VIEW FROM THE BLUE

See You, Jimmy

By Lyndon Lloyd :  18/01/2008 :  Comments (26) :

A story relayed to me goes that an Evertonian and his son ran into James McFadden at a motorway services on the M6 on Wednesday, presumably as he was on his way to Birmingham City to discuss terms with Alex McLeish.

He was resigned to the fact that the deal had been done and that there was little he could do except take up the opportunity for regular first-team football. He seemed sad, however ?forlorn was the word used to describe him, actually ? at the realisation that he was taking a backward step in his career after failing to really make the grade at Everton.

It's easy to sympathise with McFadden, really. When he arrived at Goodison Park aged 21, he was anointed the "Scottish Rooney" on the basis of his scintillating form for Motherwell and seemingly had the world at his feet. He may have joined a club struggling to get back on its feet after years of decay but he leaves Everton boasting its best squad for two decades, a heroic performance away from Wembley, in the last 32 of the Uefa Cup, and on course for successive top-six finishes for the first time since the late 1980s.

I'm not sure why, but I myself feel genuine sadness to see McFadden leave even though I know he had to; that the transfer fee of upwards of £6m represents fantastic business for Everton; that he had four years to prove that he could perform consistently enough at Premier League level to command a first-team place; that the blunt truth may be that he just doesn't have what it takes to tip him over the top to become a regular star performer. I certainly didn't feel anything like a pang of regret when James Beattie left even though McFadden has been as equally frustrating to watch at times as "Beatts" was.

Perhaps it because "Faddy" appears to be one of football's genuinely nice guys underneath that rugged exterior, the edgy hairstyles, the perma-stubble, and the occasional tirades at referees (one of which earned him a red card for bruising Graham Poll's ego last season, of course). His image portrayed an impudent Jack the Lad but off the field he was, by all accounts, a quiet and retiring sort whose heart was exposed with his celebration at Middlesbrough on New Year's Day when he shed tears for Phil O'Donnell, the Motherwell captain and personal friend who had tragically died a few days previously, and to whom he dedicated the goal.

Perhaps it is because he is something of a flair player and Evertonians have always loved a player with natural ability ? you only have to look at the support offered to Andy van der Meyde (despite all logic it now seems) or the open arms with which Manuel Fernandes has been greeted this month as evidence of that.

Perhaps it was because he scored some absolutely top-class goals ? not to mention some important ones ? in his time at Everton and often looked to be on the cusp of becoming the player we all hoped he would be. That winner against Charlton Athletic last season was a piece of instinctive magic that encapsulated in a few breathtaking seconds the raw talent he possesses. And although he rarely produced the goalscoring feats he seemed to be able to perform at will on the international stage for Scotland, his goal in Kharkov that paved the way for the Blues's qualification for the Group stages of the Uefa Cup, or his inadvertant role in Tim Cahill's stunning equaliser at Chelsea this season were evidence that he could turn a game in Everton's favour an instant when he was in the mood.

Therein, of course, lies the crux of the matter where Jimmy Mac was concerned. When he wasn't on top form, he could be something of a liability and it led, unfortunately, to him becoming the dreaded Goodison boo-boy towards the end of his career with Everton. Without the pace to go with his ball skills, he was rarely able to beat his man and that, all too often, led to him running down blind alleys. His decision-making was also often suspect and he was one of the chief culprits in giving the ball away cheaply. That made him a very frustrating player to watch, especially as the quality of players around him has been raised under Moyes. Yes, he could erase many of those moments with a stunning goal but even when scoring at a rate of a goal every four games for a time it wasn't enough to enable him to command a regular starting place.

Deep down, he probably knew that his days at Everton were numbered and the fact that he stalled for a few months on a new contract at Goodison suggests as much. Many fans have felt for a long time that he would have a field day in the Scottish Premier League and I suspect he was hoping that one of the Old Firm would snap him up this month. The transfer fee more than anything probably frightened off both.

He will get more regular football at Birmingham, though, and I truly hope that under McLeish he can flourish as well as he did under him with Scotland. And if he can perform well at St Andrews, that move back north of the Border to one of the big Scottish clubs probably won't be too far away.

The attention of the fans will, of course, now turn to whether or not Moyes will replace him this month.

I feel strongly that we should do our best to find a replacement for the role in which McFadden was often deployed ? an attacking midfielder who can play up front or out wide is how Moyes viewed McFadden when in truth the player himself always regarded himself as a striker ? if we are serious about pushing into the top four this season. Speculation, of course, surrounds Andrei Arshavin who is available due to the fact that the Russian league in its close season and who, if his reputation is anything to go by, would be the ideal player to fill that role in the team.

The manager has covered all his bases with quotes attributed to him today in the Daily Post:

?I think you are always looking to strengthen. I am quite comfortable with the squad and the players we have got but we are always looking to improve.

?I don?t know whether we will be delving into the transfer market quite so quickly. We just need to see what we have got available to us.

?We brought Manuel Fernandes in to add to our midfield area but we will keep looking and you never know, there is still a couple of weeks left in the window.?

Time will, of course, tell but for now I wish James McFadden well ? except when we play them again later this season, of course! ? and say adieu by thanking him for some memorable moments in Everton blue rather than dwelling on his more enigmatic moments.

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