Tottenham Hotspur v Everton
FA Youth Cup, Fifth Round
15 February 2004

Gary Ablett started his professional career with Liverpool but enjoyed his most successful period during five seasons at Everton, helping them win The FA Cup in 1995.

Now he’s back at the club as Academy Coach, hoping his youngsters can emulate Everton’s proud tradition in The FA Youth Cup. They were winners in 1998 with the likes of Franny Jeffers and Michael Ball and reached the final of 2002 thanks largely to Wayne Rooney’s goals.

Ablett arrived back ‘home’ via New York City and he still can’t believe the circumstances he ended up at Goodison Park as a coach.

"I lived in New York for two years playing for a team called the Long Island Roughriders," he explains.

"The quality of life was fantastic and my children were speaking American-English.

"I was back home on holiday in 2002 when a couple of coaches spotted me by chance at an Everton match at Goodison. They asked what I was doing and soon after I went for a meeting where I was offered the chance of coaching the under-15s.

"It was a fantastic opportunity I couldn’t turn down. But I wonder what would’ve happened if I hadn’t got to that match. I might still be in New York!"

Instead of the Big Apple, Ablett will be at White Hart Lane on Tuesday night seeking FA Youth Cup progress. And the club have taken all their games in the competition seriously.

"We decided to travel down for our last match at Yeovil the day before and have an overnight stay rather than spend six or seven hours on a coach on the day of a game – we might not have made kick-off!" he says.

"I had already been down to watch Yeovil before the cup-tie. I had watched Charlton in the last round and we ended up winning so I didn’t have much choice but to carry on with the tradition, even if Yeovil was further to travel than I expected. London was easy in comparison to check on Spurs!"

Rooney first came to prominence in The FA Youth Cup when Everton were beaten by Aston Villa. Although it would be unfair to compare any of the current Goodison Park generation with the teenage prodigy, they have some decent players in their own right.

Under-19s full-back Danny Fox has already been on the bench for a first-team game, Academy defender Patrick Boyle has won Scotland caps for his age group, Laurence Wilson is a promising midfielder and FA Youth Cup skipper Mark Hughes is a leader at the back.

Ablett says the first-team’s lack of numbers can have advantages for his lads.

"We’ve had 16-year-olds in the reserves and although that can be very hard for them against rugged professionals, it is also a great learning curve.

"It’s a good environment for the boys. A few of the first team are a booking or two away from suspensions and they know they might get a chance of appearing in a first-team squad. Our jobs as Academy coaches is to make sure the boys are prepared.

"It’s a highlight of my job to coach a 15-year-old and see them develop, not only as footballers but as people as well."

Another advantage for Ablett is having a recent FA Youth Cup winner by his side. Mick O’Brien was skipper of the 1998 team but dropped out of the professional game after a spell at Torquay to be the kit man for the current youth cup side as well as doing some coaching of his own with the juniors.

"He is still only 24 and the younger players can relate to him so it’s a good situation," says Ablett.

Ablett says he remembers the 1995 FA Cup Final when Joe Royle’s Everton beat Manchester United 1-0 "like yesterday". How apt it would be if a decade later, he was able to play another major part in Everton silverware.