Everton first team coach Paul Clement has hailed Everton’s fans and said he has 'never seen anything quite like' what they did during their relegation run-in.
Clement has had a decorated coaching career, assisting former Everton manager Carlo Ancelotti at Real Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain, Chelsea and Bayern Munich. He has also managed Derby County, Swansea City, Reading, Cercle Brugge before he arrived at Goodison Park as part of Frank Lampard’s coaching team in January.
But for Clement, despite his vast experience across football, he believes the support that Everton fans provided to the team is unrivalled. “I’ve never seen anything quite like it,” he told talkSPORT. “ I think it was about four home games out that they started it [the pre-match welcome of players] and it was some great scenes on the streets around Goodison Park in the build-up to that game.
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"They managed to not only sustain it but also drive it even bigger and bigger to the point where when we were arriving it was like hairs on the back of your next standing up, it was incredible. The part the fans played in us staying up was absolutely immense. It was incredible scenes after Crystal Palace, it was a wonderful evening that was really special.”
Clement also reflected on the run-in that saw the Toffees pick up 14 points from their final nine league games after picking up just six from Lampard’s first nine. He said: “ It was an amazing end to the season, I’ve enjoyed it thoroughly. It wasn’t easy, it was a tough ride I’ve got to say.
"In the four months we were there we had everything thrown at us from problems with injuries, tough runs of games, poor spells, issues with VAR that went against us but in the end we managed to get over the line. We all hoped we would’ve done it earlier but it just never seems to work like that in football. We were pushed to the end."
The game that secured Everton’s survival at home to Crystal Palace will be a night that Blues supporters will never forget. A remarkable comeback with second half goals from Michael Keane, Richarlison and Dominic Calvert-Lewin saw Lampard’s side turn around a two-goal deficit and for Clement, he couldn’t quite believe what he experienced.
He said: “I repeat that the fans were absolutely incredible but the players, when it came down to it, it's them on the field that has to deal with that pressure in high pressure situations and they did manage to deliver at the end.
“The feeling 2-0 down at half-time to Crystal Palace at home when you’re thinking ‘cor we’ve got to go to Arsenal next game’ and now you might be thinking we have to rely on other results. To turn that around in 45 minutes and score three goals with Calvert-Lewin’s header coming late, the stadium erupted. I’ve never experienced an atmosphere quite like it and I’ve experienced some quite good ones.”
During the last few months of the season, Everton adopted a pragmatic style of play in order to grind out results. However, Clement is excited for pre-season and the opportunity for himself and the rest of Lampard’s coaching team to stamp their authority on the club and develop a clear playing style.
He said: “We’ve got a week at the training ground then we’re heading out to America, we play Arsenal then we go up to play in Minnesota - looking forward to that trip.
“We really want a good pre-season, we went in in the middle of the season fighting fire, you don’t get to train how you want, implement ideas like you want, it was all about results as soon as possible. This [pre-season] will give us a little bit more time to instil the ideas the manager wants and we’ve got to improve in lots of areas. We’ve got five weeks to try and start that process."
