Everton coach Steve Stone details season ambitions at Goodison Park
Everton coach Steve Stone has insisted the club and the squad are targeting steady progress rather than simply trying to avoid relegation under Sean Dyche.
Having survived relegation by the skin of their teeth last season as they beat Bournemouth on the final day, Stone shared a desire to be progressive and to move the club further up the table.
This comes alongside his desire to set a winning culture at Everton, and with respect to the size of the club as they are aware they cannot simply aim to avoid relegation every year.
Speaking to Everton’s official website on 1 November, Stone shared: “The directive is the same [as last season], in terms of how we work, what we do and what we look to try to achieve every day.
“We want to build culture and an organisation. That’s always been the same whenever I’ve worked with [Ian] Woany [Dyche’s assistant manager] and the gaffer, even when we were at Burnley.
“But now we’re here and we fully understand this is a different entity… This is Everton Football Club, with the history, the huge fanbase and everything that comes with it – there is a different feel to it. The culture we want to bring here is consistent but with a recognition that it’s a foundation to keep it moving forward because you can’t just survive here.
“We’ve got to be progressive. We survived last year, now we want to progress this year and it’s moving it forward little bit by little bit. It takes time. It takes time for us to get the squad that we want and fully imprint the traits we want to see on the players on a consistent basis.
“It’s not just the players, either, it’s about taking everyone with us – all the staff around the building and something for the fans to get behind as well.”
An ambitious group
Stone is clearly ambitious, and his ambitions are shared by Woan and Dyche, with the coaching staff working hard to not only improve results but also to build a positive mentality with the players to push them further.
These comments came just days after Dominic Calvert-Lewin claimed he and the rest of the Everton squad are targeting a successful season in terms of silverware ahead of the Carabao Cup clash with Burnley on 1 November.
They are not the comments of a club that is desperately fighting to survive relegation and worried about where the next three points will come from, but more one of a culture of winning and putting in strong performances to best represent their badge.
The general mentality at Goodison Park right now is ambitious and forward-thinking, almost exactly the opposite of the concerning developments away from the footballing side of things, but the playing squad are doing their bit to distract fans from those concerns.
In other Everton news, Kieran Maguire has shared yet another worry about the 777 takeover.