The Mail Bag
Aloyalty: Pienaar et alia
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I'd like to introduce a footballing concept: Aloyalty. Just as one can talk of something being moral, immoral or amoral, I think we need to have this idea in football.
Players (Pienaar, Bent, Keane, Lescott and the rest) don't feel loyalty to their clubs, they don't feel that a club helped them to develop, paid them handsomely when they were injured, offered them a stage in which to make their name, and above all the fans often gave them adoration.
What they do feel is I want more money and glory, to them it's not being disloyal, it's simply the way of the world and the concepts of loyalty and disloyalty is irrelevant and alien. They have what I am now calling an aloyal attitude, an attitude which in their minds, is simply the way things are and they can't understand the silly saps who help to pay their wages and who support one team through their whole life.
So next time a player, like Darren Bent, twitters that Spurs must let him go to Sunderland and two years later decides that he must go to Aston Villa, don't accuse him of disloyalty, just remember loyalty and disloyalty are not the issue, he's just being aloyal.
Richard Tarleton, Posted 18/01/2011 at 16:41:39
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I agree with what you say in principal but in reality it doesn't happen.
Fair play to him, but he won't be half the player he was with us.
With Darren Bent, it is clearly all about money, as Villa are looking awful and Sunderland have played some decent football and are on the up this season, while Villa are in decline.
Steven Pienaar is moving for a bit of both, money and glory and the fact that he has chosen Spurs over Chelsea, indicates that he wants Champions League football in a side on the up. It could be argued that the money offered by Chelsea - reportedly less than Spurs - was the deciding factor, or it could be a simple fact that Spurs have a younger, hungrier squad. However, with the talented midfield at Spurs, will he get a look in?
We all pretty much know who the players are who play for the love of the game as well as the money and we can all see the mercenaries, simply hanging around for the cash. They can be spotted a mile off.
Well actually no....not necessarily. 30 years ago my employer invested £32.000 getting me professionally qualified within my line of work.
In return, although I had opportunities to reach for the cash and earn more elsewhere I repaid my employer's investment in me with a lifetime of work....loyalty if you like.
We're not all mercenary bastards you know. There is just a little more to life than money and anyone who doesn't think so must be quite sad really.
I'm not saying there aren't exceptions - some players, like Cahill, obviously feel differently about it.
But Pienaar's done a great job for us, he's seen out the duration of his contract rather than agitating for a move half way through it, like Lescott or Rooney did, and we're getting our money back on him, so as gutted as I am he's off, I've got no complaints.
He put in a good shift for us and never once slagged us off to the media, so he clearly likes the club.
Nothing wrong with choosing a club with Champs League football. The only thing that is up is I hope Moyes can use the money wisely.
We won't miss him much...if at all.
The result was I bloody loved that new job and I stopped being a miserable git and started enjoying life again.
Happiness comes before money and I would rather have just enough to get by, with a smile on my face than have £10million in the bank and a frown all the time.
My fear is that Baines' game will suffer now as Pienaar freed up a lot of space for Leighton to run into and their link up play was dynamite. Pienaar also helped Baines defend that left flank well too.
Im getting really sick of hearing how skint we are, and that we have no investment coming in, while everybody around us is looking to buy players,
Our future looks bad to me at the minute, We should of really kicked on this season, but typical of everton, when you expect somethin good, they disappoint, thanks for putting your hand in your wallet Bill,
As a blue I'm gutted he has left, but I don't blame him at all. It's not peanuts fault that "Blue Bill" can't find the mystery investor to end all our worries, or dip into his theatrical pockets to find a few more pounds to keep him happy.
If you are at the top of your game and cannot take that forward where you are, why stay when you have more money and champions league football just a few stones throws away?
We need 30 million invested minimum to challenge for honours, Pienaar is not an idiot and, baring a return of Lee Carsley, Marcus Bent and Kenidine Kilbane, we are never going to get a champs league place in the next couple of years. By that stage he is the wrong side of 30 and has missed his chance.
Also football is a game of chance, if he breaks his leg tomorrow his career could be over, players take the chance when they can because it might not come round again..
I think it is really harsh to put him in the same category as Darren Bent, he has never forced a transfer and has given 100% up until the transfer was being finalised at the weekend.
I hope he isn't booed on his return to Goodison, I just hope he doesn't play that well against us when he does!
Also he wrote this on twitter today - "To end speculation I am going to Spurs. I've had brilliant years at Everton and it will always be a special place in my heart." He might be humouring us but I think he is genuine.
Yeah you miss him because he's not running around like a mosquito.
But just examine his real CONTRIBUTION!
A wonderful goal against Arsenal, a sweet free-kick against Chelsea and...from then on it gets difficult. His final ball was crap 8 times out of 10. Baines made his life easier for him on the left by making expectations of him simpler..
