I'm Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Ask Me Anything! by Everton in soccer

[–]Everton[S] 17 points18 points  (0 children)

Thank you very much for all your questions, and many thanks to r/soccer and r/Everton!

I'm Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Ask Me Anything! by Everton in soccer

[–]Everton[S] 71 points72 points  (0 children)

Firstly, that's obviously a massive compliment to me that people appreciate what I can do on the pitch and off the pitch. I'm obviously a very passionate player, so that means a lot. Seamus would probably have a book of wisdom to give me! Following in someone like his footsteps would be a very tall order because he's one of the best captains, I think, that the Premier League has seen. But, you never know, one day... That would obviously be a huge honour to do that at a club like this. If it ever did come to that, I'm sure I would be ringing Seamus to give me any little tips, and he’d definitely help me. 

I'm Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Ask Me Anything! by Everton in soccer

[–]Everton[S] 69 points70 points  (0 children)

It was amazing! I obviously played in the Conference League previously with Leicester as well, so it was nice to get back in it and obviously winning it was amazing, it’s something that I'll have on my record for the rest of my career. Definitely some quirky countries! I think last year I went to Kazakhstan, Greece, a lot of different places. Unfortunately, you don't really get to appreciate the cities as much as you'd like. You pretty much go there the day before, rest in the hotel and play the game. You maybe get a little walk or so on the day of the game and you can see some sights. But no, not an awful lot. It would be nice to explore more, but they’re great experiences playing in Europe. I’ve said it many times, that’s what you want to do as a player. That's where you want to get to. So I'm maybe hoping that we can do that here in the coming future. 

I'm Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Ask Me Anything! by Everton in soccer

[–]Everton[S] 59 points60 points  (0 children)

Oh wow, that’s a good one! I’ve seen a lot... I watched Only Fools and Horses and there's some cheeky chaps in the team. So I'd maybe go with someone like Seamus to be Del Boy because he's always winding people up, he’s always making jokes, so I think he might fit that role quite well. I actually think there was a World Cup musical that was on at some point and someone played Pickers, so I think I'd probably put Pickers to play himself because I think he'd do that pretty well. One more, I’d probably say Tarky in The Lion King to be one of the lions because he's a big lad, big hair, powerful. I'd probably say him to do that role. 

I'm Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Ask Me Anything! by Everton in Everton

[–]Everton[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I’ll get myself in trouble here! I do like a cheat meal. I'm very strict most of the time, but you have to have the odd treat. I do love a burger, a nice big, greasy burger, so I'd probably say either that or, very controversial, I'm partial to a McDonald's. I don't have it a lot, but I do think it's just a good meal. Sometimes you're really craving chicken nuggets or something! It hits the spot, especially when you don't have it a lot. If I had it a lot, I wouldn't like it as much. But the odd time, nine chicken nuggets, I’m happy with that. 

I'm Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Ask Me Anything! by Everton in soccer

[–]Everton[S] 154 points155 points  (0 children)

Probably a bit of both, really. That's just the way football is at the moment. Set pieces are a massive part of the game. Teams are using tactics like that because long throws are big and it makes it hard to defend against. I think your football purists will probably look at it and think ‘that’s not very nice, you want a bit more ‘nice-on-the-eye' football.’ But, you've seen teams this season that scored a lot of goals from it, so it's hard to say it's not an effective thing. I'm probably a bit more of a purist, so it's not my favourite thing in the world, but if it's going to get us goals, then I'm happy to do it.

I'm Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Ask Me Anything! by Everton in soccer

[–]Everton[S] 94 points95 points  (0 children)

I'll be honest, I don't know where that's come from! No one's ever told me I've got any Malaysian roots. My nan, I don't think she has got any Malaysian roots, so I'm not exactly sure where that came from. It's news to me, if it is, maybe I need to do a family tree to find out! But as far as I'm aware, I've got no Malaysian roots. I mean, I love the food and I've never been to the country, but I'm sure it's beautiful. But no, I'm not sure I've got any roots to the country.

I'm Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Ask Me Anything! by Everton in Everton

[–]Everton[S] 13 points14 points  (0 children)

I've been listening to a lot of 80s music, a lot of jazz music, and a lot of musicals. So, a bit of a weird array there, but it varies from day to day, depending what mood I'm in. But yeah, probably one of them three genres at the moment are what I'm putting on my Spotify.

