ToffeeWeb - Season 2007-08

The Mail Bag

So where's the money come from?

Well it seems that those who wrote off the Gonzalez story were only half-right in claiming we were bidding money we didn't have for a player we couldn't get. Whilst it always seemed unlikely that an Argentine international playing Champions' League football in his prime in Portugal would switch to the Uefa Cup on Merseyside, it seems the bid and money are genuine. Witness the new speculation that Moyes still intends to spend that cash, even if not on Lucho.

Setting aside the who, just how has this money suddenly come into being? Various theories have been suggested ranging from Robert Earl dipping into his pockets to borrowing on next season's fund (correct me if I'm wrong but if we do that every year doesn't that just mean we have the same transfer budget as everyone else but with shiny added risk?).

My personal suspicion, admittedly partially nurured for it's implications which I'll get into in a second, is that this money has been available all summer. I suspect that Moyes wasn't looking at Baines or Richardson or Nugent or Koumas. He actually intended to purchase all of them but was put off by the unreasonable pricetags which to a certain extent he could afford but refused to pay, rightly thinking he could get better players for the same price elsewhere. His original intention was to buy those kind of players in abundance to bolster the squad numbers with the likes of Baines and Nugent hopefully progressing in the manner of Cahill and Lescott to become key players rather than just added numbers.

Thwarted in this attempt, Moyes has has mourned the passing of the £3-4m buy and looked to splurge his cash on one or two big buys instead.

That's my idea anyway... the bit I like about it is the implication that all the bitching, whining and moaning in the mailbag all summer would effectively have been rendered irrelevant by a complete misinterpretation of the club's situtation and the reality that it could quite happily have been negotiating big money purchases on the quiet. Of course the question still remains about the wisdom of leaving your signings until the season has practically started (if not later) but it makes the increasing irrationality of the mailbag more amusing.
John Holmes, York Posted 08/08/2007 at 12:22:25

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Comments

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Allan
1 Posted 08/08/2007 at 14:51:29

EFC’s transfer budget has never been made public and rightly so. The only people who ever said we didn’t have any money to buy players, were people on here and sites like it.

Why would a business (which is what you have to look at it as) divulge its yearly budget to the public and its competitors? That would be a ridiculous thing to do.

Tony Marsh
2 Posted 08/08/2007 at 14:49:04

John its anyones guess were we stand as far as finances go but
your assumption that Moyes pulled out of deals because the players price was to high is a bit of the mark.David Nuggent only cost Pompey £4.5 with add ons.Not bad for a young English international striker who could turn out to be the buy of the season.We have paid £6 million to Wigan for a decent left back in Baines but to me that is a far greater sum in comparision to Nuggent or even Barton.Both Barton and Nuggent can run games and be match winners on thier day
and I am not so sure Baines can be.Perhaps we had the money all along and decided to wait and see what materialised with other clubs buying before spending it.One things for sure we definetly need more firepower before we kick off in Europe.

Rob Vera
3 Posted 08/08/2007 at 14:47:30

John, I believe you may be dead on. I think that Everton FC have conditioned us to believe we don’t have money to keep expectations more appropriate than our nut fans usually expect. But sometimes great leadership (More Moyes than BK or KW) means calculating progressive movement with a committed plan in mind rather than for the sake of the daily appeasement of the fickle element that makes up so much of the vocal portion of our fanbase. You know which fans I’m speaking of. We spend money on a player, they say we spent too much or he’s not that great anyway. We don’t spend the money, we’re cheap and leaderless and mismanaged. This is not to say that Moyes has some sparkling transfer record, but who does? The big four look like they do because they have money to cover their mistakes. Moyes and Co. could NEVER satisfy such an irrational group and if he was always trying to, what kind of respect could I ever have for him? What respect does anyone have for a man whose direction is dictated by every change of the wind? If Everton FC "suddenly" have the money, I don’t really care where they got it. If they’re ready to spend because they see an opportunity that has suddenly presented itself, great. Ultimately, I will judge the team based on their performance on the pitch. I’m a football fan. I’ll let the beancounters worry about the finances. Besides, I don’t have enough room in my head and my gut to worry about everyone’s else’s finances when I’ve got my own to worry about.

