Seamus Coleman’s love for Everton is unrivalled in football according to James Tarkowski.
The centre back described the passion Coleman has for the Blues as he discussed the loss of the club captain for the rest of the season due to injury, revealing: “I have never seen a player love a club as much as Seamus loves this club.”
While Coleman has spent 14 years at Everton, Tarkowski is coming to the end of just his first season on Merseyside. Although it will conclude in a relegation battle he said he had no regret at moving to Goodison Park.
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Coleman was carried off on a stretcher after suffering ligament damage in a clumsy challenge by Boubakary Soumare at Leicester City on Monday. It was a sickening moment for a player crucial to Everton’s survival hopes. Tarkowski was among the players trying to gauge the extent of the damage, asking club physios for information at the time.
Despite his agony, Coleman sought to rally the travelling Blues from his stretcher - much to the surprise of his teammates. Tarkowski said: “That tells you everything about Seamus. When I first turned to see it I thought he was shouting at the lad who tackled him, it was only when I heard our fans start to cheer that I realised what he was actually doing. I haven't seen that before but it just epitomises what Seamus is like and his love for this club.”
The injury is set to keep the 34-year-old from playing a role in the final four games. Tarkowski, like Sean Dyche, is convinced Coleman - who was credited with playing an important part behind the scenes in Everton’s escape from relegation last season - will still be influential. He said: “Seamus is such a good leader and a good captain, he is a great talker in the dressing room, so he will be a big miss in that aspect. That puts a bit more demand on the other lads to start talking and taking that ownership. When he speaks everyone listens, his love for this club is unrivalled. I have never seen a player love a club as much as Seamus loves this club, so the passion, you really feel it when he speaks about the team and the club and he only wants the best for Everton. He puts the club ahead of himself at all costs. He will be a miss, but I am sure he will be about.”
Everton will need every possible boost in the club’s survival battle and Coleman’s off-the-pitch support will be valuable, as will the backing of fans who have showcased such determined passion to try and rally the club this season. Another area Tarkowski hopes will strengthen Everton’s cause is Dyche. He said: “I think he proved at Burnley, where he had a team with quite a small budget and were expected to go down at the start of every season. He kept them in the league and he has a history of doing that.”
Tarkowski saw plenty of Dyche in action while the pair were at Burnley. Dyche departed Turf Moor last year, just before the end of a season that ended in Premier League relegation. The defender left for Merseyside in the summer only to now be embroiled in another battle against the drop. Asked if there were lessons from his experience last season that he could take into this campaign, he said: “Not panicking too much and becoming too obsessed with other teams and what their results are and just trying to focus on us. I have said it for the last few weeks really - if we do our job, we haven’t got to concern ourselves with what other teams are doing. I don't think we should be looking at other teams hoping they will do us a favour, if it happens that way, fair enough. But we have to focus on ourselves more than anything.”
While Everton have struggled, Burnley have bounced back into the top flight under the direction of former Manchester City defender Vincent Kompany. Tarkowski went to Turf Moor shortly after promotion was confirmed after being invited to catch up with old acquaintances. Does any part of him wish he had stayed in Lancashire? For Tarkowski, who was out of contract last summer and convinced his time there was over regardless of how the season ended, the answer is clear: “My focus is completely on Everton and I don't regret joining this club, for sure.”
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