Everton continue development

Everton continue development

Premier League club reaps rewards from its Finch Farm academy and its association with Chang

English Premier League side Everton are chasing a Champions League spot and their impressive run may not be a surprise with a good coach in Roberto Martinez and one of the country’s best training facilities and academies.

Everton coach Roberto Martinez at a training session at Finch Farm.

Martinez guided Wigan to stun Manchester City in last season’s FA Cup final and has enhanced his reputation at Goodison Park.

Everton’s Finch Farm academy in the Halewood area of Liverpool was complete in September 2007.

Then manager David Moyes’s senior squad made their permanent switch from the club’s Bellefield facilities to Finch Farm a month later.

They were later joined by academy players and staff at the £14 million Finch Farm. It is rare for a club’s senior squad and an entire academy to be together in one location.

According to Everton officials, Finch Farm is one of the best football academies in England and has produced several fine players including Ross Barkley, one of the hottest properties in English football.

Chang beer may also have something to do with Everton’s rise this season. Chang and Everton are celebrating the 10th anniversary of their partnership.

Chang is one of Thailand’s products to sponsor an English Premier League club. Several Thai companies have since foollowed in its footsteps.

“Everton has enjoyed a special relationship with Chang for 10 years,” Everton CEO Robert Elstone told a group of Thai journalists who visited Finch Farm recently.

“We have grown to understand each other, delivered great work, achieved objectives and developed a truly great partnership — indeed a friendship — based on mutual trust, respect and affection.

“Chang is a business that has always provided great support, not just financially but also as a gateway to our fans in Thailand.

“Over the years, we have delivered some exciting, award-winning projects and with the same levels of creativity and commitment, I’m sure the years ahead will be as exciting off the field.”

Everton extended their sponsorship with Chang for another three years and Elstone said the club was proud to work with a ‘world-class organisation.’

“They, like us, are an organisation that only the best will do,” he said.

The extended sponsorship could be worth in excess of £16 million — the most lucrative in the club’s 136-year history.

In the meantime, Chang has tried to help young Thais to fulfil their dreams of becoming professional footballers. It has set up projects such as the Chang Everton Junior Cup which gives young players a chance to train at Everton.

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