Column How Skint Are We? Peter Rea 02/08/2007 48comments | Jump to last I have just heard on BBC radio that Newcastle have had an offer accepted for long time Everton target Alan Smith and are discussing personal terms with the player. Not a player I have much time for personally but a fair replacement for the ultra disapponting Beattie should he decide to test himself at his natural level in the Championship. If we sell Beattie and miss out on Smith or A N Other are we seriously going to start the season with Johnson, Anichebe & McFadden? Vaughan & Cahill (not even a full time forward) are crocked and AJ's injury record is hardly inspiring. We have extra games this season should we get a good run in Europe yet we potentially have a threadbare squad. Even more threadbare than it was last year when we had one of the smallest squads in the division! My conclusion is we are absolutely flat broke and skint. Even more skint than we all suspected. With the new levels of TV revenue anticipated and the prize money from last year (which was ahead of budget projections) it is mind boggling we have only managed to purchase Jagielka for a net £3m (taking into account Naysmith). Never mind the current inflation in transfer fees, that is the market so we have to live with it. We can't afford £1m Real Betis are asking for Vogel, we are attempting to structure a £5-6m 5 year hire purchase agreement for Baines which, lets be honest is subject to Beattie leaving & we have no other serious targets on the radar. The bloddy league begins next weekend! It also states on Sky that Nugent only cost Portsmouth £4.5m not £6m. Hopefully a typo. All other teams at or below our level of last year have strengthened considerably, Portsmouth, West Ham, Spurs, Villa, Wigan, Birmingham, Fulham, Blackburn. I admit it is not all doom & gloom. We have a very good 1st XI when everyone is fit which did fantastically well last year but we urgently need strength in depth if we are to compete in Europe and domestically. We are going to get injuries and some players will inevitably suffer loss of form. If we have no other forward / midfield targets besides Smith, I hate to say it, but we must keep Beattie and pray he finds his striking mojo. I also fear that this paltry squad will not be able to compete on all fronts. Yet again we have an opportunity to push on like we did the season after we finished 4th and got into the Champions League. We should have learned from that and really pushed on this year, improved the squad and get rid of driftwood in the squad. Can any true blue still believe van der Meyde is still at the club for example? There was a good player there 3 stone & half a brewery of ale ago. He's not fit to wear the shirt (assuming there's one to fit him). I do still trust Moyes but I do not trust the pathetic board of apologists and bullshitters. What has Robert Earl brought to the club since his much lauded arrival? What has Wyness done to earn the gross salary he currently steals from Everton? Answer on both fronts is a big fat zero. I seriously hope there are some prospects coming through the Reserves but as far as I can determine there are none ready to step up immediately. Looks like we will find out pretty soon as they will be needed this season should we not add anyone to the squad. Would spending £10m in the transfer market now (Smith + Baines - Beattie) really bankrupt us or put our future in jeapordy? The real answer probably depends on the vote for the location of the new or revamped stadium. I reckon our future is so mortgaged to Tescos we are all being backed into a corner. Please grow some ambition Board! Please aspire to be great! Please do not miss another opportunity to move this great club to the next level? Reader Comments 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 Matt Brown 1 Posted 02/08/2007 at 15:03:16 Report abuse I don’t believe we have no money, if the likes of the above mentioned teams can afford to spend then a club like Everton who finished 6th must be able to find the funds need to have a sucsessful campaign. Moyes has always made no secret of the fact were after players, I believe the article on evertonfc.com stating we want more is stil live.I believe the best we can hope for now is Leighton signing and possibly Vogal coming good. Never in my wildest dreams did I think the silly season would turn out to be this for us. Two words describe it ’Fucking Joke’ Brian Waring 2 Posted 02/08/2007 at 15:10:09 Report abuse I just wanted to pick up on Vogel.Now, if Real Betis are only looking for £1m for him.Well,he can’t be any good,if we don’t even rate him at £1m. Rob Thomas 3 Posted 02/08/2007 at 15:11:34 Report abuse It is an absolute disgrace that we have failed to significantly strengthen the squad again this year.... so