FAN ARTICLES
Mid-Summer Mayhem
Comments (23) : There have been many issues close to the hearts of supporters that have continued to annoy and frustrate on a daily basis. Some have called for calm while others have demanded answers, resignations and a changing of ownership.
The whole stadium debate, which has served to divide the supporters, probably more than any issue in the history of the club, continues unabated. Indeed, instead of resolution and answers, it, like almost everything Everton, rumbles on with no end in sight.
Only a few days ago, the chief architect of Destination Kirkby, Keith Wyness, the much maligned CEO of EFC, suddenly resigned with no explanation or statement apart from a short line from the club that this will not affect the planned stadium move. Rumour has is that Messer?s Earl and Green had become too influential, reducing the CEO to a bit part at the club. Indeed there has also been a rumour that Philip Green has called in his loans and closed the cheque book and there has been a row or fallout between Robert Earl and Bill Kenright.
Alarmingly, there have been no new signings, although, as usual, there has been plenty of speculation. We have bid £5m for Ramsey, we bid a club record for Joao Moutinho, who has apparently been on the verge of signing several times. There has been the protracted sale of Andy Johnson (Sky Sports sources still say that the deal will happen once AJ sees Al Fayed's personal physician) to Fulham, the release of Stefan Wessels and Lee Carsely and the loan return of Manual Fernandes, none of whom have been replaced.
Our manager, who (as the club have repeatedly told us) has been on the verge of signing a new deal for months, has still not signed on. Rumblings and rumour would have us believe that he has had enough and our current US tour will in fact be his swan-song. I really hope this is not the case. Yet, when I listen to him speak and observe his demeanour, I get the feeling that he is not happy and not comfortable with many things Everton. Then again he is a temperamental guy!
Taking all of this into consideration, it is understandable why fans are concerned. We want to improve and progress and we wanted evidence that this was going to happen well before August 1st. However, looking at the teams immediately above us, which of them has substantially improved their team? Chelsea have signed two quality players, United have signed no-one, Liverpool have signed Keane, Arsenal have signed Nasri and Ramsey but lost Flamini, Silva and Lehman.
What about the teams below us? Who apart from Fulham, Hull and Sunderland, which others have really improved their squad? Villa have lost Mellberg, maybe Barry and Bouma to injury. Spurs have signed four or five and sold just as many. Yes they look like they have brought in quality but don?t forget Rebrov and Postigia. What about the rest? Even Man City who are apparently loaded are progressing very slowly in the transfer market.
The point I am trying to make is that we still have Yakubu, Arteta, Cahill, Pienaar, Lescott, Yobo, Howard, Neville? and (although we do need to add) there is no doubt that Moyes has started the season previously with a hell of a lot less quality than this and still produced the goods.
However, have we not paid our dues? We?ve been in the relegation zone and finished season after season with no prospect of improvement or European football. This pre-season was meant to be so much more than it has been. We were meant to be in the market for ?a better quality of player? and, with European football on the menu for the second season in a row, we were supposed to be a very inviting proposition for many quality players in Europe.
As supporters I feel we deserve better and with expectations being so high at the end of last season the current goings on have only served to enhance my feeling of injustice and disappointment.
Reader Comments (23)
Note: the following content is not moderated or vetted by the site owners at the time of submission. Comments are the responsibility of the poster. Disclaimer
3 Posted 01/08/2008 at 19:04:19
To answer my own question, because I can see hopes and ambitions being dashed, opportunities missed and possibly no way back from this situation. Like so many times in the past, we have been at the crossroads only to stall or even jam the gear into reverse instead of moving forward. This time it feels worse because I really could see us motoring this season with an ambitious manager becoming more experienced and astute with each successive season.
I?m just a fan, so although I read the press and the forums, I really do not have a clue of what is going on inside Goodison.. Do we have money to spend? If so, how much? If not, are we really as broke as I suspect we are?
Now I know that Bill Kenwright is not everyone?s cup of tea but I can?t believe that he would deliberately hold onto his train-set if it meant holding back his beloved club. Nor do I believe has he proposed the move to Kirkby just so that he can sell up at a profit.
So where is the money, where is the investment ? where are the players?
If the true situation were explained to us ? for instance, if Robert Earl really has called his loans back in, if some of our transfer gains have had to be diverted into servicing the existing debt, if there really are no potential investors out there either because we are not a sufficiently strong brand or we?re considered the second club in Liverpool, then maybe I?d accept the situation and lower my expectations.
