The Mail Bag
Relationship falling apart
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As we approach a massive game Sunday, I wanted to express my thoughts and feelings at the moment. As an Everton supporter for 30 years, I have seen the ups and downs, good times and bad, and have continued supporting with the same passion that I had the first time I watched Everton.
However, over the last six months I have become disilussioned, as though the relationship I have with Everton is falling apart. It feels like a relationship with a girl partner or wife, that you once loved dearly... but now, for a number of reasons, you know there are no legs with it anymore.
This transfer window, we let Yak go, Pienaar is in talks with anyone who will listen, players are calling for fresh blood, fire power etc etc. Links to Hammil, Eagles, Mbokani... where are they? The club has no money, cannot afford a loan player; the relationship is coming to an end.
It's hard for me to turn my back on this great club; it's hard to end a long relationship: "Once a Blue, Always a Blue"... but this relationship is coming to an end. The club's lack of communication, and love toward me the fan and fellow fans ? they owe me nothing nor you! And vise versa. It's time to part; I do this with a heavy heart.
Chris Keightley, Posted 14/01/2011 at 15:28:39
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If you ask me part (not all) of the problem is Moyes' excellent stewardship of meagre resources over the past 8 years has raised expectations to impossible levels given our budget constraints. The man can only do so much.
I read an article the other day that said if Moyes had been managing Everton in the 70s/80s we would have a couple of League Champions winners medals to show for it by now as he is the best at managing the way it used to be done. I thought that was really good analogy and just goes to show what football has become. A game of monopoly.
Where does it end? Where is this European Super League which was bound to happen? I really do hope they start to put sanctions in place before football is drowned in money.
Good luck supporting Man City by the way...
In respect to a relationship it's liking moving on and finding a new girlfriend but knowing deep that it's not her you want to be with as your affections and emotions have always been tied down to your first. You know what I mean :)
Anyway chin mate, 3 points tomorrow. Let the doom and gloom be set aside for the next 24 hours and should we loose.........
I believe change will come to Everton and we just have to be a little patient, I want BK out as the next fellow blue but sometimes we just have to be a little more patient, but i'm confident there will be change in the near future. A club cannot carry on season after season with expenditure being more than it's income.
Whether the good times will be back with Moyes/BK. I very much doubt. Everton will carry on beyond these two. So just keep the faith, it's tough right now but we all have to stick together. 3 points against the shite and a good performance will do for starters. COYB!!!
Tara la, you won't be missed.
you must never have really loved Everton because as the late great Allan Ball said - "once Everton has touched you nothing will be the same".
. Brian Labone - God rest his soul - would turn in his grave if he could hear you.
I have been supporting Everton for 50 years and like many others of my vintage have experienced the same 30 years as you. I to have been bitterly disappointed with our performances this season. However, I cling to the belief that my dad had about Everton - "we will be great again". I don't know how we are going to do it, but I believe it. Like you said - once a blue always a blue.
Keep the faith.
COTB FTRS
The club need the fans to get behind them on the eve of a Derby, not walk away after 30 years because we let a lazy striker leave on LOAN and get some cash for a player set to walk for free.
Man up! You'll be all over Everyon again if we win tomorrow. Admit it.
There's loads of women but only one Everton.
(well there's a cousin in Chile and the illegitimate child - Everton Athletic - who've since changed their name, unless you have a criminal record leave the latter alone)
I totally disagree with this, I think EFC on a whole listened and wanted him to stay. I think we've offered him a decent package but he and his agent think they can do better? I'd even have gambled with Arteta in the Summer and wouldn't have give him what he wanted. This appears to have been the catalyst for his agent to want a better deal. Let other fools get into debt and pay these greedy players what they want. These are hard times for the whole country, everyone is skint however players wages seem to be increasing? You can't just turn your back on a club because we have exhausted our funds! Unless we get a sugardaddy come in and throw cash around we have nothing.
