Former Everton director of football Steve Walsh has “gone back to school” following his dismissal by the club at the end of last season, according to the Times.
The newspaper claim the man hired from Leicester City following their remarkable 2015-16 title triumph has enrolled on the FA’s Level 5 technical director course that runs for 20 months.
The Times report Walsh earned £1million-a-year during his two seasons in charge of recruitment at Everton.
OPINION
This is a surprising move by Walsh, given his lengthy service in the game, that began when he did his coaching badges in the 1970s. The man who has had senior scouting roles at Chelsea and Newcastle United is demonstrating a refreshing humility and also perhaps an acknowledgement that he is not going to get too many plum job offers without enhancing his skills. Traipsing around Europe attending seminars, listening and watching others, is a far cry from his role at Everton, where Walsh was charged with spending the multi millions of majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri and shaping Everton into a side capable of gatecrashing the top six. A series of flop and overpriced signings – including but not limited to Davy Klaassen, Gylfi Sigurdsson, Theo Walcott, Cenk Tosun, Nikola Vlasic and Michael Keane – left Everton with little choice but to give Walsh the boot. With a reputation that was sky-high in 2016 following the stunning finds of the likes of Riyad Mahrez, N’Golo Kante and company now wrecked, Walsh is now looking to rebuild it.