Meanwhile I?m still scouring the websites each day looking for evidence that we?re about to sign the likes of Moutinho. It?s cruel being strung along. Sometimes the truth, however unpalatable, is the best medicine. I need to understand the situation that we?re in and I will adjust my expectations accordingly.
At this moment, I?m not looking forward to this coming season ? a challenge that we all should have been relishing. I?m questioning whether all this emotional investment is actually worthwhile and whether I should take up something less stressful ? like fishing for example.
Then again, the optimistic side of me suddenly re-surfaces ? Moyes will not resign, we?ll suddenly sign five great players next week who will all gel instantly and we?ll knock Liverpool out of fourth place as we did three seasons ago.
You?ll have to excuse me now. I?ve just seen some enormous pigs flying past the window. I think it?s time for my medicine.
4 Posted 01/08/2008 at 21:26:53
5 Posted 01/08/2008 at 21:37:20
6 Posted 01/08/2008 at 21:58:17
Let’s face it you hate Kenwright but for all his duplicity, maybe he is not lying when he states that he is finding it impossible to attract investment.
We have no benefactors!
8 Posted 01/08/2008 at 22:05:34
DM has integrity and would not spin things if all was not well. Remember him four summers ago during the Rooney saga? He told it like it was or said nothing. It was what everyone else said that was misleading or utter rubbish.
He will sign as long as the club deliver. He has more than kept his side of the bargain now it’s up to the board to keep up with him. I think they will...just.
Everton without DM is unthinkable. We will go back to the dark days of mediocrity. If BK cannot deliver then he must step aside. If we don’t have a quality creative midfielder, a defensive midfielder, two strikers (one a punt and the other a recognised forward) and a half decent reserve goalkeeper by transfer window close then he has failed and (if he’s a good Evertonian) put his club first.
Our first eleven : Howard, Baines, Lescott, Yobo, Neville, Rodwell, Arteta, Pienaar, Osman, Cahill, Yakubu- is one of the best line ups going and will really destroy a few teams in the Prem and Europe. But outside this with injuries and if they’re struggling for form, we are in big trouble.
9 Posted 01/08/2008 at 23:01:28
10 Posted 01/08/2008 at 23:21:53
11 Posted 01/08/2008 at 23:37:13
12 Posted 01/08/2008 at 23:39:35
We finished fifth last year, reached a cup semi and had a decent run in Europe, yet we are massively in debt still and not making profits each season despite being our most successful season for 20 years. The only way this club is going to start making serious money is by qualifying for the Champions League and investors will know what an expensive and risky objective that is to achieve as we would need need to have millions provided for transfer funds in order to give us a real chance on being there year-in, year-out.
Another option would be for an investor to spend millions on a new stadium or redeveloping our old one to increase revenue and that would take years and years to pay for itself and put us in the black
To increase the everton brand worldwide to give us the revenue streams that the top four receive from merchandising overseas would take a generation and would be dependent on us achieving Champions League football on a regular basis during that time anyway
Basically we need a benefactor, somebody with more money than sense who is prepared to blow a few hundred million in order to take us to the top. But being the fans we are the benefactor would have to bleed blue blood and be doing it for his/her love of Everton. where the funk are we going to find someone like that
i think we screwed up by having a low period during the time english football went global and the Champions League started haemorrhaging cash. we haven't recovered financially since and havent had the years are being able to appeal on such a wide basis to the rest of the worlds obsession with the premier league as other clubs have and thus tap into that lucrative market.
So, we are never going to have £30 or £40 million to spend because this is a club that doesnt make any money. even though sky money is so high we keep making a loss each year
however, while theres moyes there is hope. i am confident with the £15 mil reported budget and the 50 quid we get upfront for AJ he will again push us into the top 7 and give us dreams of keeping pace with the top four and the reason we haven't signed anyone yet is that £15 million has to be spent very wisely indeed to improve on what standards moyes has set for our team over recent seasons.
13 Posted 02/08/2008 at 00:02:32
However, as Gavin rightly said, something just isn’t right at Goodison Park. It feels to me as if something has come undone.
Mr Romanov of Hearts has shown that a rich benefactor isn’t always a knight in shining armour, although when you consider; Man City, Liverpool, Aston Villa, QPR, Chelsea, Fulham, amongst others all of whom have benefited from recent investment you wonder why we can attract similar interest but fall short of concrete investment.
All we can do is speculate, get our hopes up and read between the lines. The only ones who really know what?s going on remain, as always, tight lipped.
14 Posted 02/08/2008 at 00:18:23
"This pre-season was meant to be so much more than it has been. We were meant to be in the market for ?a better quality of player? and, with European football on the menu for the second season in a row, we were supposed to be a very inviting proposition for many quality players in Europe."
