When it first came across his desk about a year ago, John Curtis thought the project sounded interesting. Everton FC, a club not unfamiliar with pumping out top-shelf talent in the English Premier League, had opened up a relationship with a single sanctioned club in the United States. Everton America CT.

The club, based in Norwalk, Conn., had an opening for a technical director. Curtis, a former professional in England and Australia, phoned Ray Hall, who coached Curtis with the England U15 team in the 90’s and operated as Everton’s academy director for years. As Everton’s official international ambassador, Curtis loaded up some questions for his former boss. 

“Ray, what is it? Is it legitimate? Is it a proper club or just some guys calling themselves Everton?”

Hall’s response? Yes, it’s legitimate. Yes, it’s a proper club. And you’d be perfect for the job.

The rest is pleasant hindsight. Curtis has been the technical director for Everton America CT for the past year, and he’s seen the club expand in myriad ways, namely from one of many Everton club satellites in the U.S. to the only officially sanctioned club by Everton in the entire country. That brings with it perks like Everton’s Elite Player Performance Plan, a training regimen recently given the highest grade by Premier League auditors in Liverpool. They use the same training plan with the U.S. club.

Curtis got his start as a highly-touted defender in the Manchester United system, even coming on as a sub in the first leg of an eventual 1995 FA Youth Cup final victory over Spurs. When Curtis came on in the 69th minute that day, he slotted in next to Phil Neville, who enjoyed an enduringly successful pro career and now sits beside David Moyes on the Manchester United senior team bench as a coach. Curtis earned United’s Young Player of the Year distinction in 1997 to join players like Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs on the mantle.

Curtis bounced around to 11 different clubs in England after leaving United in 2000. He finished his pro career in Australia with Gold Coast United in 2011 before turning to coaching. Now, as the director of Everton’s American development arm, Curtis oversees the developmental progress of nearly 800 players in New England. The club was founded in 2003 under different auspices and partnered with Everton in 2007. When Everton decided to shuck the rest of its partnerships due to some clubs failing to live up to its standards, Everton America CT was the only one left standing.

Ever since, Everton America harbored hopes of becoming one of the nation’s top youth talent producers. That directive includes sending talented players back to Liverpool versed in ‘The Everton Way’ to help cut out the international middleman. To that end the club has arms in both U.S. Club Soccer’s National Premier League and the USSF’s Development Academy. About a year ago, Everton America CT announced its partnership with academy side FC Westchester to create Everton FC Westchester. That mash-up provided Everton with a route into the academy in addition to its already functioning NPL apparatus.

In addition to its academy duties, the club is one of the most competitive NPL sides across the board. Within its New York Club Soccer League, the club has begun to turn the wheels of productivity at the root level with its developmentally important U12 and U13 sides. Its U12 side tops its 13-team NYCSL group through 12 games this season with 34 points, six clear of No. 2. Its U13 side is fifth with 21 points through the same amount of games.

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The club also has teams competing all the way to the U18 level in the NPL in addition to U14, U16 and U18 sides in the academy. As far as the club is concerned, Curtis believes the talent on offer is on the rise. A micro example the club can tout this month is Jack Blattman, who currently plays for the Everton America CT ’96 NPL side. He was recently named the Connecticut state prep player of the year after scoring 41 goals and providing 14 assists for King School in 2013. 

For Curtis, the last year offered valuable insight into the unique challenges of corralling proper talent in a fertile but dauntingly expansive environment for development. Everton America CT hopes to propel players on to the professional level, and doing that Stateside presents a few exclusively American hurdles.

“It’s not the ability of the kids or even the desire of the kids these days,” Curtis said. “It’s just the access to elite-level coaching, to high-level competition. That’s the biggest thing that stops the guys progressing. The best U.S. center forward could live in California, the best U.S. center half could play in Massachusetts, and the two never get to play against each other.” 

Everton America CT hasn’t yet sent back a player who’s made it into the bloodstream of the Liverpool setup, but Curtis sees the process as a slow march toward the golden shores of holistic development. In that sense, the NPL has been an invaluable resource for the program. Indeed, the NPL has allowed the club to push back against the nation’s expansive geographical headaches by gathering a number of elite club players into one pool to alleviate the travel burden and beef up the quality of play on offer. 

Curtis also pointed to U.S. Club Soccer’s “bourgeoning” Player Development Programs, which allow for localized, concentrated scouting events attended by U.S. Soccer, among others.

“Certainly in our area, what it does is it pulls quality players together, so it mitigates the problems about the best players not playing against each other,” Curtis said. “In our NPL, there’s a little bit of travel, but our furthest trip is to Princeton in New Jersey, so it’s probably a two and a half to three hour drive. But I think it’s the concentration of the quality players, allowing good players to play against each other. I think that’s the big thing.”

Curtis’ transition has been fraught with the bumps typical of a move abroad, but since settling into his new role the club has begun to take strides as a premier player on the national elite club stage. In fact, Curtis was recently profiled by Premier League World, a English television program that covers the EPL. That includes former players who’ve moved on to big things after leaving the professional game.

The Everton Way in America? Curtis certainly hopes so.

“It’s tough at first, but I’ve moved around a lot,” Curtis said. “I finished my playing career in Australia as a lot of players do, tend to go abroad to finish your career. I went to Australia and I coached in Italy, so as a professional player its a transient lifestyle. So in reality I don’t know anything other than what I’m doing. Call my a gypsy, but that’s the nature of the game. The U.S. is very easy as an English guy to make yourself feel at home. It’s been great.”