Brian Waring
4 Posted 08/08/2007 at 14:52:55

Thing is John,we do not actually know if we do have this kind of money.At the end of the day the rumours about the 2 latest players and the Lucho bid are just that,rumours.The club have never confirmed the Lucho bid,even though there is some talk back in portugal that we did.Until either the club tells us they made the bids for the players,or we see them in a blue shirt,I think we have to be sceptical.

D
5 Posted 08/08/2007 at 14:54:32

The money was always there, just because we didn’t blow it on shit like the other "they’re outspending us, its not fair!" clubs in the prem, the fickle wankers who have no faith/trust, (what a sad life you must lead) decided we were skint. IMWT. Allan’s right why should the club disclose the transfer policy to the competition just to appease the "best fans in the world", after this summer I wonder if that title will still apply to us.

Andy Baker
6 Posted 08/08/2007 at 15:12:25

What i dont understand about all you conspiracy theorists is this.

Why would the club sell the stadium idea to us by saying we will have an additional 10m for transfers, to then go and spend loads of money while still at goodison????

Surely by acting skint and telling us we need to move to compete for tranfers would be the best bet, not potentially spending £18m on 2 players.

The signings would/will make people excited and happy but i think people will then say ’’so why do we need to leave goodison’’

Richard Dodd
7 Posted 08/08/2007 at 15:05:21

I should imagine that those Club Oficials who monitor this site have been laughing their socks off at all the rubbish which has appeared in the MailBag over the past few months. As with every previous close-season,Davey will have been given a budget to work on and will not have been phased by his failure to land one or two of his initial targets.Always the consumate professional,he will have been constantly in touch with developments with his alternatives,safe in the knowledge that his Chairman will always back him to the hilt even if it means going a little over budget to land them.
By 31 August,I’m betting all sensible Evertonians will be saying ’that was a good summer that was!’

Dan Mckie
8 Posted 08/08/2007 at 15:17:55

It was all just speculation that we had no cash because Moyes wasnt blowing it all on shite and wouldnt pay silly money for average or unproven players or ones that would smash our wage structure! BK said ages ago that there would be cash,Wyness said new faces will come in and Moyes told us to be patient while he finds the right players - so lets!

Andy C
9 Posted 08/08/2007 at 15:23:33

Andy Baker ..does that mena you are annoyed that we could possibly be spending upto 16 million or more?
Some people never happy!

Brian Waring
10 Posted 08/08/2007 at 15:12:19

D,have you got a direct line to Kenwright?It’s just with you saying "the money was always there"it’s just gives the impression you know for deffinite we have got it.As I said, I will believe it,when the club tells me it had made bids for these players.If nothing comes of it,and we get to the end of August with no more players in,wouldn’t it be beneficial to Kenwright,for him to say the club tried for these players but we were un-successful,instead of saying nothing?

Chrismat
11 Posted 08/08/2007 at 15:40:32

Let’s wait and see if any of these ’big’ signings come in yet. A cynical supporter might wonder if the timing, so close to the Kirkby ballot forms landing on doorsteps, was simply to give voters more confidence in the board at this critical time.

Andy Baker
12 Posted 08/08/2007 at 15:48:39

Andy C - did you even readmy post?

what i sadi was why would the club prove we have money by signing players and then say we need to move cos were skint?

to answer your question I will be fucking exstatic if we get manny back, and yakubu is only 24 and a proven prem goalscorer. Bring them both on, if we do pull them both of you could almost say we were acting like a big club....6m left backs, 10m midfielders, 12m centre forwards...bring it on!

Richard
13 Posted 08/08/2007 at 16:04:57

spot on, John

IMWT

Gareth Hughes
14 Posted 08/08/2007 at 16:17:03

Pull your heads please. We are’nt going to sign Yakubu and Manny. Why? Because we can’t afford to spend 18 mill on players thats why. Plus they are exciting edge of your seat players and we just can’t sign players like that! This is just the club playing mind games with us, trying to force thru a Yes vote on Kirkby. Do NOT fall for it suckers!

