FAN ARTICLES
Struggling to compete

Moyes needs to act quickly to bring in players before it's too late. As it stands teams will walk right through us with the big hole left by Carsley unfilled. Has anyone else become increasingly worried by the fact that we no longer seem to be able to compete with the likes of Man City and Aston Villa due to their wealthy owners, who seem to be willing to splash out around the £20 million mark for their next signing (Jo and Bentley)?
In comparison we are constantly being linked with unfamiliar players on the cheap (Lichsteiner, Riki and Topal, to name a few), when we should be the ones adding high-profiled and top-quality players in to launch a bid to break into the top four.
I honestly believed Everton were slowly but surely moving forward in the right direction with our hard work in the league being rewarded each season by raisng the funds to bringing in a couple of quality players to add to the squad. However, it is very frustrating that teams who haven't come close to doing as well as us have much more money than us and can therefore afford to bring in a number of top class signings and there's nothing we can do to even compete with them.
There is nothing David Moyes can do about it and the only thing Kenwright can do is sell up but I fear that this ever increasing foreign ownership amongst Premier League clubs could soon lead to the destruction of the English game.
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I think your article will strike a chord in every Evertonians hearts. I have been saying this for months that clubs around us i.e the Villa?s and Wigans etc can go out an buy players. AJ to Wigan to £10 million what the hell is that all about!.
It wasnt that long ago that the papers said that Moyes had £20 to £25 million to spend on new talent , where is the cash, will Moyes sign the contract or will it be the catalyst for him to go due to disagreement (is that what is being lined up)
Kenwright should sell, but the question is will he. What's happenning with Kirkby now? Have the Government approved this project? (I do hope not!)
I fear that August sunshine will become ever cloudy over Fortress Goodison.
It would be great to compete with the likes of Man U, Chelsea, Madrid and the like for the top, established talent on occasion but for the most part I think Moyes’ transfer strategy is more suited to both the clubs finances and long-term ambitions.
But then what do I know, I’m only a supporter like you lol :) *BK mode off*
First of all I dont think anybody has criticised Moyes transfers so far. But he has said himself (and I quote what he said after the Chelsea defeat in the League Cup) that he needs a player just above what he has at disposable to be able to break into the top 4.
It's about time that everyone woke up and understand that we need £20 - £25 million on top of squad (without selling anyone) to stay in the 5th / 6th position.
The way things are going we will be mid-table struglling. I honestly think if we don't get investment then DM will be gone... mark my word.
Moyes will win
Remember Walter Smith v Peter Johnson?
All the names that have been flying around have either been fabricated by the press or are fan fanatasies. We have no idea who Moyes wants to buy, or may be close to signing for that matter.
Anything leaked to the media is as likely to be clever propaganda than truth. At least when we go enquiring about players, the value wont shoot up 5m as it would for the sky4, or man city.
Bentley while possessing undoubted talent alledgedly comes with a ego to match, and the one overriding attribute of this squad that dragged us from 17th to 4th/5th place is the team spirit, so I wouldn’t be surprised if Moyes was actually not in the least bit interested in signing him.
We’ve had fans bemoaning that we couldn’t afford sidwell also, yet a few weeks earlier the club bid 5m for Aaron Ramsey.....
My personal opinion is that Manny will probably make a reappearance either on loan or via a permenant deal, Lichtensteiner who we’ve been linked with will probably be signed for <1m as he seems to tick all the typical Moyes boxes, and we will probably pick up a more established creative midfielder and striker within the next 3 or 4 weeks....I hope!
Good shout - who to?
Money will ALWAYS be an issue for our club, so I would much rather us be buying up hungry and unproven players vs the expensive superstars. Better value for the money, and it fits with our "blue collar" attitude.
Good shout, where does the money go?
Does anyone actually know, has it all gone on Kirkby?
I was merely attempting to save you from the outrage of those, who see any mention of Kir.....um....?the K word? in posts, on non...K-word issues.
(shakes head - I don?t know why I bothered, next time I?ll just let you get trampled)
The glass is half full:?As soon as Davey signs he can seriously start getting all the great players he?s been eyeing up all summer....
But I?m An evertonian so the glass has probably got a crack and I?ll cut my lip.
