11-12-2023, 01:09 PM
...continued...
Yet Evatt, still only 42 but now the 10th longest-serving manager in England, says no one has shaped his ideas or philosophy quite like Guardiola. “Pep has been the biggest influence because, for me, he’s changed the game,” Evatt explains. “But it’s not about trying to recreate what Man City are, it’s about taking that information and applying it to your own team. As coaches, you’re like a magpie. You take little bits from everyone and implement that into your own ideas and philosophies. What I love about Pep is he’s constantly evolving. Every season there’s something different because he’s always trying to get better and I think that’s the mindset you have to have.”
Evatt contributed to a recent documentary about how Guardiola has helped to reshape thinking in English football and, while he is yet to meet the man himself, he hopes to “one day get City in a cup tie or get to where he is and I can ask him the questions I have”.
‘A chip on the shoulder’
On the subject of documentaries, the latest episode of the “Born to be a Wanderer” series charting the club’s reawakening aired on Sunday and, when you think that there has been a turnover of well over 100 players since Evatt first stepped foot into the club 3-and-a-half years ago, the playing identity he has forged is remarkable.
Evatt had sifted through literally hundreds of CVs when Bolton were searching for a new recruitment chief in those early days of his reign and rejected all of them. They were all of the “old school football” variety, as Evatt puts it. But a meeting with Markham, then the Football Association’s head of insights, changed everything and together they have formed a potent alliance. Data-led performance and recruitment analysis was non-existent at Bolton before Markham came on board and helped to spearhead a revolution at the club.
Evatt’s feel for an individual aligned to data-informed recruitment has been a winning combination. Take centre forward Dion Charles, signed from Accrington Stanley and Bolton’s top scorer who is hoping to become the club’s first player since John McGinley in 1996-97 to score 30 goals in a campaign. The data showed Charles’ pressing and work off the ball would sit perfectly with Evatt’s needs but, on a personal level, the manager was struck by his “desire and hunger”. “There’s almost a chip on his shoulder,” Evatt said. “Because he’s had that non-league journey, he had a point to prove. He’s just so aggressive with everything he does.”
Much like Jamie Vardy was? “Exactly that, really similar,” Evatt adds. “I remember as a Blackpool player drawing Fleetwood in the FA Cup when they were a non-league team and Jamie Vardy was playing in that game for them. It was a local derby and I’d bumped into Vardy in Blackpool town centre beforehand and he was so brash.
“I was a Premier League/Championship player at the time and he came up to me and said, ‘I can’t wait to run in behind you next week’. Dion has that same attitude - no fear.”
Evatt made 230 appearances for Blackpool during his playing career Credit: PA Wire/Chris Young
Three players have been with Evatt from the beginning - Santos, fellow defender Gethin Jones and midfielder George Thomason - and all have been central to the culture the manager has strived to create. Santos’ story is typical of Bolton’s resurgence. “He’ll admit himself, he was about three weeks away from being an Amazon driver in the pandemic,” Evatt says. “We took a chance on him, brought him up and he’s just progressed so much.”
Evatt encourages his players to stay off social media, which he describes as a “toxic mess”. “I’ve had adversity myself,” he says. “I’ve evolved as a person throughout my years and I dread to think what I’d have been like with social media in my playing days.”
Yet Evatt, still only 42 but now the 10th longest-serving manager in England, says no one has shaped his ideas or philosophy quite like Guardiola. “Pep has been the biggest influence because, for me, he’s changed the game,” Evatt explains. “But it’s not about trying to recreate what Man City are, it’s about taking that information and applying it to your own team. As coaches, you’re like a magpie. You take little bits from everyone and implement that into your own ideas and philosophies. What I love about Pep is he’s constantly evolving. Every season there’s something different because he’s always trying to get better and I think that’s the mindset you have to have.”
Evatt contributed to a recent documentary about how Guardiola has helped to reshape thinking in English football and, while he is yet to meet the man himself, he hopes to “one day get City in a cup tie or get to where he is and I can ask him the questions I have”.
‘A chip on the shoulder’
On the subject of documentaries, the latest episode of the “Born to be a Wanderer” series charting the club’s reawakening aired on Sunday and, when you think that there has been a turnover of well over 100 players since Evatt first stepped foot into the club 3-and-a-half years ago, the playing identity he has forged is remarkable.
Evatt had sifted through literally hundreds of CVs when Bolton were searching for a new recruitment chief in those early days of his reign and rejected all of them. They were all of the “old school football” variety, as Evatt puts it. But a meeting with Markham, then the Football Association’s head of insights, changed everything and together they have formed a potent alliance. Data-led performance and recruitment analysis was non-existent at Bolton before Markham came on board and helped to spearhead a revolution at the club.
Evatt’s feel for an individual aligned to data-informed recruitment has been a winning combination. Take centre forward Dion Charles, signed from Accrington Stanley and Bolton’s top scorer who is hoping to become the club’s first player since John McGinley in 1996-97 to score 30 goals in a campaign. The data showed Charles’ pressing and work off the ball would sit perfectly with Evatt’s needs but, on a personal level, the manager was struck by his “desire and hunger”. “There’s almost a chip on his shoulder,” Evatt said. “Because he’s had that non-league journey, he had a point to prove. He’s just so aggressive with everything he does.”
Much like Jamie Vardy was? “Exactly that, really similar,” Evatt adds. “I remember as a Blackpool player drawing Fleetwood in the FA Cup when they were a non-league team and Jamie Vardy was playing in that game for them. It was a local derby and I’d bumped into Vardy in Blackpool town centre beforehand and he was so brash.
“I was a Premier League/Championship player at the time and he came up to me and said, ‘I can’t wait to run in behind you next week’. Dion has that same attitude - no fear.”
Evatt made 230 appearances for Blackpool during his playing career Credit: PA Wire/Chris Young
Three players have been with Evatt from the beginning - Santos, fellow defender Gethin Jones and midfielder George Thomason - and all have been central to the culture the manager has strived to create. Santos’ story is typical of Bolton’s resurgence. “He’ll admit himself, he was about three weeks away from being an Amazon driver in the pandemic,” Evatt says. “We took a chance on him, brought him up and he’s just progressed so much.”
Evatt encourages his players to stay off social media, which he describes as a “toxic mess”. “I’ve had adversity myself,” he says. “I’ve evolved as a person throughout my years and I dread to think what I’d have been like with social media in my playing days.”