 Welcome to Toffy TV. Football is back this week and Mason Horgate has been saying some impressive things to Everton to the Matchday programme for Sunday's game. What have you been saying? Talking about obviously he signed that contract back in March which seems a long time ago doesn't it? Just before football was stopped and they asked him about signing a deal, a five year deal that will take him through what some people say are your peak years. It would be 28 when that deal runs out in March in the summer of 2025 and he basically said I want to win something at Everton. I wouldn't have signed a new deal if I didn't think we couldn't. I don't understand why anyone would play football just to muddle along. I want to play and win things on with the team. We are building with more than capable of doing that. If we weren't I don't understand why I'd want to stay here. What would I get of turning up every week and going through the motions and not playing for anything. We're playing to win things. I hate losing and if everyone has that mentality it's going to be a good few years at Everton. Just reiterating why he signed the deal. From taking what he said, I know this plays come on in these weeks. A lot of fluff and we go that's great. I think there's someone like him hearing that mentality broken down. Basically about him, not about the rest of the club. Yeah, we want to win things but he's talking about himself and that tough mentality. He's got that mentality to almost question yourself. But I think to question the rest of the squad as well. Because I think now he finally feels part of that. He finally feels like he can't have that voice. He's playing every game under Anciolotti and he's played the only one. He hasn't done a full 90 in his palace at all but every other one he has so he's a big part of Anciolotti. And I guess the question will be, do you ever need to buy leaders or can they nature leaders? And certainly with someone like Mason and Dominic Alvin Lund, we seem to have nature leaders. We seem to have found in young players what we need. I suppose even with Charleston as well. Although it doesn't always come across to us the same. Because obviously he's not speaking English. But obviously on the pitch you're seeing that develop. He leaves from the front. Yeah, yeah. And it's just an interesting question because obviously we've been linked with Thiago Silva this week. And certainly we've spoken about it on a video about Thiago Silva. It's bringing in that leadership quality, being there seeing it done it. Now of course Mason Hauge won't have that but for a lot of top players it's already in them. It's what makes them top players having that inner belief that they can do it. And I just feel like it's a head of the Merseyside Derby. That's not a rallying call by any means by Mason Hauge. That's putting it out there and saying I want this club to do things. I want to win things with this club. So are you coming with me on the journey? Are you prepared to come with me? And I think that's the right way to be because we've been moan players leaving the club. Or even fear players leaving the club. And I suppose you have to get to that place where you look at it and think well if the club aren't prepared to go on the journey with these players then they'll move on. And we see that everywhere, you know, we see that whether it be at Evan, whether it be players leaving clubs in this country to go to Barcelona or Real Madrid or whatever. You see whatever, players will always strive for more. But I think some players, honest players, who love playing for the club, will give that club a chance. And that's what I like that from Mason Hauge because I think he is a leader and I think he's been showing it this year. Yeah, the improvements he's made this year. Obviously he talks about being at Evan since 2015, you know, whom he gave his debut the year 2016, day one, against Spares. And he done well and then was out the team again. He kind of on the interview with the matchday programme he kind of talks about that. He says, you know, he'd get in for a few good games and then he wouldn't play so well and he'd be back out the team. And he says, you know, he doesn't blame the managers for taking him out of the team. He doesn't blame well enough. He said he wasn't blaming anyone. It's just me, you know, going on loan sorts. I'm able to play every week the consistency. And if you have one bad game, you do address it. The next game, you make sure you don't take that home and you're over. And he's kind of got that now. He's got the trust he talks about anti-alotty, you know, benefiting from working with him. He's a fellow that's worked with Nestor and, you know, Maldini. He was a fantastic player and cost a cater in the past. You know, you said the future. He played with Franco Berese. He was an incredible centre back. Sergio Ramos, Tiago Silva. Top, top names in Wales for both top defenders. And this is where the likes of Holgate and Yeri Meiner and our other defenders can benefit from that, you know. I think just having that kind of drive, that Holgate's got, we've seen a type of character he is, we've seen it. That the infamous time he shut Roberto Firmino into the crowd and stood up to it. He's not phased by anything. You know, it's a big, you know, the big occasion he'll still do it. He always puts his hands up as well. I think that's a mark as well. I'm trying to think of who said it recently. It was in the Jordan documentary. I think it was in the Jordan documentary, wasn't it? Where he said, winners don't find excuses. Winners take it on the chain and see what they can learn. It's the players who are lesser that hide and look for excuses. When things are wrong, they'll always blame somebody else. But winners don't do that. The very best people take it and go away. And internalise it and see what they have to do and get better because of that. And I think there's a bit of that in him. And she lost his book. So I think it's Latin. He said sometimes you'd have to go over him and it wouldn't be just... He had to go over him because he knew that he would take it. It wouldn't be anything bad. But the rest of the players would say, well, he's having to go over him and he's the best player