ToffeeWeb - Season 2007-08

The Mail Bag

Whose in it for the cash?

Thinking about our beloved team, would any Evertonians agree that some players play for EFC and are committed and have passion and feeling for the club, whilst others appear to be in it for pay day.

I would say that the following play because they love to play football:

Howard Cahill Johnson Osman Pinnear Jagielka Yobo Lescott Neville Hibbert Arteta Vaughan Anichebe Baines Carsley

For payday? Manny Yakubu Gravesen
Patty Beesley, Carmarthen Posted 28/04/2008 at 11:05:35

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Tony Williams
1 Posted 28/04/2008 at 13:56:28

Not really anything to shock me there Patty.

Professional players who actually "love" the club they are playing for are few and far between.

Matt Le Tissier was a great example but now all the players are in it for the money. Their careers are short enough as it is so they want to make as much money as they can and therefore can’t afford to be loyal unless the team in question is paying the highest wages

Connor Rohrer
2 Posted 28/04/2008 at 13:55:39

Manny and Yakubu are easy targets. As is Anichebe. Just because they have laid back attitudes and don’t run around like headless chickens they supposedly don’t care.

Bollocks if you ask me. Every player has a different personality and and act in different ways. Thats part of football and thats part of life.

I thought Yakubu and Fernandes had decent games yesterday. Yakubu made a few mistakes yes but you could tell he was always in the game and looked like scoring alot more than Johnson did. Fernandes has been decent over the past 4/5 games and was yesterday. Despite playing out of position put a shift in and passed it well.

Gravesen maybe. He’s been known for wanting big money in the past and at this stage of his career maybe he’s looking for his last pay day. I’d still say he cared though. Yes he’s played shite when he’s played but he is trying.

There isn’t one player I could look at and say they don’t care. Some or shite and some are out of form yes but they still care and try there best.

Dave Whitwell
3 Posted 28/04/2008 at 14:09:30

Just on this subject, I thought the way Neville celebrated both our goals yesterday, showed he really does have passion for the clubs, shame Moyes keeps using him in Midfield because he does do a decent job at RB.

Re Manny, the guys been on loan at pompey, us, then signed a big deal at Valencia where it really didn?t work out, has then come back to us unfit. Despite that has just started to show some form and then gets substituted whilst the were clearly worse players on the field, is it any wonder hes not entirely comitted? are we to him?

I think Moyes said recently that he needs to feel loved, well in that case play him in the proper position, give him a contract and don?t substitute him if hes playing well!

I think in Gravesen's case it has clearly been a marriage of convenience this season, he was only ever a stop gap and will return to Celtic at the end of the season.

Joe McMahon
4 Posted 28/04/2008 at 14:41:38

Very harsh on Yakubu Patty.

If you are going down those lines what exactly do Arteta & Johnson do for their money?

JL Slap
5 Posted 28/04/2008 at 14:45:03

They’re all in it for thier own reasons, money being the main one.
Bar none premier league footballers are a motivated by money, the better you are or the more succesfull you are = the more money you can make. Dont be fooled by badge kissers or any of them for that matter none of them have any more loyalty to this club than you have to your employer.
Even so called bohood fans stop being supportors the moment money is involved, if anyone knows that its us Evertonians.

Out of our current squad, the only one I believe when they open they’re mouth is Tim Cahill. Being lucky enough to have spent time with him he appears to genuinly be grateful for a chance to play for us & that is the most you can hope for these days.
But I honestly beleive that if an offer from one of Europes elite came in then he would be off like a shot, no danger

Patty Beesley
6 Posted 28/04/2008 at 15:10:36

Sorry, Joe, but I feel that Arteta and AJ enjoy their football. Yakubu does to an extent but at the risk of starting arguments on this page, I feel that he can sometimes be lazy and not be arsed, especially if things aren?t going his way. I don?t get the feeling he loves the Club like, say, Lescott, Cahill, or Neville for example.

Connor Rohrer
7 Posted 28/04/2008 at 15:20:34

Patty, That's Yakubu?s style though. He?s always played like that. Ever since he started playing football in Nigeria probably.

It gets misinterpreted because he?s laid back. He still cares about winning as much as anyone he just doesn?t run around like a headless chicken.

I?d rather him leading our line than Johnson anyday of the week. You win football matches by showing your abilites not running around like chiickens.

Tony Williams
8 Posted 28/04/2008 at 15:21:54

For fifty grand a week I will put on a performance that will make you believe I love the club very easily.

Loyal players = falacy.

Patty Beesley
9 Posted 28/04/2008 at 15:25:56

That?s a bit cynical Tony!! Think of players such as Alan Ball - didn?t they love our club, Joe Royle, Peter Reid - to name but a few?

