David Unsworth hailed ‘unbelievable’ Morgan Feeney after Everton under-23s completed an unprecedented double at Goodison Park last Wednesday.
Feeney’s header secured a 1-0 victory over Newcastle United as the Bootle-born centre-back lifted the Premier League Cup just weeks after title glory at youth-team level.
Speaking to the ECHO about his emotions following cup success, Unsworth said: “I’m extremely proud. Extremely proud of the players and the staff.
“The players have been magnificent from July 1st. They’ve worked ever so hard and when you work hard you usually get your just reward. The players have been a credit to this football club.
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“We drill them very hard and spend a lot of time on their roles and responsibilities within the game and they all know their roles.”
Unsworth confirmed the club have secured new contracts for under-18 stars Joe Anderson, Einar Iversen and Ellis Simms ahead of the new campaign and admits a squad restructure is needed.
The former Everton caretaker manager, however, asserted not all of his players will be sold or farmed out on loan as he looks to rejuvenate.
“It will be another rebuild so I’ll tell you around January!” he laughed when asked how his outfit will look next term.
“We obviously can’t get rid of everybody otherwise we wouldn’t have a team but we’ll certainly be a lot younger than we were this year. We were already very young this year as well.”
Captain Feeney could be one of the players sent out to gain experience after another impressive campaign at U23 level.
Contracted until 2020, Unsworth recently revealed the centre-back had been playing through the pain barrier for most of the campaign.
“It’s a fitting end to a great season that the skipper scores at the Gwladys Street,” the manager added last week. “He’s been unbelievable. He leads by example.
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“He’s a great leader in the dressing room and off the pitch and you couldn’t meet a nicer boy and man, now. He’s not a boy anymore! I’m proud of him.”
