Mark Pembridge

Former Blues midfielder Mark Pembridge enjoyed a winning return to Goodison in his role as Fulham U18s coach recently, and we grabbed a word with the 46-year-old on subjects including the Wales national side, trying to catch up with former teammates and inspiring the next generation of players

- Darren Griffiths

It’s a decent post-match quiz question.

‘From which club did Everton sign Mark Pembridge?’

Some go for Derby County, some for Sheffield Wednesday… but not many plump for Benfica.

But it was from the Portuguese giants that Walter Smith recruited the Wales international in 1999.

Pembridge went on to make 101 appearances for Everton and he was actually on the winning side at Goodison a couple of weeks ago when the Fulham Under-18s team that he coaches defeated the Young Blues 3-0.

“I’m enjoying the job, especially when we win!” he said after the game. “They say it’s all about development but we want to win as well. You know what you’re going to get when you play any Everton team. They were two competitive teams but we took our chances and we got a breakaway goal when they were chasing the game.”

The icing on the cake for Pembridge was obviously the fact that his boys put on a good show at Goodison

“It’s great for the kids to have the opportunity to play at a Premier League stadium and I always like coming back here,” he said. “I haven’t been back that often because it’s a bit difficult with the job I’m doing now but I do still keep an eye on Everton’s results. You’re looking good at the moment and hopefully you can get enough good results to get back into Europe next season. Obviously Lukaku’s goals are a massive bonus and there are a lot of good youngsters coming through as well.”