ToffeeWeb - Season 2007-08

The Mail Bag

Wheeling and dealing

There's been alot of talk about how this squad has been progressing in terms of quality. As a way of aiding this process David Moyes has always been able to raise some extra cash by offloading some of the fringe players and those who have fallen too far down the pecking order. I took a notion when I logged on to the site today and checked the list of players to see who would, could or should be next for the chop. To me the pickings look fairly slim.

In terms of keepers, Howard is number one for the foreseeable future and Ruddy has been getting rave reviews while out on loan. This leaves Turner and Wessels and I don't know if they would be worth any great value in the transfer market.

With the defenders, the only players who look like going are Valente and Gardener. Gardener is only on loan and Valente's contract runs out in the summer so that's that.

With the midfielders ,the only player on a contract beyond the summer that might be on his way out is Andy Van and in all fairness we couldn't give him away at the present. None of the strikers listed would appear to be in any danger of being shown the door.

I've made these assumptions on those players who have been quality during the last couple of seasons or would be seen as Moyes favourites. ( Stand up Hibbert and Neville by way of example.)

Now this raises a very important point for me. Now that the squad is at that stage that all or nearly all the players are of a certain quality, status or value, Moyes is not going to be able to wheel and deal like he used to. This means that this summer and beyond, I, as a fan, will suddenly be expecting a lot more of the Board in terms of stepping up to the plate and stumping up the cash that is needed for the club to make that fabled leap forward. We all knew that the Board had to, but Moyes was always able to delay the day by wheeling and dealing. But now, he has run out of options and the Board is in the spotlight.

Where the Board is to get the money, God alone knows. But for what it's worth I think that this will be crux issue over the summer in terms of both progress being sustained and how Moyes approaches signing any new contract.
Kieran Fitzgerald, Dublin Posted 15/04/2008 at 14:51:13

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Steve Mink
1 Posted 15/04/2008 at 21:55:35

An imaginative manager would do something radical in central midfield, cash in on Cahill to part-fund the purchase of a proper central midfield player and some genuine width. I’d like to see us go for Aaron Lennon if Spurs are getting shot of him.

Mark Pendleton
2 Posted 15/04/2008 at 22:32:49

An imaginitive manager (and board) has put together a team challenging on the fringe of the top 4 on a comparative shoestring - grow up!

Imaginitive??? Do you know the meaning of the word? Pienaar - loan with view to pittance transfer fee. Faddy - £4m+ profit, Bent, Kilbane etc....profit. Arteta loan then small fee, Lescott - small fee for one of best central defenders in the league (or left backs!).

These transfers all got us where we are now - and that’s having about £4m richer from finishing about 8 places higher in the league alone, not considering the extra tv revenue and run in the cups. And that is helping us find the cash to buy the likes of Yak, Baines and maybe Fernandes and possibly a couple more in the summer.

Steve Pendleton
3 Posted 16/04/2008 at 03:07:11

Steve Mink - Aaron Lennon for Tim Cahill??? What the hell are you on. Anyone can see at the moment the importance of Cahill. His value to the team is priceless.

What makes you think Aaron Lennon will be better with us than he is with Spurs. He has had a crap year!! Hey, lets sign another 5 foot nothing midfielder to go with our current team of giants.

Up there as the worst call I’ve seen on this site. What a laugh...

Russell Buckley
4 Posted 16/04/2008 at 03:55:28

Hit the nail on the head Steve P

Shaun Cook
5 Posted 16/04/2008 at 08:17:32

When he's fit, yes... but we can never rely on him being fit!

Colin Murphy
6 Posted 16/04/2008 at 09:56:23

Just getting the likes of Gardener, Valente, VdM, Wessels, Gravesen, Turner & co off the pay-roll would be a start and then he could really make the brave moves like moving on the useless Neville and ageing Carsley. That little lot would free up about £200k a week and might even bring in about £5M in transfer cash. Then he could ring up his mate Strachan and see if he?s got some spare dross to loan us for next season!

Mark Cassin
7 Posted 16/04/2008 at 10:16:28

Good shout on the clearout... though I think our key point this summer would be to keep the players who have done so well this and in previous seasons.

Other couple of comments are that Wessels contract I think runs out this summer so let's hope Ruddy can step up as 2nd choice and also that Cahill must stay as results are much better with him in the team.

Actually I would say Tim Cahill should be our captain as he works his ass off for the team.

Peter Stewart
8 Posted 16/04/2008 at 11:23:38

Not so keen on your sarcasm, Colin, but we do appear to have accumulated an inordinate amount of dross. Wages are mighty expensive and Moyes would do well to be more careful in his choice of fringe players. Personally, I?d rather see him giving more of the kids a chance than indulging in the likes of some of those you?ve mentioned.

Tony Waverleas
9 Posted 16/04/2008 at 11:31:44

There’s not a fan alive who doesn’t love indulging in transfer speculation and I’d hate to piss on anyone’s chips....

.
...but it never ceases to amaze me when fans blithely reel off names of players who should be in/out and just as casually also announce what these players’ transfers and wages will cost us.
Sorry chaps, but this is the real world of modern football not Fantasy Football or Championship Manager.

Steve Williams
10 Posted 16/04/2008 at 13:16:38

I think the point about freeing up wages is a valid one. If we can free up a wages budget for some genuine players by releasing those who have not played, then that’s a positive. However if we release (even if its for a reasonable fee) players who have played then we need to spend big to replace them with better quality that also means the wages will go up. Then on top of this we will need to increase the size and quality of the squad in any event meaning even more spending.

Now I’m not averse to cashing in on one of our established ’stars’ and using the cash to improve overall squad quality. However whichever way its done, I still can’t see beyond a requirement of £15m - £20m investment to move us forwards. And that’s the problem, I just don’t see how we can leverage this without putting us in hock to an imprudent extent.

We may just have to compete at 5th - 6th for a few more seasons and continue to get closer to those above and accept that 4th and above is beyond us for a while.

Sobering thoughts I know but I just don’t see us being able to finance the leap in the short term.

Alan Wilks
11 Posted 14/04/2008 at 18:08:54

Everton have contacted Fulham and have spoken to Jimmy Bullard about a move. This info comes from my friend who plays for Everton and has played with Bullard before and they are still good mates ? not good enough if you ask me like.