At the start of the season Everton replaced fans favourite Roberto Martinez with a young, exciting new manager Michael Bowes. His plan was to carry on the philosophy Roberto started and play on the floor, passing, attractive football. He wanted to excite the fans that pay to watch his team play.
With a new manager coming in there was obviously going to be a few changes to the playing staff but no one expected the amount of change that was about to happen. The only first team members who survived the changes were highly rated Ross Barkley, Tom Cleverley, Bryan Oviedo & Muhamed Besic. Michael Bowes went about replacing everyone with his own set of players, building a team around the man who he rated extremely highly, the player who he thinks has the mental strength to hold the clubs hopes on his shoulders even at the age of 22, that man would be Ross Barkley. A massive 75 players were transferred in to Everton with 61 leaving.
With a top half finish the objective for Bowes and his back room staff, the manager might had been surprised to see his team finish 7th and grabbing the last play off spot. "With all the ins and outs we've made this year, a play off spot was definitely a rewarding thing for the club and the players, it shows were going in the right direction and where we want to end up in the next couple of seasons" Bowes explained. Sadly the club didn't make it past Portuguese side Porto who beat Everton 3-0 and eventually winning the play offs to made it into Division One. " They were the better side on the day, but we have a young squad who now have the experience of feeling what a play off feels like, playing a match with so much at stake and I'm sure this will spur them on for the new season to try and go one further" Bowes added.
End of the season means awards. Teams getting promoted and players winning trophies for there performances during the season. Everton's Ross Barkley being nominated for the Young player of the season echoed the thoughts for manager Michael Bowes on how important he is to the club. 12 goals, 14 assists in his 32 matches was an excellent return from someone who's so young. Ross went on to win the award and gave full credit to the manager, he added he's enjoying his football under Michael Bowes and is looking forward to the bright future the club has.
Ross Barkley with the young player of the year award
Top goal scorers
- 12 goals - Ross Barkley
- 10 goals - Eduardo Salvio
- 10 goals - Loic Remy
Top assists
- 14 assists - Ross Barkley
- 8 assists - Loic Remy
- 5 assists - Eduardo Salvio
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