Likewise can you think of a player who exceeded
yours and others expectations.
Yes, and there are many of them, I am glad to say. These players
give me the most satisfaction as a coach. During my time as
Assistant Manager at Everton we had some very good young
players coming through. The decision to give Wayne Rooney his
debut was an easy decision. The whole country knew he was a
talent. When I look at other players, a player who I am sure won’t
mind me mentioning his name is Tony Hibbert. Hibbo epitomises
your question. A player who probably was not at the top of his
group coming through the academy and maybe not as technically
gifted as some other players, but he went on to have a fantastic
career at Everton. He knew exactly what his strengths and
weaknesses were and played to them. Hibbo spent his entire
career at Everton playing in over 300 games and was a cult hero
among the fans. Tony is a fantastic example.
Your record at Norwich while caretaker manager
was very impressive played 10 W5 D2 L 3. Was you
disappointed not to get the job or was it something
you did not want.
I really enjoyed my time at Norwich, particularly the period when I
was caretaker manager. This was initially on a game by game
basis, before I was asked to take the team for the remainder of
the season. At that stage we still had 5 or 6 games to play and I’m
proud to say we were unbeaten during those last games finishing
the season very strongly.
To ask if I was disappointed not to get the job, the answer would
be no because I never expected to offered the job. Norwich had a
plan to go in another direction which I fully understood from the
beginning and that was fine with me. I was never asked if I
wanted the job, but by the end of that season, if I had been
offered the job would I have taken it? 100% yes. They are a great
club run by lovely people.