You’re spot on, we were told by Moyes, Wyness and others that this summer we’d be in pole position to buy top quality players who couldn’t quite make the top 4. Whilst we know better than to believe all the tripe that comes from within the club, these assumptions rang true, afterall we’d just finished 5th in the most rewarding league in the world hadn’t we?
And as for speculation...it’s been over 2 and half months since the season ended...Moyes still hasn’t signed his contract, no new players have been signed, Kirkby decision is still pending and we’ve lost our CEO...what else do us Evertonians have right now???
15 Posted 02/08/2008 at 00:30:36
16 Posted 02/08/2008 at 00:48:20
Bill Kenright:
He said in a statement on the club’s official website: "Whilst I can fully understand the sense of frustration being felt by our supporters in the wake of what some perceive to be a moratorium with regard to the signing of new players, I feel it is important to make a few points.
"Our attempts to complete the signings of players we believe will improve the quality of our first-team squad continues on an hourly basis.
"We have had a budget for incoming transfers since the start of the summer - and that budget is in no way reliant or dependent upon either the proposed relocation of the Club to Kirkby or the sale of current players.
Strengthen
"Indeed, any proceeds from outgoing transfers will - you can rest assured - be added to the existing budget to strengthen our manager’s hand as he seeks to enter the transfer market."
Kenwright is eager to help Moyes in his pursuit of new players and has assured fans that there will be signings before the transfer window closes.
He continued: "David and myself have been trying throughout the close season to sign those players whom he believes will help to improve the squad which achieved so much during the last campaign.
"Like everyone connected with Everton Football Club I am desperately keen to see the arrival at Goodison Park of those players our manager would like to see in a blue shirt come next season.
"I appreciate that waiting can be hard and that patience is invariably in short supply but we do expect to make signings before the opening of the new Premier League season."
17 Posted 02/08/2008 at 04:04:04
He has red hair and is quick to blow a fuse when things go wrong granted.
The talk about him being totally pissed off with the situation abounds with some even suggesting that he may walk away when the US trip is over.
I ask myself where will he go after walking away from Everton.
Aston Villa, Portsmouth, Man City, Newcastle, Blackburn,West Ham, Spurs.
Would he be given unlimited funds to make one of these a top four side.
No way and don’t let anyone try to tell you otherwise. Man City and Spurs have both appointed accomplished managers with the rest of the clubs mentioned having wasted most of their sky cash on poor signings over the past few years.
Newcastle - broke, West Ham - broke,
West Ham - broke so eliminate these three.
Aston Villa - would they want to get rid of Martin O Neil for DM- dont think so
Happy Harry shunted out at Pompey for DM - dont think so
Understudy to SAF at MU-dont think so
The rest are all relegation fodder and so I dont think he will consider walking away from the blues at any point in time.
Maybe one of the big four are waiting in the wings to sign him up to add to their silverware collection - dont think so
DM is an astute minded and clever negotiator. 60 K per week and walk away from it. - dont think so
Let the season begin with DM at the helm and we can all relax knowing that he aint gonna walk anywhere cos he aint got nowhere to walk to.
Not unless he goes to Mallorca with Bully Boy.
19 Posted 02/08/2008 at 05:11:56
DM is not a man driven by money he is a man driven by principle and achievement and it is for those reason that I can see him leaving.
He is also a man confident in his own abilities - as well he should be - and so what would stop him testing his skills abroad? He’s clearly got the taste for European competition, and it would be a good test for him in unchartered waters.
I truly hope none of this happens but this is a guy that lives and breathes his work on our behalf being let down by a part time impresario fronting a business with a £51M turnover!!
FFS would you want to be in DM’s job where every summer no matter what you’ve achieved all year you end up being let down by publically by a bunch of clowns?
20 Posted 02/08/2008 at 07:57:16
That sums it up perfectly... maybe I?m not opened mouthed but there is an arch of the eyebrow for sure.
I don?t want us to have the air of resignation that we hit brick walls as soon as we are getting anywhere. It seems like it it is getting to be the same every year now. I can understand how Moyes is frustrated. I can understand that it is hard for Kenwright to find more cash... I would love to find another grand each summer, let alone £15-40 million that would get 1-3 potentially top class players.
I just wrote and deleted a whole load of paragraphs, more or less stating the bleeding obvious about our current situation. No one here needs to read another description of a pissed off Evertonian.
But I will say that I trust Moyes as a man of integrity. (Is that the right spelling? It seems like such an uncommon quality today especially in football that I have forgotten how to spell it!) If he leaves, then it reflects abysmally on EFC and the upper echelons of power therein. He is one of the few things that ?Nil Satis Nisi Optimum? is true about. The board needs to back him.
