training camp in Washington D.C. Y head of the opening pre-season game, a'r arsynal at the M&C Bank stadium in Baltimore. Mi yn John will be there to watch it. It should be a very interesting game. Looks like it's going to be very hot. Payback. Yeah, it'd be a nice bit of payback. Although, to be fair, that saved the payback for the Premier League to get some points, but you know, Saturday will start. John obviously and Everton are then playing Minnesota United next Wednesday, the 20th, which is in Minnesota, but Everton going back to the States. Obviously last season we were there for the Florida Cup. We couldn't go, we were in here for the Florida Cup watching it live. No one could travel internationally. Why aren't we defending that? I don't, well, that's a question for the football club and not us. We should have been for the Florida Cup people as well as fans. On them, yeah, but we should have been defending them because we won it, but there you go. Sorry, Kane, yeah, you're right. Kane, yeah, he was there, he'd be deep into the golden. It's good that Everton are going back to the United States. It is, we've got lots of fans. We are America's club, so we should go. Yeah, and speaking to, I don't know, some of the lads across there, you know, Tony, of course, he wouldn't be anywhere from the fans forum and stuff, but they're all getting their act together and there's tailgate parties and drinking before the game, drinking after the game, march to the stadium. That should be quite good of what Orlando used to do was a bit of things to go by, which is drums and flares. The tailgate, yeah, yeah. The whole nine yards, really. I quite like that. We're all going the ground together. So yeah, looking forward to it. Do you think it will be early tomorrow? Yeah, it is early, it's a very early start. Do you think there's got to be part of the club's growth strategy? Certainly. I mean, we need the growth strategy everywhere, but to keep, to build on what we've seen so far. Well, yeah, and, you know, I mean, you know, we've got Jurgen in place, you know, and you know, I've spoken to him a couple of weeks back. In fact, we should give him a shout because he... Not Jurgen Klopp, by the way. Yeah, or Jurgen. Yeah, yeah. We're trying to link up with him while we're out there, aren't we? And, you know, and that is the intention, you know, when the club have announced it in the past, that this is a major growth market, which is there's no rocking horse stuff there for Sherlock, is that right? And the only way you can do that is by keep reaffirming it. So, here and now, I would assume we're going to go to the States again next year. And the sooner the club can try and finalise those things and let fans know the bigger the event will be, and then you expect that every time you go, it's bigger and bigger and bigger. And maybe we want to try and focus ourselves in one location or something, perhaps take the 23s or the women's team and all of the above, and basically, Everton are in town. This is the town where we're going to be. And everyone... You know what the Americans like? They're as mad as we are. If they can find a way to get there, they will. Absolutely. Sorry, why Americans are people who live in the States? Yeah, of course. There's plenty of Brits over there as well. Oh, loads of Brits. But, yeah, absolutely. I spoke to Tony Samson, who is part of Everton Chicago. He's also a member of the fans forum. He's the chair. The chair of the fans forum now, isn't he, of course? He lives out in the States. It does make regular pilgrims back to Godduson Park as well throughout the season. He's still got a season ticket. He's still got a season ticket as well. So, I spoke to Tony about the upcoming trip. So, Tony, are you looking forward to Everton coming over to the United States? I think it's fair to say that people are very, very excited at the moment, Baz. I think that sense of anticipation and expectation has been building ever since May when the club first announced that it was going to be coming back to the US after last year's Florida Cup in Orlando. The WhatsApp groups have been buzzing and all the social media channels have been going off the scale in terms of what can be done and how can we showcase Everton out here. Everyone's absolutely buzzing. We're kind of here now. I arrived into DC last night with one of my sons. We've been looking ahead at the itinerary and all the opportunities we're going to get to meet with other Blues and all the events. Obviously, he's started to see the team. So, I think it's fair to say that everybody's really looking forward to it. Everton means a lot to everyone, not just people that live in the city. I've moved away and I was fortunate enough to go to the match and go to Goodison regularly. But there's Blues out here, which means a hell of a lot. They've chosen Everton and that's been the history of the club or players or whatever. They've really formed a strong bond and brought into the whole Everton experience. A chance for them to see the team out here in person. I don't think anything beats that. So, I'm really pleased that people are going to get the opportunity to do that. Of course, there's multiple locations this year as well, so that means that more Blues are going to get the chance to see the team as well. Hopefully, it won't be the high pressure environment that we saw towards the end of last season. It's a couple of pre-season games. We can relax a little bit, see some of the youth that Frank's brought out as well. People are excited to see that and see how he's going to start putting his identity on the team as well as obviously seeing some of the older faces that we know. He seems to have brought out pretty much everybody. So, really looking forward to having the opportunity to see that as well. It'll be a great occasion and great matches and very different opponents. I think more than the football, I think people are just looking forward to all the events and getting together. I think we've seen, in Orlando