Alan Irvine - The Assistant Manager Of The People's Club 07/08

Thanks Alan and Good Luck

As reported at the weekend, Moyesy's Right Hand Man Alan Irvine has joined Preston to become Manager after the axing of Paul Simpson. Alan had made his intentions known that he would relish the chance to become Manager himself somewhere, and the offer at Preston has become to good to turn down.

Alan has been at Moyesy's side for five and a half years, a time were they have both stabilised the club on the field. The lows of Bucharest and Man City were few, but thankfully more highs in the form of a Top Four finish, a UEFA Cup run, and making Everton a top six club have been added to Alan's CV.

Older fans will remember Alan as a player, his highlight being walking out at Wembley against the shite in the 1984 Milk Cup Final in front of 100,000, in the First All Merseyside Cup Final.

Good luck Alan in the future, and thanks for everything, who next at Goodison, let the rumours begin. Brian Kidd, no I never said that did I.

Bully says: "On behalf of everyone at Everton, I would like to thank Alan for his service and commitment over the past five and a half years. We all wish him the very best in his first managerial role."

Preston Chairman Derek Shaw says: "We are very pleased that Alan will be joining us, he’s ready to have a crack at management. He’s got a reputation of being a top notch coach, his work ethic is amazing, he’s worked with David Moyes and I know the amount of games they take in, you see them all over the country.

David Moyes and Alan Irvine have set high standards at Everton and I’m pretty sure that Alan will continue to maintain those high standards at Deepdale." (20/11/07)

Five Into Two Won't Go

Its a problem Sir Alex of manure, Arse at The Arse and The Special One have had to deal with for years. Just how do you keep all your strikers happy. Next week, Andy Johnson and Vaughny will join Big Vic, The Yak and Faddy all vying to star against Sunderland A problem indeed, but a nice one.

Alan says: "We have got plenty of options. There are good strikers throughout the Premier League but we are happy with the strikers we have got. They are all scoring goals and Andrew Johnson is ready to come back as well. That will give the manager a big decision to make when he has all five of the strikers fit, because they are all staking a claim for a place." (18/11/07)

Good For Team Spirit

Two new boys had words near the end of the Villa game. Bainesy had a go at The Yak for not chasing a ball. The Everton assistant manager thinks this is good for team spirit and thinks the Yak has responded well.

Alan says: "He has responded really well to being left out, and that's what you hope for from players. We are a hard-working team, and we need all of our players to do a very committed and totally honest job when they are out there. We also ask them to do not only their own job, but to help other people out as well. I'm sure Yak will fend to that. He seems a great lad.

It's the way it should be, and it's the way it's always been. The best teams have always been able to tell each other what they think. Everyone talks about team spirit, well team spirit isn't about always being everybody's friend, or telling them the good things. It's about being able to tell them what you think and what they need to do to help you, and people have to accept it and not take it as being something personal. When people can argue, get on with things and still be friends, that's when you know you've really great spirit. He trained in a very small group of lads yesterday of lads who hadn't played, and was terrific. While today he has come in with a smile on his face and there has been absolutely no problem." (26/09/07)

Lets Do It At Home

Alan Irvine is under no illusions about Everton's task ahead in the UEFA Cup. He is stressing how important the home tie against the Mentalists is on Thursday. With the Ukraine a tough place to go, the Assistant Boss does not want to be making the trip with a battle ahead of them, and he hopes we can make the job easier with a convincing victory on Thursday night.

Alan says: "It will be a tough place to go to so the home tie will be very important. We also get the feeling from the people involved in their club that this is the biggest game they have ever had. They will clearly be very motivated for the games. We all know the Ukraine is a very tough place to go.

David and I went out to see them straight after the Bolton game. We watched them on the Sunday night and it will be a really tough place to go. We knew nothing about them before we went and obviously now we know a lot more about them. They are reputed to be the third best team behind Dinamo Kiev and Shakhtar Donetsk. We all know about those teams as they have competed fairly successfully in the Champions League for a number of years. So when you consider they finished two points behind Shakhtar Donetsk last year then it tells you the quality of the team that they are." (19/09/07)

Leighton Baines

Everton are hopeful that a deal can be done for Leighton Baines, but Alan Irvine will only believe it will happen when he actually signs.

Alan says: "We are at least part of the way down the road. But with the demands made by everyone these days I will only believe it is going to happen when it actually does happen. We have been talking to Leighton and hopefully sorting things out with him. When you look at the prices that are going around these days then £6m is not a great deal of money. Leighton has got real potential to play for his country. Anyone who saw him in the European Under-21 Championships would have been impressed with him. He is a good footballer, a nice passer of the ball, he has loads of energy and he is quick so there are lots of reasons for wanting to sign a player like him." (05/08/07)

Fitness First

After four days training in Scotland, David Moyes and team flew home this afternoon. They will see their family and friends over the weekend before flying off to Florence in Italy for another weeks training at a top training complex, which is used by the Italian National team.

Alan says: "It was a very valuable exercise and it showed how fit the lads are. Some of the squad were not really looking forward to it, I think they would rather sunbathe on a beach as oppose to running on the beach. It has been a very worthwhile stay in Scotland and we have covered a lot during the four days here." (06/07/07)

Roll on August

Alan Irvine is happy enough with the Blues opening fixtures, and is especially happy that Everton open up the new campaign at Goodison. We then have two back to back away fixtures, both at clubs were we picked up maximum points on our travels at last season, and Alan is as excited as the fans. Bring it on !!

Alan says: " It's obviously nice to have a home game on the opening day and I am always glad when we avoid any of the recently promoted teams. Wigan will be playing their first Premiership game under Chris Hutchings and so they will be fired up for it but, as I say, we are happy that we start the season at Goodison Park.

Tottenham will be a difficult game of course as will Reading on the Saturday. They both had good seasons last time out so our two first matches on our travels will be testing but we will go to both places with plenty of confidence having won there last season. I am looking forward to the new season and it's always a big day when the fixtures are announced. I'm just like the fans in that I look at specific dates and look for specific opponents." (14/06/07)

Alan Irvine 2006/2007        Full Squad 2007/2008