The Mail Bag
Time for Prudency
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There is obviously a lot of panic amongst Everton fans brought on by uncertainty over the stadium and the resignation of the CEO. Now that Moyes has come out and reassured us that he intends to make three or four ?big money? signings I feel a lot better.
So much so that I have cast my gaze back to national affairs rather than panicking that Everton are on the verge of doing a Leeds as the manager walks, big players follow and no-one is brought in as the transfer funds merely service the debt. I am appeased that if Moyes says he is staying and if he believes he can make three or four ?big money? signings then maybe it is not as much crisis as people think.
Big Nev was on City FM yesterday saying how he would settle for 10th now. Well look around the rest of the league: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/7492070.stm
? Pompey have Crouch but lost Montari.
? Villa have Sidwell, Davis, Friedel, but lost Carson.
? Blackburn have Fowler(!) and Robinson but lost Fridel and Bentley
? Liverpool got Keane, Deggen and some no-ones but lost Crouch and the Ginger og specialist (though that might be a plus point).
? City have Jo and Ben Haim. Samaras, Dickov (no Moyes things aren?t that bad) and Mpenza have gone.
? Newcastle signed Spiderman and Gutherie, but lost Emre.
? West Ham have now got Behrami but lost Zamora (and Wright!)
Obviously Spurs have been big movers. Examining this, have we really lost much ground? We have got no-one and lost Carsley, Fernandes and Johnson (he might not have gone yet but how can he stay now?). If we can replace Carsley and Fernandes then surely we have stood still and only Spurs will have gone past us. No-one has really been splashing the cash. Even Man Utd have signed no-one (proving that And then there was one article to be crap), Arsenal have lost loads but gained little, Chelsea have been quiet and so have Liverpool. Every club is worried. TV Money will drop next time the contract is up. Gates will fall this season. Debts will mount and players prices and wages will drop.
I?m not saying we should sign no-one or dismiss our current fears, but I believe the days of football being big business and £50M transfers are over. Some clubs will go bust, and now is a time for prudency. I believe this is why Wyness may have gone as he was clearly unwilling to spend money on transfers. Also, has anyone seen the price of stee? There?s no way Everton or Tesco will be building a new ground.
Steve Ferns, Posted 02/08/2008 at 13:07:37
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If there the money is there then we could gamble and go for broke trying to get in the top 4. But let?s be wary of overspending, that?s the road to ruin, the path of Leeds United.
The world of finance is incredibly complex and businessmen should as Robert Maxwell can be worth hundreds of million one day and insolvent the next. Everton have massive debts and the key to those debts is having the income to service them. We need to be wary that football has not yet been hit by the world finance crisis, but the early signs at ALL clubs is that season ticket sales may down across the board.
Caution is most definitely the watch word in football at the moment.
Question for you: would you rather have made Sunderland?s signings or signed no-one at all? Just look at the quality of the players moving. There?s only a few of the Spurs lot who look the business.
I?m not being funny but we?ve lost 7 players from the squad that finished 5th last season and we?re on pre-season with only 7 recognised prem players and you advocate PRUDENCY.
Have you never heard the expression strike while the iron is hot.
We have this one window of opportunity to make the breakthrough we?ve waited so long for while our European rating is high, we?ve just finished 5th and as you rightly point out with the exception of Spurs nobody has yet built significantly.
It is better to fail aiming high than to succeed aiming low!!
So it's us and Man Utd who haven't signed anyone. Man Utd with their massive squad, and a bench capable of walking into most sides first XI, and us, with, well with what we have (a squad described as "depleted" for a pre-season friendly! Season not started and we are already depleted!). The more you think about it, the worse it seems. However, only half of the transfer window gone, and Moyes is not the sort to buy just for the sake of buying.... if you forget about Per Krøldrup!
Although you may well have hit onto something - I can see it now;
Time for Prudency
Dominic King, Liverpool Echo, Mon 4 Aug 2008.
The days of football being big business and £50M transfers are over. Some clubs will go bust, and the anti-Kenwright camp should hang their heads in shame, now is a time for prudency.......
Gawd ?elp us.
