Exclusive Interview with Kevin Kilbane: Premier League, Football League and International Insights

Posted by Rob Shepherd on Tuesday, February 17, 2026

Former Republic of Ireland international Kevin Kilbane sits down with the Best Betting Bonuses team to share his insights on Everton’s season, Hull City’s impressive Championship form, his time at Sunderland, and the latest on Irish football prospects ahead of crucial World Cup qualifiers.

Everton

Thoughts on Everton’s home form and how they can turn this round ahead of Manchester United’s visit. Some fans think the new stadium may be to blame despite their home record being poor under Moyes last season at Goodison.

I don’t think anyone can probably put their finger on why. The only thing I would look at is the way that David Moyes has always been. With his organisation and the tactical set-up of the side, the way that he does things, going away from home, under Moyes, it’s going to be easier for Everton to get a result because they can play a counter-attacking way. When you are at home, you have to be more open. You’ve got to try and go for the wins more often than try and sit in matches. So that may be the only thing.

They’ve only got four wins at home this year and recently the form hasn’t been great at home. They’ve been way better and more open and just a better watch overall playing away. When you’re not part of something, when you’re not watching it, you don’t know what it is but that would be my biggest take of it all, it’s how David Moyes sets up the side and how open the team are in comparison to playing away from home. That’s maybe something to do with it.

Of course, the knock-on effect is sides going to a new stadium, enjoying the atmosphere, enjoying playing at the place, that could come into it as well. Everton, probably historically, even maybe going back the last few years when things aren’t going quite well, one or two of the players maybe shell a little bit when they start to face a bit more criticism with 40-odd thousand on their back. That could be it. You’re looking at a multitude of things, really.

Ultimately, Everton are having a good season overall, but they’ll probably want to win three or four, five of their last six or seven home games before the end of the season.

James Garner has been one of Everton’s breakthrough performers this season, mostly operating in midfield but do you see any merit in David Moyes deploying him at right-back again against Manchester United with Jake O’Brien suspended, ahead of a natural player in the position such as Nathan Patterson?

I like him in midfield for the energy that he brings to Everton. His quality is improving year on year. It helps when he’s got a manager like David Moyes putting the trust in him as well. But his quality’s there, absolutely.

The way that you’d look at it, probably from David Moyes’ point of view, is usually he likes to stick with what he’s been doing. And because he’s been playing so well in midfield, it probably leads me to suggest that he may end up still playing in midfield and put Patterson back in there. But it just goes on maybe the energy levels of the team. It goes on what he’s maybe thinking internally and things like that.

But just on Garner himself, he gives Everton a real energy that they’ve probably lacked and also adds that to the quality that they’ve lacked in years. And he’s been such a success this season for the team. I just really, really enjoyed watching him this year.

The Bournemouth game was seen as a big opportunity for Everton to stake a claim for European football but they threw away their lead, how realistic do you think Everton’s chance are for qualifying for Europe?

Well, it’s realistic. Being in catch-up, it’s always hard for a side that’s in the position and looking over their shoulder a little bit and able to grind out results. You can grind out results better when you’re in front because you’ve got to chase in the position that Everton are in right now, and you have to be a little bit more open, and sides can punish you for that reason.

But realistically, they’re only four points off Liverpool right now. If you’re looking at the position that they’re in, you improve that home form by 50% of the course of what they’ve done this season, then they’ve got a hell of a chance because you just need to maintain what you’re doing away from home, picking up points, getting the odd win here and there and improve that home form, then it’s not beyond them to do it.

But you just look at the sides in the positions above them, like Liverpool, they can absolutely catch Brentford. They’ve got a comparable squad to Brentford. But you look at Liverpool, and their form is going to improve and become way more consistent at the end of the season because of the quality that they’ve got. So that’s the only thing.

As I said, I don’t think Everton are well off. I don’t think they’re in top gear right now, or they haven’t been this season. There actually is an improvement to come for them. And if that improvement comes in the last part of the season, I don’t see any reason why they can’t do it.

