FAN ARTICLES
Gossip as a basis for realism?
Comments (10) : I was informed by a work colleague that a fortnight ago a few other lads from work were on a plane back from a stag weekend in Madrid, lo and behold, who is sat in their vicinity on said plane? That?s right our own 'beloved' Moyesie! Apparently he was well up for some banter (the lads being both reds and blues), the conversation started by the wags asking Moyesie whether he was going for an interview for the Real job, he countered that he had actually been on a scouting mission to watch Martin Petrov of Athletico. Consulting FM will tell you Petrov is A Bulgarian left-sided midfielder (a position I?m sure all blues would like to see strengthened). To summarise here are the other morsels they managed to loosen from the usually pragmatic ginger Scot:
1) He IS interested in Nugent, but not at current asking price (apparently £8M) and a Striker is not his priority unless Beattie or McFadden leave.So the more conservative estimates of Everton's 07/08 transfer budget posted on TW (£10 million give or take) seem accurate, we will NOT buy Nugent, and Moyes will rather re-inforce the "squad", therefore, over inflated signatures such as Nugent?s won't happen as he will have to be creative and make the budget stretch, utilising some loans or free transfers to flesh out the ranks with midfield and defensive cover a priority (hopefully a left back). A realistic roll-call of 07/08 signees would be something along the lines Petrov (loan) Jagielka, Scharner, Baines and fingers crossed Fernandes for another season on loan, with a view to signing next summer.
2) He did NOT go in for Barton as he had fears for the reaction of the supports and more importantly his potential impact on the dressing room (most likely the Dabo incident scotched any interest that existed in January).
3) The Jagielka deal is done (£4m) and its Sheffield Utd's appeal which is delaying it becoming official.
Looking at this optimistic influx of staff, balanced against the supposed outlays of the Premierships nouveau riche, Everton may indeed struggle to repeat a sixth spot on top of a decent jaunt around Europe in the Uefa cup, however, on a positive note in the season we achieved our fabulous forth we had a far IMO inferior squad skill-wise, but much more importantly we had luck with injuries. IF Moyes can expand the squad and we again get lucky with few lengthy injuries to our key players I think we might just confound some of the hysterical reactions of the mail bag thus far, and produce another season of slow but sure forward momentum.
See you at John Lennon. COYB!
Reader Comments (10)
Note: the following content is not moderated or vetted by the site owners at the time of submission. Comments are the responsibility of the poster. Disclaimer
2 Posted 21/06/2007 at 09:54:05
Let alone the fact that he would actually tell them who he was scouting. I think this is all subscribing to the whole "my brother knows the lad who talks to the lass who knows the bloke who goes to the pub who sees this other bloke who knows the bloke whose lad cleans the boots of an Everton footballer" theory.
3 Posted 21/06/2007 at 12:58:43
That said, and with approx 10 million in the spending kitty, (wild guess), plus 4 mill for Beats and 3 mill for McFadden.The players in, I presume, would be Jageilka (4), Nugent (6), Baines (3), Koumas (4). And an outside chance of retaining Fernandes on season loan.
Total outlay, including outgoing, 17 million.
Would like to see them scupper toons deal for David Rozenhal, classy, hard, footballing center back that would cost in the region of 2.5 million, we should bE able to stump that kind of cash, over and above budget, if neccessary.
COYFBB
4 Posted 21/06/2007 at 13:16:28
5 Posted 21/06/2007 at 15:31:40
6 Posted 21/06/2007 at 16:04:08
7 Posted 22/06/2007 at 02:49:34
In the early - mid 90s a lot of Prem clubs did public listings. They raised money and blew it on players. Everton did no. Everton became cannon fodder in the Premiership and flirted with relegation.
In the late 90’s a lot of clubs did big share placements with media companies. Everton did not. They blew their money on players. Everton became cannon fodder....
In the mid naughties a lot of clubs got taken over by rich foreign sugar daddies. Everton did not. They blew their money on players. Everton........, learned their lesson, did not try and compete in crazy purchases and on the back of a good, tight, small but flexible squad managed to maintain their upper mid table position.
8 Posted 22/06/2007 at 03:46:14
Given the extremely poor hit rate, so far, I’m suggesting that the "Rumour Mill" be renamed to "I know where you’re not going to be next season" section
Ya gorra laff
;-)
9 Posted 22/06/2007 at 15:02:59
10 Posted 23/06/2007 at 20:37:17
so whens riquelme signing?
Add Your Comments
In order to post a comment, you need to be logged in as a registered user of the site.
Or Sign up as a ToffeeWeb Member — it's free, takes just a few minutes and will allow you to post your comments on articles and Talking Points submissions across the site.
1 Posted 21/06/2007 at 08:49:20