The shrewd Scot

Comments (4)

In 1993-94 Roy Keane was bought by a certain Mr Ferguson from Nottingham Forest for a record transfer fee of £3.75 million. 14 years later, even David Nugent costs more. Robbie Keane ? £20.3 Million? Jo - £19 Million? What the!!! These two alone could pay off most of the Everton debt.

Guess what happens if we pay off our debt? We become one of the wealthiest clubs in England in terms of real wealth - not the financial alchemy that passes off as "Club Management" these days. Most major clubs are in debt (oh sorry "leveraged"). They pay a certain amount to service this mortgage every year. Imagine what would happen to the repayments of an £800 million loan if the interest rate goes up by 1%? Or, heaven forbid, the mortgaged team fails to make the Champions League? Leeds United, anyone? Everyone thought nothing was wrong with America's real estate market until last year. But when it rains, it absolutely belts down in a false economy. I fear that such a day may not be far off for some of the clubs in EPL.

Our debt levels are not that high. Most of the real big clubs are not signing too many this year. Man U has made just one signing so far ? costing a mere £200k. Arsenal has signed 3, costing less than £20 million. So why are we worried about no signings? I believe we are facing the "keeping up with the Joneses? syndrome. We fear that we'll fall behind.

Our direct competitors are spending big. Very big. Spurs: £47.9 million this season; Man City: £19 million just on one player, Liverpool: £178.7 million since Rafa took over. Add to that the reported salaries; these clubs truly do want to buy silverware, even if it costs them gold.

And that scares many of us. We say, "We finished fifth last year, we must do our utmost to crack the top 4 this year", "Another golden opportunity squandered by dithering Dave." Well, to them I ask WHY MUST we finish in the top 4 this year? What opportunities are we actually squandering?

We have been a hard working team that punches above its weight for 5 years now. Another year, with zero signings is not going to push us that far down the pecking order. We will still punch above our weight and we WILL finish in the top 10. And perhaps this is what David Moyes wants. A year to consolidate. A year for the post Euro cup market to cool down (Arshavin's price has already been slashed). A year to give academy youngsters a proper go. A year to spot more Cahills, Pienaars, Artetas, Yobos and Lescotts - in THAT price bracket. A year to raise more capital. A year to watch the overspenders squander more. A year of the shrewd ginger scot.

COYB 2008-09
Nigel Gregson, Sydney, Australia     Posted 15/08/2008 at 15:05:44

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