last year and previous tours to the US and everywhere else, but Evertonians are pretty good at getting together and putting on a party and really showcasing what everything means. I think that everybody's really looking forward to having that opportunity and showing to North America what everything's all about. That's been exemplified by the fantastic work that the Baltimore and the Minnesota Toffees and DC Toffees and others have done in putting on a whole load of events. They've been working furiously over the last few months to really put a show on and put on a really strong welcome to Evertonians from right across North America and elsewhere in the world. They're really proud that they're going to be hosting Evertonians in their city and get a chance to showcase that. So, really looking forward to that. I believe you guys are doing a live show on the Baltimore tailgate as well, which will be great. So, again, we'll see some familiar faces and also the fact that we've got blues coming over from the city and other parts of the UK as well. Obviously, we haven't been able to do that for the last little while. So, again, having blues from back home in the US blues, hopefully will be a perfect combination to, as I say, really show Everton off to North America. So, Tony, have you seen a growth in the number of people supporting Everton since you've been over in the United States? I think the connections are continuing to grow. You know, I see, you know, the foundations that people like David Kert and Marshall Lamb built, you know, many, many years ago. And also, you know, the likes of you and Perth and Eric and others that sort of really, you know, start to put the stamp of America, sorry, Everton in North America. You know, that's continued to grow and grow and grow. The number of supporters' clubs is increasing all the time. There's more than 50 now. I get in and dated with requests on, you know, how can we start up a new club? You know, who do we need to speak to at the football club to help us do that? You know, what does it mean? You know, we've, the club has obviously put, you know, North America is sort of central to its, you know, to its growth strategy. So, you know, I think these are things in all conditions that really help kind of, you know, keep building a network to support the groups now, sort of meet on a monthly basis with the club. We've got an open structure dialogue with them. We're bringing ideas to them. We're bringing issues to them that we want them to solve. You know, so it's a really good way, I think, of sort of, you know, trying to, you know, keep that grassroots, if you like, and the foot soldiers sort of engaged in what it means and sort of trying to help with kind of those growth opportunities. You know, the soccer schools give you an example on that. You know, we brought the national lead of the soccer schools programme to the supporters group leads meeting the other week and he talked about kind of what the vision was there and what can we do together to keep building, you know, to keep building that and identify the blues of the future. And I think that's going to be going to be really important as well. The international affiliate programme as well I think provides, you know, some opportunities. So look, I think it's continuing to go stronger. I think the connections are growing all the time. You know, I think, you know, the way that we can connect through, you know, different methods now through the likes of you and sort of other, you know, other channels, I think also helps with that, you know. So we're hoping as well that, you know, we're going to be publishing, you know, a website over the course of the next couple of days which showcases all the different supporters groups so that people can get in touch, you know, where to go to if they're visiting, whether they're from overseas. So, yeah, real opportunity. And I think, you know, what really strikes me as well is that there's a real belief and a willingness from, you know, from all the Evertonians out here to really sort of help and support and work with, you know, work with Everton to, you know, as I say, to really end French Everton as America's team. And finally, how important do you think it is that Everton continue to visit America to kind of help with that growth right across? You think we should be going year after year to try and help build the platform, build on top of the platform you've already created? I think it's essential that the club keeps coming back. The, you know, I mentioned earlier that, you know, North America is sort of central to the international growth strategy and, you know, with the World Cup coming up in a few years' time and, you know, obviously a number of cities across the US going to be hosting games. You know, I think it's really important that Everton, you know, is part of the conversation between now and then people understand, you know, not just what the Premier League's about but, you know, critically kind of what, you know, what's Everton and what's our history and what have we got to offer and all the connections that, you know, go back many, many years to, you know, to really get sort of in the minds of people and obviously supported by, you know, the strategy that the club's driving, I think, you know, they're all components that I think that, you know, that we need to see. I mean, I think, you know, success on the pitch will be a massive factor. You know, success always opens up different opportunities but, you know, I talked to some of the other, you know, supporters groups and supporter group leagues that run sort of some of the national networks as well and, you know, I think we've got a real advantage in terms of the connection that we've got and the willingness across the supporter groups to sort of really build things so I think having a presence here, you know, on a regular basis, you know, is going to be really important and, of course, that needs to be supported by commercial strategies. It needs to be