ToffeeWeb - Season 2007-08

The Mail Bag

Is £5M peanuts?

In a previous thread I advocated keeping McFadden, especially with the African cup making us a bit short in midfield and up front, both roles which Faddy can fill - but had another thought.

Presumably we still have the Fernandes money to acquire him in the summer, but perhaps not enough to sign Piennar as well. Of the two I would take Peanuts for his greater involvement throughout the 90 mins, but perhaps if we are in a financial situation where we can only afford 2 of the three, Manny and Piennar is by far the best use of money - which may make selling McFadden neccessary.

Come the summer we need CB re-inforcements as well and I just don't imagine we'll have the financial leeway to hang on to all our players and bring in sufficient quality to cover the aging squadies such as Stubbs and Carsley. We'll see I guess, maybe only a top 4 finish will allow us to do that!
Andrew Humphrey, London Posted 11/01/2008 at 12:06:55

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Ed Casey
1 Posted 11/01/2008 at 12:30:14

So the official website is running a story that says another bid from Birmingham for James McFadden is imminent ? ie we're selling him!

Now I've said in the past if a good bid comes in for him then we should sell and that now looks likely to be the case. But that's not the point ? what I really want to know is who is running the EFC official website? When they run a story its always loaded with alternative meaning and they keep schtum when the fans need them to speak most. Honestly, I think they have media studies students in on work experience to write their stories ? the PR people at our club need a kick up the arse.

Bentley Gibson
2 Posted 11/01/2008 at 12:53:50

For whatever reason McFadden doesnt do it for me. He does some of the hard stuff, and none of the easy stuff.

He manages to get through gaps and beat people when it seems like he?s got no right to, only to overhit/underhit a 5 yard pass for someone to tap in to an empty net.

I dont think I?d be anywhere near as infuriated with him if he was incapable of doing the first bit though. It?s the fact that he?s capable of the bits no-one else seems to be, only to screw up the piss easy bit even I can do on a Monday night on the astroturf with my mates.

Its a shame because basically I?m admitting Ive lost patience with someone who has a superb talent, but lost it I have.

Arguments in his favour about him just needing a run of games should ask why he can do it for Scotland. Theyre not exactly playing week in-week out, and yet he scores sreamers and plays well for them. No, for whatever reason it just hasnt worked out for him here.

I watched the Kharkiv game on 5 the other night, for some reason it was on at about 4 in the morning and watched him try his luck from 20-40 yards when unmarked people were at the edge of the box. He was generally crap and frustrating until his goal, which was well taken, but equally when struck we had two unmarked men over. Had he missed I think we should have cancelled his contract!

£5.5m for Jimmy Mac, done. Every day of the week.

Marcus Dawson
3 Posted 11/01/2008 at 13:08:50

I?m a little confused about Faddy?s transfer, Boro are reported to have bid £5m and down here in the midlands McLeish has apparantly stated that he wants to improve the bid but there are clubs in front of them!
Personally think a move would be in everyone?s interests, have a feeling Faddy could do well with a regular starting place and we could use the money to land a couple of players. I feel sure that he?s on his way now.

Iain Atkinson
4 Posted 11/01/2008 at 13:07:06

Like every other Evertonian, I?ve wanted to see McFadden succeed ever since he joined us. I had the same aspirations for Beattie but as with him, at some point you just have to accept it is better to cash in on a player if they cannot demonstrate the consistency you need at this level.

I watched the Chelsea game on TV and thought McFadden was a massive waste of space. He doesn?t work hard enough to operate in midfield (I lost count of the number of times he failed to chase down an opposition player), he doesn?t have the pace to be an out and out winger and he is not clinical enough to be a forward (as shown in one of our UEFA cup games when one on one with the keeper).

We desperately need midfield reinforcements this transfer window and as long as we get them then we should look to ship him out. At the end of the day, he is refusing to sign a new contract until he is a regular in the team (which will never happen!) so we have to try and sell now as his value is only going to go down over the next 18 months.

Allan Hobbs
5 Posted 11/01/2008 at 14:05:16

I looked it up and you can buy around 83333lb’s of peanuts for £5million. That doesnt sound like alot does it?

Ricardo Humphries
6 Posted 11/01/2008 at 14:20:18

Manny and Pienaar has my vote if we do need to sign them. I would also like Moyes to consider signing Panathanaikos defender and captain Nasief Morris. He has gone on record saying if he is to move away from Greece Everton or Spurs would be his first option.