In your old left wing position, Jack Grealish has now been ruled out for the rest of the season but given the kind of fee and wages he’d command, should Everton try and sign him permanently in the summer or focus on more youthful options like their latest loan signing Tyrique George?

It’s going to be a really difficult situation for David Moyes to be in. They absolutely want to keep him; there’s no doubt about that. But if you’re breaking the whole wage structure of the club and the team, that can lead to problems down the line as well.

If there’s an agreement that can be in place where Jack could, perhaps, take some sort of pay cut to come, if he’s enjoying his football that much that he wants to, then he would do that. Everton absolutely would. I’d take him right now because of the impact he’s had on the players, the impact he’s had on David Moyes and the actual club itself, and the supporters have taken to him straight away.

So, asking the question, yes, you’d take him, but if it’s the wages that he’s on right now, I can’t see it happening. I just don’t see it happening at all because I don’t see any reason why Everton should do that. Looking at the last 10 years with Everton, when they’ve broken pay structures and the club’s been in problems, financial difficulties because of it. It’s upset the whole harmony of the dressing room. It’s upset the whole harmony of the club, not just the dressing room, the supporters in general as well.

So I personally don’t feel as though Everton, where they are right now, are in a position where they actually need to be thinking along those sort of lines. But because he’s enjoyed it so much and if he wants to continue that, what he’s done in this season, then it’s up to him to try to come to an agreement with Everton, really.

Will Everton be looking at DCL’s Leeds performances with a sense of frustration?

Yes, they will be frustrated with letting him go in terms of what he’s done. You look at the way that he’s left, you look at the goals that he’s scored this season and Everton, they’ve needed that. That’s the one missing piece from Everton, a consistent number nine that’s been scoring for them.

But you’ve got to look at it for what it is, and look at his last few years at Everton with the injury problems he had. I don’t think Everton could have justified the position that they were in to extend that contract. Everything’s great in hindsight. You could look at it, if he’d gone to Leeds and the injuries would have continued, then you look at it, and you go, well, it would have been justified for letting him go.

It’s just that he is in the form he is. Every Evertonian, myself included, the supporters, coaching staff and everything alike, would have known the quality that he’s got. This type of form is well within him. He’s probably got more in him. He was definitely the sort of striker that you would have thought could have had five, six, seven years scoring 18, 20 goals a season in the Premier League because he had that ability. We knew that.

It’s just the injury problems caught up with him at Everton. And I was probably in favour of the decision when it happened at the time, simply because I don’t think that with that record of injuries that they could have justified extending the contract the way that it was supposed to have happened.

When you’re in the Premier League, you’re in the mix. Could have had that player replaced with somebody else. We were in for him. Could have offered him an extra bit of money in the contract situation. It just didn’t happen. It’s just the reality of the game that a player’s playing with a little bit of a chip on their shoulder as well, trying to prove the point that because a club didn’t give them the contract, then they’ve got to go and prove it. So it’s just the way it is. It all seems to me at times it’s just one big game, and that game is continuing a little bit with Calvert-Lewin because of the goals that he’s been scoring, because he’s a quality, top-quality player.

Hull City

What have you made of Hull’s season so far?

I’m really impressed. Really impressed with everything that’s gone on, particularly at the start of the season. I thought they were actually in a lot of trouble when the transfer embargo was put against them. I really thought they’d be in trouble this season.

But in saying that, they managed to stabilise themselves a little bit. They started to really grow consistently across the season. Before those results, before the Watford draw that they had, they were in great form. I remember seeing it because I actually watched a couple of the games back-to-back where they won two or three on the bounce just around mid-January.

The form they were showing just after Christmas, I thought, now they’re going to be able to take this forward and really kick on. So it’s just the championship the way it is. If you win three out of five games to the end of the season, whatever it’s going to be for Hull. If they’re going at a range like that, winning one in two, two in three or something like that to the end of the season, they’ll easily make the playoffs.

But they’re looking up at Coventry, the way that Coventry has slipped. And there’s a number of sides in that playoff picture right now that can look to Coventry to think that five or six point gap is not insurmountable right now. And they can chase that down.