far. I am sure that every fan in the country will agree that Everton have the backbone of a very good first XI, which given some investment could see us break into the top 4 again.However, again we are not moving forward either because of a board that is failing to support the manager or (and I hate to say it because I am a big Moyes fan) a manager who is again showing us signs of transfer dithering. WE NEED TO STRENGTHEN AND WE NEED TO DO IT NOW!! Baines would be an excellent investment and Smith would be a perfect stand in for Cahill - a combative player who can mix it in the middle and put the ball in the back of the net. When Cahill is back fit, Smith would make an excellent strike partner for AJ.The squad was one of the smallest last year and currently is smaller still (Out: Wright, Naysmith, Pistone. In: Jagielka, Pienaar). Please bear in mind that we will have extra games to play this year and that at the end of the new season, Stubbs and Cars will not be offered new deals as they will be drawing their pensions! So in summary, minus one player compared to an already tiny squad from last year, two more expected to leave at the end of next season and clearly no money to do anything about it! Blue Bill and Fat Keith please, for the good of this club, leave now! peter rogers 4 Posted 02/08/2007 at 15:34:57 Report abuse I have to be honest and say that i am starting to get very worried if we do have a run in europe the chances are our league form will suffer with such a small squad and with other teams spending big (city 18m today ) we could face another relegation fight god i thought those days were over. We need to ask what has happened to all the money that has been talked about from tv are we saving for a rainy day, that day could come sooner than we think. John Holmes 5 Posted 02/08/2007 at 15:50:22 Report abuse Has it really sunk to the level where not just the mailbag but the articles section is being littered by people who appear to consider themselves soothsayers? How do you have such privied knowledge of where funds have been allocated and who we will any won’t buy?Your entire article is based on the assumption that the Baines deal is reliant on Beattie leaving and Newcastle have already bought Smith neither of which are substantiated. In fact the BBC says completely contradicts you saying instead that our matching Newcastle’s accepted bid for Smith (not purchase) is conditional on Beattie’s sale. The Baines situtation seems completely disconnected to the Smith one. Where you’ve pulled a 5yr hire purchase deal for Baines from I don’t know. Why not wait until the transfer window closes and then judge what took place rather than trying to second guess it? If, and I accept it’s an if, we sign Vogel, Baines and Smith which remains a distinct possibility then I would actually consider the transfer window a distinct success. This may be an optimist’s view and I don’t necessarily believe we will but it’s an every bit as verifiable possibility as your pessimist’s outlook. Matt Brown 6 Posted 02/08/2007 at 15:59:19 Report abuse John, it may of sunk to that level here yes. But you’ve just joined us! If you don’t wish to participate in these sorts of debates there’s a simple solution... DONT!!! Phil 7 Posted 02/08/2007 at 16:05:07 Report abuse As paying Customers we all have the right to be as optimistic or pesamistic about the current issues surrounding our Club.whether you believe it or not, we are skint or we’re banking money in anticipation of the Kirkby move.We did not invest prior to our last European adventure and look what happened then.There are undoubtedly a lot of positives in the current Everton squad but let’s be honest with ourselves............the squad is simply too small (even with two or three additions) Toffee 8 Posted 02/08/2007 at 16:13:28 Report abuse I have to agree with John.If we could get Smith, Baines and Vogel, coupled with ags and Pienaar. Then I would be please with our summer.In terms of quality, it would far better Fulham, Villa, Pompey, Wigan, Birmingham, Blackburn and Villa.But, at the moment.... this remains an if!I think Baines is as good as ours, fuck knows whats going on with Vogel and I still think there is more twists in the SMITH saga!Come board, for fucks sake! mark-chester 9 Posted 02/08/2007 at 16:21:46 Report abuse Here here Matt & Phil!!If we want to give our opinions we will, we are not being negative, we are showing frustration because we love the club so much and wnat the best and this summer has been typical Everton!Smith is going to Newcastle that much is evident, we are not stupid. Ok, Maybe Baines is not on the HP (well maybe a little bit) but the stark reality is that we are very short of money due to the Kirkby move and we are going to miss the boat if we do not get another