Roberto Martinez planning long-term strategy at Everton
Everton manager Roberto Martinez says he is running the club as though he is going to be there ‘for the next 100 years’.
While winning a trophy remains high on Everton’s list of ambitions, Martinez is also aware of the importance of laying firm foundations at Goodison Park.
Over the summer he emphasised that stability by securing the services of several important first-team players to new, long-term contracts.
Martinez himself signed for five years in June, an example followed by highly-rated defenders Seamus Coleman and John Stones and England midfielder Ross Barkley, who penned a four-year extension.
Last season's loan stars Romelu Lukaku and Gareth Barry signed permanently for five and three years respectively and, back in January, England left-back Leighton Baines ended speculation about his future with a four-year deal.
Martinez, whose team begin their Premier League campaign with a trip to newly-promoted Leicester City on Saturday, hopes they will provide the solid platform to not only improve on their fifth-place finish last season but also for many seasons to come.
"You need to manage the club as if you are going to be here for the next 100 years and you need to make decisions in the younger age groups where you develop them even if you are not going to see them - although the club will eventually get the benefit," said Martinez.
"Every manager should work in that manner. You are not looking at the short-term doing everything and anything to win a trophy and then move on.
"I have never got satisfaction from that, I get satisfaction from trying to build clubs and philosophies that last.
"Whatever happens with the manager, for good or bad reasons, you want to have the long-term continuity and vision that is shared by everyone."
Martinez hopes his strategy at Everton will become a model that is adopted more widely in football, and that managers elsewhere are given the opportunities to implement their own long-term plans for their clubs.
"You need to understand we live in the fast lane,” he said. “There are people who are quite happy to move around and not have the all-round approach we had previously in football," said the Toffees boss, who takes his side to top-flight newcomers Leicester on Saturday.
"That affected players, managers and owners and the ownership in football is very different to 15 years ago in the way the position of the manager is viewed.
"If you don't get three or four results everyone expects a change but managers shouldn't be judged on that, it should be a longer exercise.
"I am very much old-fashioned in that respect as I get joy from setting plans for the long term.
"The youngsters are a big part. Working with them you are allowed to be a bit more brave and experiment more and you can try things because young players have the attitude of wanting to just enjoy themselves."
