ToffeeWeb - Season 2009-10

The Mail Bag

When will we ever learn?

When I was lad growing up many moons ago, there was a song doing the rounds by Peter, Paul and Mary containing the words "When will they ever learn?" Over the past 20 years or so, these words could have become the motto of our beloved Everton FC.

It seems to me that from the late eighties onwards, the club has gone backwards at a rate of knots. Some of the issues were outside the control of the club, like the European ban etc, but the most of the blame can be laid at the door of the various boards and management. All of these issues have been discussed at length on ToffeeWeb and elsewhere over the years.

One of the particular issues that annoy me most is our transfer policy. Our present manager said at the weekend that he was in charge of all the comings and goings. If so, and if at present he is trying to screw City for every penny they pay for Lescott, then well done Moysey. However, when the shoe is on the other foot and he wants to buy a player, it appears that he does not value other clubs' players at realistic prices.

If rumours are to be believed then Liverpool have now taken an interest in Steven Taylor. Is Taylor one of “the couple of players coming to the club in the next 48 hours”? Well now, Davey, it is now over 72 hours since you made this statement and still nada. If the rumours are true it will take a miracle if Taylor is to sign for us instead of them. The same thing happened earlier with Naughton and Delph. Leeds must have got the hump with our offer seeing that they would only allow the player talk to Villa.

Please, Davey, if you have got the funds, stop pissing about. We badly need new players. Last season we were all blaming the Chairman over the lack of transfer funds, you dithered (again) and then on deadline day in a blind panic you squandered €15 million on what at best can be described as an average player.

Get the finger out, Davey, sell Lescott and get new players in before we all have to suffer another winter of discontent looking over our shoulders at the Championship. We are too good? That’s what the barcodes thought!!!
Declan Burke, Cork Posted 18/08/2009 at 10:56:53

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Saegaran Kanalanadan
1 Posted 18/08/2009 at 16:51:14

I see that Deco is available and rumours are that he’ll end up in Vietnam! Are we so skint that we can afford him? He’s looking for a team to revive his career and is a surplas in Chelsea. Why not go for him since we do need a MF play,aker? Or how about Michael Ball for defence for free? If EFC has to sell Lescott than they better do it soon or it’ll become an uneccessary pain.

Kunal Desai
2 Posted 18/08/2009 at 16:57:52

Declan - last summer we had bullshit billy saying ’watch this space’ and now his partner in crime has been persuaded to smoke the same joint as him...’another 48 hrs’. I guess for £60k a week bribery does work.

Tony Williams
3 Posted 18/08/2009 at 17:04:13

Saegaran, can you imagine how much wages that the little fella is on?

Ball is having surgery and is out for a few months so unfortunately that is also a non-starter too.

Expect someone signed on 31st August that we have never heard of before but Moyes has been watching for years!!

Matt Traynor
4 Posted 18/08/2009 at 17:04:57

Declan, the indications in the press and other sources suggest we lost out on Naughton and Delph as we tried to make the payment in stages, due to lack of immediate cash.

This is "old school" transfer fee payment, and whilst it may be appropriate for massive transfers, for the smaller transfers, clubs will always want the money up front, in one go. Cash is king. Even if that means rejecting a bid of a similar amount from the likes of ourselves if someone else can pay the ticket in one.

That I don’t think is Moyes’s fault. Merely the constraints he has to work within. With unscrupulous agents, and now clubs, there’s no such thing as a "sudden" transfer anymore — the closest I’ve seen in years was Owen to Man U.

Christopher Brierley
5 Posted 18/08/2009 at 17:37:34

Well, Moyes today stated that there will be no big name signings — just ones for the future as we have little cash to spend. So I'd forget all about the rest of the transfer window as we won't be getting sod all except maybe a few kids we haven’t heard of.

John Martin
6 Posted 18/08/2009 at 18:42:10

As we dont appear to have any scouts working for us apart from in America spotting 12-year-old kids, we should not expect to sign any good players. From BK’s lies to Davey’s dithering we will miss out.

Declan Burke
7 Posted 18/08/2009 at 18:47:00

Matt, with all due respect to your view on “sudden” transfers, I would like to draw your attention to some of the recent transfers by other clubs that went through without the usual Everton modus operandi.

Arsenal: Vermaelen. Bermingham: Benitez. Chelsea: Nemanja Matic. RS: Aguilani. Hull: Hunt. Man U: Valencia. Spurs: Bassong. Wigan: James McCarthy. Wolves: Kevin Doyle.

I could fill the page. The clubs/managers concerned went out, identified a player, made an acceptable offer and signed the player. Everton would be on a par if not bigger than some of the clubs but over the years we have perfected the art of being “linked” with every Tom, Dick or Harry who is available. Sadly most transfers never materialise because of our outdated methods. While Moyes has made some great signings he has also made mistakes by his dithering. We now appear to have money from Sky, Davy must spend it wisely.

Alan Clarke
8 Posted 18/08/2009 at 18:57:01

From some people I know who work at Preston, Moyes was renowned for dithering over his transfer targets.

Dave Wilson
9 Posted 18/08/2009 at 20:01:06

You’re right of course Declan, the way we do business is embarrassing. But I’m more cynical than you, I have an awful feeling this is a deliberate tactic. I can't shake this nagging doubt that Lescott will go, right at the death, leaving £20 million in the DK kitty...

Andy Codling
10 Posted 18/08/2009 at 23:01:08

Dave Wilson, you are spot on mate. Last minute sale of Lescott will mean 0no time to sign players and then that money will disappear into the thin air along with the Andy Johnson and James McFadden money.

You can read our tosspot chairman like a fucking book... but not a particulary good book. Let's face it, the man is a gobshite but some fans are quite happy with mediocrity and so it shall continue.

Tony Williams
11 Posted 18/08/2009 at 23:24:33

Andy, the Johnson and Fadds money went towards Fellaini.

Most fans are not happy with mediocrity, they just do not go over the top with their expectations of our average team and therefore are not screaming from the rafters when things invariably go tits up for a while.

Dan Sedlak
12 Posted 18/08/2009 at 23:29:13

Banega work permit has been applied for, but Elm looks like a no go:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/aug/18/everton-ever-bangea-work-permit

Keith Edmunds
13 Posted 19/08/2009 at 00:03:56

Why are we the only ones who put in permit applications for players who clearly don’t qualify. There are plenty of players who do qualify but no, we’re Everton let's try for someone who sounds good but we can’t get!

Jonathan Bradley
14 Posted 19/08/2009 at 00:56:20

It would be sadly typical if we didn't get a work permit for him, though given that United managed to get one for Tosic, Anderson and the da Silva twins we would perhaps have good cause to bitch about it.

As for Bentley, who would be that annoyed if we got him?

Ray Burn
15 Posted 19/08/2009 at 13:05:08

I would be over the moon if we signed Bentley.

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