The Mail Bag
Have lessons been learned?
Comments (58)
Well, after much teeth gnashing, stress, worry, uncertainty, crushing disappointments and crying on Everton websites we have finally signed some players.
Okay so far the names are Jacobsen, Castillo and now Saha. Let's be brutally honest, these are not players to take us to the next level but these are names signed to merely increase bodies and hopefully see us through to January. Either way, though, they are all welcome additions. But the questions must be asked why weren?t players of the squad-boosting variety such as these signed a lot lot earlier?
Judging by how quickly these players have been signed, why couldn?t this have been done weeks ago? If Moyes had moved earlier, they would have had pre-season with the rest of the boys and it would have gone some way to soften the air of crisis which was looming around the club 2-3 weeks ago.
This summer we have lost 4 players Johnson, Fernandes, Carsley and Gravesen. Ok Graveson and Fernandes are no great loss as last season they didn?t really contribute all that much, Mad Dog only had a few cameos and Fernandes was severely out of form. So the signings of Jacobsen, Castillio and Saha you could argue more than cover last season's losses.
Jacobsen and Castillo are unknown to me but then again in many respects so were Cahill, Lescott and Jagielka. Saha if fit is no doubt a better finisher than Johnson (if he stays fit) but in Moyes we trust. However, quality players such as Sidwell, Cuellar, Silvestre, Elmander, Gutierrez, Behrami, Malbranque and Cisse didn?t cost their clubs the earth and could have easily been signed by us as well to bolster the squad. I?m still hoping for a big rabbit out of the hat but its now looking unlikely (Moutinho??? sigh).
I don?t pretend to understand all the behind the scenes manoeuvres that go on with big money transfers and it's true that maybe Moyes has had his time wasted by agents promoting the likes of M'bia, Tiago, Wagner love and dare I say it Moutinho. But we always leave things soooooo late anyway so maybe this is now a lesson that we should always sign our players early and if a move gets drawn out or falls through we then have time on our side to carefully weigh up who and what to go for next.
I?ve done my fair share of bashing Moyes this summer, has it been deserved? I don?t know. But I?m sure Moyes will NOT leave his summer buys this late ever again.
Daniel Johnson, Posted 29/08/2008 at 15:15:11
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Anyway, the main reason we’ve left it this late to sign players is because Moyes’ first, second and even third choices were either unavailable for the prices we were bidding or were not available in the first place (Wagner Love?!).
Moyes just stated in press conference that he has only ever seen Castillo play on ?tapes? & that signing Jacobsen will free up Neville to play in midfield.... what the fuck has this ONCE great club become.
Moyes cuts a totally dejected figure to me.... looks like he?s gonna start crying any minute.... looks like someone who?s been made a total cunt of. Wouldn?t blame him if he told Kenwight to shove the contract up his arse!!
Kenwright & his cronies are killing this club...KENWRIGHT OUT.... KENWRIGHT OUT ...KENWRIGHT OUT..... KENWRIGHT OUT... KENWRIGHT OUT.....repeat as loud and as many times as you can... especially tomorrow at 2:55pm !!... Something must be done to force the removal of this LYING BASTARD...?Watch this space?...MY ARSE !!
The majority of our supporters are happy to be ’ bent over’ by him and his cronies..just because he is a blue...well I’m not...not any longer.
I emailed the club yesterday to ask if there is any way I could have a refund on my season tkt as I’m just not prepared to put up with his shite any longer ( obviously I was more diplomatic). This man has demoralised me so much this summer that I just dont want to go anymore.
The reply (which I have kept) basically says that they have... quote ’NO INTEREST IN WHAT YOU HAVE TO SAY....THAT CLEAR..’ unquote
People’s Club...yeah right !!
I have followed this club home & abroard for many, many years and I have NEVER felt as demoralised as I feel today as I write this post...not even thro the shittiest time of the Smith years did I ever contemplate jacking it..!!
I looked at Moyes in his press conference today and he too looks like he’s had enough....If that proves to be the case well god fucking help us !!
I love Everton I really do...I’ve even had the honour of playing for them in my younger days....second only to my family they are the most important thing in my life...but I just cant take no more...
Kenwright is killing my love for this great club...just as he is killing this ONCE great institution and whilst the majority sit idly by and accept it then this club is all but dead....
So as I said earlier..say it loud, say it proud...KENWRIGHT OUT.... KENWRIGHT OUT.... KENWRIGHT OUT....
But I am astounded by the positive reaction by so many of our fans to the players we’re bringing in. I’m not suggesting we should lynch anybody, or shouldn’t get behind the club 100%, however, it’s alarming that so many believe these players are going to improve us to a position were we can compete, even for 5th or 6th.
