COLUMNIST JIM HOURIGAN
Some serious questions
Comments (20) : Assuming that both are charged with ensuring that the transfer details are correct and meet all the necessary criteria then I have the following questions:
It's not rocket science to realise that any foreign national requires a work permit, in the case of Yakubu why was this not checked and clarified? Did they contact the relevant department and ask some very simple questions about his eligibility and the transference of the work permit? If not why not and if so why was nothing then done about the probable outcome? Conversations with civil servants will very quickly tell you what the likely outcomes are. Why was an appeal not anticipated and prepared before fridays deadline? Why were all contingencies not anticipated and planned for?
If, as we now all expect, Fernandes has been lost to Valencia how has this been allowed to happen? What contracts were signed and what agreements have been made between the player and the club? If no agreements were reached and recorded formally then surely he must have signed some documents that committed him to signing for Everton pending formal clearance? If not why not?
Even at my level I get verbal and / or written agreements that people will take up posts pending formal clearance and whilst they may be difficult to enforce, with or without a signature, they certainly make it very difficult to take up an alternative post without legal threats and ramifications. To this end what are Evertons plans to 'make life very difficult' for Valencia and Fernandes.
This is not just a vindictive response but one also borne out of concern about both the other club and the player in terms of their apparent lack of professionality. Is the club planning to approach Uefa and if not why not? If they do not have sufficient cause and a strong case, then this shows how poorly organised this transfer was.
So who is responsible? Well you can go all the way to the top and blame BK, but I personally think that is inappropriate. People are employed to carry out their jobs and the boss, whilst ultimately responsible is not able to line manage everyone. So we come down to Keith Wyness, as CEO I think he is far more culpable. He must have been involved in the transfers and agreed the principles of both of them. Assuming he then tasked the Secretary to ensure the paperwork was completed, his role would also to be ensure the work was completed to a satisfactory standard and outcome. It would appear he has clearly taken his eye off the ball or is just not able to get the correct standard of work. In either case that makes him responsible and culpable. If, as I have assumed, the bulk of the work has been with the secretary, then it is poor bordering on incompetent and some very serious questions should be asked by both the CEO and BK.
I know there are lots of rumours about Reds working in senior positions in the club, and there is some sort of Machiavellian plot to undermine us at every turn, Whilst I don't subscribe to that view, the events with these two transfers (not to mention a host of other problem transfers), suggest that there is ineptitude and inefficiency of a very high order within the club. Well, if we are to move to a new stadium then there needs to be a serious rethink about who works for us and in what capacity.
These transfers, whilst not exactly making us a laughing stock make us look very amateurish. Man City have just bought god knows how many foreigners and each one went through with apparent ease and very quickly. How can they and it seems all the other clubs do this and we are left looking like amateurs?
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Penny pinching has ultimately cost us a great signing......Its a disgrace and right in tow for the people running the club.
After helping the Goodison side to sixth place and UEFA Cup qualification last season, Carsley reached the end of his contract and was considering a one-year extension.
Yet following a temporary breakdown in communication between the parties and keen for his future to be resolved as soon as possible, the 33-year-old?s head was turned by an offer from Wigan.
Some hard bargaining and one improved offer later, Carsley ? who arrived from Coventry City in February 2002 ? had reaffirmed his commitment to Everton by another 12 months.
But the midfield concedes: ?I came close to going. There was a week after the season finished through no fault of myself or the gaffer when it went a bit crazy. I was away and the gaffer was away and there was a lot of interest. I had a medical (at Wigan) and had talks with them. I spoke to quite a lot of clubs.
?It was quite a rush and I just wanted everything sorted. Probably I should have been a bit more patient, but luckily enough it worked out in the end.
A lot was going on at Everton. Obviously they were trying to sign new players. It was never a case that I wanted to go, but it was dragging on." I think that says an awful lot about the way the club is being run.
However he Fernandes had been training with us all last week. He had chosen his squad number. Did nobody think of getting the lad or Global Sports Agency to sign a piece of fucking paper. A binding letter of intent if you like. If everything is agreed he signs for us. Verbal agreements are worthless unless witnessed and anyway the verbal / written agreement should have been with Global Sports Agency. The player can agree all he likes but he is not his own boss. He is owned like a modern day football slave to be auctioned to the highest bidder.
Someone high up in the EFC organisation has made a massive, massive blunder. Now what do we do with 4 days left until the window slams shut. Scramble around watching dvds of god knows who. 31 yr old Johan Vogel, who we’ll probably panic and pay £5m for. FFS We had a lad who we scrutinised up close for 5 months for free, who the fans loved, a blind man could see manny was raw but had bags full of potential and what do we do....fecking let him go.
