Newly-appointed Everton interim boss Scott Phelan met his players for the first time on Thursday, following Brian Sorensen’s shock sacking this week.
A difficult season has left the Toffees ninth and just four points above bottom-placed Liverpool and, despite a first home win at the weekend, Everton dismissed the Danish coach, who had been in charge since 2022.
Under-18s coach Phelan has stepped up on a temporary basis and, speaking at his first press conference since the appointment, admitted the last 24 hours had been emotional for players and staff.
'Emotional 24 hours' at Everton following Sorensen's shock sacking
Despite a first home win at Goodison Park against Aston Villa last weekend, the victory was just their third of the Women's Super League season, leaving much cause for concern.
“There's obviously been a lot of emotion in different ways over the last 24 hours or so,” Phelan said. “So it was important we had our first step of getting to know each other, introducing ourselves and then making the players understand what they can expect from us as a coaching staff, but also what we will expect from them moving forward.
“We just want to win games of football and become a winning team again. We should be doing a little bit better than maybe we have done over the course of the season. What I’ve seen in training today has encouraged me to suggest there are plenty of promising moments that could arrive between now and the end of the season.
“We want the team to be confident and play with freedom and bravery. And ultimately, we've told them to enjoy. The ambition is simply to win games of football and win more than we've been able to do so far this season.”
Phelan has longstanding ties to Everton, having previously been at the club as a youth player and young professional before returning to coaching role in the academy, experience he believes has set him up to take on this role at this pivotal time.
As well as positive signs on the training pitch, Phelan said there were encouraging signs off the pitch as well in terms of the players’ moods.
“Off the pitch and around the canteen, there's been plenty of happy, smiley faces,” he added. “And that is always a good indicator that maybe people have enjoyed what's happened today on the pitch.”
Everton travel to face London City Lionesses this weekend for Phelan’s first game in charge.
Asked to share a fun fact about himself, he laughed: “I'm not too sure if I'm a fun guy. But actually, if we get three points on Sunday, that will be fun.”