I understand that we need to get bodies in, but some of us seem deluded to the point that any body is somehow going to be world class: Saha is all of a sudden going to be fit; Jacobsen is going to be better than Hibbert or Neville at RB; Castillo is going to better than Carsley..
I know nothing about Castillo, but neither does Moyes by the sound of it. Saha is injured all of the time and Jacobsen sounds much the same..
(Obinna could be a decent coup).
However, as far as I’m concerned I would have preferred to have kept Carsley/Faddy/Johnson, than have Castillo/Saha/Jacobsen...
We’re in for a tough season, unless Moyes pulls a couple of quality signings out of the bag in the next three days. On second thoughts, we’re in for a tough season.
Totally agree with you that this last 3 months have made supporting our once great club very difficult
Just need to recruit the 36,000 others now !!
Sidwell was bought by chelsea and then villa and Silvestre has played nearly all his career at Man U and has now gone to Arsenal. So yes that does make them quality players and I’m sorry but both would have improved our squad for not a lot of money.
Although have to say, take a step back and look at swapping AJ (is he any different to Thomas - 7 shots before I get one on target - Radzinski) for Saha plus £10m (I assume we paid next to nowt for Saha). If Moyes can keep Saha fit, that's a nice bit of business. That said... keeping players fit is one of Moyes?s problems.. they look half gone after the pre-match warm up...
Did I imagine it or did Moyes refere to 4 signings in the interview 2 loans and 2 freebies. But the interview completely missed it.
I guess that means he’s fairly confident on the Obinna deal, especially as their interest is confirmed on the official website?
Looks like it could be a coup.
The fact that people are saying he sounds so dejected is really worrying. Whilst we need the bodies, we do need some genuine quality as well... Whilst I am not slating the players we have got it, it just feels increasingly so that the Moutinho is just a replacement Riquelme carrot for the board to point to on Monday saying how hard they’d worked this week - blah de blah.
It’s ridiculous that so much is beginning to heap on the signing who personally I don’t even know that much about over than a hourly changing Wiki page and some you tube vids! I’m sure I’ve developed some kind of shell shock like symptoms this summer with all the DK and transfer window shenanigans. Still, with Heal the Jac, His Uncles make our crack, Ha ha, and (probably) Vic’s flame footed mate we’ll push on.
The most important signing is Moyes himself of course. Just got to try and stay positive for a few more days!
What the hell is going on behind the scenes? Get the feeling these new boys won’t get much first team action if Moyes has any say, which he does.....
Obviously these aren’t the players he wants at all, but is just getting them in for cover. Lets hope he’s still our manager in 12 months time!
And has it not already been confirmed that Obinna’s coming for a medical tomorrow, so the 4 that are referred to are obviously on the presumption that Obinna will get clearance from the Home Office & passes the medical or whatever is needed.
I’m totally positive, and I’m pleased that we’ve been able to give Rodwell & Baxter a taste of what’s to come, and hopefully they can come on as players because of it.
Best of luck to you Moysie whether now or later.
Kenwright (or Green) is doing to Moyes what Johnson did to Royle and Marsh did with Kendall.
They are the owners / money men and they dictate what happens not the Manager nor the fans.
Moyes said that he liked to have things done early doors , which begs the question why has he still not signed his contract given that there is an actual contract on the table.
If there is a contract can you blame the owners not risking real money to someone who may up sticks at any moment in time?
If there is not a contract on the table can you blame Moyes for being less than excited about anything to do with a club which does everything at the slowest possible speed.
Lest we forget the economics of the situation Nil pounds spent over 10 million banked for 2008. The window is not yet shut so we might have time to see one of our stars leave for pastures new.
Whatever is / isn’t happening at EFC , it needs sorting and soon. This hand to mouth existence is getting everybody down.
He’ll need the £20m for Moutinho hopefully before Monday night and that means the other 5 have to be free or loanees .
He now realises unfortunately that we aint ever are going to get the £30-40m he needs to target the Top 4 whilst chum Bill is in charge. Wouldnt mind betting we see a statement on Sep 2nd saying as he’s got a year left he leave contract until next summer.
To all you whiners out there - hold your comments until monday so we can all see what happens.
We are all fans of this great club with high expectations and are all as worried as each other - but at the end of the day we have half our players out injured, 2 days of transfer window open (and supposidly money to spend - although noone really knows how much) and we should have really got 6pts out of 6 so far this season. Is the situation really that bad??