then. We need to... And it was that kind of thing. It was a bit of that in the Jordan thing. I'll take it because I know I can take it. But you'll get other players who are not as confident. Who might have a bike back or whatever. He's someone to me who does kind of just stand up and front it. He's had his ups and downs already. He's been at the club five years. So he knows what our club is all about. He's gone away. He's bolted up. Which we said he would be a centre back yet to get a little bit bigger. I think he's done that. I think we've seen him in the training video. The weekend he's playing. The baby in his arms is bigger. He's quicker, stronger. You see him get back and put a great challenge in. He's up in that space. He's quicker across the ground. So he's done really well. And to get in and establish yourself for Carlo Ancelotti. I think it's a big thing. He's done well for Duncan. I do think Carlo Ancelotti has come into his career at the right time. Obviously you mentioned it there. He obviously was both on Barnsley. And then a younger player at the club got a chance. And then he's played on the Cwm and played on the... Allardyce. Allardyce played on the Silver. He's had his ups and downs. Allardyce played on for a while with Williams. And that seemed to be working. Got quite a few clean sheets and then it got changed round. He's been in and out. Obviously he went on loan to get that experience because he didn't know... We didn't quite know where he fitted in. People thought he was a right back, but he was adamant that he was a centre back. Went on loan again, ups and downs there. Ends up missing a penalty in the shootout for West Brom. We've had loads of people messing about him. Then he came back. He came back in third choice centre back. He only had three centre backs. I suppose that had a little bit of fortune that he needed. And then getting the side and he's never looked back. I imagine if we'd have bought Zuma or another centre back. Which is what sometimes happens, isn't it? That's what sometimes happens in football. He might have had the door having to... There was a couple of clubs sniffing around him in the summer. Loads of rumours about Newcastle being after them and a few other teams. West Brom fans have been on to us going on. When we get back in the Premier League, they've been coming back. It's only one way he's going. When he signed his new contract. I like that leadership he's got. For me, I think he's a captain in the making. He's got that thing about him. You can see he's a leader, but you can see also that. I think he inspires other people around him. He's got a calmness about him as well, but you mentioned the familial thing. I mean, who's to say that would happen now with a little bit more experience. But he just stood up for himself. He doesn't back down. He stands up for himself, his team-mates in the club. As I said, I think the message is right. I want to win things. Why else would I be in the sport? I'm not sure we've had enough players like that over time. We've had players who... Players want to win things, of course they do. But I also feel like there's players who are happy to just have a good career. I understand that, that's fine. But it's how that comes out here. Because if that's the way you feel, does that get transmitted to the pitch where you do lose games or you do finish seventh or eighth in the Premier League and go, well, you know what? I'm a professional footballer and I'm doing myself. I think you need that little bit extra. I think you need that little bit extra in five or six players if you're going to challenge for things. Not necessarily winning, because I'm not winning. But come off a pitch when you've been beat gone and I don't want to experience that again. We've seen that in Don this year where he said, he's come and said, I used to just be happy to play, now I'm disappointed if I don't score. That's a big change and I think he said something similar where this season when he said, I need clean sheets, I'm gutted if we don't get clean sheets. That's going, that's turning the dial, isn't it, from going, well, I'm just happy to play because I'm a young player too. Well, I'm playing every week now and now it's the next thing. We need more players like that all over the pitch. We need older players to do that all over the pitch. More experienced players and I think if you've got a younger player actually telling you that as well to more experienced players and he's prepared to tell them, I think that can be a wake-up call for some people as well to tell them that. If you don't shape up your days and numbers. Well, he's the future of the squad, isn't he? He's the 23, he's a great age. He's in, he is like you say, he appears to be captain material. What you'd like your captain to be. And it's not just the fact that he's a, he can shout and scream or whatever. He can play, the kid is a good defender. He can play in midfield, don't can put him in midfield, that owns Raffaith and it wasn't faith, he's brilliant. You know, I think he's a great example for younger players that we've got at the club of what you need to do in terms of looking after yourself that physicality. It isn't enough to just be involved in the squad and want to get better. If you had a brand-thwaith training every day with the first team, you'd probably make your debut over the next nine games. He's looking at him and going, and he comes from Bansley and now he's a mainstay in this team. You know, there were skips and he was done really well and he'll finish the season with Fleetwood. He can look and go, well, all right, well, he's gone. He won't come a lot of club, he's in the team and there's no about 50, 60 million pounds centre-backs. You know, for Anthony Gordon looking at Dom, and Dom's really got himself in great physical shape cos you have to get to that level. To be a top-top player, you have to be an athlete in the Premier League. Every little centimetre, every little inch you can get for everything matters. Any margin, by any margin, it matters. But it does, doesn't it? You know, look at someone like the Charles whom you mentioned before. Okay, he's not quite the same as him, but he's a leader. He'll take the ball and play from the