Ian Evatt has returned to Blackpool has the club’s new head coach this week.
New Blackpool boss Ian Evatt states he’s taken influence from all of the managers he worked under during his playing career.
After being a central defensive figure for the Seasiders between 2006 and 2013, the 43-year-old returned to Bloomfield Road as head coach earlier this week - penning a contract until June 2028.
During his past stint with on the Fylde Coast, Evatt won two promotions during a successful period on the field for the club.
The first was via the League One play-offs under Simon Grayson in 2007, courtesy of a 2-0 play-off final victory over Yeovil Town at Wembley.
An even bigger success would follow a few years later.
Following Grayson’s move to Leeds United, Evatt’s former QPR coach Ian Holloway joined Blackpool - and would lead the club to the Premier League in 2010.
Learning from different managers
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Simon Grayson | Getty Images
The new Seasiders boss admits a lot of the things he learned from his ex-managers remain relevant now.
“This is quite topical at the moment, because I don’t think the game has ever changed,” he said.
“The game is the game. Obviously the terminology has changed, but the ideology hasn’t.
“As a player, you pick up things from the different managers you work under - the things you didn’t like and the things you did like, and put that together in your mind for the way you want to work.
“I have taken things from all of the managers I’ve worked under.
“Obviously Ollie (Ian Holloway) was a different breed - he taught me the importance of culture and mentality more than any other coach.
“If you can have that togetherness then magical things can be achieved. If we can create that somehow and row the same boat, then we can do brilliant things.
“On top of that, if we can start adding the modern ideology and some of the tactical detail I believe I can bring to the table then we can achieve really good things together.”
Building a culture
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Ian Evatt | Blackpool FC
Evatt admits alongside getting his football principles across to the current squad, he’s also determined to shape the right culture for everyone connected to the club.
“It’s a hard thing, and it’s a hard thing in the modern world because I think it’s a societal problem,” he added.
“We’ve become very selfish in our thought processes and mindset. There’s a lot more ‘me’ rather than ‘we’ and we need to flip and understand our responsibility of what we are to this football club.
“We’re custodians and we need to leave it in a much better place than what we found it. Once you get that togetherness, then you can feel it, and it gives you a sense of being indestructible.
“If you can add in the more technical bits then the world’s your oyster. My job is to sell that to the players and make them understand it.
“I understand what the club is and what that badge means to the town and the community - I have to get that across to the players.
“I also can’t keep talking to them about the past, I’ve got to make sure they understand what it means, but I want them to understand what they can create and to be excited by that.
“They’re the ones who’ll be discussed 10 years down the line. They have that opportunity and hopefully they’ll take it.”
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