C?mon you Blues.
21 Posted 02/08/2008 at 08:48:29
22 Posted 02/08/2008 at 10:31:28
One more thing: DM is not blameless in this; when he first came to the Club he became far too close to Kenwright and now, being the honourable and loyal man he is, won't expose the shambles that is our Boardroom. He must feel very let down and extremely frustrated; even if he were to walk out, I doubt he would spill the beans. What a fucking mess... let's hope Kirkby gets the call in or I fear for our future existence.
24 Posted 02/08/2008 at 16:36:07
Absolutely spot on.
Moyes is the only person at EFC that I trust right now so we can only hope that Bullshit Billy for once matches his promises with conning some more millions from somebody to make it happen.
26 Posted 02/08/2008 at 19:21:28
I wish you were right but reports coming out of Spain say the new coach is impressed with him.
Maybe they are trying to get rid of old stock.
On the other hand...........
28 Posted 03/08/2008 at 09:12:57
It's absolute bullshit to say that Moyes is not wanting money to make Everton progress into the team he wants them too, he must have been over the moon when he got the first lot of the Rooney money to splash out three years ago and for the first time in his Everton managerial career he didn't have to work on a shitty shoestring, what manager doesn't want... or, more to the point, need money to succeed?
The modern game is all about money and financial muscle. It's not like the 80s where you can sign a a few players from lesser clubs and make them into Championship material, that just wont happen anymore.
And, like it or not, playing all these unproven reserves and lightweight kids is not going to keep us in fifth spot next season and give us a crack at silverwear. It's going to be a struggle because we will be down to the bare bones and temperaments will be on a short fuse within the squad if we start struggling and nobody will be enjoying their football, it was like the in Rooney's second (and last) season at Goodison, they played football with a scowl on their face, (doesn't Rooney always anyway) but they were not playing well. That is not the time to throw unproven kids into the team.
Already there are big question marks over the way Vaughan channels his frustrations and I don't know about you but I think it would be careless to go with three strikers only one of which is a regular starter and goalscorer.
Then look at our midfield... What would happen if two from Arteta, Cahill or Pienaar got a lengthy injury? Who will replace Carsley? Neville doesn't have the football ability to play there and he will play right back most of the season if we hold onto injury-prone Hibbert. Jagielka played in midfield but was so far a fish out of water we could have had him fried for our tea.
There is nobody else who you can say would do a great job there in defensive midfield and then of course where does our width come from? Are we expecting Yakubu to do the running onto the wings that AJ did? Pointless... we don't have any natural width. I always thought Pienaar may be but even he doesn't seem to be the type to take on a fullback and get to the byline.
I bet Moyes really wished now he had bucketloads of money to spend. He must sit back and be envious of Liverpool paying for Robbie Keane or maybe there is a forward he wants but is out of our price range. Moyes has spoken about Everton not having money on many occasions... I don't care what people say, yes he wants to achieve ? that's his main aim ? but he damn well must be wishing Everton Football Club could deliver the big players that he said himself he wants to bring here.
29 Posted 03/08/2008 at 15:06:27
He has recently made a clear statement that he has no intentions of leaving the club, stating that he wishes to see out his job to the end.
I am sure he would love to have as much money as some of our rival managers, enabling him to go out and sign the best footballers around. However when looking towards money as a motivator you only have to look at Jose Mourinho, the manager who had it all at Chelsea but still walked away when he felt he was being undermined.
I agree with your passion Tony, and I understand your frustrations. I just hope Moyes stays and gets some players in before the end of the window.
Add Your Comments
In order to post a comment, you need to be logged in as a registered user of the site.
Or Sign up as a ToffeeWeb Member — it's free, takes just a few minutes and will allow you to post your comments on articles and Talking Points submissions across the site.
1 Posted 01/08/2008 at 21:07:39
I’m confident we’ll get alteast two players in by the Blackburn game, Moutinho and M’Bia maybe. With M’Bia being at the Olympics someone like Neville or Rodwell might have to fill in for one or two games but we did that last season and won our first two games.
Even without signings we have the makings of a good side. Players like Arteta, Lescott, Yobo, Howard, Baines, Yakubu, Osman and Pienaar will still be there come Blackburn and we have enough quality to beat them.
By the end of the transfer window I expect 5 players in, in Moyes we trust. It’s frustrating yes, Evertonians have Every right to moan but I have no doubts things will brighten up. Moyes will get the players he needs.