Lue Glover
10 Posted 28/04/2008 at 15:40:39

We only have to go back a few years to remember the ?once a Blue? debacle. He?s much maligned but how many would have done the same? I personally don?t believe any players would stay with Everton if a better move were to be on the cards. £50k, £60k a week and a chance of winning trophies etc, it?s enough to turn anyone?s head. The likes of us lot would give our right arm to walk out at Goodison but the reality for professional footballers is different, they are in it for the money and the glory. If the glory happens to be with their boyhood team then that?s great but otherwise there?s no loyalty except to the dollar.

Harsh, maybe but that?s my take on it. That?s not to say that some players will grow to love Everton and play their hearts out for the team - the way Phil Neville celebrated yesterday was incredible. He really looked like it mattered very, very much to him. He is a professional player and I mean that in the sense that he will always give his all (his all might not be to everyone?s taste but you can?t knock him for effort).

Footballers = money, glamour, good looking wives regardless of how unattractive you may be, Peter Crouch anyone? More money, adulation (or not) and a lifestyle that we can only imagine.
Once a Blue, now a Red.

Tony Williams
11 Posted 28/04/2008 at 16:20:10

Patty, I am talking about footballers of today not of yesteryear.

I agree with Connor on the Yak thing also, he has been playing that way for about 40 years now :-)

Steve Collins
12 Posted 28/04/2008 at 17:02:44

Every professional footballer is in it for the cash. Any player at a high level that says otherwise is lying.
But to say that the Yak just wants to earn his salary and not put anything back is just mad. Ok so he is having a bit of a slump which i think is related to the fact the whole team is playing an average game lately. He actually played well yesterday considering.
The yak has 19 goals for us this season in all competitions. Yeah i can see your point. My god people will nit pick anything and everything nowadays.
Yeah im sure we would all love him to be banging more than that in but can’t accuse him of being lazy

Brian Waring
13 Posted 28/04/2008 at 18:20:35

You need to look no further than big Dunc. A man who genuinely loved the club, and wasn’t in it for the money.

Ray Roche
14 Posted 28/04/2008 at 18:23:42

Joe Royle said that Duncan Ferguson was the first footballer he’d met who didn’t like playing football.
Didn’t stop the fans loving him.
Didn’t stop him loving the club.
Or his wages.

Mark Pendleton
15 Posted 28/04/2008 at 18:26:45

Let’s face it, not many of the playing staff are true Evertonians and as you’d expect, anyone in any line of work would try and maximise their pay cheques but i certainly don’t think we’ve any particular mercenaries. Many of the best players on our books could probably be earning more elsewhere. I think they genuinely feel they want to be part of something but at the same time we’re willing to reward them and most of them have more pride than going to somewhere like Chelski and getting paid 20 grand more just to sit on the bench.

Connor Rohrer
16 Posted 28/04/2008 at 18:45:02

Duncan Ferguson's main reason for being in football was for the money. He was known for his lack of dedication right back to his early days in Scotland. Andy Gray mentions something in his book about an old manager ripping into Ferguson for not giving his all and not caring. Joe Royle also mentioned it.

Yes he was passionate.........for three games a season. Man Utd and Liverpool games usually. For the rest he looked like a man he couldn?t be arsed. A man who would attack people just to get off the pitch.

I liked Dunc when he was on his game and he was a talented player but he wasn?t a legend nor was he not in it for the money.

Rob Jones
17 Posted 28/04/2008 at 23:04:15

’’I liked Dunc when he was on his game and he was a talented player but he wasn?t a legend’’

Like fuck he isn’t Connor, ask anyone my age that supports Everton and at least 3/4s of them will say he was their childhood hero. If the fact that he helped inspire a generation of Evertonians whilst scoring some huge goals for us doesn’t make him a legend then I don’t know what the fuck does.

Connor Rohrer
18 Posted 29/04/2008 at 00:45:05

Rob Jones, I’d have to agree with you. I wasn’t meant to right what I wrote to be honest. An honest mistake on my behalf.

He was a legend of the 90s. Maybe a little overrated at times but he did play some big games for us. I respect that he was a ledgend to a generation of people but he wasn’t to me.

I still disagree that he was passionate. He was passionate for about 3/4 games a season.

I respect him for keeping us up but then I respect Kevin Campbell for keeping us up. Is Kevin Campbell a legend?

Rob Jones
19 Posted 29/04/2008 at 07:59:10

Super Kevs a hero for what he did but it was one season, that doesn’t make a legend. I didn’t say that Big Dunc plays passionately for the club (Although he would strangl people for us) and I’d admit he was probably in it for the money, but who isn’t? would you work for free?

Jason Lam
20 Posted 29/04/2008 at 08:04:07

You’re all wrong. I am the only one playing football who’s not in it for the cash. I pay for my own travelling expenses, gatorade, shinpads, and even Everton jersey. Am I a legend?