Coffee with carlo ance lot ti on hold, but Scotwillieis on his way to wembley
There are few better places in English football to be working right now than Everton, who are enjoying their best-ever start to a Premier League season
But across the training pitches at Finch Farm, the women’s team are thriving, too, unbeaten in the Super League, and just a week away from appearing in the FA Cup Final at Wembley against Manchester City.
And it’s a Scotsman, Willie Kirk, who is masterminding their transformation.
In charge since December, 2018, his goal is the same as that of Carlo Ancelotti – to bring the glory days back to the blue half of Merseyside.
Kirk’s only problem has been not having the chance to tap into the mind of the Italian serial winner, who lifted the Champions League with AC Milan and Real Madrid.
“I’ve only had chance to chat to Carlo once,” Willie tells The Sunday Post.
“He came to watch a training session, and we had a catch up.
“We left it and Carlo said: ‘Pop in whenever you want for a coffee’. Then two weeks later, lockdown happened!
“It’s not gone the way I would have planned, as I would have loved to have picked his brains over a coffee once a month.
“To ensure social distancing, now at the training ground we’re at one corner of it, and the men are at the other.
“It’s the same thing with Duncan Ferguson. We saw each other quite a bit before lockdown, but it’s not happened since.
“That is frustrating because he is one person we could use for his experience of playing in big games, having won the FA Cup with Everton in 1995.”
The Toffees are sitting second in the Women’s Super League behind leaders Arsenal, but now focus can shift to Wembley next Sunday.
They are chasing their first piece of silverware since lifting the FA Cup in 2010, and Kirk cannot wait to lead his team out.
Despite growing up in West Calder, Willie’s soft spot for Yorkshire-born grandmother, Myra, saw him stick up for her in light-hearted EnglandScotland arguments.
“I’ve never been the most patriotic Scot, partly because my gran was English and she was my favourite,” he says.
“I always used to take her side when my grandad was having a go at her for being English, and the rest of the family were having a few cheap jibes.
“So when I think of Wembley, it’s not necessarily EnglandScotland games, more that it’s such an iconic stadium.
“But the FA Cup Final was always on TV growing up, and everyone would talk about the road to Wembley.”
Kirk had success in charge of Hibernian Ladies north of the border, winning the Scottish Cup a decade ago, but moving down to England, firstly to Bristol City in 2015, was a “no-brainer”.
“I wanted to move to England for a number of reasons,” Willie admits. “I could see what the FA was trying to build with the WSL.
“I had taken up the job at the SFA, but I quickly missed not having a team, and not preparing for a match.
“I never realised when I left my job at Hibs that I would miss it that much.
“I was going to matches to watch the players I had been working with during the week, but I wasn’t in control of them.
“It just wasn’t the same.”