quality striker.Even if Vaughan was fit I would still say we need someone else up front, like has been said, injuries, suspension, dips in form and I am sorry but to me AJ iks not a true centre forward, he comes too deep and wide too much to be one, McFadden is hit and miss and Victor is way off the great player he looks to be.I hope we get some quality in soon or we will struggle in the uefa and the league as other teams have more quality than last season and i believe we will need to score 30% more goals this season to do well. Nick Whitham 10 Posted 02/08/2007 at 16:37:46 Report abuse My initial optimism this pre-season has turned to disappointment. Now that disappointment is turning to frustration. What the f*ck is going on with the Everton board, what has happened to all the money? If I had been told on the last day of the season that we would spend £3million on new players, I would have dismissed such thoughts as lunacy.I just hope that is not it! Nick Whitham 11 Posted 02/08/2007 at 16:51:43 Report abuse My initial optimism this pre-season has turned to disappointment. Now that disappointment is turning to frustration. What the f*ck is going on with the Everton board, what has happened to all the money? If I had been told on the last day of the season that we would spend £3million on new players, I would have dismissed such thoughts as lunacy.I just hope that this is not it! billblue 12 Posted 02/08/2007 at 16:08:47 Report abuse Peter, in some ways Smith is a replacement for Beatie, as they both have a terrible goals to games ratio’s, Smith as a professional is no better than one goal in five games. He played his last games for the manc’s in a defensive midfield role, trying to fill Roy Keanes boots (oh peeeze). i hope to god we do not sin him, he is another utility player, and I think we already have too many of them, please sign a front line goal getting target man to play along side Johnson, a true replacement for Beatie. More specialists please! Dave Buck 13 Posted 02/08/2007 at 17:33:50 Report abuse Forget about Smith, I’ve just seen Sky Sports News and he’s been interviewed by a reporter saying if all goes right, he expects to be a Newcastle player in the morning. S Roberts 14 Posted 02/08/2007 at 17:46:50 Report abuse Every club is looking for or have foreign money,just looking for europe.Davy,Bill WE ARE THERE!!!!!Now sort it out or we will be a championchip side in Kirby. Stuart Beresford-Kelly 15 Posted 02/08/2007 at 18:48:25 Report abuse I suspect our definition of skint is "we are just in the black". Others teams definitions of skint is "we can’t afford the interest on the bank loans". I suspect Fulham et al are mortgaging themselves Leeds style in the hope they stay in the Prem. It’s just a thought. James Newcombe 16 Posted 02/08/2007 at 19:23:48 Report abuse I’d be pretty pleased to miss out on Smith - looked a good prospect a few years ago, but he’s no goalscorer and not worth a punt at £6m. Let the skunks have him.Baines is another matter though - this deal needs to be wrapped up right away before United or the Shite get involved and turn his head...In terms of a striker, surely there are some better (and much cheaper options abroad). Though I’d sooner have Fernandes back! Stuart Beresford-Kelly 17 Posted 02/08/2007 at 20:13:40 Report abuse I’m with James. Is there any chance of getting Fernandes back? I’d be happy enough with another seasons loan. Does he even fit in with Benficas current plans!? I’d also like the Vogel thing to go through. Surely a Swiss international would help the squad? Fez 18 Posted 02/08/2007 at 20:10:00 Report abuse Kenwright and Wyness out now. Promises after Promises = Lies after Lies from Kenwright and Wyness. The squad is an embarrassment they’ll be asking people to take their boots down next. Its well documented we want smith but apparently this hinges on Beattie leaving and we have to wait until his Dad gets back off his holidays, does he not have a fuckin phone, Smith will have signed for Newcastle by then. Credit to Moyes for his loyalty coz most managers would have walked by now with the idiots we have running the club. As long as Kenwright holds on to sole control then this great club will stand still and watch the likes of WIgan and Derby sail past us. Nick Whitham 19 Posted 02/08/2007 at 20:47:21 Report abuse I agree with Fez. Credit to Moyes most would have walked by now. If Moyes did leave we would be hard pressed to get a better manager. John Crawley 20 Posted 02/08/2007 at 22:14:41 Report abuse I am not a big fan of Moyes but to be perfectly honest he is trying to do the job with pretty much two hands tied behind his back. For those people who don’t think we are skint please take your heads out of the sand and read Joe Beardwood’s article on our finances. We are 45million