So playoff is a must probably from the position that they’re in, but I’ve been impressed with a lot of things that have happened at Hull this season, particularly with the pressure they were under at the start of the season.

They slipped up against Watford and Bristol City, but are still in great form, are you confident they can get back on track?

Well, if you look at it overall, Hull have a budget in that championship of around about top 10. If you look at it in terms of budgets, like most economists would probably look at it, and they’re probably in the position that they are.

But we know that the circumstances that happened around them at the start of the season, then they’re having to get Ollie McBurnie in and they’re having to scrape around for free transfers and free loans and things like this. That’s a difficult situation that you find yourself in.

But everything that they’ve hit since the start of the season has worked for them. They’ve obviously got the consistency of McBurnie. The front three that they’ve got are really working well. They’re scoring regularly, creating regularly across this season. So they’ve got an awful lot of quality in there.

And that’s where even the manager coming in, Jakirović, you look at him going into the club and you’re seeing a coach that’s got no experience of Championship, no experience of England, it was a hell of a risk to bring him in there and he’s worked. So everything that they’ve done is working out for them and football really works like that so quickly. So that’s where you’re confident about what can be done this season with Hull.

While automatic promotion may be a step too far, they look a good bet for the play-offs don’t they?

Absolutely. The form they were showing just after Christmas, I thought, now they’re going to be able to take this forward and really kick on. If you win three out of five games to the end of the season, whatever it’s going to be for Hull. If they’re going at a range like that, winning one in two, two in three or something like that to the end of the season, they’ll easily make the playoffs.

What have you made of their transfer business this season under the restrictions?

Incredibly, incredibly. And sometimes when a player goes into a club it doesn’t necessarily always work out, but the quality, if you’re playing at the level that they’re playing at, is absolutely there.

But when there’s a feeling around the club of a little bit of ill feeling or negativity around the place because of the structures that the club has to work within or the confines that the club has to work within, then it becomes difficult for players to sign under those circumstances. But as I said they’ve all gone in and it’s almost the fight’s on immediately when they’ve gone into the club. So that’s the thing, even more impressive when you look at the manager, and you see somebody that’s really working within those confines and has been able to start to get the results off the back of it, so everyone essentially has worked for them really.

I know that there are a couple of youngsters they’ve signed, but I’m really impressed, certainly in the last window with Paddy McNair going into them. It actually caught me on the hop, caught me by surprise because of how well he’d actually done in the MLS. He has been excellent across the course of the last year or so since he’s come in.

But his going back brings stability and experience. It’s an excellent signing within the last window that they’ve now been able to sign someone who can help them kick on a little bit. So, as I said, they’re impressive up front, and the defence and the back line that they’ve strengthened through this window could be very, very good for them.

Sunderland

Fair to say you had a complicated relationship with the fans during your time at the club. How do you now view your time at the club looking back?

Complicated. I don’t think, from my own point of view, it was ever anything but a great experience to play for such a big club. For the first year at Sunderland, I just didn’t play well enough. And you look yourself squarely in the face. I was, if you’re trying to make excuses, the only thing I could say is, look, I had a bad start. I was young. I found it difficult to adjust to life in the Premier League.

But overall, my experience of the club itself, teammates, supporters, and absolutely the coaching staff that we would have had around the club in those days, helped set up the future of my career. So my time at Sunderland was very, very special. It was two seventh-place finishes in my first two years at the club, or the first 18 months or whatever it was when I signed, to play for a team and play in a city that I never would have imagined how passionate and how hot that city was and even the region itself, just for how crazy it is for the game.

I never really thought anything about it when I signed for the club, and I felt as though at the time when things weren’t going right for me personally and when things weren’t going right for me on the pitch, I couldn’t get away with it because of the intensity of the place. When things are going right at Sunderland, things go very, very right because the players love playing for the club, because of the atmosphere that’s generated, because of the buzz that’s around the city day to day. And in spades when I played there.