Anyway. Jay, just remember what we have to lose. If we go for broke we will do a leeds at the worst possible time. Imagine needing to sell Arteta, Yakubu and Cahill in the current climate. We wouldn?t get even half as much as you would think we would and we?d be falling lower than Leeds. Is it really the right time to strike whilst the Iron?s hot? And without the money, the backing is the iron really hot?
Jay, there is no one on here who wants to see us sign 4 or 5 quality players and crack the top 4 more than me but with the current regime in charge (BK et al not DM) then I think it can only end up in disaster. My worst fear is that BK is here for at least another 5 years.
Steve, I don?t think we are in danger of doing a Leeds any time soon. I?d like us to spend big on a couple of players. Possibly about £25 or £30 mil. However, I still think that we shouldn?t go overboard. We won?t do a Leeds ? no team is that stupid ? but teams like Chelsea, Man U and Liverpool may do in a few years when the money dries up.
’We’ are already there mate.
I am expecting the teams below us to be stronger this year. Villa have strengthened, Man City should be stronger, so will Newcastle and Tottenham, while West Ham and Blackburn might also strengthen before the window closes.
My point is that standing still in football is the equivalent of going backwards if everyone else is signing players. If we can get 3 quality players in between now and the start of the season, then we may well be able to maintain the progress we have made in the last few seasons. But at this moment in time, we are in a weaker position. Even if we don?t have a fortune to spend, we are crying out for a loan signing at least!
You can also add Mellberg and Sorensen to the departed list at Villa and with Bouma injured their squad is no bigger than ours... and who knows if Barry will yet end up at Anfield?
Spurs may have bought a few good players, but they have lost Keane, their most consistent player in the last 5 years in my opinion, and Berbatov is clearly unsettled. Shame about that as it means that Darren Bent won?t be coming our way.
Howsever, we DO need players - 4 at an absolute minimum by August 31. Being prudent is never a bad thing, but not bolstering our squad now would be reckless and undo a lot of the good work of the last 2 seasons.
arent you forgetting a certain Andrew Johnson and although they did not play a large number of games individually McFadden with his important goals and Stubbs and to an extent Graveson and Wessells all played some part in getting us over the line.
So that?s certainly Johnson, Fernandes and Carsley who need replacing and we definitely need a quality back up keeper and IMO we need a quality back up MF to replace McFadden.
Thats at least 5 even ignoring the deficiency at RB and the need for central defensive cover.
Jay: why, with all your attention to detail about all things Everton, can you STILL NOT SPELL "G R A V E S E N" PROPERLY??? After all these years of being an Evertonian??? Or Wessels for that matter!!!
Has any other team had to cancel a pre-season friendly because they didnt have enough players?
Has any other team had to put 8 or 9 youngsters in the squad so late into pre-season?
Has any other team had numerous players give public statements about the need for new players?
...And has any other team needed their chairman to issue a statement on the website to insist signings will happen.
NO
Howard
Hibbert
Neville
Lescott
Yobo
Jags
Baines
Valente
Arteta
Osman
Cahill
Pienaar
Yakubu
Please explain how that is seven recognised Premier League players.
To be honest I would add Vaughany to that list as well.
you are correct in naming the only 13 man squad in the Premier League; however, not all those players are "available" for the pre-season tour and certainly at least 3 are doubtful for the opening of the season.
We also need to address quality cover for the GK position. If you?re happy with that squad for the coming season then you?re easily pleased.
Empty Wessells make the most sound (typo) and just to correct things
"Tommy Tommy Tommy Gravesen"
Why doesn't ToffeeWeb have a spellchecker anyway?
Spellchecker might be a step too far for Lyndon’s brilliant web-dev skills... but I have started using the Safari web browser and it has one that works in forms like our Comment fields almost as well as the one in MS Word.
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1 Posted 02/08/2008 at 15:46:15
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The money will dry up somewhere along the line so prudency now might pay off. However, the point you make about teams not going past us should be motivation for us to be bringing in players like Moutinho and Arshavin (too late and too expensive now I?m afraid) because if we did sign just a couple of players in their league we would be challenging the top 4 IMO.
Also I reckon that if we can keep Cahill and Vaughan fit for the whole of the next campaign it will be like having two new players. And don?t forget Arteta played out the end of last season with an injury so having him fit all season will be a massive bonus. He is absolute quality.