in debt, have sold off all of our assets apart from Goodison Park. On the business side you can only come to the conclusion that we are extremely badly managed and unfortunately the manager is suffering as a result. matt 21 Posted 02/08/2007 at 22:28:05 Report abuse Well I am disappointed to miss out on smith and to be honest thought we needed him more than baines. Baines would be a good addition and make a solid back four but hang on a minute. It seems its not baines afterall but some striker come lef back called mobaeck (ever heard of him?) who isnt even rated by swedish football fans.Guess to answer the original post. we must be f*cking skint and becoming a joke.And on the stadium front. because of how sint we are etc, wouldnt sacrificing the past to secure our future be the way forward? matt 22 Posted 02/08/2007 at 22:28:05 Report abuse Well I am disappointed to miss out on smith and to be honest thought we needed him more than baines. Baines would be a good addition and make a solid back four but hang on a minute. It seems its not baines afterall but some striker come lef back called mobaeck (ever heard of him?) who isnt even rated by swedish football fans.Guess to answer the original post. we must be f*cking skint and becoming a joke.And on the stadium front. because of how sint we are etc, wouldnt sacrificing the past to secure our future be the way forward? Laurie Cooper 23 Posted 02/08/2007 at 22:26:16 Report abuse People like John Holmes who attempt to demean the frustrations felt by many Evertonians over the litany of (with the exception of the AJ transfer) long, drawn out sagas conducted by the current management over the past four years seem to entirely miss the point. They build up our expectations and then consistently fail to deliver; not only that, they use the well worn excuse that they have valuations of players and won’t go beyond this valuation, but have never explained the process of how they established this valuation in the first place. I suspect that is based in a lack of funds for transfers rather than any responsible economic management model. The facts. At the end of last season Moyes in one interview stated that he needed to add "at least 6 players to his current squad" to be truly competitive. Blue Bill then came out and said "There will be money in the summer. I always believe that if you put someone in charge then you must support them." It was comments like these that underpinned our hopes for this season and raised our expectations. Well, Moyes has yet again dithered (the Baines and Smith cases) and Blue Bill obviously hasn’t made the funds available and, between them, we will probably lose the two targets Moyes had settled on. Smith will be going the Newcastle and, whilst he may not be an out and out striker, his experience and his professionalism and determination on the park would have made him an invaluable asset for us. And four hours ago, I heard via radio that Man City have seriously entered the battle for Baines by lodging a better cash bid than us for the lad. What are you going to say if we lose both targets John? Will you, like many other apologists for the current management team, simply offer some rationalisation of this situation? The fact is EFC are now widely regarded as amateurs in their transfer dealings and, therefore, not a serious threat. It saddens me (a 52 year supporter of EFC) to see our club in hands of such fools. And frankly, whilst the current regime remain in place, I don’t see much hope for the future simply because we cannot continue to run with a threadbare squad where any injury becomes a major catastrophe (a la Vaughan and Cahill). Nor can we, as evidenced by their repeated behaviour, trust in what this regime tell us. We need funds and we need decisiveness from those representing us in the transfer market.We are not getting either at the moment. John Holmes 24 Posted 03/08/2007 at 00:03:48 Report abuse I have no problem with criticising manager or board if they fail. If we do spend only £3m and leave ourselves undermanned I will question what has gone on (although what actually happens, not what is likely to happen, on the pitch remains the true measure). However, what I won’t do is pass judgement before the things have happened. Yes it looks increasingly likely that Smith is going to Newcastle which is certainly unfortunate but irrespective of ’dithering’ and lack of funds we could never have realistically outbid whatever ridiculous wages Newcastle have offered him like they offer countless other players in the past who have failed. I’m sure he’ll enjoy sitting on the bench for a team not even in Europe. Does he really think he’ll get in ahead of Martins and Owen?As for Baines, Wigan can’t sell him to City if he doesn’t want to go. I suspect this one has far