Tosh Farrell Soccer Magazine June 2020 | Page 17

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.