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Direction, what Direction?
Comments (55) : While I accept that we should not believe all that we read, the press have linked us to a myriad of good, even top, players so far this summer, but one by one they have disappeared without the club apparently making any noticeable effort to capture them. Players such as Arshavin (why did we wait so long?), Moutinho, Joaquin, Huddlestone, Aimar, Milito, Topal, Michael Johnson et al had most of us salivating, but I suppose we should have known better.
So, where are we now? With no specific news emanating from the club itself, we only have the press to guide us. It would appear that we have now lowered our sights to basement level with a Papa Bouba Diop look-alike, a striker who, looking at his record, could not hit a barn door from ten paces. And a petulant French right-back who regularly throws his teddies out of the cot. Wow!! We do need a replacement for Carsley, so I can accept M?Bia although I know very little about him.
Historically, with the obvious and unfortunate exception of Torres, strikers out of Spain or Italy have had very little impact in the Premier League. Given that his scoring record is not the most impressive (26 goals in 149 appearances), Riki would appear to be a very poor substitute for AJ.
Chimbonda raises two questions. Firstly, why Chimbonda? and secondly... why, when the club does not appear to have any significant money, are we looking to spend £4M on a right-back? Is this the clearest indication yet that Phil Neville is being touted as our ?saviour? in centre midfield?
While many Evertonians have been and remain divided on certain issues (stadium, enough said), most of us instantly agree that any money that is available should be prioritised in centre midfield. I?m sorry, but if you play a right-back in midfield, then that is exactly what you get. Phil Neville, for all his qualities as a right-back and captain, could not spot a defence-splitting pass if it slapped him in the face. Anyone (DM included) who believes that this is the answer that will see us challenge the top four is being seriously delusional.
We are now just four weeks away from the start of the new season. An already thin squad has been further depleted by the departures of Carsley, Fernandes and Gravesen (not a great loss I?ll admit) and the impending sale (inevitable?) of AJ. Worse still are the reported comments of DM that we are almost certainly going to start the season without Cahill, Anichibe and possibly Vaughan, Baines and Hibbert as well. Not looking too promising is it?
So, where is the money? How is it that a club like Portsmouth (and I mean them no disrespect) that average less than 25,000 per home game, can spend £11M on Crouch, around £10M on other players and possibly another £10M on SWP, while we have nothing and couldn?t even capture a freebie like Mehmet Aurelio?
Ian Ross released a statement that the stadium issue is not impacting on transfer funds. Anything that man says should be reversed through 180 degrees, then you might get somewhere near the truth. He is a pathological liar although I accept that he is merely a mouthpiece for the board.
Still we await a Government decision on Destination Kirkby and the clock continues to tick. It would be wrong to pre-empt the decision, but my opinion is that it is nigh on inevitable that the stadium proposals will be called in for public enquiry, despite the last minute writings of Peter Kilfoyle MP. If that proves to be the case, where does that leave us?
Let?s be honest, we fundamentally have a good squad of players but it is terribly thin. The end of last season proved that conclusively. The manager needs full and unequivocal backing if he is to maintain the club?s progress. So, to the board of directors, I simply say? start directing, and quickly.
Reader Comments
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like you I have had the roller coaster ride of the last 50 years and have to say I totally agree with your points.
My opinion however is that the club started dying on its feet the minute Kenwright took over.
Nice guy (my arse) Blue Bill and all that but has?nt got a pot to piss in (not his fault theoretically speaking)and couldn't run a sweet shop to save his life.
He has been kept afloat by the success of Moyes on the pitch and the SKY and Rooney money together with mortgaging/selling every asset EFC has got.
He is now only left with the players which is why he wants to sell AJ.
The sooner all fans wake up and see this man is far more dangerous than Peter Johnson because of his incompetence, the sooner we have a chance of saving the club.
I have no worries about Moyes putting pen to paper as he knows full well that if it all goes shit shape it will be Kenwright who will get the flak-and who would turn down a chance to double their money overnight?
Mick: I know the transfer situation is frustratng, but how about letting your own common sense guide you?
Telling the fans = telling the press and every agent/manager in the land.
Would any sensible club announce what its transfer budget was?
Would any sensible club announce which players were its targets?
No and for the same reasons in each case - the price gets hiked. This has nothing to do with Bill Kenwright or any other whipping boy that the deluded perist in blaming for all pur problems.
