Use your head and sign up now for the Everton FC newsletter Sign up now Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

Even from 4,500 miles away, Everton continue to dominate Tim Howard’s Saturday routine.

Instead of a shiver down the spine whilst waiting in the Goodison Park tunnel as the first notes of Z Cars chime, there is a 7am alarm call for a trans-Atlantic broadcast of the Premier League.

Nine months on from the last of Howard’s 329 games in an Everton shirt , there is a hint of melancholy from the goalkeeper that his contribution towards his former club is limited to a watching brief.

“I miss Everton and I miss my team-mates,” he admits in a Los Angeles conference centre, as he takes questions on next month’s start to the new MLS season.

“When I watch them every Saturday, that’s what stands outs to me. I miss walking down that tunnel.”

Although Howard spent three years at Old Trafford and is now plying his trade for Colorado Rapids, he leaves little doubt that he regards Everton as ‘his club’.

The sentiments in the farewell letter at the end of last season that Everton would “forever be in my heart” were the feelings of a genuine bluenose.

Ross Barkley, Phil Jagielka and John Stones are among the former team-mates that he speaks to on a regular basis.

When an American journalist asks him to describe the Merseyside derby, he shakes his head in tandem with a remark of “incredible”.

He elaborates: “You work with people and the city is split blue and red. There’s so many internal rivalries. It’s special.”

But despite the pang of happy memories from a decade at Goodison, Howard is not regretful over his decision to join Colorado last summer.

“I feel so challenged here, that’s kind of what I was hoping for - to be part of a franchise that was desperate to win another MLS Cup,” he said.

“I’m focused and committed. It’s sustaining me in ways that I hoped it would.

“Look, Everton was my life. I left MLS when I was a kid at 23 and spent my entire adult life there so of course there’s going to be things I miss about being there.

“But it was time. It was time for a change.”

As one of the figureheads of ‘soccer’ in America, Howard’s decision was understandable. He followed in the footsteps of several of his USA team-mates who have returned to the MLS after lengthy spells in European football.

In a league where the majority of clubs spend their wage allocations on strikers and midfielders, Colorado reaped the rewards from investing in a quality stopper after boasting the best defensive record in the country.

The Rapids reached the final of the Western Conference in the end-of-season play-offs, with Howard the hero in the semi-final penalty shoot-out victory over glamour boys LA Galaxy.

“To be honest, it was easy [to adapt],” said the 37-year-old.

Video Loading Video Unavailable Click to play Tap to play The video will start in 8 Cancel Play now

“It was really smooth. I was excited for it and it was a new challenge for me.

“I was so excited to be back playing in the MLS. I understood what was in front of me, so it wasn’t a struggle at all.”

However, Howard paid a price for his semi-final heroics against Galaxy. He missed both legs of the final against Seattle Sounders due to a hip injury which had been troubling him for several weeks.

The issue stemmed from going straight into MLS action after the end of last season at Everton - leaving him with a gruelling 18-month long campaign that eventually took its toll.

“I think the injury was caused by the length of season,” he said.

“Any time you transfer from Europe or MLS, you have an 18-month season.

“I had it on my return to Colorado. I needed to get through three more weeks and I hoping to get that far, but I couldn’t.

“The lay-off has been needed. There’s not a lot of time [before the start of the season] but I’m feeling stronger.”

When Howard has been speaking to the likes of Jagielka and Barkley, along with former MLS opponents Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard, the inevitable discussion over the standard of football in America has cropped up.

It had been 13 years since Howard kicked a ball in his homeland and he expected a vastly-improved level of competition on his return.

MLS clubs are generally attempting to move away from ageing signings such as Gerrard, Lampard and David Beckham and looking to recruit hungry players earlier in their careers, particularly from South America, where there are bargains to be found in the cash-strapped Mexican and Argentine leagues.

Howard said: “I thought that tactically the league would be really good, but technically it would be down. I found it to be the opposite.

“Tactically each team needed some work, which I thought was a good thing if we could get the Rapids organised. That was true.

“We’ve got to a point now where people are no longer looking at MLS as a retirement league. Players are coming here to work, to perform, to be a part of a culture. That’s a good thing.

“MLS has gone away from getting any player. They are getting players who are committed and rightfully so.”

Howard has another three years left to run on his Colorado contract to experience further improvements to MLS, by which time he’ll have turned 40.

If that signals the end of his career, then could he return to Merseyside and take up a non-playing role at Everton?

“No, I’m going to be in Memphis, Tennessee, until my kids go to college at least!” he added.

“But I’ll always be an ambassador for the club, whether it’s in an official capacity or not.

“Everton is my club.”