supported by kind of the grassroots programmes like the soccer schools and the work that's going on with the supporters clubs to, you know, to keep that base going and to keep that base motivated but, you know, being here and having a presence and being able to, you know, take different opportunities and leave a bit of evidence behind every time the club comes out here is really important. You know, we can do that as supporters and, you know, I'm sure we'll do that over the course of the next day but I think it's really important that the evidence does that so, you know, every opportunity it gets to engage out here you know, is an opportunity to sort of further, you know, entrench sort of, you know, what evidence means and, you know, why we are so special and, you know, why we've got so many fantastic links to, you know, to North America. You know, one of the things that, you know, maybe a little positive that came out of the, you know, the adversity of last season was like the broadcasters were absolutely fascinated at kind of a fan response and, you know, they're not just the coach welcomes but, you know, staying behind at Leicester and, you know, they were doing things that I'd never seen so it's certainly in the three and a half years where, you know, they weren't sort of, you know, just listening to the post match commentary and punditry, you know, they were actually sort of just focused on actually what was going on in and around the ground and the supporters and there was real, you know, real amazement that, you know, it's easy for supporters to get behind their team when things are going well but there was just a real sense of amazement that, you know, there was a group of supporters that cared so much about their team that, you know, they were going to do what they could to get them over the line. So, look, you know, there's opportunities, I think, that, you know, we need to keep season on. I'd prefer it if we were lifting trophies. I think that would be a much easier seller and a much easier product to do there but, you know, we've got so much that we can, you know, embrace and build on. So, continuing that presence is going to be going to be really important and, as I say, you know, we've got to keep leaving a bit of effort and every time we come out here. So, you know, Tony's saying that I can't echo what you've said before as well is that obviously there's an anticipation over there now with the American, the Evertonians, US Evertonians and Expat and everything that's coming over. The teams is over there ready to play its first game and the opportunity to just go and enjoy football matches in pre-season without the pressure. Well, fantastic for people over there. It is difficult, of course, listen, the price of everything and travel and we've had a pandemic and everything to being evertonian on the other side, you know, crossed the pond to then get the opportunity to go and watch Everton. Well, it's tremendous and I think people like Tony and Jeff and not Wavre Tree or wherever he's from, Jeff. You know, Jeff Wallney since that. And obviously, you know, the Everton 11 in the USA. Yeah, you've got the West Coast guys, Dave Kurtz. I mean, these guys have all been battling away for many years. And now we're into the foothills of where we want to go. But you know, you get people like Jeff, they do what they do. North Americans on the fan advisory board and so on. So it's a global family type thing that we hope were trying to build and we were chatting offline. I hope not anyway. I hope the club's not trying to build like a North American flavour of Evertonian and a Brit flavour of Evertonian and an Australian flavour. No, Evertonian's full stop. And that's the culture. And if you speak to Americans about why did you choose Everton and what have you, it's fascinating because... Not the obvious truth, is it? It's a lot easier to pick teams who win things. You wake up one morning and you think I'm into this soccer thing now. I need an English team because that's the best league in the world. Which one shall I have? Man, you're like, nah. That lot, no. Tottenham, no. I'll have this Everton crew. I'll have them. But they do quickly know what they've let themselves in for and we're all in this together. We're going to get picked up at the airport tomorrow, aren't we? By Ryan, who's going to come and get us. And he offered. We're thinking how do we get from Dulles to Baltimore or into DC or whatever. And Ryan goes, I'll come and get you. When he came over here, I run him and his son around up to Blackburn to see games. And that's what Evertonians do. We've had Bridget here, haven't we? One reciprocates those things. So we are different. It's funny because to my mind, the ones I've seen anyway, the Premier League fans in the States almost mimic the ones here. So they are S1s that adjust that. As an example, they've got the same six times all that rubbish. And the Evertonian ones are actually more engaged beyond social media and all that sort of stuff. Some respects. And of course, more negative when it's going wrong just like the rest of us. So therefore, they are us. They just happen to live over there. Exactly. In terms of the games, obviously a couple of games. The first one, big huge stadium. And then obviously we've got the Allianz Field behind it, which is Minnesota United's book. What are you looking just from just purely from football thing? What are you looking to see in these two games? Obviously season at the end of the day. There's 32 players out there obviously. They're all going to get a kick. Most of them are going to get some minutes. What are you hoping to see? Well, it's part of a plan, isn't it, really? What are you talking about? Well, a fitness thing. Obviously there's a bit of promotion, which is why we're there. So you'd expect the bigger names to get minutes. So that drags people into stadiums. I've said I want us to beat that lot because we didn't turn up at the last game of the season. But I wouldn't read too much into the