from run it’s course.My point though remains, there’s little point judging Moyes and deciding that we will only spend £3m and that we’re all going to hell in a handcart until the time has come. There’s a difference between questioning something and making deterministic statements of unsubstantiated fact. Brian Waring 25 Posted 03/08/2007 at 09:07:15 Report abuse Laurie Cooper.Excellent post. Peter Rea 26 Posted 03/08/2007 at 09:21:04 Report abuse Excellent post Laurie Cooper. John the fact remains that we have not strengthened the squad. Apart from the possibility of Baines I will be very surprised if anyone else is signed before the end of August. All the quality that was available has been snapped up by our competitors. If money had been available we would have brought bodies in long before the start of the season to ensure they had a pre-season behind them. That would obviously be the managers preference as he has stated on numerous occasions. I am just so frustrated that after yet another fantastic season we have not kicked on. It has the distinct smell of 2005/6 all over again. I absolutely hope I am wrong and will be the first to admit it if proved so but you seriously can not admit to being happy about the lack of transfer activity. The current squad simply does not have enough depth and quality. What if, heaven forbid, we lose AJ? McFadden & 2 kids up front including the lad from Swindon? You can count Cahill our from making any impact until late autumn by the time he regains match fitness & sharpness. The craic about Baines on a hire purchase agreement was a poor attempt at irony to demonstrate my belief that is how far we have sunk in our transfer dealings. Bill will be paying for him in installments over the next 5 years because we are flat broke. Maybe he’ll pull out the Black Amex card and stick him on that. John I seriously hope you are right and we will see bodies in by the end of August however this Toffee seriously doubts the boards ability & willingness until they have Kirkby green lighted. Forever Blue..... Hugo Kondratiuk 27 Posted 03/08/2007 at 10:23:02 Report abuse The less we spend on new players, the more desperate will appear our need to move in order to compete. And the more desperate it seems, the more people will vote in favour of moving to Kirkby.Just another weapon in Bill and Keith’s propaganda armoury? Gray 28 Posted 03/08/2007 at 09:51:13 Report abuse Didn’t Mr Kenwright come out with a comical statement when we ’signed two new players’ earlier on in the summer (cahill an Arteta on 5 yr deals) something along the lines of ’We did it the Everton way, quietly and professionaly done without anyone knowing about it’ not the exact words I know but you get the jist. That fella jus takes the piss. Everyone we go for is made public I can never rememember Everton signing somebody without anyone knowing. Momo Sissoko anyone? Yeh that was done quietly Bill, he signed for the shite as soon as it was made public. Don’t even get me started on all the other ’bids’ for players in the past Alan Smith before he signed for Man Utd. We ’bid’ 7 million for him apparently (probably at a quid a week like) then all of a sudden there was no money when he signed for Man U. It’s happened again this year, apparently according to the Echo he was angling for a move to us and am pretty sure Ferguson and even Rooney would have told him to come to us but this hinges on Beattie going and we cant get rid of him until his Dad returns from Benidorm, I find this a convenient excuse personally surely ’Beats’ Dad must have a Nokia 120 on him? Can that not be sorted over the phone, can he not get a flight back to sort it then Fuck off back? Smith has got fed up of waiting pure and simple and who can blame the lad. Who who can forget the token Alan Shearer bid, ok Johnson might have been in charge then but as long as Kenwright stays in charge we are gonna stand still and continue to live in the past. This fella and all is cronies have made us a laughing stock. Wigan who nearly went down last year are outbidding us for players. Fulham, Birmingham, Derby have all spent more. We’ve spent 3 million this summer as we sold Naysmith for a million. Am sure we only signed Jagielka because he can play in 8 different positions. I for one have had enough. Its the best opportunity we’ve had in years to progress yet we are still a selling club ... Fact. Moyes hands are tied. In a funny way I wish he’d walk because ’Blue Bill’ would have to come up with some serious explanations then maybe we would finally get to know the truth about how much debt we are seriously in. Why can’t they just come out and say there is no money instead of lying to us year after year? So thanks for all the ’promises’ coming to frutition again Mr Kenwright and Wyness. Get the