Moyes is best in this sort of scenario, yes he's become a little complacent but if he where to resign who the hell are we going to bring in? What do we have to offer a prospective manager? I've always thought EFC and Moyes where a good fit...They can be again!
But at the end of the match, it will be down to the players.
Whatever selection that the manager makes, will rankle some fans, but , when the whistle blows, regardless of opinions we will all be behind the team.
And thats what really matter. C.O.Y.B.
Go away and look at the alternative for a saturday afternoon and I'll see you at the game in a week or two.
I remember living in London and hearing Chelsea fans walking home after a game moaning at great length about Gianfranco Zola, who'd obviously had a bit of an off day. I thought Christ, last season you had Gavin Peacock and John Spencer up front....
But I was at the next game...still angry though.
The eighties seemed to herald a RS-like decade or more of trophies....but even that faded away and then there was Rooney.
But I still went.
It's a bit like my missus you see. No longer that gorgeous teenager she was when I met her. Only the other day I noticed a varicose vein behind one of her knees...and now she has two plastic teeth. She has no money either but I still love the old bint. Just like I have never stopped loving Everton....although it's a different kind of love.
Love is never an easy ride, even Kopites know that now but one thing is certain, true love of whatever type means you're stuck with it through thick and thin. It's not a matter of choice. You can choose not to go, but you can't choose whether to love or not.... that is not within our control.
That's why I still would have gone even if we'd moved to Kirkby! But I'll leave that one alone shall I?
We've got no money, but too much class for you my friend!
Our current situation is frustrating as hell, and not knowing what's going on and why we're so poor is seriously painful, but in the end its about cheering those eleven fellas who run out in the blue against the eleven fellas in something else that matters, and that will never change, no matter what happens.
To claim that now is the problem after thirty years says far more about you Chris than it does about Everton. We nearly got relegated twice as I was growing up, we're currently disappointed that we're not ten points further on and in a European position. Things could get far worse and I will still be cheering on the eleven blokes who run out royal blue.
I'm reminded of my Dad, a Burnley supporter who grew up watching them win a league title, play in Europe, and entertain some of the most famous players of all time (often beating them). By the time he got to take his sons to the game they were in Division Four and losing 0-3 away at the likes of Hereford. But despite this the Burnley fans are the funniest and most passionate I've ever known. The worse things get at the club, the better the fans need to be, not bugger off because they wish they were spending £25M on the latest wonder kid. Lets have a poll, who'd rather be a Man City fan than an Everton fan right now? Not I.
We don't need fans like you anyway. We need fans who will support the clubs in the bad times as well as the good times. Good riddance.
Chris: get over it, man! I know this has been an odd energy-sapping season at times but come on, we're still lucky in my opinion to be supporters of this crazy beautiful club. Let's face it, it's better now than when duds like Ekoku were running riot at Goodison or Walter's centre-half obsession or Stephen Hughes at left full or when another club's new signing is being written off as a flop but always seemed to score against us.
Suck it up, we all like a sulk, don't give up... but if you do, then good riddance ? there's plenty room for that kinda nonsense across the park.
I really do see that now is when the club and even Moyse need support. Adversity may also be his best role especially if he could see what has caused the recent improvement and follow it up.
You try it and you'll see what I mean. It's no good mate no matter what you say, you're in for the duration.
Once chosen.....
One woman,
One church,
One football club?
Ah, yes ? it was said by Sir Terry Leahy.
We have lost better players than Piennar and Yakubu in the recent past and got stronger for it. Finishing 17th with Rooney and Graveson, replacing them with Cahill and Atreta and Cahill and finishing 4th the following season.
If you are not happy about the clubs finances maybe you should start supporting Man City with all the other glory seekers, you are no better than Rooney, Lescott and all the others.
The club is better off without fans like yourself that stink the place out with negativity and bring everybody else down with them.
