Brands knows that he is facing his toughest task in football as he tries to elevate Everton to a place among the elite

Marcel Brands remembers it as a road trip with a difference. Two hours from Alkmaar to Heerenveen, two hours back again, and in the passenger seat next to him for the entirety of the car journey was Louis van Gaal.

They had travelled together to watch AZ Alkmaar’s reserve team play towards the end of the 2007-08 season with the mood at the club anchored. Results had dipped, an 11th-place finish loomed, and Van Gaal was on the brink of quitting as coach sensing that belief in his methods had splintered.

Brands, now ensconced at Everton as their director of football, was not among the doubters. The season before they had finished third in the Eredivisie and, rather than rip up the blueprint, he favoured