Negativity breads negativity, so how about giving it a few weeks to see how things pan out before throwing the toys out of the pram and as a result shooting our great team down in flames before we even start eh??
What difference will there be on Monday...If you’re waiting for some sort of BIG signing to arrive you and all of those like you are kiddin yourselves...
Believe you me Kenwrong will take this club into OBLIVION...!!
Altogether now.....KENWRIGHT OUT...KENWRIGHT OUT.....!!
If you really want rid of kenwright you will have top hope Kirkby goes through, otherwise he’s there for keeps.
Our signings this week are unproven at Premiership level except for Saha, but there’s obviously a lot of promise there. No, they’re not the players to "take us to the next level", but with them we do at least have a fighting chance of maintaining our present status. Getting in so much quality and promise for virtually no outlay is brilliant business, and if anyone doubted Moyes’s hard work and commitment, here is the proof.
When the dust settles though there are big questions to be answered about what the hell happened this summer. Why didn’t we make signings like this one month, two months ago ? Was the money always available ? Was it down to Moyes making mistakes and missing out on opportunities ? Or was it down to a combination of factors including a large slice of bad luck ? And what will the cost be to the team and the club of our transfer market woes ?
KENWRIGHT OUT....KENWRIGHT OUT !!
From what he said about money not being available until late on it’s pretty clear that him and Blue Bill have had a fall out. If Moyes walks then BK has a hell of a lot to answer for.
I’ve said all along that this was not the Moyes transfer policy it’s Blue Bill being a tight arse. He might want his new stadium but not at the expense of his players / manager / fans / league!!!!!
BK should sever his ties with the club or take a back seat from now on in my opinion. Unfortunately it seems he’s just not up to the job.
For those Moyes bashers out there - get a life!!!!! Our best manager for years and to date his loyalty has been amazing. Lets hope he keeps the faith.
IMWT
YOU BUNCH OF WHINING BASTARDS!!!!!!!!
I really cannot believe what I am reading on here.
We have no players, you whinge like bitches.
We sign 2 proven internationals, 1 proven Premiership goalscorer and possibly one of the brightest young talents to come out of Nigeria and because you have not heard of them before, you whine again.
The facts are this;
1. Not one of you know anything about Castillo or Jacobson (Same with Pienaar, Lescott, Cahill, Yobo or Arteta).
2. We now have players in who will ensure stabilty amongst the squad and allow the bench to remain ’kid free’ once all our players return.
3. We now have players to cover most positions.
This scenario was not forseen last weekend and we were all scared about the prospects of going into the month of September relying on kids to warm the bench.
This is no longer the case.
BE FUCKING GRATEFUL YOU DOOM MERCHANTS AND WAIT TO SPOUT YOUR SHITE.
THESE PLAYERS MIGHT BE GREAT FOR US FOR ALL YOU KNOW SO GIVE THEM A FUCKING CHANCE!!!!!!
Untill I watched the moyes interview i would have agreed with you. My heart still wants me to agree with you, but that was not a happy manager.
Hopefully it might just be down to tiredness, if hes had anything to do with the signing of the new boys then hes had a very busy week. It makes you wonder how much time hes actually managed to spend with the rest of the squad preparing for pompy.
At this stage im still happy to follow my heart, at the end of the day i was feeling quite cheerfull before i started reading this thread.
That just proves how twistedand negative they are realy pal.
KENSHITE OUT, who cares who comes in as long as he goes.
’The facts are this;
1. Not one of you know anything about Castillo or Jacobson (Same with Pienaar, Lescott, Cahill, Yobo or Arteta).’
We’re not all footballing retards. Most of us knew about Pienaar from his early days at Ajax. Lescott was only at Wolves and was their Player Of The Season 2 years on the trot. Cahill, was at Millwall and again was their best player every season - I also watched him for 2 seasons. Yobo is an Nigeria International from Marseille and Arteta had a fairly decent time at Rangers
Hardly unknowns....
Sorry mate but I think it’s you that needs to get real because you’re obviously blind and deaf to what’s been going on this summer.
Moyes looks a shadow of the man who walked through the door six years ago. That man was full of enthusiasm and desire to take this club back to the top.In his interview yesterday he looked like a broken man to me...totally disinterested and resigned to the fact that he will NEVER be able to realise his dreams for this club whilst that LYING BASTARD has control.Getting players only ever seen on video tape ( hope to fuck it’s not YouTube !!) that’s the type of thing done by lower league clubs FFS!!.