I'm not half as passionate as I once was... I've got the tattoo on my lower arm (not a shithouse out of view one higher up!), and have done most of the away grounds over the last 30 odd years...
I dunno whether it's because I'm 40 years of age, and I realise that football is merely entertainment, and not life or death, or whether it's because Kenwright and that ginger fuckwitt have lowered expectations so much over the last 9 years, that they've finally broken my spirit...?
Perhaps a new tattoo below the current crest, with "Nil Satis nisi optimum, my fuckin fat arse" would be more apt...
And before most of you lot start, come back when you've done 992 games watched live...
MOYES OUT.
There was a boneless wanker at school ? I'll call him Kelly ? who had turned to the Dark side by the following Monday. But apart from this self-confessed player of the pink oboe, I can't really remember anyone else ever changing their allegiance from a club.
You sound disillushioned with more than just Everton. But things have been disappointing this season, I admit. Maybe you should: (a) get pissed with a few mates; (b) engage in some advanced fondling with a member of the opposite gender; and, most of all, (3) give yourself a fucking shake.
You know it makes sense ...
The club currently has the aspirations of a middle-rung Championship side that wishes to get to the top of their division and climb to the mighty Premier League; like such a club, we have a similar financial black hole to allow us to do so and progress higher than our mediocrity should allow.
When Manchester City got their Sheik, we all booed, though still wish for our one to propel us forward; now I look and wonder why such envy. We should be envying the likes of Stoke and Birmingham. They are attracting players to their clubs; they might not be the players we as fans would like, but at least they have the financial clout to put bids in. How long before our better players are frustrated by our lack of ability in bringing in new players and leave for pastures new?
If we are lucky and believe all we read, we may get a couple of Championship players on loan or cheap purchases in the hopes that the Cahill Experience will again happen. I don?t believe we are attractive enough for some sheik to buy us, and perhaps whatever money our Bill can get us is better than nothing. The only time I can see new finance coming our way, is parachute money, when one year we are eventually relegated, I prey this will never happen. But the 60s are not that far a distant memory in some of our mind.
We have great youth coming through, so we are told; will they ever come? Jack is there already; Seamus is coming on leaps and bounds... but what about the rest of our fledgling prodigies in waiting? Davey, play the kids ? they cannot really score less than our recognised strikes can they?
We wont make Europe, but the we were never going to, were we, with such a limited bank balance, I was hoping for Rio for holidays but I guess its Rhyl again, as I have to live within my means, which as a footnote is what our esteemed club are trying to do I suppose.
How much do Everton fans think we are worth? Kenwright bought 68% for £20M. Why is it now that rumour has us at around a £100M plus? What exactly has Kenwright done to increase the value of this club? He says we have assets on the pitch, but we all know that the real owners of them are the banks. We still have no new stadium, and a training ground mortgaged to the eyeballs.
Why doesn't Kenwright say he will sell for £30M? This takes into account inflation and any personal investment he has made. We all appreciate that under the current board we have been stabilised, but it really angers me that they seem to be hanging on to make a profit whilst we wither.
Over many years my support for the Blues has changed from season ticket holder and every away game to occasional home game and then back again. I once missed a whole season because of illness and money problems. I have even tried to give up supporting completely because it was causing mood swings which my wife couldn't stand. But I can't actually remember a single minute when I wasn't an Evertonian.
Mission impossible mate. Once a blue......
We turn dow £6M from West Ham last summer for an unfit finished Yak because deluded Moyes values him at £8M. 6 months later we let him go free on loan to a Championship club... and we wonder why we have no money!!
Fenerbache offer £8M for an unfit finished Saha; we keep him, and Moyes stubbornly refuses to play him. He is now worth jack.
Pienaar has seen the light and can't wait to jump.
35 Posted 15/01/2011 at 13:50:08
Now where did I hear that phrase:
One woman,
One church,
One football club?
Ah, yes ? it was said by Sir Terry Leahy.
Dick,
Don't you mean?