Talking of going, Arteta must be looking to see if the ink is dry on that 5 yr deal he penned. He was starved of support on Saturday and has that to look forward to all season. Given the choice between Yakubu and Fernandes I reckon most Evertonians would chose Fernandes.
Well fellow Toffees we can all watch him excel in the Champions League this year while we have to put up with one geared championship standard players like McFadden & Osman. Woo Hoo.....
What the fuck has transfer speculation got to do with ground moves anyway.
Do you really believe anyone saw the link with Fernandes and suddenly thought I’ll vote yes to the move?
Like any fan was against the move and until they saw the headline that Fernandes was signing and thought to theirselves ’wow Fernandes looks like signing, I definately want to move now’.
You either wanted Everton to move or you didn’t, no amount of transfer speculation is going to change your mind.
You would have to be a fucking idiot to let a link with Fernandes change your mind on the move issue.
Feel-good as in ’Everton are signing big name players again’
If Manny would have jumped ship the week before the vote in the same manner, perhaps a few percentage points would have jumped to the ’No’ camp. Remember, nobody knew the size of the majority.
You seem to know a lot about ’fucking idiots’ but not much about human nature
There’s 2 reasons this has happened;
1. We haven’t (for some unknown reason) tied the player down to a contract - pending PL approval, which is naive at best.
2. The player has taken the piss & after having spent the week with us & signed autographs etc on Saturday - flew off to Spain on Sunday am - without giving a flying toss about the club or the supporters.
We’ve had a lucky escape IMO - if that’s an example of his loyalty & honour - he’d have walked off at the end of the season, into the arms of Taggart or Mourinho, without a second thought
Fuck him - good player, but obviously not bothered about EFC - let’s move on.....
Over the past few years Everton have (seemingly) used or at least tried to use the transfer market to their advantage... big bids for Luis Gonzales, Owen, Kuyt and Alan Smith that were NEVER going to happen. The latter was supposed to be ’paired’ in a strikeforce with Rooney...just about the same time that Rooney was supposed to tie himself down to a new 5 year deal; how much more bargaining power would that have given us in terms of a transfer fee? Perhaps Stretford saw the ruse? (it takes a rat to smell a rat)...
Likewise, when it looked as if Liverpool were sniffing around Arteta after his spell on loan here, Everton sudddenly bid for Sissoko... I think a lot of fans saw this as A) diverting Liverpool’s attention from Arteta... B) forcing Arteta / Real Sociedad to accept Everton’s terms
What I am suggesting, and i have no evidence either way, is that it is not beyond the realms of possibility that the CEO’s and Chairmen of clubs talk to each other ... try to pull ’fast ones’ on other clubs (together) and generally conduct business in a shady, underhand, cut-throat (if not illegal) sort of way... I’m sure it is all a big game and I am also sure that Wyness loves to be ’clever’ about it.
If Everton wanted to manipulate the media/fans into thinking they were going after player X or signing player Y it is certainly possible - particularly after the ’death of investigative journalism’... If you could dupe the entire fanbase into thinking you have signed a top player in order to help guarantee ’something that you have a major stake in’ why the hell wouldn’t you ! If you can throw in a few convincers like having the guy pass a medical etc then that makes it look even more plausable...
To be honest, until it is spent, I don’t think this 20+ million transfer warchest actually exists!
I would expect now, either a couple of free’s or a couple of loan deals to come through the door at Goodison... and I bet the adoring fans won’t even question where that ’money’ went !
Its bullshit, if a fan is against the move, being linked with players isn’t going to change his mind unless he’s an idiot, and if Everton fans were idiots they would be Liverpool fans.
All thats happened is that Everton attempted to buy Fernandes and he screwed us over at the last minute. Maybe it will turn out that the club acted too slow and let him get away but considering his recent behaviour, I say we are better off without him.
Why can’t people just accept that the majority of fans want to move. The voting was carried out professionally and the result is a fair assessment of how Everton fans feel.
I understand your cross, I myself am against the move, but the majority of fans want it so get over it and stop looking for a conspiracy theories.
I’m against the Yakubu signing but if/when that happens I will accept it and offer my full support to the player despite my own judgement of his ability.
There is no link between transfer dealings and the stadium issue.
But this Fernandes shite is massively disappointing. I’m normally supportive of the board, but in this instance I think they have cocked up royally.
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1 Posted 27/08/2007 at 13:39:27
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As for Manny, I’m stunned and gutted but I don’t think the club are to blame. The premier league rules with regard to 3rd party ownership are much tighter than they are on the continent.