Dan Mckie
15 Posted 08/08/2007 at 16:35:12

So all the ’no’ voters are basing there decision on who we bid for are they Gareth? If I was against Kirkby (which im not) then it wouldnt matter if we bid £40 million for Lionel Messi,it wouldnt change my mind anyway!

John Holmes
16 Posted 08/08/2007 at 17:10:43

Gareth, is this the same kind of conspiracy that was going on in the January transfer window when the efforts to sign Fernandes on loan were clearly just a smokescreen to disguise a lack of activity?

Peter Laing
17 Posted 08/08/2007 at 17:17:35

John I would suggest that you are both accurate and well on the money with the your link regarding Robert Earl’s investment. It goes without saying that his recent appointment to the board has coincided with what appears to be a fresh injection of cash, I would suspect what Earl expects in return is a greater stake in the future direction of the Club at project Kirkby. The profile of Everton is undoubtedly on the way up, however I will only be convinced if this speculation becomes reality as the likes of Yakubu and Fernades are the type of player who will once again make us a force in the English game.

Allan
18 Posted 08/08/2007 at 18:33:38

I agree with Peter, funds have clearly just been released for DM to spend - I’d lay money of my own that beforehand he didnt have alot to spend. Just because the money wasn’t there before doesn’t say anything.

Stop being so bloody paranoid will you all, have some faith in your club for a change and don’t bleat back with the usual ’why should we have faith now?’ Just have faith and back the club you say you love. Forget the ground move for a bit and get behind them.

Jeez.

james elworthy
19 Posted 08/08/2007 at 19:24:24

The thought of seeing Yakubu in the no. 9 shirt instead of Smith or Nugent is drooling. The way he knocks people of the ball with his strength and his sheer presence will let AJ flourish. With youngsters Anichebe & Vaughan plus McFadden in reserve we would have one of the strongest squad of strikers in the league. Look at Chelsea despite their money they dont have the squad to cover their injuries, their lack of centre backs possibly cost them the title. If we could add Fernandes and Vogel then our midfield will be well stocked. I would like to see another defender added to the squad too if we had the money. Fernandes at 8m is a bargain compared to Reo Coker and Parker transfer values as he is much better. In Moyses we trust

John Holmes
20 Posted 08/08/2007 at 20:15:41

It’s all speculation of course but I’m not convinced about the Robert Earl as the source of the money idea. If Kenwright had finally managed to come up with some extra funding it seems unlikely, given the pressure on him to do so, that he’d keep quiet about it.

To me it still seems far more likely that Moyes has just endured a frustrating summer and hasn’t been able to spend the money in ways he sees fit.

John Patrick McFarlane JUNIOR
21 Posted 08/08/2007 at 20:22:20

Of course those wicked rumours circulating earlier this week about Moyes walking, could not possibly have had a grain of truth could they? All summer losing out on 5-6 million pound targets and now going for 8-12 million pound players, makes perfect sense?

Dan Mckie
22 Posted 08/08/2007 at 20:43:47

Thats certainly a thought John JUNIOR,but if that was true it just shows what a gem of a manager we have and that BK thinks so too,because if he didnt have the money before then he is really sticking his neck out for Moyes to stay by risking throwing some cash about! Or it could just be coincedence!

Robbie Kirkham
23 Posted 08/08/2007 at 21:28:37

Fingers crossed we get these two who cares were the moneys come from i belive its probaly been there all summer

John Holmes
24 Posted 08/08/2007 at 22:00:16

OK once and for all sod off with the rumours about Moyes resigning. The guy’s mother died so he took some time away. Act with some respect and dignity.

Steve Lynch
25 Posted 09/08/2007 at 13:29:11

Why would BK shout about new investment from Rober Earl?

All this would do at this stage is push up the prices club’s will be asking for players we try to sign the same way it does when Chelsea try and sign someone.