There’s an old joke about two newly enriched Russians shopping in Helsinki: "How much did you pay for that fur?" "20,000 ?" "Bloody hell, in the store behind the corner you would have got that for 40,000 ?!"
What does it matter if the players Moyes buys are unfamiliar to you, Anthony, if they can deliver the goods? I’d rather have another lower division Cahill/Lescott instead of "proven international" Van Der Meyde.
Peter Laing: "An audacious bid maybe" for Alonso? And what would you pay with - Panini stickers or blue-tack? :D
Everton are skint. Be happy if Moyes can bring in two or three decent players of whom he turns one or two into very good players - for less than he gets for the players he has to sell.
Jay Harris: How right you are about the commercial inabilities of the current regime. Just think if we had those £37m extra that you point out to when comparing with Spurs.
However, even he must be wondering if he’ll ever get the chance to splurge some big cash. He’s done it a few times in the past - Beattie and a rush of players in the Summer 2005 window and they all proved to be mistakes apart Nuno Valente who only cost just over a million.
I think he’s better when he has to manage his budget carefully. Just think, last August he nearly blew £23m on Yakubu and Fernandes. Yak did come and was worth the £11m, but thank God Manny had his change of heart. He saved us from ourselves. £12m????? You could have bought Lescott, Cahill, Arteta, Howard & Pienaar for that. Just think about that!
All is lost my friend
Alonso for Everton? Good shout... what, Pennant on the wing?
What we haven’t seen and unfortunately will never see whilst Mr Kenwright stays in charge is a similar improvement on the non playing side. In the direct opposite of David Moyes we have seen an approach that is unprofessional, lacking in any cohesion and totally devoid of long term planning. Instead we have seen an approach that almost without exception has been short term, lacking in strategy and an unwillingness to actually tackle deep rooted problems. If this had been done then who knows how much more money could have been generated through the commercial and marketing arms of the club. This failure will not be remedied until we have a complete change of ownership.
Take a long soul searching look in the mirror then ask yourself this question & answer me another HONESTLY
1/ Do you really think that Moyes wouldn?t buy: Jo, Arshavin, Bently etc etc if he had the money?
Please consider his ?Harrods or Bargain basement? comments before you answer.
2/ If all this non-transfer activity is such a cunning (cards close to the chest) ploy as opposed to NO money, WHY is AJ telling fans (on the Swiss trip) he?s being forced out to fund other transfers?
Incidentally, is it you fellas who are the last in the country to believe there were WMDs in Iraq or is it just in relation to EFC that you are open to suggestion?
Perhaps ?Blue Bills? got hypnotic powers :
Look into my eyes not around my eyes ?The new stadium will be free , there is money for transfers, David Moyes is well happy & we are marketed superbly? and back in the room.
The turnover of our business is small when compared to most off our peers - the BK haters will immediately put the entire blame for this at his door - however, our marketing operation has been shite for decades & in recent years we’ve been playing catch up. The fact that JJB don’t sell 10.000’s of Everton shirts & thus they don’t take up as much of their floorspace as we may want them to - is down to supply & demand - same reason our City centre shop was closed. If their not selling them they aint going to fill their shop with huge racks of them.
People moan about the lack of investment & then on the next breath the size of our borrowing. How do you think owners of other clubs fund spending that exceeds the size of the business? They borrow the money & lump the debt onto the club, whilst guaranteeing the loan.
Abramovich has loaned Chelsea £578M (albeit in his case his own dosh & interest free) but none the less a loan all the same - which he can recall at anytime leaving the club with 18 months to repay.
Other owners are doing exactly the same thing - look across the park - the Yanks only put £7M a piece of their own money in when they bought the RS & their debt now stands at over £400M & rising. A new "investor" would do exactly the same at EFC - increase the debt burden & yet BK & Wyness are being stoned to death for doing exactly the same thing. An owner with deeper pockets wouldn’t change a thing.
I’m in the Everton are fucking skint camp though.
After being priced out of shopping for the ’Harrods’ buys that Moyes supposedly had an eye on : Jo, Arshavin, Bentley etc
I see today that the mid range Tesco/ Sainsbury type players : Engelaar, Aimar & De jong are signing for Schalke & the Barcodes respectively.