outcome, whatever happens. I suppose the analogy would be that Man United fans shouldn't go crazy because they batted Liverpool. Liverpool fans shouldn't hang themselves because they got batted. But I'm sure Liverpool would rather have been the one that won 4-0. You want to win, you want to win. Let's not come out a semi-competitive game thinking, I know we lost 5-0, but we got 90 minutes into a few legs. So I want to just see us perform to some degree. And see a couple of the young lads as well. And that's exactly where it's going to go. Let's see some of the young lads, because Arsenal will be doing the same, they'll have youngsters, but they'll also have some of their starters out as well. And then the Inchees game will be a bit more relaxed, I think. Do you think? Oh, then I think for them. Not for them. For us it will be. I'm assuming that the focus is on this game. I think because of the amounts of players there, I think Frank Llandpart will be looking for a response from everyone. I think you're right. It's going out, you're playing again, you may as well win it. It'll be difficult, Arsenal, good side. Whether it be hot. It's going to be roast in as well. If you check the weather. Give it 30 degrees. Well, in old money, 90s upwards for the duration. So it's going to be hot, but that's good for the players. We're having the mini heat wave here as well, aren't we? So, yeah, it's going to be really interesting. I'm looking forward to both games. I love pre-season because there's no pressure on it. I was about to say whatever happens, fans, whether you're there or whether you're watching on the telly, just be relaxed about it. First things first. It's nice if we won't, but let's not lose any sleep over it if we don't. Finally, just to finish what Tony was saying before it in terms of Evan's imprint in the United States. It's something David Moyes loved going back there. Do you think Evan should make a commitment now to the state certainly for the next five years and go on every year? I do, and I think to some degree the club needs to do a bit more and it's not just on this, but generally I think walking of the talk. We get Jurgen to be our man in the state and we're going to have a headquarters there and we're going to do this and we're going to do that and we're going to do the other and then you don't hear anything for a long time. So I think some of these things are interconnected and they impact each other. So maybe some of the things they're trying to do from a marketing point of view for example would actually get a kick if you said we're coming next summer anyway. You can go to a place like Jacksonville where there's big training complexes and say we're going to do two weeks warm weather training up there or something. You don't necessarily have to have tournaments waiting to invite you. If you get into a tournament that you won the year before then it's going to be you're always going to be the last person they ask aren't you if that's the context. Well they were at Wideweather Sports weren't they? Many times I've been on the Disney's Wideweather Sports they were based there. I think you've touched on it before and it's absolutely what should happen. They should have basically a camp somewhere and go right we are in I said Georgia before just because of Atlanta United and there's other teams who can come in from there we're there for ten days or for nine days we're taking the ladies team the women's team are taking the under 21s with us the first team will play two games during that period even if it's against the local team then against Atlanta United. Do you see United reasonably local? Or whoever it is and we're going to also have some bit of couple of days there'll be coaching things we'll have a couple of coaches there and bring a couple of players and if you've done that for seven, eight, nine days you could catch some of those people who were a little bit like I'm sending me later this coaching camp with Evan, this Evan then all of a sudden you know people start going I don't know them and that's how you hook and that's the sort of you call a commitment but I think that's the right word right but it's planning as well you know it can't be let's say how the season goes and then decide what to do it's almost like what you've just described almost needs to be as soon as this little tour of the United States is finished we announce before the end of the year we're going again next year and it's going to be here and we're going to be based there and then people like Cain can go alleluia it's not that far from Orlando I'm going to go again or whatever and give fans, I mean some of these things get announced so late we're going tomorrow we could have gone today we've missed the big event sad bastards that we are we're missing out on the Blazers event and stuff like that but it's things like that I appreciate it's part of pre-season the sporting size comes first but part of it's got to be getting those global fans together and that's how you grow and that's how you keep people and that's where Tony and his mates are doing a great job because there'll be evidence from all over the United States all appearing as if by magic here and then a good chunk of them will go out to Minneapolis as well and we hope to see old faces and we hope to see new faces as well absolutely, absolutely but there you go we'll be doing a diary probably each day, there'll be live videos certainly over on Premiere, there's live videos yet there'll be Neckam looking on our socials as well and hopefully it'll be a good trip hopefully evidence science from players while we're out there as well will be nice to add to the squad so make sure you check that out like I said if you are a Premiere member there'll be live stuff on there as well if you want to become a Premiere member the link is in the description big thanks to John, give the video a thumbs up subscribe if you haven't and if you want more videos like I said become a Premiere member see you later, cheers guys