One Retail Park
One Tesco
One Football Club
One Second rate Stadium in the middle of nowhere
The club needs to be run properly and not at a financial loss, even more so with the new UEFA laws coming into effect soon. Yakubu has never been the same since his injury and one of our highest earners. Nothing we can do about Pienaar, he apparently wants £75k p/w and he is not that good, so let him go.
Everton FC are bigger than any player and we need to be run properly to carry on as a football club.
I wonder why I put myself through it every week, but it's because I love the club, I love the atmosphere at Goodison, I love the feeling when we score a goal, when we win.
Come on Chris, it will all be forgotten if we beat the redshite tomorrow.
How on earth you can label this season as some sort of nadir in that period I frankly can't fathom.
I've only been a blue for 26 years but I could name at least a decade's worth of lower points without much effort.
Sure, we're in a weak position financially, but we're at least trying to live in some sort of reality by shopping at a level we can afford, stripping out some of the overpaid chaff and not bowing to the increasingly ludicrous wage demands of the modern premier league footballer - unless of course you genuinely believe that there's some sort of justification for paying people over 3 times the national average wage per week to kick a ball around?
We've definitely underperformed on the pitch too, but even then I'd argue strongly in the most part it's only been in terms of the finishing and final result, look at the stats and the actual performances have been very good indeed in terms of possession, successful passes and chances created - certainly a world away from the hoofball that was derided on these pages for years (even when we won matches).
Ultimately though, this 'underperformance' is only in the context of the increased standards and expectations that have been built up by a sustained period challenging for European finishes, something that's been built by the current crew - or maybe you preferred the last day relegation escapes?
Oh and unless you've missed it, the season is only just past halfway through. There's still a bit to play for my friend, string a couple of wins together and we'll be top 6 and on a cup run. All that's needed is a little faith...
We've all been through separations/divorces. We've all had fallings out with our children and other family members, but if you truly think it's time to walk away from your football team, then you really aren't Born Not Manufactured.
Will you not bother about the derby today?... yeah sure.
Having said this, I knew a lad from the SW supporters club who was "Supporter of the Year" and never missed a match (including friendlies) in 3 years. He even changed his middle name to "Everton" by deed pole! Anyway, something must have happened, because his obsession with Everton came to an end a few years ago, and he doesn't even think of himself as an Evertonian any more.
Enough of this bullshit.... COME ON YOU BLUE BOYS, lets batter those dirty Redshites today!!!!!
I remember driving up North one day and passing a shack in one village with a board outside saying "Everton FC" I took a photo which I have long since lost. Shame, but evidence of supporters on the Island
If any of you are honest, how many times have the club made you think to yourself " Fuck it, I can't be arsed anymore "
Maybe this is how Chris feels, when he penned this piece.
Something has to give..and it will. One way or another. And by that I mean we'll either go down, unable to keep a premier league squad or we'll end up becoming bottom fodder of the prem like we where with walter smith...both options are very obviously not acceptable..but what can be done if you cannot sustain keeping a team together?
I guess the only thing we can look forward to, is being where we are now 3 points off the bottom...I really fear for our safety.
Believe me, Evertonians, he is taking us to the wall. We have never got a penny to spend on players or redvelopment. But they can muster £9 mill for a hotel and fuck knows what in the Park End car park. They could have developed the ground for less than that, taking all the obstructed views out of the debate.
Kenwright came (by his own admission) he had fuck all, remortgaged the house. And now he's got a personal wealth, according to the Mirror, of £11 Million.Stop accepting shite off these liars. They don't give a fuck about Everton.
KENWRIGHT OUT NOW.
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1 Posted 15/01/2011 at 05:35:40
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High wage earners Yobo, Pienaar, Yakubu are being let go. Vaughan is also on the way out for Everton to scrap more money together.
Hammil, Eagles, Mbokani to improve the squad?
There's no cash left. Unless Man City fancies another one of our players.