Seamus Murphy
7 Posted 11/01/2008 at 14:34:49

I dont see why people are assuming we dont have enough to buy Pienaar and Fernandes??? Where has this come from??

David OBrien
8 Posted 11/01/2008 at 15:10:42

We don’t have any money, the fact is our Planet Hollywood mogul underwrote the Yak wedge. One assumes he was going to underwrite the Fanny Mernandes wedge also.

John Charles
9 Posted 11/01/2008 at 17:39:43

You have the on-going prize money increase and also the extra gate receipts and hopefully an extra 3-5m in prize money from the uefa cup (if we make the very latter stages).

Pienaar at 2.5m is an absolute no brainer. Has to be bought and will be bought - total utter and complete bargain. Wwonderful little player - lots of skill and lots and lots of heart and desire. I?m a massive Pienaar fan. He never comes off anyless less than 100% knackered.

As for Manny... having an option at 12m does not mean we will buy at 12m.

If I recall correctly... didnt we have an option on Mikky at 2.5m and then even negotiated them down to 1.8m.

1.8m. lol.

John Charles
10 Posted 11/01/2008 at 17:43:44

Oh, my point was, yeah £5M for Faddy if it allows us to strengthen in area?s that need it more would be good business.

I like McFadden, but with the other strikers we have and our need for midfielders it would seemingly make sense to balance the squad out through his sale.

Good player though. (he?s obviously a center forward too)

Keith Glazzard
11 Posted 11/01/2008 at 17:43:06

Sometimes I wish I knew more about what was going on in my own bank account, so I am in no position to comment on EFC’s finances. But it does seem that Pienaar, if we take up the option at the end of the season, is already in the budget. If we take Fernando on loan without an option to buy I would be very surprised - especially as all that third party malarkey must have been sorted out by now.

It does sound like its been budgeted for.

Steve Lyth
12 Posted 11/01/2008 at 18:16:50

£6 Mil no less and we may rue the day

Dan Brierley
13 Posted 11/01/2008 at 18:17:18

Allan, got your figures slightly wrong there matey. The average price for peanuts per lb is around $0.243. So if the exchange rate is $2-£1 then you could get around or 41152263 lb (18666.352 Tonnes) for £5 mill.

Peanuts or Jimmy mac? I know what I’d rather have.

But anyway to go back on topic, it shows the level of Faddy by the teams coming in for him. No disrespect to those clubs, however I do believe that his more his level. Considering we are ’trying’ to make the transition into a consistent european side, Faddy is and never will be of a european pedigree, but then again neither will a few other members of the team. Regardless of his tactical ability, Moyes has dramatically improved this squad.

Thankfully we dont have a ’Newcastle’ board who shoot from the hip everytime fans who cant see the bigger picture complain. Faddy has not become a worse player, its just Everton FC has improved beyonf his limits and we quite rightly expect more from our team now. I am not going to criticise, as I genuinely believe the lad does his best. You can see the hurt on his face when he does make a mistake. I hope he goes and enjoys his football somewhere else, and would heartily clap him every time he came back for those magical goals he has scored over the years.

Lee Spargo
14 Posted 11/01/2008 at 18:48:06

I like McFadden, but if selling him means that we can afford BOTH Pienaar and Fernandes, then it makes sense.

Toby Bruce
15 Posted 11/01/2008 at 18:49:06

Pity we can’t have Anelka on loan

Steve Pugh
16 Posted 11/01/2008 at 19:36:44

Seamus, David Moyes himself has suggested that we don’t have the money to make Manny’s move permanent. Whether its part of a long term ploy to force the price down I don’t know but his statement is on the OS.

Simon Walker
17 Posted 13/01/2008 at 18:50:08

I agree with most of the comments here, if someone came in with a £5million bid then we should snap their hands off, as long as Everton are doing well he’s not going to get a regular start. He’s said himself that he wants more regular football and would like a move north of the border so let him go to Celtic or wherever, i reckon he’d do well there.

As far as I’m aware his performances and goals record is pretty impressive for Scotland, to the point where he has nigh on legend status up there, I can’t see him wanting to move to the relative mediocrity of Birmingham or Middlesborough when Celtic are (supposedly) in for him.

He’s obviously a nice guy, and like someone else has said, I’d wish him all the best whatever he decides to do, you can’t knock a player for wanting regular football.