team sorted before we get a stadium and thanks for keeping us informed on everything Bill. Fuck off back to Corrie and quick. Phil 29 Posted 03/08/2007 at 10:47:49 Report abuse For all the people who think the board have done enough for us so far can I pop a question?At the end of last season when we qualified for Europe (with one of the best footballing midfielders seen in a long time in a blue shirt, aka Fernandes)Did any of you honestly believe we would be stting here with one week to go before the season, with a smaller and possibly weaker squad?It beggers belief and all we want is somebody to tell us why.We are in danger of having one of our famous yo yo seasons colin jones 30 Posted 03/08/2007 at 11:28:07 Report abuse why oh why do we always piss about when it comes to signing a player.any other club just gets on with it and completes the deal in days.wefanny about that much it is embarrasing to say the least.were has all the tv money gone that we have so called recieved?.we are one of the best supported clubs in the premiership yet such as wigan and fulham etc can spend more than us. Tony Hawkins 31 Posted 03/08/2007 at 12:19:16 Report abuse I’m holding out hope that Moyes and Kenwright have made a massive coupe which they are sitting on......Can’t see it but we will see. paul 32 Posted 03/08/2007 at 13:25:46 Report abuse Smith gone to Newcastle now Alardyce going after Baines! Well done EFC!! Phil 33 Posted 03/08/2007 at 13:34:06 Report abuse Boss Sam Allardyce is now reported to pondering a last-ditch bid to sign Wigan defender Leighton Baines.Watch in anguish as we make a holy mess of this one.£20000 as week at everton, whatever you want a Newcastle John McKie 34 Posted 03/08/2007 at 13:25:13 Report abuse I agree with the likes of Peter and Laurie and am yet again wondering why I leave myself in debt purchasing another season ticket???I know why... because I love the club, unfortunately the people who run it dont appear to share my sentiments.What I am about to say has been said by many others but issues like this need ramming home and who knows... maybe the teletubbies (aka Bill and Whining Wyness) will read this and sort this situation out.I have a theory... I think that we announce our interest in players in order to appease the fans. I think the board states an interest so’s to look like they are trying to buy players but in reality they have no intention of buying such players. I can name countless players that have moved clubs this summer who I think we could and maybe should have made true bids for, i.e. - David Healy (cost 1.5 mil i think... is that not cheap?), Nugent, Smith, Santa Cruz (are Blackburn really a more attractive proposition than us?), Steve Davies, Quedrue, Wilhemsson... etc etc. The list goes on and on and the fact is these players are not big money signings.Promises promises promises... thats all we hear but they never materialise. I think the board are too focused on the move when they should be concentrating on the immediate future... i.e. the premiership and UEFA cup. We need... 1 top quality striker who can bag you 20 a season. (money should not be an issue, this is an essential part to any team). We also need... a left back (Baines?) and more midfield cover.Ive heard on the grapevine we have three targets... Claus Thomson, Mitch Ward and Mikel Madar... HA HA. Id even be happy to see them at the moment.Please board and dithery Dave... sort this farce out!!!John McK - true blue Ian A 35 Posted 03/08/2007 at 13:56:00 Report abuse Every night I get back from work, switch on sky sports news and hope and prey that one of those yellow ’breaking news’ banners scrolling accross the bottom of the TV screen is going to start with "Everton complete the signing of......" but so far with the exception on Jags and a loan deal for a player that may have some potential there is nothing happeneing. We are getting left behind! Simple as!Now that Cahills injured you look on the squad in a whole different way and it frightens the life out of me to think "well waht if Arteta was to pick up an injury on day one". It would be massively unlucky, but it could happen and lets face it, we are not the luckiest of clubs! If we want to improve, we need to have done and be doing far more in the transfer market. Jags is a good solid signing and I’m sure he will come in handy, but I’m sure any truthful Evertonian would agree that they will be hugely dissapointed if he turns out to be our major buy of the summer!! Baines...another good buy (if it happens, but I’m just waiting for dithering david to leave it so long that another more ambitious club snatches him from under our noses). We are in Europe this season. With a good run we will need depth in the squad to cope with the extra games which will bring with it extra