Mentality separates wheat from the chaff
ONE of the biggest issues I faced as Everton manager was the sheer number of players on the books.
There were 97 players and just three teams. It was a massive barrier to any young player trying to prove they are good enough for the Premier League.
You basically had to loan them out because it was impossible to develop them properly within the club.
One of those we loaned out was Kieran Dowell, who had a very successful six months at Nottingham Forest.
Since then, however, the midfielder has failed to secure a permanent switch to Sheffield United and is now enduring a difficult loan spell at Derby where he barely gets off the bench.
The 22-year-old has made just one start and one substitute appearance since the final week of August, despite being fully fit.
People often talk about a player’s technical ability and say ‘Is he good enough for this level or that level?’
But let me tell you – it’s got nothing to do with ability. If you’re on the books at a Premier League football club, you’ve obviously got the ability.
A club like Everton, with all their scouting networks and expertise, would not sign any player who they thought was deficient in some way.
What matters is your mentality. Your dedication and desire. Is that lacking in Kieran? I don’t know.
But if you’re not living up to your potential, or you can’t show your skills on a regular basis, then there’s some kind of blockage in your mentality.
Take me, for instance. I can think of countless players I saw at Bolton who I thought were more talented than me.
Honesty
But they got cast aside while I ended up making it. That has to be down to my desire, my mentality and my understanding of who I was as a footballer.
From day one, I asked myself ‘What do I need to do to become a professional?’
I asked the coaches for honest advice. All of them said ‘Your strengths are this. Your weaknesses are this. So play to your strengths. Develop them. Work on your weaknesses but also realise your limitations and don’t try to be the kind of player you’re not.
‘Do that, and with the right mentality you’ll make a living in the game’.
At what level, you can never know. We all want to play at the top. But playing professionally is all any of us really aspire to.
A player like Kieran, whose Everton contract expires at the end of next season, needs to start asking those questions.
Competitive
Because, if a Premier League club loans a player out, they want one of two things: development to the extent that they are ready for the first team, or performances that attract buyers so they can recoup some of their outlay on wages and development.
If that player fails, the club have lost their investment and the player has potentially lost his career in the game.
It is in everyone’s interests that this talented young man starts to demonstrate the ability we all know he has.
But it must start with Kieran himself.