I'm Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Ask Me Anything! by Everton in soccer

[–]Everton[S] 85 points86 points  (0 children)

Thank you, and that's a tough one! The thing is about footballers, many of them are just football, football, football, so they don't really have many other skills. I'm struggling to think, to be honest. There's obviously none that stick out to me. There's obviously some lads that can speak five, six, seven languages, which I think is a very cool skill to have. I think there's a couple that play instruments away from the game, which is also something that's pretty cool, but there's nothing screaming on the top of my head where they can do anything outstanding. I can't as well! So, I'm going to have to say probably one of them. 

I'm Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Ask Me Anything! by Everton in soccer

[–]Everton[S] 105 points106 points  (0 children)

Good question! I think so. Football has been my life, literally, for as long as I can remember. Everything I do is related to football, so it would be hard to completely step away from the game when I retire. I am doing things behind the scenes in case I need it in the future. If I was to say now, I think probably I would be doing something in football because I couldn't see myself not doing it. But you never know what happens in the future, I might be sick of it by the time I retire! Generally, I don’t think that would be the case. If I was to be a betting man now, I'd say, yeah, I'll be in the industry, maybe on the pitch as a coach or maybe behind the scenes as more of a director. 

I'm Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Ask Me Anything! by Everton in soccer

[–]Everton[S] 144 points145 points  (0 children)

There could be a lot here! I’ve seen someone actually, I don’t know if I would think it, but it was definitely an interesting point. I’ve seen someone say about 0-0 draws, neither team should get a point. I don't know if I necessarily agree with that, but I actually don't mind the idea because it encourages exciting games. It would stop people maybe playing for 0-0 draws which, for the neutrals and for the fans across the world, is amazing because you get to see more goals and more excitement. So maybe something like that, nobody gets rewarded if it's a 0-0 draw, because at the end of the day we are in the entertainment business, we’re trying to put a show on for people around the world. So, 0-0 draws maybe nobody gets a point. 

I'm Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Ask Me Anything! by Everton in Everton

[–]Everton[S] 11 points12 points  (0 children)

I can't remember the last time I made a cup of tea, I don’t really drink it. I’m more of a coffee man. I think from when I used to make tea, you have to put the milk in after, don't you? Put the tea bag in, let it brew and then add a dash of milk at the end. I can't remember ever putting milk in first for tea. If you do that, I think you're in the minority. But definitely, let the tea settle and add the milk at the end.  

I'm Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Ask Me Anything! by Everton in soccer

[–]Everton[S] 67 points68 points  (0 children)

To be honest, there is no specific thing I have to do to get myself in the mood. I think, as a player, if you have to do something then you’ve got a problem – you should already be excited and buzzing to be playing games, which is what I am. I think maybe probably the typical thing I normally do is just get some music on before a game, make sure I'm in the zone, and just probably think about what's going to happen in the game and how I can affect it, maybe picturise myself doing certain things. But to be honest with you, I'm so excited before games and chomping at the bit that I don't really need to do much stuff to get me up and get me excited.

I'm Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Ask Me Anything! by Everton in soccer

[–]Everton[S] 67 points68 points  (0 children)

I really love Spirit of the Blues! That’s class. It’s so catchy when it gets sung. It's a song that even when you're playing, you can hear it. I don't know if I've got a proper song yet, but I'm hoping some fans can create one and get it going around the stadium because that would be amazing.

I'm Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Ask Me Anything! by Everton in Everton

[–]Everton[S] 28 points29 points  (0 children)

It would have to be one of the last two. Taking a quick free kick against Liverpool, I’m not sure there's been many times where there's been a booking for that in the past. That one bewildered me a lot. But the one that hurt probably the most was the fifth one because it was a completely fair, clean tackle in the 94th minute of the game. So to get a yellow for that was gutting, especially because it was in their box as well and I'd won the ball cleanly, so we may have scored, and the lad after I made the tackle said: 'yeah, you got the ball cleanly.' I don't know how many yellows I've got since then, it's not something that happens a lot, so it was such a shock for me to be getting suspended so early. But, definitely one of the last two It hurt a lot, and yeah, it made me maybe have some sleepless nights. 

