Marco Silva wants to restore Everton’s pride

Marco Silva wants his reign to make Everton fans proud again.

Silva made his first media appearance as Blues manager on Monday after being installed as Sam Allardyce’s successor at the end of last month.

The Portuguese coach and new director of football Marcel Brands have been charged with the task of reviving fortunes after a dismal season at Goodison Park.

Allardyce steered Everton to an eighth-place finish as Ronald Koeman’s mid-season replacement but his style of play failed to win over supporters.

Silva has already set his sights on bridging the current disparity between the dugout and the Goodison faithful in his mission statement.

He said: “First, the only thing that is important is to make our fans be proud of our team.

“This is really important for me to build a strong connection between the team and them.

“I know because I felt when I played here [at Goodison Park] the last two seasons is the fantastic atmosphere here, they push the team, they are demanding.

“It’s easy to understand why, the demanding fans reflects how big is the club [and] I felt that. We need to give them some good feelings as well.

“I’m sure if they feel if we are doing everything, every single match then they will be proud of us and after. It’s a matter of taking the results.”

Watford are yet to reach a settlement with Everton over their previous pursuit of Silva, which was sited in his January departure from Vicarage Road.

But the 40-year-old refused to be drawn on the current stand-off between the clubs.

“I don’t want to talk about the past really,” insisted Silva.

“I have great respect for the other clubs I have worked for. I’m really happy to be here to talk with you about the present and the future, and not to talk about the past.

“Now it’s the next step and new page in my work and it’s a moment to look forward.

”I know what is my behaviour every day, and I know what Everton did as well, what Watford did. Really it’s not important.”