Hard work and solid foundations of values can take you a long way: Everton’s interim manager Leighton Baines

After a series of unimpressive results and consecutive losses, Everton decided to part ways with Sean Dyche as manager, with the Toffees hovering just over the relegation zone in the Premier League.

Club legend Leighton Baines, who moved into the interim role just hours before the third round FA Cup clash against Peterborough United, showed signs of promise with a 2-0 win on Thursday.

“I thought they understood that – we spoke to them before the game – losing managers and coaches isn’t what anyone wants, that normally means something hasn’t gone quite right, and that’s never on one person, it’s on a lot of people that are involved in it,” Baines said after the match.

READ | Amad signs new contract with Manchester United till 2030

“The players knew they had to try to show something in terms of a response to it, and they did. They tried to play with energy and do the right things, and they played against a team that likes to play a lot of football as well. It was a nice challenge.”

Baines, who initially grew up at Everton’s youth academy, featured 420 times for the club across 13 seasons, scoring 39 goals and assisting 63 more, primarily as a left-back.

He took up coaching shortly after retiring in 2020 and has impressed as the manager of the Toffees’ in the under-18 Premier League.

In an exclusive chat with Sportstar on the sidelines of an under-18 game a few months ago, Baines underlined the crux of his coaching philosophy.

“I never really stay away from the fact that hard work can get you a long way. So, if you do the right thing and you do it consistently enough, you can go a long way in football,” he said.

Baines’ Everton (U-18), after a lacklustre 2023-24 season, has turned heads in the Premier League North, beating Liverpool, Nottingham Forest and Derby County.

With 18 points from nine games, the side sits fourth in the standings below Manchester City, Manchester United and Derby.

Under Baines’ tutelage, Kean Wren, Braiden Graham, and Harrison Armstrong have impressed. Graham has wreaked havoc in the Premier League North, scoring nine goals in as many matches.

“I share (with them) my experience of playing when I was their age with boys who were more talented than me. Perhaps, then avert any career at all or perhaps did not have one that people thought they would,” Baines opined.

But at Goodison Park, the 40-year-old will have a squad quite opposite to that in the academy – one that has an average age of 27.9, the second-oldest squad in the Premier League (senior) at the moment.

In his first game in charge (of the senior team), his belief in youth development got a seal of approval when 17-year-old Armstrong assisted Beto in opening the scoring.

“I think having solid foundations in terms of your personal behaviour, values and consistency and if you have got talent and you can acquire talent as you go on, you deserve a chance,” he said.

Everton plays Aston Villa in the Premier League on Wednesday but Baines does not want to be too worked up about the game on his first day at office.

“Not too sure about that right now,” he said. “Things moved so quickly today. (I) definitely haven’t had time to think about what comes next just yet.”