front and it's about his own performance, where he may be worrying about to the fielders. I mean, we've seen him in midfield. Is that something you think he can do as well or do you just solely see him as a centre-back? I think he can clearly play there and if we need him to play there, then I think that could make him a better player cos he'll know more about the whole game. I used to say if we did bring a centre-back in and next season, and we don't manage to get the centre-back that we need, I used to say that he couldn't play in those games cos you want good players playing, don't you? You want your talent, and if your talent is adaptable, and he brings the same characteristics. Don't forget, I think, if you play a player out of position but you lose the confidence because they're not sure how to play the position, that can be a worry at times. But if you can move a player, and we've seen him when he played in the game at Man United at Old Trafford, we look back at it now and it was a crucial time. We needed to get something in that game and we did go on a bad little run. And that was really important. So to go into a centre-back in the field, for Duncan to have the bravery to go into a centre-back in the field, but into play there and do the job we needed that day and just sit in front of the back four, he was excellent, and I'd seen no reason why he couldn't play there. It wouldn't be my first choice, but I think if you had two centre-backs who were good enough and you thought, well, you can push him into the field because he can do that job, then I would definitely do it. And I think this thing could bring other sides of his game out that I think he enjoys moving forward, moving up the gears, his passing, I think they're the kind of things that he'd like to show in that position, but obviously he sees himself as a centre-back. Yeah, definitely. I think it's the, you know, you've said it before, you don't really see him as a right-back anymore, and even though he can play there, he seems to be a more comfortable a centre-back and he's very... But that's the other thing as well, we did this a while ago, him saying he wasn't a right-back, he wanted to be centre-back and people at the club were unsure about that. But it's that, again, that single-mindedness of saying, no, because I think you've had other players who've gone through their careers just happy to play, or play wherever the manager put to me. Does it help them in the long run? It doesn't help them in the long run because they always get seen as that utility player and they never settle into a position and never lay in it fully. And I think if you're single-mindedness and say I am good enough in this position, that's another leadership quality of going, no, I'm willing to fight the other people in this position for this position. I won't just be put a right-back or wherever you want me to play, I want to nail that down. You're not telling someone that you won't play in another position for them, but you are saying that's where I want to play and I think that's important. I think that is important. Again, I chose that mentality, that single-minded mentality of where you want to be and what you visualise yourself as. I think that's important. Definitely. I think he's made massive strides. He knows what he wants and he's gone for an important part of his career. Hopefully, he's one that brings everyone else together and challenges other players because if you've got that, your manager is very different now. We've thrown to Donald just another week and he's thrown my walls of sweat and a bag of throat up against the wall and that kind of stuff. Not like that anymore, hate you are getting involved. And I don't think it's Carl Evans, he's nature anyway. I think if you've got players who will make others accountable for their own performance, like when we spoke about Peter Reed and Andy Graven and they come into the side people like Eddie Neatrain, they made us all accountable for our own performance by not threatening them but questioning what you're doing. If your players are doing that, your team's going to go one way. Listen, he's not a kid anymore. He's a, you know, he likes him and Dom and I suppose to a lesser extent Tom Davis because he's still sort of finding his feet. But I think those two certainly, they're not kids anymore. They've got a lot of games under their belt. A lot of Premier League experience and they're the players to move us on. There's question marks about those players anymore. They're the players to move us on to them hopefully. To a better future. And I think if you've, they're the players that, you know, Anthony Gordon's look up to your band, to look up to you now. You don't look up at, because they can, they're the path, they've trailed the path. They're the people that those people inspire to be. And I think that's what kids are kids watching football look at these players as well and admire these players more than they admire. You know, you love it when a signing comes in but it's young players because that's what, that's the next level for kids isn't it. They can't look at like maybe 30-year-olds. When you're a kid you don't ever see yourself as a 30-year-old. You see yourself as a still young. Yeah, you see yourself, you never do. You never do. You see yourself as a young man always, or a young girl, whatever and that's what kids will want aspire to be in I think. The more of them you've got at the club and the more of that enthusiasm and you know, that feeling of I'm just happy to be a professional footballer. You want a little bit more and I think that's what he is showing and he's saying. So it's good stuff, it's good stuff, we need more of it from the players that we have and maybe the players we bring in that maybe hasn't been there I think for some of the players we brought in certainly. So let us know your thoughts on Mason Horgate. Do you seem as a future captain? Do you seem as a pastry centre back or could you play midfield as well? Let us know your thoughts in the comments don't forget to give this video a like. Subscribe if you haven't already and if you want more great videos including daily live videos, join us over on page the link is in the description. See you later.