fatigue, injuries etc.. which will have a knock-on effect in every competition we enter. At the moment our first injury free eleven looks good, but at some stage most or all of our first eleven will at some stage pick up an injury or a suspension or two or will suffer from fatigue and will need resting. If our team is to have a realistic chance of moving forward, we must learn from our previous mistakes!I feel this ground move thing is also taking a very unhealthy priority with the club! Sod the ground move. Lets sort out a squad worthy of playing there first. terrymarsbar 36 Posted 03/08/2007 at 14:26:39 Report abuse I think that on every post here I try to be as upbeat about things as possible,but even my glass is beginning to be half empty:Smith gone to the mags,and a Baines bid by them is "imminent".Why we cant just bid,then talk ,then sign him I do not Know.Tobe honest a lot of the players who have gone to other clubs were not my choice of player ,apart from smith...and I do like the look of Baines...I have a sneaky feeling that Beattie will stay now..as I cant thinkof any other strikers for sale who are up to the job...my pre-season optimism is on the wane..but was impressed by the way we made the Germans look so ordinary..and they were Uefa semi finalists....hmmmm mcginr 37 Posted 03/08/2007 at 16:46:04 Report abuse Peter Johnson did his best to destroy the club, Kenwright and Wyness will finish the job. Every miserable club in the country has money to spend except ours. This will be moyes’s last season, while he does have faults there is no way we can attract someone as good as him. With the amount of money in the game now we can no longer survive through luck, our best players will leave and we will go down to the Championship, and stay there...all thanks to a bunch of wankers who won’t spend a few quid. Laurie Cooper, you make a good point re valuation. The Board don’t seem to understand how markets work, one consumer can’t bring prices down on their own, YOU HAVE TO PAY THE VALUE THE MARKET DICTATES, NOT WHAT YOU WOULD PREFER TO PAY!! fucking idiots. Alan 38 Posted 03/08/2007 at 17:31:20 Report abuse If we had any money in the club then we would of already signed Smith and Baines.... but alas we have lost out on Smith because of no cash and looks like we could lose Baines if Moyes is not given the money NOW to buy new players. BK AND KW... GET YOUR WALLETS OUT AND SPEND SOME DAMN MONEY.... Yankee Blue 39 Posted 03/08/2007 at 16:59:17 Report abuse Like many of you, I am frustrated at the lack of signings this summer. BK and the board are fully to blame. There were a number of good quality players that wanted to sign for us, but our front office did nothing. I am glad that we extended contracts to Timmy and Arteta, but we all know that those contracts don’t hold any weight. What was said to them to make them sign long term committments to our club? I’m sure BK and the smurfs promised new signings. Why else would they sign? If we go backwards this season because of a lack of depth, we will lose these players. They will see that our club has no vision and is content at being mid-table at best.With a week left before the start of the season, we have a smaller squad with 2 key injuries. Combined, Cahill and Vaughn scored 11 of our 55 goals accounting for 20% of our goal tally (and the percentage would probably have been higher had they not sustained injuries). So who is going to pick up the slack? By the time they return and get fit, we may already be out of Europe and sitting close to the foot of the table. On another note, is anybody else worried about our goalie situation? No one has mentioned that we need a backup keeper in addition to the other positions. The thought of Turner playing scares me half to death. The vision of him dropping the cross vs manure is embedded in my memory. I will cringe everytime he goes up for a cross.As far as the lack of transfer funds, I have a ridiculous idea... Maybe we the fans should start a campaign and have every Evertonian pitch in $20. With our fan support worldwide, that should give us an enourmous transfer kitty. I bet Blue Bill would love that idea. In fact he would probably give himself a raise!I hope the board comes through and we sign a few more players. But with our history in the tranfer maket, I remain pessimistic. PROVE ME WRONG BK AND THE SMURFS! What ever happend to our motto: Nil Satis Nisi Optimum. Does it not mean anything anymore??? Tony Ainscough 40 Posted 03/08/2007 at 19:15:09 Report abuse The thing that puzzles me the most is what was said to Arteta and Cahill to make them sign new contracts surely new signings would have been mentioned ROBBO 41 Posted 03/08/2007 at 19:20:59 Report abuse YANKEEInstead of having a whip around for billy liar lets have a collection to get rid of him and his stiffs!!!who comes in i dont know!! cant do any worse surely!!? what i do know! we have gone/are joint bottom with Reading for transfer activity this summer!! 