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The devil and the deep Blue sea
If you really had to
choose...
7 February 2002
The first time the possibility of relegation
appeared this real to me I was in the USA with my
now deceased dad, listening on the World Service as
Everton fought back against Wimbledon in
1994. We hugged and leaped about in a
supermarket car park as each goal went home, in
front of some very bemused New Jerseyans.
Like Evertonians all over the world that day, we
celebrated as if Dave Watson was holding up the FA
Cup.
A lot of metaphorical water has flowed under the
proverbial bridge since then, but little has
changed for the better at Goodison. There
have been other dogfights, and I find myself a
little less afraid of relegation with each passing
season. I am not one of those who believe
that relegation per se would somehow do us much
good. But I do believe that, if we had lost
against Wimbledon and the unthinkable, the
unspeakable had happened, the decline would have
been halted right there. It was what we
needed, though we didn't know then.
With the exception of Joe Royle's
magnificent FA Cup season, we have been allowed
to decline steadily each year — our belief in the
future no more than the triumph of hope over
experience. The players have become a little
older, the new signings a little shadier, the
excuses ever more familiar. When Walter Smith
arrived some Evertonians, myself included, believed
the renaissance would not be long delayed.
But Smith himself disabused us. His plan, as
he plainly told us in his first season, was to
reinvent Everton as a mid-table club.
Mediocrity was and still is his policy. Now
the team that he has assembled — the team that
embraces defeat like an old friend — will face
the relegation dogfight yet again. And most
of us will pray for survival.
I have watched as Smith has sold off our young
prospects like McCann, Jeffers, Ball and Dunne and
signed players like Mark Hughes, Stephen Hughes,
Ibrahima Bakayoko, Alex Nyarko, Alessandro Pistone
and countless others — none of whom made the
remotest impact. I worry less and less about
relegation because I know I am already watching a
Nationwide team. All that is missing is
Nationwide opposition. Having turned over
£55 million in purchases, Smith's proudest boast
is that the players he bought were even cheaper and
therefore even worse than the players he sold, and
so somehow, no money has been wasted. Some
comfort!
He is possibly the worst catastrophe to befall
Everton since the European ban after Heysel.
But there is hope. It lies in Walter
Smith. It lies in relegation. The
single most important step that can be taken now is
to get rid of Smith and Knox. They aspired to
mediocrity and failed to achieve it. I doubt
if any other club in the Premiership would put up
with the level of incompetence, complacency and
detachment that they have demonstrated in the last
four years. Kenwright has said he is
determined to keep Smith, even in the face of shame
and relegation, but I doubt it. If we are
relegated, I believe Smith will have to go.
And so I have come to embrace relegation the
same way Smith embraces mediocrity. Terrible
though the prospect is, frightening though it is to
contemplate, uncertain as the future will be... if
that is what is needed to get rid of Walter Smith,
then so be it.
Faced with a choice between relegation and
Smith, I choose relegation!
Peter Fearon
©2002 ToffeeWeb
Some Responses
In response to 'an unpalatable choice', I feel certain points need to
be raised.
1) FACT - if we get relegated, SKY money will gradually
disappear, season
ticket
sales will go down, players brought in will be even worse in
skill
and technique than they are now. Division 1 is a hard division
to
get out of. Getting relegated will do nobody any favours.
2) FACT - I am no Walter Smith supporter. But HE HAS HAD
LITTLE OR NO
MONEY
to bring better quality players in. Lets be truthful, who in
there
right mind would get rid of Dacourt, Collins, Jeffers, Ball,
Barmby,
Hutchinson (hmmm), Materazzi et al. Sorry, Kenwright
doesn't
own Everton, the bank do! They say poo, he says how
high.
There is no need to accept relegation as a form of changing managers.
The next month could see Everton surprise us. Its happened
before, no reason to see if it can't happen again. Am I happy with
the current state of play. No. Would I like a change. Yes.
But not right now.
Peter Reid's Left Boot
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This is going to be short (said the Bishop to the Actress) so
keep reading... ( I have been a Blues fan since the 1970 5-2
home game against Chelsea).
What is so wrong with Walter Smith? Apart from the 3-4
years in the mid-80's under Howard the First, we, Everton, have been
one of the weakest teams in the top flight. Billy Bingham (no
trophies), Gordon Lee (no trophies), Howard 1st (4 trophies),
Colin Harvey (no trophies), Howard 2nd (no trophies), Mike
Walker (no trophies), Joe Royle (FA Cup - yippeeeee), Howard 3rd (no
trophies), Walter Smith (no trophies)...