Now some clubs do announce budgets and targets - that’s usually because they are awash with money and can ignore the consequences.
We aren’t, so we can’t.
It may be that even within our restricted budgets that club fails to land the kinds of players in the kinds of positions that we need. Then we can stick the boot in. Until then, get real and/or learn to meditate.
Stop reading the papers mate, you will feel better for it in the end.
Arshavin wants to play for Barca. Zenit want £23 million for him. He will command at least £60k a week (he is on £50k now.) Link us with who you like, but is is all speculation, tabloid bollocks, and lazy journalism.
It's not anyones fault, it's just the way we are made. After the whole Sissoko farce, DM does all his deals under the radar anyway.
Right I?m off, I haven?t checked Sky Sports News in 10 mins and might have missed something...
QUOTE "...one by one they have disappeared without the club apparently making any noticeable effort to capture them. Players such as Arshavin (why did we wait so long?)"
Unless you are Bill Kenwright, David Moyes or Keith Wyness then you have absolutely no idea what the club has been doing to try to secure players. Anything you say is pure guesswork.
Once again I read nonsense. Criticising the club for not buying the good players we are RUMOURED to be interested in whilst at the same time criticising the club for being about to buy bad players that we are RUMOURED to be interested in.
Get out in the fresh air, read a book, do some DIY. Ignore all stories about Everton transfers that do not have a picture of a player holding a scarf above his head smiling in the Gwladys.
What a way to repay a man who has given the club European football 3 seasons out of 5.
Terrible.
Last two seasons the squad has reduced in size and not grown, unless our few new signings are now paid significantly more money, then where has the reduced wages for released players and the income and reduced wages for sold players gone exactly?
We have again qualified for European football and despite the £400k notion of prize money from the Uefa Cup games, this doesn?t take into account gate receipts, so where has the money gone from our league positions for the last few seasons?
Paul, care to enlighten us to exactly who is to blame in your eyes for funds coming into the club if not the Board and CEO or do you think the Sky Fairy comes while DM is asleep and leaves piles of readies under his pillow to buy players?
If I have read stories like this once on toffee web then I have read them a million times.
Lighten up lads and just wait and see.
BK owns EFC and nothing we do or say will alter the way he runs his ship.
Ok, yeah I know, get a life, it's all good fun.. need fresh air, need some leadership!!!
Truth is as so many people have said we have no money, well if we have nothing in the coffers whilst other smaller clubs have, perhaps we should be asking the question WHY??
Could it perhaps be directly resulting from the way the ship is managed? We have a great crew, but someone lost the compass.
Message from Crew:
Captain! Where are you Captain?? Hello.. is there anyone there?
Master Bates, where are you going?? How come we only have one lifeboat and your the only one in it?
Bosun to Crew: Keep pulling men, I can see Europe but it seems to be fading in the mist..
Oh well... let's just wait to see who picks up the survivors.
That torpedo must have a Bullshit seeking warhead, we can't lose it.. too late...
I hope its true that DM is getting more than the players as its the only piece of news (speculation) I believe.
Until the player is pictured holding a blue shirt ignore the rest of the garbage in the rags.
The more inane the comments the less likely there will be an Everton FC after Kenwright and Wyness have had their feed at the trough. Even the fans are split about any vision of the future.
What the fuck do you guys want?
1. The squad is smaller by 4 (not just 3 as the original, I forgot Wessels). While not all regulars, they were nonetheless squad members. So far we have not replaced any of them.
2. At least one player (Anichebe) and almost certainly more (Cahill, Vaughan and possibly Baines and Hibbert) will miss the start of the season. From this season, 7 substitutes can be named in the EPL giving a total matchday sqaud of 18. Can you name a ’realistic’ squad of 18 for the opening day? I would suggest that you GET REAL!!
3. I know perfectly well that most of what appears in the press is crap and I do not need you to tell me such. But I make the point that if the club truly has ambition to break into the top four then we surely MUST be interested in the kind of players that I mentioned. Whether we have the money to turn interest into reality is another matter. If we are NOT interested as some of you suggest, then explain your interpretation of ambition. Explain how you think our current brand of ’hoofball’ will see us break into the Champions League.
That's the simple truth, so to go one better this season with a smaller squad and an injury list before we start?
If you look at Sky Bets you will see we are behind Aston Villa and Man City in the race for 5th spot ? never mind 4th.