Looks like Steve Round joined swapped to the wrong checkout at the last minuite & is now stuck behind the old ma paying with pennies
Thats 3 more potentials off the shopping list then ?
As my eldest daugher & her cruel friends sing when they spot some poor unfortunate carrying one of their bags : WHEN YOU’VE GOT NO MONEY & LIFE AIN’T FUNNY GO NETTO, GO NETTO !
But the Topal’s, Lichstiner’s we have been linked with, I’m quite happy, because if Topal is capable of filling the void of Lee Carsley, and Lichstiner can provide competition to our right backs, then what is the problem?
We were probably thinking the same when Moyes bought Cahill and Lescott, with the "Who the hell is he?" kind of thought, and now look at them!! I have every confidence Moyes can do the same again this summer.
And because Moyes can find bargains really well in the transfer market, perhaps second to Mark Hughes in the Premiership at it, we will have more money for the "special" player we have always wanted!!
All we can do is be patient, because no matter how much moaning we do, it is not going to change anything.
.
THe squad last season might have made 4th if we had replaced McFadden in January with a top quality MF to revitalise the team however we crawled over the line with one of the smallest squads in the prem a great achievement but one that was earned in the first half of the season.
Since then we have lost Carsley,Fernandes,Graveson,Wessels,Gardner (Stubbs),
We currently have Arteta,Osman,Cahill (Injured?)as the sum total of our MF cover(I’m not even considering VDM or Neville for obvious reasons).
That to me, despite Moyes magic, is a recipe for disaster.
Put that with DK,"Bankrupt Bill" and I’m fast becoming "Glass totally empty" with a huge crack in it.
A massive crack
DK decision on Monday!
Let's face it, he doesnt have £20-25 million to pump into the club each off season and there isnt a long list of suitors queuing round the Gwladys End ready to throw billions at him. Not one realistic takeover bid since his arrival despite the most sustained level of success at the club in the last 20 years.
We may be going to finish 10th this year as we are overtaken by Villa, Man City and Pompey but football is now pure commerce and without a Russian or Yankee sugar daddy no sweat from Kenwright, Wyness or Moyes is going to change the immediate landscape for Evertonians. Sad? Its heartbreaking... especially since we have one of the better young managers seen in football this decade. But Joseph has no wads of cash in the pockets of his Technicolour Dreamcoat and there is a great chance we will be Les Miserables in June 2009.
I don't think this will be Bill's fault... nor David's... nor Keith's. It's the sad reality in a league where obscene money is spent on average footballers; and where players are willing to sit on the bench, filling their boots not with gametime but with unearned riches. Blame them for choosing that life rather than working for a great club with a great manager. Blame Roman Abramovich and his Chelsea reserve side worth millions more than Everton could ever dream of having available against Blackburn come August.
Sorry to burst your bubble but not only has Bill not put any of his own money into the club, he has totally abdicated his responsibilities resulting in £10 million a year operating losses and an increase in debts to £60 million since he took over.
In his position as chairman he has no right to say he "doesn't know what?s going on" in a club where we are getting record income from Sky etc and allowing Wyness to blow it out the other end.
If it wasn't for Moyes, The Rooney money and the old pals act, Everton would be bankrupt under "The Illusionist".
"Not one realistic takeover bid" since his arrival.
Just listen to yourself and ask why every other top Premier League club has had takeover bids. So because Bill told you he?s working 24/7 and he?s had no "proper" approach from investors, you believe him???
It was even admitted recently that they regularly get phone calls from potential investors who are then put off by the fact we are in the same city as Liverpool.
Wyness stated 3 months ago that DM and BK had been talking regularly for months over Moyes's contract. Moyes stated on Monday that it was the first time he had discussed the contract with Bill. Why wasn't Wyness corrected by BK months ago.
The stench of Bullshit emanating out of EFC is beyond belief and you?ve obviously swallowed quite a bit of it.
Please elaborate on the details of the takeovers so us uninformed and obviously naive and impressionable simpletons can be freed of the yoke of ignorance...
Unfortunately, I'm a realist, and the situation is that we cannot compete with other teams who have far greater bankroll or greater income streams in the current climate.
What exactly is it you want Jay? Ive no allegiance to Kenwright et al personally and if they left tomorrow there?d be no tears in my eyes. However, in the absence of another party with greater clout he is what we?ve got. Did his predecessor do a better job? Could you?