2 players in 8 out from this time last summer!!weres all the money gone!!!!plz tell us! Robbie Kirkham 42 Posted 03/08/2007 at 20:05:21 Report abuse I agree with everything said the last few days i’ve felt that frustrated at the way the club is run i feel like crying we should not have had to rely on Beattie being sold to fund the Smith signing its a joke were is the money every club has been bragging about the TV deal and how much money there going to get 3omillion if u finish bottom so weres our share plus prize money from 6th place which is at least 7million i’ve heard we used that last year on Johnson and Lesscott but there fees only cost 10.5million so there must be money!!! i don’t think we will sign anybody else Moyes will go i think next summer and we’ll be back to looking over our shoulders at the trapdoor Kenwright fuck off and take your knobhead mates with you!!! Cully 43 Posted 03/08/2007 at 20:08:49 Report abuse Everton are a joke,i ll refrase that, the people who run us are.As one of the most successful teams in English football history,and on the back of a great season last year,i cant believe that there hasnt been a queue of investers wanting to take us on,look at Man City,Aston Villa,Birmingham,Newcastle and the Red Shit@,i believe Kenwright doesnt want to let go of his little hobby,and for this we’ll all suffer,god help us Nigel Tilley 44 Posted 03/08/2007 at 20:39:37 Report abuse Laurie ...... You said it all ...... and I am a 53 years old supporter. I guess we both have no one else but ourselves to blame that we still care and feel so utterly frustrated and disappointed with the people who run our club. Steve Ryan 45 Posted 03/08/2007 at 22:34:16 Report abuse JOHN HOLMES who the fuck do you think you are telling people who and who cannot submit articles on this website. Your last masterpiece, ’War and Peace’ was so self-indulgant and dull, I am amazed that you have been included on the Toffeeweb select list of contibutors.Its not a competition you bighead but a compilation of peoples views!! mark-chester 46 Posted 03/08/2007 at 22:58:13 Report abuse Too true Steve, we are everton fans, football fans and we are not idiots!!We do not have all the info to hand and yes, alot of our opinions are based on hear say, BUT the one thing we do have which nearly always proves us right is a footballing sense of reality, as an example john holmes took the sensible and pragmatic view about the Smith saga, BUT we new different, we are he realists and we know for the most part how targets will unfold, the majority deep down knew smith was barcodes bound, it a sense we have built into us from footballing knowledge, past dissapointments and we know BK all too well! Yankee Blue 47 Posted 04/08/2007 at 00:29:06 Report abuse To all my fellow Evertonians across the pond... I have a few questions that I hope someone can answer. By living in the states, I am unfamiliar with the politics/economics of the front office. Does BK have any clue how unpopular he is amongst the supporters or is he oblivious to all the negativity and living in a state of nirvana? What percentage of the club does he own? Is it possible to rally the other stakeholders and gain majority for his removal? Have their been any public protests or rallies suggesting his resignation? Ian A 48 Posted 04/08/2007 at 16:47:47 Report abuse Yankee Blue....No htere have been no mass protests regarding BK and his hanling of the club. I have a feeling things are coming to a head though and unless we do start splashing the cash, it won’t be long before BK is under severe pressure! As always the fans are split. Some don’t have a bad word to say about him and others can’t wait to see the back of him. He tends to go into hiding when he feels the pressure building. Haven’t seen his sickly all smiles face on sky sports for a while. You watch though, as soon as something good happens, he’ll be all over the TV and radio!This stadium thing is rumbling on aswell and this is all the club seem to be focusing on at the mo which is a big mistake!If we don’t bring in a few more quality players and if we were to have a bad start this season, I don’t think it would be too long before the fans really start to make there feelings known! TVA 49 Posted 04/08/2007 at 21:12:02 Report abuse If this latest rumour IS true and we are going for Gonzalez how can we can afford 10m for him an unproven player in the premiership, but can’t find 12m for Fernandes who proved himself last season? This is all doing my head in! we could do with some answers. come on BK talk to us the fan’s you say you love. Well show us some respect! © ToffeeWeb