WE’RE LOONS... BUT NOT CRAZY
Adrian Heath’s Minnesota United have that nickname and the former Everton striker’s team is on the brink of winning the MLS crown
ADRIAN HEATH laughs knowingly when asked about his club Minnesota United’s nickname.
“No, the word doesn’t have the same meaning over here,” he said. “But I’ve told them to google Pat Van Den Hauwe and some of his tackles, they’d see a different interpretation completely. He was the original loon... that was his nickname at Everton.”
The MLS club are the Loons not because it was a mad venture to set up a franchise in the city of St Paul, where temperatures can reach minus 40 in winter, but because that is the name of the state bird of Minnesota.
But it is undoubtedly just a little bit crazy what Heath has achieved in his four years at the US team he helped get off the ground.
From “coming into the league a year early” – as their manager admits – to having a chance to be champions this season, it is a remarkable story for the little man with the big heart who is still so fondly remembered as Inchy by Everton’s faithful.
Minnesota, who face Sporting Kansas
City in the Western Conference semi-final tomorrow night, stand just two wins away from an MLS final that seemed impossible when the club was born four years ago.
It was a proud moment for Heath when his team defeated Colorado Rapids 3-0 in the first play- off round. “We played teams who had spent $ 30- 40mil lion on players, while we had to concentrate on building a stadium worth $ 2 5 0m (£186m) , and a franchise that is now worth $300m,” he said. “So what we have achieved in that time, well, it’s a remarkable story. We made the play- offs last year, and it was crazy because we handled LA Galaxy and Zlatan Ibrahimovic really well, but we gave away a couple of soft late goals to go out.
“This year, though, we are here for the first time with a team that can match any side. We go to Kansas City knowing they are tough opponents, but we go there for the first time with a side who can win there. It has been a process. It has taken us four years and, if we get three more players in the off-season, we will be more competitive again.”
Heath, who played for Everton for six seasons from 1982, would love to finish his career in America, especially when he looks at his old club and realises managers here get so little time to succeed. “Everton are my club, always will be, and I get the passion of the fans and the success they crave. Everybody wants it, no more than me,” he s a id. “I watch every game, and I’m desperate for them to do well. well But I can see that it can’t happen overnight. Football isn’t like that. You have to develop. “I hate to use other clubs as a yardstick, but look at Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool, how long did it take him? The best part of four years.
“But in England now, in European football, it’s so instant. Look at what’s happening to Neil Lennon after all he’s done at Celtic. In the States, you get more time. And I’d love this to be the last club I managed, because it will mean the plan worked.” Heath, 59, has a one-word message for those Everton fans who are unhappy with the club’s slump in recent weeks – patience. “They have a manager in Carlo Anceget lotti who has proved wherever he has been that he is capable of delivering, that he is capable of winning,” he said. “So be more patient with this guy. He won’t turn it around in six months. They’ve waited an awful long time to get a manager like that, so have patience.”
Heath ( in his Goodison pomp, top left) wants to bring continued success to Minnesota and he will do it by tapping into the knowledge he gained from all the managers he played under, most notably Howard Kendall.
“Howard was one of the greatest man-managers there has ever been,” he said.
“While football has changed, the human element will always remain. Those relationships with the players, that human touch with the players, is vital.
“You can have all the tactical knowledge, but you still need that.”
‘In Carlo Ancelotti, Everton have a man who has delivered wherever he’s been’