COLUMNIST JOHN HOLMES
In the Summertime
Comments (7) : As ever criticism seems to be flying towards Moyes from all sides. Of course, as ever, there is some merit to it although, as ever, much of the conjecture in the Mail Bag is based in exaggeration and personal vendettas. Why descend from criticism to name-calling?
Of course it would be great if Moyes could have repeated last year's early movement and brought in his men by the middle of June but I don't think the lack of tangible results so far is firstly a major concern or secondly should be equated with a lack of activity.
Looking at the players other clubs (and we're by no means the only one with no signings, the moneybags of Villa and City are yet to move) I don't really feel any jealousy at their acquisitions to date. In fact, looking at the BBC's list I can't really see a single player who we could have realistically signed which I would have wanted at Everton. Bale, Parker, Distin and Sidwell would all have been nice but they made their choices without Everton ever being serious considerations. Money and location seemed to be greater determinants.
Bramble, Viduka, Sibierki, Samuel, McCann - take 'em or leave 'em or in Bramble's case — run like hell. As far as I'm concerned it's only worth getting het up about the transfer activity when we start missing out on players we wanted or when time starts to get tight. Neither are currently the case.
As for the point about activity, we clearly are making efforts. We know we're in for Jagielka and it's believed we're negotiating for Fernandes and the lack of outside interest suggests there's some sort of...gentleman's agreement regarding first options. This happens every summer, people want deals but the reality is players are on holiday, at tournaments, considering their options and things don't happen. Read the rumour pages if you will but I suggest a few tips:
Treat a rumour as a rumour — just because our scouts watched a player and the papers' have named their price doesn't mean we'll pay it
One swallow doesn't make a summer — just because we're in for an average player, like Roberts, doesn't mean that's the only kind of player Moyes is interested in. We need a variety or positions, abilities and squad statuses so it's going to look a mixed bag
Silence and stasis are not the same — just because the club doesn't tell us what it's doing doesn't mean it isn't doing anything.
Supershot diGoalio may not be a good player — just because a player has a fancy foriegn name doesn't mean he can dribble round the entire opposition defence. Every July teams like Liverpool, Bolton and Newcastle load up on foreign talent and every June they release half of last season's haul as a bad job.
Finally, relax... it's summer for Christ's sake! I know we need something to talk about but save the panic stations for this time next month. Find a good book, a sunny park and moan about the cricket not being on terrestrial. If you really want a moan then tread the muddy waters of the stadium debate.
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2 Posted 11/06/2007 at 18:26:15
And I remember that these same people (Luq and Marsh) were complaining in past seasons when Everton would come out and say early on who they were trying to sign because clubs like Newcastle would come in and poach them with bigger contract offers (Scott Parker, Sissoko). So maybe the club have actually learned their lesson and are keeping their negotiations quiet, so that a team like the Red Shite don?t come in after hearing that Benfica will sell Fernandes to us for £9M and offer £15M, as they did with Sissoko.
3 Posted 11/06/2007 at 21:54:08
Expect things to start happening around the end of the month just as the players are about to get back for pre-season and even then most activity will probably be late July. Last year was a one-off and as rightly pointed out above there are different circumstances this year as the players we apparently want have a bit of baggage to sort out first.
I think you?ll find our neighbours and the Wenger Boys are having a much rougher Summer than us!
IMWT ;)
4 Posted 11/06/2007 at 22:35:08
5 Posted 11/06/2007 at 22:43:58
6 Posted 12/06/2007 at 09:48:16
7 Posted 13/06/2007 at 04:28:57
I have a lot of faith in David Moyes. He may be a little careful in his spending but I think thats good for us as we don't have a money tree at EFC (not that I know of, anyways!). Let's sit back ,enjoy the summer, and trust him to make the right choices. Lets not get carried away by the noise that the "money flaunting" clubs are making in order to attract their next mercenary. Let's behave like true Evertonians.. deeply passionate, yet patient!
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1 Posted 11/06/2007 at 18:14:07
For people to be already panicking is seriously jumping the gun. There is nobody that I?ve felt remotely upset to see move from our beloved club or any other that we?ve missed out on. I think that the silence from Benfica is definitely due to us dealing with them over Manny and that excites me greatly, the Jagielka deal is being held up due to United and West Ham?s legal dispute, and if we were going for Nugent it wouldn?t be until after the under 21s.
We know all this so why do people still accuse Moyes of dithering? The paper?s don?t help and if you believe them it can scare the life out of you. To say that we can?t raise the £4m and are prepared to offload McFadden, Naysmith and cash can?t be right, can it?