I didn’t have a great relationship with the fans. That was just solely down to me and the way that I played. I didn’t play well enough, certainly through my first year or so at the club. And that ultimately is why you don’t get the respect that players feel they deserve. It’s because you’re not playing well enough. And if I look at myself solely in the face, it’s solely down to me and nobody else.

Thoughts on current season, are they over-performing?

Well, it’s the same as anything over-performing. I don’t think the fans expect that or think that. The supporters at Sunderland want a team that competes; they want a team that’s showing that they really want to play for the jersey. And when, over the last 10 years or say 15 years since I finished, certainly when they were a Premier League club, you always felt going to Sunderland that it could go one way or another. If it doesn’t start well, then the crowd’s going to be on one or two players’ backs. And that negativity really transfers onto the pitch very, very quickly.

I’ve not felt that really watching Sunderland this season. You watch them from afar, but the atmosphere really seems like it’s gone back to Peter Reid days. And I know it’s easy for me to say because I played in those times, but it really feels that way watching them. Certainly watching the Tyne-Wear Derby this season and seeing the atmosphere at the Stadium of Light, and what was created there and the buzz that was around the place. That was a bit of a throwback in my mind, the way that I saw it when I was watching it.

And watching the team across the course of this season, I don’t necessarily see it as overachieving. If you look at the business that they did, one of the signings of the season is absolutely Granit Xhaka, just for what he brought into the midfield and how he settled the team down. So maybe overachieving if you look at it in terms of budgets that everyone, as I said, looks to nowadays, you look at it in that respect. But if Sunderland get momentum at home, they’re very difficult to stop when the atmosphere is with the team and momentum’s with them.

Wigan Athletic

What are your thoughts on the appointment of Gary Caldwell?

When I heard that Gary Caldwell was in for the job, he was the number one candidate. He was the guy that I thought could just stabilise them, keep them in the league first of all.

He’s done an amazing job at Exeter. He’s got one of the lowest budgets in League One. He’s really stabilised Exeter. He’s got Exeter in a solid position where they’re absolutely going to be doing well across the course of the season. He’s leaving now and going to a club that’s obviously in trouble right now, and we know that, we know where they are, but he’s got experience with the club and as a manager in the past.

He’s gone away; he’s had to find himself in terms of managerial experience, in terms of coaching ability. He’s had various roles across the game. He brings so much more experience now to the team. And I really do think it’s a great appointment because I think what Gary Caldwell will do, he’ll recognise what the team needs on the field, but he’ll also recognise what the club needs.

And Wigan need a team that’s showing on the pitch maybe the identity of the town itself and I think he’ll know that and he’ll know exactly what’s needed for the fans to get back on board because I know it’s an easy thing to say at times, getting the fans on board and maybe some managers go in and talk the talk and have certain messages that they’ve got to try to get across but with Caldwell, what he does, he gives them an absolute feeling of this is exactly what’s needed.

I think it’s a great appointment. And his experience at that level, his experience within the game, as I said, with various levels, I couldn’t be happier. I couldn’t be happier for him and I couldn’t be happy for the club because now they can start to get the results first and foremost, just to keep them in the league.

Republic of Ireland

Liam Scales hasn’t always had the easiest time at Celtic off the fans, how good has it been to see him playing consistently and how important do you think he is to this Celtic team?

Well, from an Irish perspective, we want him playing. We want all our guys playing because it’s going to give us the best chance of qualification for the World Cup. We know that, but he was a little bit in and out.

Ultimately, the appointment of Nancy, I remember speaking about it a few months ago and I was quite positive on Wilfred Nancy. It’s one of the biggest managerial disaster appointments that there’s been. Look, I take everything back that I said about Nancy, to be honest with you, because I misjudged that totally. And I don’t think it helped players like Liam Scales. I don’t think it helps certain players within that team as well.

So he’s got a manager now who knows how to get the best out of him in Martin O’Neill till the end of the season. He’s got a manager that trusts him fully. And when you’re trusted by a manager, then you go out and play better football.