Moyes has been brilliantly astute to get the best he can with what he has. We have some good quality players who, when playing at their best can perform against any club in the league but the trouble is we only have a few of them when the top four could turn out two teams with players of at least as good or better.
Is it Moyes who is not buying? Or is the money not there? If we are looking to strengthen the squad with squad players then we will have a fight on our hands. If we are to improve the squad quality, that costs and at the moment we have already started pre season warm ups.. time is not running out, time has just about gone.
I think we are the only club in the Premier League not to have bought another player. Is it faith in Moyes? I hope so and it will need a few more Hail Mary's before I go to bed tonight.
For starters, if the stories are true then Moyes wanted re-assurances before signing that the club met his ambition!! So if he is signing then it a pretty good sign that they are ready to met his ambition. Considering the job at Utd, which I would assume he is all too well aware of.
It's not worth worrying about at this stage.. it's all ifs and buts.
However, like yourself it?s precisely the ?where we are now? that concerns me because given the lack of incoming signings it is a worry that we?ll let this opportunity for further progress disappear.
BUT I?m a tad more optimistic than you sound; DM earlier this week made encouraging noises about his contract and an assistant has been appointed, neither of which, I believe, would have happened had DM not been fairly certain he will be allowed to bring in the players he really wants.
I also suspect (and it is only a suspicion) that there?s a certain amount of news management going on at L4 4EL right now; with a decision soon due over Kirkby it may be the club want to announce a whole lot of ?good news? stories at once or even that they may want some good news to minimise the bad.
Yes, the season starts four weeks today but the window won?t close until six weeks tomorrow. Which, if you think about it, last season?s window was the difference between us signing David Nugent or Yakubu. Squeaky-bum time indeed but if it means getting the wrong players in early or the right ones in later, well, which would choose?
But I understand why the club said it because to say nothing or confirm that it DID have an effect would explain exactly why there?s no movement on the transfer front !!!!
I believe once DK has officially been announced as being"called in" then the club will be able to tell Moyes exactly how much he has to spend, then we?ll see some movement.
But would the effect be so sudden and so dramatic? I mean, it’s hardly as if Bill is going to have to sign a cheque for £78m five minutes after Hazel Blears gives him the news he wants to hear.
Or is he?
Oh, dear. Speculation, speculation....I’d get outside in the fresh air if wasn’t like January out there...
I would have thought it could actually mean the reverse. If the accepted wisdom is that we are up to our earlobes in debt (and whilst my only concern is Everton I’d say every other club in the league is in a similar position) then I doubt the banks would suddenly say, "Oh, well, Kirkby’s gone tits-up but just use the money anyway on players instead". Or would they?
Is it really so simplistic? It’s a frustrating time and like everyone else on here I’m guessing in the dark and hoping for the best.
’Twas ever thus at Everton...
I think Kirkby could be used as a smokescreen to get funds from the bank early under the guise of "pre-build costs".
However, Kirkby is so wrong I hope it gets called in and BK is forced to sell and KW has to find another mug to employ him ? even if it means we have one bad season before rebuilding again.
Another thing is that on our squad list we have 23 players from which 6 are youngsters. Tottenham have listed 36, all recognised first team players, and Liverpool have at least 35 recognised first team players... Is this a sign of the haves and have-nots???
We have come so far under Moyes and he should be given the cash he needs. We need to move now, time's running out!! If we are to play 50 games this season again we just do not have a squad to do it. In Moyes We Trust!!
I fear we will stop treading water and start to sink... sorry for the pessimism but we are becoming a laughing stock due to the shambles that is our boardroom .
If I?m wrong then we can all blame the board as much as we want with justification. However all you bleaters should realise that when we do sign players (and I think that we?ll break our transfer record again), you are clearly lacking any real knowledge of how the transfer window operates or how budgets are managed. Our team has improved year on year for the past 6 seasons. Be patient and behave like real men!
I think his only ambition was to see us stay in the EPL. I've said it before, I don't think he envisaged the team actually doing well and is so out of his depth, the club is now a total burden to him, because now it has become a very serious game.
Everton set a standard last season for better run and better financed clubs to rise to and they will go for it big time. I fear it will take a miracle for the team to maintain 5th place, never mind breaking the top 4 and this will be solely down to the Board. David Moyes has more than proved himself. I also fear for the morale of the players and the extra pressure it puts on them with no (as yet) extra strength in depth within the squad. Though I have no doubt they will give it a real go.