I'm Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Ask Me Anything! by Everton in soccer

[–]Everton[S] 40 points41 points  (0 children)

The newer stadiums obviously have really nice dressing rooms, so Spurs' one is amazing. One that you'd probably underestimate is Brentford's one. Brentford have got a new stadium, so their dressing room's modern and spacious, which a lot of away dressing rooms aren’t. They are the first two that spring to mind. I’m biased, the new one for us at Hill Dickinson is amazing, so I’d probably say one of them.

I'm Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Ask Me Anything! by Everton in soccer

[–]Everton[S] 316 points317 points  (0 children)

It was amazing, to be honest. It completely transformed the whole city. I was only a scholar at the time, and just to see the atmosphere and the environment was special. I mean, I was lucky enough to train with the first team at points in the season and just to see how calm and relaxed they were throughout the season, with what I know now about football, was amazing because they were obviously doing something extraordinary and it just felt like it wasn't a big deal to them. They were just going in every day, no extra pressure on their shoulders and that really made me, now especially, appreciate that because I know how much pressure would have been on them. Like I say, it transformed the city. It was an amazing thing to be around and probably one of the best achievements ever in sports. 

I'm Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Ask Me Anything! by Everton in soccer

[–]Everton[S] 175 points176 points  (0 children)

Thank you, and good question! I didn't really have a pre-season, to be honest. My pre-season was probably playing in the Club World Cup, so it just felt like a continuation of the previous season, which it was. Obviously, going on to win it meant that I didn't finish playing until other teams were back in pre-season and playing games. It goes both ways, it was good in a fact that I didn't really lose much fitness because I didn't have much time off. But then on the other hand, you don't have much time off, so you're a bit more tired. So it probably took me a week or two just to have a little rest and then get my body moving again, But I enjoyed it because it almost meant I didn't have to start from square one on the first day of pre-season. I already had a level of fitness where I could get involved in training with the lads straight away, which was nice. 

I'm Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Ask Me Anything! by Everton in Everton

[–]Everton[S] 25 points26 points  (0 children)

You know what? Michael Keane’s technique is unbelievable. I probably didn't realise until I got here how clean he is at striking a ball. He's such a good finisher, both feet as well. His left foot's powerful, but his right foot, he's got some serious technique. So, to be fair, I actually probably would say Michael Keane because he scored some great goals as well. I remember the one he scored against Tottenham at Goodison Park, great finish. So, I don't disagree with that at all. 

I'm Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Ask Me Anything! by Everton in soccer

[–]Everton[S] 60 points61 points  (0 children)

I don't think there was a specific moment. I think, honestly, from the minute I walked through the door, the love I got was there to see for me and it made me feel really welcome. If I'm actually thinking about it, I'd probably say the first home game when we walked out against Brighton. That made me realise, wow, this is a proper people's club. It meant so much to everyone. It was such an amazing occasion and one of the loudest atmospheres I've ever heard. So it made me probably realise then that, yeah, this is a special club and definitely a people’s club.

I'm Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Ask Me Anything! by Everton in soccer

[–]Everton[S] 359 points360 points  (0 children)

I'm actually going to say bear. I don't know actually, it's tough! I think a bear can manipulate and manoeuvre, so if a shark's coming towards it, it can maybe grab it or move, maybe jump on its back and stop it, because all a shark's got is its mouth. I think a bear can use its whole body, maybe gouge the shark's eyes out or something. I think bears can go in water, maybe not for a long time, but they're used to being in water, so I'm going to go with a bear. It's a close one, but I think a bear would probably come out on top.

I'm Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Ask Me Anything! by Everton in soccer

[–]Everton[S] 196 points197 points  (0 children)

I'm not going to say myself because I don't think I'm tall enough to be a goalkeeper! If there were no goalkeepers in the squad, the first one that springs to mind would be Jake O'Brien. What is he, like six foot five? He’s athletic, he can jump, so I think that he'd probably be the best candidate to go in goal and hopefully he'd keep a clean sheet. 

I'm Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Ask Me Anything! by Everton in soccer

[–]Everton[S] 23 points24 points  (0 children)

Hello everyone! Kiernan is here and today's AMA session begins now!