Everton boss looks to recruit coach Round

Jun 27 2008 by Mark Douglas, The Journal

NEWCASTLE United are set to lose a key member of Kevin Keegan’s backroom staff after Everton made a formal approach to take first-team coach Steve Round to Goodison Park.

Round’s future at St James’s Park has been uncertain all summer and with his contract believed to have expired this month, Everton have now made their long-anticipated approach to United with a view to appointing him as David Moyes’ assistant.

Although the club may be tempted to resist Everton’s bid to take the well-regarded 37-year-old, Round is expected to leave Tyneside for a guaranteed role as number two to Moyes at Goodison Park.

The former Middlesbrough coach has been waiting to be offered a new deal at St James’s Park since January, and the lack of progress on a new contract has been interpreted in some quarters as a willingness inside the club’s hierarchy to let Round depart. And while Keegan is believed to have been impressed by Round’s work since he inherited the coach first appointed under Sam Allardyce’s stewardship, he will understand the appeal of effectively being offered a promotion by a club who will be playing Uefa Cup football next season.

Everton will also appeal because Round enjoys good relationships with several of their first-team players – including Phil Neville and Joleon Lescott – after working with them at England, while he also worked with Yakubu when the pair were at Derby. News of Everton’s approach will see further unwanted upheaval behind the scenes for Keegan, but with Round’s future uncertain for most of the summer the Newcastle manager is sure to have contingency plans in place in the event of his first-team coach departing.

Round – who forged his reputation working under Steve McClaren at Derby, Middlesbrough and England – joined Newcastle in July 2007 as Allardyce’s most high-profile coaching appointment. And while

most of the men brought in under the former manager have since departed, he was kept on.

Everton have been linked with a move for Round ever since Moyes’ former lieutenant Alan Irvine left the club to take the manager’s job at Preston in November, so their move comes as little surprise. As recently as last month, Moyes was emphasising the need to bring in an experienced number two to help him share the burden. “It was disappointing to see Alan go. He was a good man as well as a good assistant manager. I will make an appointment in the summer and maybe it will be more than one,” the Everton manager said.

Moyes is yet to sign an extension to his own contract, but progress is anticipated on that front when he returns from holiday next week.

And with most Premier League clubs expecting their players to return for pre-season training in the first weeks of July, Moyes has wasted little time sanctioning an appointment.

Round has a growing reputation in the game as a progressive coach and his status has also been monitored by Chelsea, who are looking to make appointments to Luiz Felipe Scolari’s backroom staff. But while the Blues showed interest, it is Everton who have made the first move – paving the way for the departure of a man who was hired on Allardyce’s recommendation.

Meanwhile, Newcastle have won the race to sign highly-rated schoolboy striker Aaron Spear from Plymouth. United faced competition from Arsenal and Everton for the 15-year-old, who is one of British football’s most coveted teenagers after impressing in the Argyle youth set-up.

But Spear’s mother Caroline has confirmed her son will be joining United after holding a meeting with executive director (football) Dennis Wise.

“Aaron has agreed to join Newcastle and now we are waiting on the two clubs to agree a fee,” she said. “We spent a couple of days up in Newcastle and met with Dennis Wise and we were very impressed by what he had to offer.”