COYB....!!!!!!!
real men PLAN and ACT on those plans.
The big difference this year is we?re starting with a number of key players injured and/or doubtful to be fit for the start of the season and we no longer have Carsley, Fernandes, McFadden, Stubbs, Gravesen, Wessels etc.. from an already small squad last season.
Nobody is suggesting panicking but a bit of action from the club with only 3 weeks to the START of the season would not go amiss.
And have you noticed, the negative vibes are coming from the No voters..well theres a suprise then... They state they want more cash for transfers, state that it's all tied up in Kirkby but want Kirkby to fail so we have less. Can anyone tell me the logic of that?
If we are lucky we may snap up the goalkeeper Stojkovic on a season loan and that will just be as cover for Howard and he will probably play no more than three or four matches that mean little.. But then again we haven't even signed him yet and he has been here at the club for a week now on trial.
I find it all dissapointing that we may have to go with such a smalll and let's not forget inexperienced squad next season. It's all well and good talking up the young players but I remember the 1997-98 season when we almost got relegated, the team was littered with young inexperienced players like Ball, Oster, Cadamarteri, Branch, and players we had signed like Farrelly were also young with no experience.
I am not saying we will nearly get relegated but Moyes put the club in a position last May to really sustain a challenge on the top four and he did that by signing some genuinly quality players last summer. The likes of Yakubu, Pienaar, Jagielka and Baines (who we need to see more of) were all good proven players.. Ok Jagieka didn't set the pulse racing but I think we have seen now why he was so valued by Sheff Utd.
Yak?s goalscoring record before joing us was second to only Henry over the last four years so we knew the only problem with him would be his workrate and that has been sorted now.. 21 goals from him was a valuable contribution. And then Pienaar who made a great difference especially before Xmas to the better style of play on show, a style not seen at this club for too long.
The Board should have really backed David Moyes this summer after the position we are in. I am not interested in hearing that crap about no other clubs doing business, I only care about who Everton sign and I wanted us to push the top four even closer, I wanted us to push for silverwear that bit closer... But, unless there is some sort of avalanche of signings, then I think we may be overtaken in fifth and perhaps even sixth next season as I think the writing was on the wall in the last two months of last season, especially in the home game against Derby ? we looked like a team dead on our feet ? and we struggled over the line on the last day to get the fifth spot we should have wrapped up five weeks before that.
David Moyes is one of the best in the business, hes proven himself, but if we don?t start matching his visions for everton, he will be forced to leave a club he has worked hard to build, and i can tell you now, we can fall back down the league very quickly, We can debate all we want, but the truth is there for all to see, we need to see more ambition, regardless of who the media link us with, All the signs ar bad right now, and until we see something positive to change our minds, these debates will go on and on.
There is the possibility that he will sell AJ but with the squad we have at this moment that would be a backward step irrespective of your views on AJ. As for Bent, Darren, does anybody really believe that he is likely to take a 60% wage cut ? In his position I know what i would do.
I can only place the blame for this situation at the highest level. I don?t care what anybody says, this is not the time to consider moving, whether pro or anti the "Tescodome". Depending on which paper you choose to read there is still talk of recession and folks are feeling the pinch at the moment. There may be an initial "Novelty" factor with the new stadium but considering all circumstances I suspect this may wear off. Unless, of course, we have a blinding start to the season in which case this factor may continue for as long as folks can afford it.
I would like to clear up one or two points. Firstly, I am not a pessimist, those that know me would say the opposite. With regard to Everton I am an eternal optimist. I hope that DM signs his contract; I hope that there is a hidden cache of money that we don?t know about; I hope that in the next 4 weeks I will be proved to be conclusively wrong.
But, as in all things, there have to be checks and balances. With time running out to the new season I am genuinely starting to worry. Several of our main competitors have already made significant strides to overtake us and, as yet, we have not responded.
At the end of the season I (eternal optimist!) along with many others hoped that DM would be given the kind of backing that would allow him to bring in at least one major name to the club. A name that would shout from the rooftops that, despite not having the unfair riches of Chelsea (and some would say Thank God), that we mean business. We have worked damn hard to get where we are and we intend to stay there.
That is looking less and less likely and it appears that the moneymen, if that is the right term, are hoping that DM can pull another rabbit from the hat. The evidence from the first two pre-season friendlies is not too encouraging either. Yes, I know that several first team members were not available, but neither will some of them be at the start of the season.