I’d like to see him, personally, play more at centre-half. His best position, ironically enough, is the left side of a three centre-half. That’s his best position, which would have suited Nancy’s style if that was going to be the system that they were going to use. He plays in that position for Ireland as a left-side centre-half. And it’s his best position when he plays at wing-back or at left-back, I don’t think you get the best out of him when he’s played in those positions.

So, look, playing is paramount for him, certainly from an Irish perspective until the playoffs. That’s what he needs to be doing, playing, and hopefully he’s fully fit and ready to go when we play Czechia.

Liverpool are reportedly in the market for a CB, with Nathan Collins on the list, would he be a good signing for Liverpool, or any other top club?

Yeah, he’s absolutely an option for any top club. He’s now gained so much experience. He’s 25 now Nathan Collins is.

He’s obviously having that record last season. He played every minute in the Premier League last season, which is absolutely phenomenal really for any outfield player to be able to do that in the modern game is phenomenal. So it shows that he’s able to take knocks and take things and just move on. That’s the sort of thing that’s appealing to the top clubs, that he’s always available and he’s always putting himself in a position to play, even if things aren’t going quite well for the team.

It’s been about a steady progression for Nathan Collins. He really burst onto the scene with Stoke and then obviously transferred to Wolves, and wherever he’s been in his career, he’s had a lot happen to him in such a short space of time in his career, big moves at such an early age. He’s now gained that experience of playing so young, playing at a top level so young.

Sometimes you think you’re doing a disservice to the club, like Brentford, but Brentford are a selling club. Brentford proved last summer that when they get offers, not just for one player, they are prepared to move three or four players on in one window if they have the right offer for them. So Brentford are a selling club.

If it is Liverpool or wherever he could go, he’s going to strengthen those sides because of the quality that he’s got. He’s excellent on the ball, so he can play top-level football. Obviously, the defensive side of his game has always been there. The leadership role as well because he is the captain now at Brentford.

He’s probably one of Ireland’s most high-profile players. But I don’t think he’s been consistent enough in the last couple of years in an Irish jersey. And the last three or four games, he’s been excellent. And he’ll now continue to get better and better in the course of the next few years.

Does Evan Ferguson have a long-term future at Brighton once his loan at Roma is done or he should be looking to move elsewhere?

I always felt that when a player went on loan at a certain team. It might not necessarily be the case for Evan Ferguson because he is so young. But the problem is when a manager comes into a team or when a manager is focusing solely on his squad of players that he’s got to pick from, Evan Ferguson is so far out of his thinking and so far out of reach for him. It’s no concern really for the manager there at Brighton in how he’s going to structure the side.

So if Evan Ferguson is presented back into that side, yes, they’ve got to try and make it work. But it is unlikely that he’s going to have a career at Brighton. They’ve loaned him to a couple of teams now, West Ham and then Roma. So it’s safe to say that he is going to struggle really to go back and re-establish himself at Brighton.

And it’s about him finding himself now a club that’s going to take his career in the right direction, and I actually think he’s done okay at Roma this year. The games that I’ve seen him play, the starts that I’ve seen him having, his overall game’s improved and whoever is going to take him, whether that is Brighton, as I said, unlikely, but wherever he goes to, if it isn’t Brighton, he’s going to have a good career off the back of what’s happened at Roma.

Troy Parrott has been linked to Leeds- is that a move that would make sense for either party?

I wouldn’t be surprised if Troy comes back to the Premier League. I saw him linked with Everton as well as Leeds earlier this season, with the amount of goals that he’s been scoring and how well he’s been playing consistently as well.

For Troy Parrott, it was always going to be difficult for him to make the breakthrough at Spurs because, a bit of a child prodigy scoring so many goals at the youth level, even within the Irish youth structure as well and how highly thought of he was within the Irish game, or he is within the Irish game. For him to make that breakthrough at Spurs was always going to be tough for him, and the number of managers that have been churned over or turned over at Spurs, that’s been the difficulty about establishing himself in England.