Notice anything — we are shite, we have been shite for 30
years. We belong with the Coventry's, Southampton's and Ipswich's
of the English top flight. Walter is the same as
all the rest, he is not the problem. Question is — who or
what is the problem????????
Are we seen as a soft touch by journey-man professionals, easy
money for not much effort? Remember the 70's when the transfer
fee records were often set by Everton, and money was easy to come
by? And go. Nothing was won by a succession of managers
A lot less money (in relative terms) was spent to assemble the
1984-87 team(s), but it was all too short-lived
As for the 90's, nuff said. Decline both in money spent and
performance.
My question is — do we have too much turn-over in playing staff
at Everton? Latchford, Lineker, Alan Ball, MacKenzie etc —
have we always been too eager to sell good players and not allow a
settled team to develop around them? Is this the crux of our
30 year old decline????????
Mark Cullen
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Before criticising Walter Smith et al, all Evertonians should ask
themselves these five questions:
- Do you have any football management experience? (i.e. do
you seek advice from a lawyer and then proceed to advise
he/she on contract or criminal law when you don't possess a
law degree). If somebody came to your workplace, how
would you view criticism from someone with no experience of
the job. Do you think that a manager who took Rangers
to the semi-final of the European Cup, when it was a genuine
competition has less tactical acumen than yourself.
- Considering the current squad at the club what would your
First XI be? With players suspended, injured or
dissatisfied could you choose a team which might rise to
supporter expectations. The injury crisis, season
after season is well documented, is it the managers fault or
the boardrooms for not investing in modern training
facilities. Do you pick a player who complains about
playing for the club, i.e., no ambition, hostile fans or
insufficient wages or make a stand and make them sit in the
reserves? To hear some would-be managers they would
prefer to let the tail wag the dog. What choice did
Smith have but to play Watson upfront when three first
choice strikers are unavailable. A career can be
wrecked playing a youngster like Rooney under circumstances
where every point is invaluable. Youth players should
be eased into the first team gradually where expectations
are realistic and the same applies to Clarke.
- Dacourt, Materazzi, Jeffers, Ball and many
others, all quality first team players sold. How
do you replace them with insufficient funds available?
Yes there's been mistakes, but name me one Premiership
manager who hasn't bought a dud, even Kendall made a
few. The lack of quality throughout the team lies
solely with the board. The problems can be dated back
to the late Eighties and possibly before then, the sale of
Lineker, then Keown in the early 90s. Each time,
class players sold without the necessary finances to replace
them with players of an equal or greater calibre. Would this
have happened at United or Liverpool? Being an
Evertonian is not enough to run Everton Football club, there
has to be finances to fund team development, stadium and
training improvements. Our current board came to the
party without the backing available to compete at this
level; like Cinders waiting for the fairy godmother we can't
afford to play ball. Instead we rely on a £10M
refinancing deal or the Kings Dock plan. How many of
you are really going to spend £20 pound to watch Everton v
Grimsby even at the Kings Dock, without any guarantee of
promotion.
- If Walter Smith gets sacked, who do you replace him
with? Firstly, sacking a manager now would surely be
suicidal, but if Walter does go, if we are playing
Premiership or Nationwide football next season who's the man
for the job? George Graham, not a bad choice and with
a track record, but this man wrote the book on
"dour" football how could this be seen as an
alternative? David Moyes, with one successful season
at Preston behind him, the "Let's hire Mike Walker
re-incarnate" brigade is in full swing. How can
this young promising manager be judged on these
credentials? Everton will either make or break you as
previous managers and players for that matter can testify,
but maybe an option for the future. Alan Curbishley or
George Burly both of which have done well on limited
budgets, has their performance however differed greatly from
Walter Smiths? Could they handle the expectations that
come part and parcel with Everton? Charlton and
Ipswich fans with all due respect do not have the history or
cauldron of anticipation that comes with this once great
club. Let's face it either of these two would be a
gamble. Who else is there to run the club? A
foreign coach, promote from within? The options are
limited, perhaps Walter Smith should be replaced but
it has to be the right man, with a proven track record and
capable of handling the job, and maybe that's why he was
hired in the first place.
- Is barracking the players, manager or anybody associated
with the running of the club going to help now?
With yet another relegation dogfight on our
hands everyone needs to pull together to support the
team and ensure we are playing Premiership football
next season. Then a decision could be made in the most
favourable circumstances to attract a new manager or
players.
Paul Mason
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