The teams that we have had to put out so far shows just how thin the squad is. It has given us a chance to have a look at some of the youngsters and, while I love to see home grown talent coming through the ranks, I suspect that DM will know that several of those on show thus far are not ready to be considered for first team action in the Premier League.
So, come on BK and Co. If you truly have this great club at heart, give the manager the backing he so richly deserves.
Every year we are lied to about keeping our stars, remember Rooney, it was well known by true blues that he was going well before the end of the season and not a surprise at all when he did go. The club made sure nothing got in the way of season ticket renewals before the news finally came out.
Every year we are filled with crap like, "we will make sure the funds are available to DM in order to break into the top four". We are linked, whether it is by Chinese whispers or fact, with stars then we dither, or do we? Then at the last minute we dive in to the bargain basement, some of which works most of which doesn?t.
Put your hoods up, cover your eyes with dark glasses and keep pilling your money in to whoever?s pocket are getting lined because none of the money seems to go back in to the club.
After 43 years as an Evertonian, I am now so disillusioned you would not believe... If the club is as we are being told, going in the right direction, why do we struggle (albeit in friendlies against none league teams) and have come close to winning diddly squat since 1995?
I must be in a minority when I say I have full faith in BK and KW as our club custodians. I mean, what exactly have they done wrong?
These are the facts:
Since BK took over, we now have a manager and a team to be proud of.
The club has a new fab training facility.
The club is on the verge of moving to a new stadium.
FACT!
I hear other clubs saying that EFC have become a model of how they should operate on and off the pitch.
And yet, people still carry on as if EFC is doomed.
EFC is a pro-active club which is on the up. You doom and gloom guys need to start getting behind the team. Get your EFC tops on, get the stickers in the cars and start shouting from the rooftops that Everton are back!
Every year we get the doom merchants screaming from the roof tops that we are going to be lucky to make top half of the table just ’cos we haven’t signed 6 players in the first week of the transfer window opening.
Last year all the same people were spouting the same old rubbish and what happened?
We brought in that poor LB Baines as no other clubs were interested and then to top it all off, at the last minute we brought in that panick buy on the cheap - Yakubu, who as we all know had a truly awful season - typical Everton.
We’re going to get relegated if we don’t pull our finger out!!!
Losers!!!
Optimists - Pesimists.
One big black cloud shrouding all of us.
Seeping in to all our thoughts regarding Everton FC.
We need a decision regarding Kirkby.
And I can only see a ’Call in’ as the way forward to unite the fans.
If not, a lot of fans will feel our soul has been lost.
First team in the city.
A ’Call in’ would mean we can all take a step back, take time out and then look forward together, at as many options as possible.
United we stand, divided we fall.
A bit of optimism creeps through. Whoa hoa !
Has an announcement been made yet ?
Will this be the end of the war or the start of another battle ?
I’m cracking up.
Have faith in Moysey he will prevail & as we already know he is the best gaffer in the PL by a country mile!!! We all know in our heart of hearts that unless Goodison can be rebuilt, renovated or extended we were always going to have to move. I for one will be sad to see us leave the old lady but it's called the future & we need to move on, all this bickering, arguing & stalling is pathetic!!!
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1 Posted 18/07/2008 at 14:06:49
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FFS..... this is how it works.Everton need several players. Journalist-"Hmmm I think I’ll put a tentative link on a site or in my paper that Everton could be interested that’ll keep up the interest a little, throw in Villa, Spurs, Newcastle and see where it goes.
Do you HONESTLY believe we’d even shown an interest in ANY of these players, let alone enquired about them? You should surely know that if Moyes WAS interested the last thing he’d do is tell the papers..
And now my second point: When are people going to accept that the reason so called "smaller" clubs make bids for players we can’t afford is that 1) They dont have the debts we have 2) They have a well run "profitable" business.
Surely we all know know that we’re losing money, have few (if any) real investors, and have no real hope of any in our present predicament.
REALITY...PEOPLE, WAKE UP TO IT!!!
Having said that: Main reason why no approaches yet? Could it be that Moyes will decide who he wants dependant upon the sale of Johnson, when he knows how much he’ll have. What I mean is that if he knows he’ll have another say £10m then his targets may change.
Oh, and by the way....Moyes himself hasn’t signed yet.......