Please dont tell me how I should support Everton...I been doing it for over 40 years so I hardly think I need lessons or advice from you. Come 3pm I’ll be in my seat cheering every player and every kick and hoping they win....but I still wont support a man who persistantly lies to people who he profeses to be part of...yes us the SUPPORTERS and it would now appear that he has also done the same with the Manager.
As far as who would buy/invest the club...well I know that the Irish consortium who eventually bought Sunderland..... their 1st choice was EVERTON !!.
In fact a rather detailed post was written on this site regarding the subject at the time.I’m sure if you search the archives you’ll find it.
Kenwright dosn’t want to relinquish control , dont believe his crap about moving aside if the right investor comes along because he is a LIAR !!
Say what you like about Sunderland but those Irish guys have invested far more money this summer alone than KENWRONG has ever done during his entire ownership.
Kenwright just wants some one to give him a huge cash windfall with no strings attached..."Here you go Billy Boy here’s £200 mil for free. Dont worry I dont want any imput into what happens at Everton, I’ll leave that up to you mate because you’re an Evertonian..."
I know about the Irish thing because a close friend of mine is actually a business accquaintence of these people and he got it from the horses mouth.
So there ARE investors out there just not the type who will give up their money for free!!
He already said recently that he will only sell to a billionaire...because that’s what is needed nowadays and hey anything less would not be for the good of Everton...FUCK OFF !!
For example Lerner’s not a billionaire but they appear to be able to spend big and accquire their targets with the minimum of fuss.....Ashley Young £10mill is one example. Shorey & Young... bid made one day Aston Villa players the next...Milner handed transfer request wednesday .....Villa player Friday £10 mill. All of these players would have improved our squad and thus our team...dont kid yourself that they wouldn’t...But no you need to be a billionaire to be successful in the Premiership..Why ??...because Bullshit Billy says so that’s why!!
£12mil bids for players that only really cost £8mill....£13 mil bids for players that are valued at £18mill...it’s a fucking joke and KENWRONG is the Comedian - In - Chief....If Moyes wants Moutinho and the money is there ( As our beloved Chairman says it is..) pay the fucking money and get the player. Perhaps then we can then begin to believe at least some of the shite he tells us.
Until he makes good on his so far false promises....dont forget his now infamous... ’ WATCH THIS SPACE ’.....I will continue to shout KENWRIGHT OUT....KENWRIGHT OUT !!...and I make NO APOLOGY for doing so...
Despite your comments regarding the clubs the players were at, do you not agree that reports have stated that Jacobson, Castillo and Obinna have been top performers at their respective clubs?
My point is that al those players we signed and have proved to be successful were unproven Premiership players, as are the new faces signed this week.
The players we signed years ago were, and I quote you;
’Lescott was only at Wolves and was their Player Of The Season 2 years on the trot. Cahill, was at Millwall and again was their best player every season’.
It’s the ’Best players at their club’ bit that I am pointing out as these players we have recently signed have been labelled the same by many non ’football retards’.
You say that many people knew about Pienaar however I remember these pages when he signed and most people were asking ’Steven who?’.
The same with Yobo, maybe people had ’heard’ of him however, nobody knew whether he would cut it in our league, same with the new guys.
It’s all very well you ’watched’ Cahill for 2 seasons and him being the best player, but he was playing in the Championship so it was of no relevence. e proved he could make the step us so give the new ’Top flight internationals’ a chance before passing judgement and that goes for all of you!
Chair of SFC.....Quinn - ex SFC player who often spoke of love of that club. Vice chair a Sunderland businessman. Cost of club? £10m. Horse’s mouth indeed.
Yeah you do need to get a grip on reality.
Three of whom are Evertonians...
They originally made attempts to invest in Everton...Billy Bullshit rebuked their offer because he wanted to remain in control....
I dont give a shite who is Chairman or Vice Chairman at Sunderland ....what I’ve told you is correct...
I dont give a fuck whether you believe it or not because I know it is correct and it was again confirmed to me at the game yesterday.
This club is in an absolute mess and I believe that that is down to our lying bastard of a Chairman. The same one who disappeared from his seat mid way through the 2nd half yesterday when he realised how shite a performance it was and that there may be protests in the offing...shithouse.
As I say you believe what you want...If you want Bullshit Billy to remain in control that’s your opinion and your entitled to it...I really couldn’t care less what you think about what I’ve said, you carry on burying your head in the sand but please dont start moaning when this club is DEAD !!
Two fucking centre halves in the middle of midfield FFS..that’s Sunday morning football...If you’re happy with that so be it but I and it would appear many thousands of others aren’t....
Oh andbye the way..." WATCH THIS SPACE ".....