We?d all like Santa to come along and buy us some new toys, pull a higher capacity, income generating ground out of their arse and sign megadeals for sponsorship but it's not happening is it mate?
Love to see my team at the top of the English game again but it won't happen without a megabucks takeover deal, whatever Bill Kenwright does or doesn't do. And in the current economic climate, that's not going to happen.
People go on about Kirkby being the panacea because it's got 10,000 more seats and more executive boxes but Spurs only have a capacity of 36,000 and they get £40 million from commercial operations as opposed to our £3 miilion.
We could do with getting rid of Ian Ross and get a decent marketing manager to sort out the PR, branding and merchandising that?s still in the 80s and I mean the 1880s.
Then we could ask our CEO not to spend so much time running his own business in EFC paid time and pay more attention to reducing the operating losses of £10 million a year.
If we?d have addressed this when BK started we wouldnt now be £60 million in debt and haemoraging badly.
It?s not all about Santas... it's all about running the club well.
That said however I have in the past had some experience of operating very profitably in economically challenging areas.
You just need to keep to the basic’s of minimising costs & maximising every last drop of revenue.
This requires Leadership, vision & a determined ’ Hands on’ approach that has been sadly lacking under Kenright ownership.
I’ve always felt we could be doing alot better with what we have.
Moyes does it with the playing staff, but our board & their highly paid executives just fail time after time.
Scott surely you must understand Jay’s frustration here as surely Kenrights latest
’ I don’t know I’m only a fan ’ nonsense is a negligent abrogation of his responsibilities, as chairman.
Check this article out:
http://www.moneyweek.com/file/50653/the-next-victim-of-the-credit-crunch--football.html
Whatever happens the club must focus on reducing its debt and clearing its liabilities.
I would rather be in the bottom half this season with no new signings than be in the Championship/First/Second in the next two. One word - Leeds!
Since then we?ve had Kings Dock, NTL, Fortress Sports fund, marketing, merchandising and ticketing fiascos... never mind which side of the fence you sit on the Tescodome which has caused a huge divide amongst our fans.
The man is a joke and a liability.
I accept your point about London but that does not explain the substantial difference in commercial income where we have one of the poorest performances in the premiership.
Football now has a global market (not just Liverpool) and the latest kit fiasco is another example of lost opportunities.Instead of getting our new kit out ahead of everybody else we are last again and yet another delay.
With just one marketing/commercial initiative a year we would be improving our income but I suppose that’s too much to ask from an absentee chairman "who doesnt know whats going on at the club" and a Chief exec who is allowed to run his own business in EFC paid time while presiding over the biggest operating losses and debt in the history of the club.
Give the man some time to make due...
... But, if the first game kicks off and we haven?t made any significant progress on paper, than shame on The Board and "Red Bill" (as in the color of his balance sheets) for building on our recent success and let the heads roll.
a.) Moyes to unearth another £2 million gem from lesser club.
b.) Gosling to grow into midfield role where he played for the England U?19?s
3.) That team spirit we cherish will actually translate into league points. Maybe only O?Neil has begun to develop something like. Ramos, Hughes, Keegan haven?t got it in thier teams yet ( if ever!)
d.) VDM to give us that extra bit of width and classy delivery to feed the Yak. (i) He?s talking ( coherently) to the press (ii) He managed to play 90 minutes last week... Doesn?t sound like the actions of a pissed up lay-about does it? Come on Andy, show us what you can do!
1 Posted 15/07/2008 at 13:38:55
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you make some very good points.
I would just like to expand on 2 of them
1. We will struggle as long as this regime is in charge of financial operations.We are useless at marketing. KW gave our merchandising away to a useless company that doesn't give a shit about EFC.
By comparison Spurs with a capacity of only 36,000 at WHL get £40 million a year from commercial operations we get £3 million.
We have sold off all our assets and now looks like we will have to sell players to fund our mounting debts.
2. I agree totally with your point about where football is going but so are most sports. Money is driving sports away from the public onto worldwide television where only the favoured few will get the exposure and the rich will get richer. It needs a champion like Platini to put a stop to this and bring in some mechanism to manage it otherwise it will spiral out of control.
In the meantime we can only hope the "Black Bill" sells up ASAP.