Whether that was the loan moves that he had in the Championship, he had injuries. Going to Holland was the best thing for him to fully establish his career and show his quality. He’s technically as good as you’re going to see. So he’s a little bit in the mould of Robbie Keane, where he doesn’t have the electric pace, but he’s got so much awareness around him and how to find space in the penalty box and how he can manipulate the ball and finish second to none, really.

So, watching him over the course of the last few years and what he’s done over there at AZ, I can firmly see him going back to England because there’s going to be a lot of interest, whether it’s Leeds, Everton, Brentford, West Ham or whatever team would take him. Now, if he goes back to England, they’ve got a more rounded player. They’ve got a player who’s absolutely playing with a lot more consistency.

Sometimes you need just a string of games when you’re continuously put out on loan, and you’re asked to go somewhere for six months and just go and play games, that doesn’t work for everybody. And especially if you’re a striker like Troy Parrott, who needs to find his feel within a certain system. Now Troy Parrott is starting to show how good he actually is, and we’ve known it for a long time, and as I said, if he goes back to England, he’ll be a success now at this stage of his career.

How much have Burnley missed their captain, Josh Cullen, since his injury? Can he come back strong next season to get them promoted again?

Well, he’s been great for Burnley, you can’t deny that with what he’s done at the Championship level when they’ve yo-yoed a little bit in and out of the Premier League. He plays so well for Burnley whenever I’ve seen him because he’s the player who really dictates play for them.

I’ve actually been, from an Irish perspective, we struggle in midfield in general, that’s been the case. If we’re looking at our defence, obviously goalkeeper that we’ve got, we’ve got good attacking players. We’ve got pace out wide. Our central midfield has been the biggest problem for Ireland for 10, 15 years, and we don’t have a huge depth of talent really in there. So he will be missed, absolutely.

But in saying that, he’s not really played consistently well in an Irish jersey, I don’t feel, over the course of four or five years. So it sounds hard when you say it, but it allows someone like Molumby, maybe someone like Jason Knight or whoever’s going to play in there, or maybe give an opportunity to somebody else to come in and do a job.

The options that Heimir Hallgrímsson has are probably quite light in that position. It’s definitely our lightest position. So, in saying that, that’s where you need Cullen just for the experience that he actually brings to the team. So he will be missed in terms of his experience and everything that he’s going to bring to the side. We just need as many players playing well and fit as possible going into that window. And to lose Cullen, it’ll be a blow to the side. It absolutely will be.

Do you think Ireland will qualify?

Honestly, I just think what’s happened in the last window, it has to give you confidence. The state of our game in the last 20 years, we’ve gradually gone more and more downhill during that time. And it’s safe to say that every Irish supporter knows that. Funding for our game needs to improve within our country. We all know that.

But the glimpses were there off the back of the Portugal result, first of all, and the miracle that happened in Hungary. It was an incredible couple of games. Incredible, five days or whatever it was, considering how poorly we’ve been through the group and how poorly we’ve been for a little while now, to turn it all around on those two results, it just gives us all optimism.

But it’s also a bit of a wake-up call for everybody to say, if our team is producing, if our team is playing well and consistently performing to a certain level and competing, that’s the way that you’d look at it, our team, there’s no bigger sporting organisation, there’s no bigger team in Ireland than our football team than our soccer team over there. And that’s ultimately where it is.

So whether we qualify or not, it is a wake up call for everyone to say that we need to start to now look at systems or get things in place to improve the overall structure of our game, which it is there now. People are starting to take notice of that. The League of Ireland itself, the National League is starting to improve. We’re starting to really be able to improve the whole structure of everything. And there’s a lot more respect for the league now as well. And that was ultimately what’s been lacking for a number of years.

So look, but I really feel as though that we’re in a good position to qualify. We have to just get the job done first of all over there in Czechia. And that is the most important thing. I know we know that’s the most important thing, but going over there and giving a great account of ourselves in that game and hopefully we get the result. But as I said, if we don’t get the result, it’s a bit of a wake-up call that what the team means to our country and our supporters. And it does mean a hell of a lot. So the Hungary result certainly proves that.

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