He was very poor in the World Cup despite all the advantages of home soil and being South Africa's most famous player (just about) He was a very useful lad to have around but he was the fulcrum of precisely nowt!
Moyes himself has said that Pienaar has done everything asked of him this season. I really don't think we can be upset with the lad.
He had a contract, he was prepared to play it out (and play well), now Everton accepted the offer and that's it. He will move on and we must do the same. I really think he should be given a great reception on return, because he never let us down.
I am a bit worried about Pienaar playing LM for spurs and them moving Bale back to LB (to replace the muppet that played against us the other week). I think it is the final piece to the Spurs jigsaw and Harry knows it.
What I find unforgiveable is the club, my club, losing out to manipulative players and their agents.
I don't mind the manipulation coming from my club but not from the agents and players.
Yes it may be one way but tough. EFC is still here and I'm stuck with them. Players, far better than SP come and go and their loyalty, if you can call it that, moves with them.
The club should offer new conditions to players they want far earlier than they do. If the player, after a fair period of time, does not agree then the club should get rid asap for the best deal.
But to expect the idea of loyalty is simply romantic sentimentality.
Surely it would be easier for Harry to ask Bill for the manager's job at Everton.
Good luck to the lad; the extra cash will give him a massive, massive uplift in lifestyle in return for playing less
Look at poor old Avram Grant a man being humiliated by the antics of the pimps that own the club.
Players have always been commodities for clubs to trade but we have unscrupulous agents on their side now so it's no wonder Football has the morals of an alleycat.
I cannot fault Pienaar in any way.
He has stood by his contract and would have willingly seen it through to the end but for EFC needing a fee and he has played his tripe off for us every game.
I will certainly stand and applaud him on his return to GP (and hope that he has a stinker!!)
Honestly I can see an in-form Pienaar pushing Modric at centre-mid but Harry knows where he is going to play him and we will find out on the weekend. Back to us, I hope Moyes gives Bily a chance at left-mid... though he won't replace Schillo, I'm sure he can do a decent job for us.
He obviously thinks the grass will be Greener at Spurs, over Chelsea. They've also got some great fans, with the wealth to take them into the Champions League. Plus I'm sure he'll enjoy strolling down Oxford street on his days off and make full use of the tube given his driving limitations.
Now I'm more concerned about Everton and how we move forward from this and hope our best young players don't take the Dick Whittington story literally.
However I think the best point made in this link is Dave Barks (4), loyalty works both ways. Arteta is having a poor season by his standards and starting to get some stick in these parts. OK he's got a mega new contract, but don't kid yourself he could have got that elsewhere, he chose to stay. Like his mate Tim Cahill the Guy genuinly feels for this club and can't be accused of not trying even if it's not coming off at the moment. So time to cut him a little slack I feel, show him a little loyalty and hopefully the real Michel will come through the bad spell that all players hit from time to time.
Fair enough. Not sure how well he will do at Spurs and whether it was the right decision, but he is certainly no Lescott.
Lovely jubbly.
Maybe we could put the £2.5 million towards the cost of buying him back?
He certainly won't get in before Van Der Vaart, then again he will be off somewhere else for about £25m in the summer.
He will not replace BAle on the wing and he doesn't have half the pace of Lennon, probably has the same ratio of cack final balls though.
Thanks for the years Pienaar, have a good time with your extra £10/15k a week. You must really need it.
I am sick of Rooney getting slagged off as he's proven really he does still support Everton. He's a least tried to repair the damage; pity a lot of supporters can't forgive him. His move was motivated by football rather than money. He's won the league 3 times and the European cup once.
The vast majority of people treat other people the way they treat them in life. If Everton fans abuse him, what do you expect him to do?
Lescott's move was purely motivated by greed. He's not even considered and decent defender by City fans. Since he's left Everton he's spent most of his time of the bench and when he has played he's been pathetic. He's playing so well that City want to offload him to Wolves.
I can't see how Pienaar fits into either Chelsea or Spurs side. I don't believe he'll stand much chance of being a regular in the Chelsea team. At Spurs I can't really see him lasting long before Spurs make another big signing in the summer.
Let's be honest. it's Moyes's stupid fault he's leaving in the first place. He should have been sold before the World Cup as we'd've probably got around £10 million for him.
The ridiculous decision to reward Arteta ? a man whose performances have been pathetic ever since his return ? with a £70k a week contract and not offer the same to a player who's been consistently creative is riduclous. He's never been that popular amongst Everton fans for whatever reason.
By the way I'm sick of people complaining about the board as usual. I suggested that if people felt that strongly about the running of the club they, should organise a protest.
How long before this continuing nightmare ends?
Spurs "have ambition" because they are rich. It is that simple. The head of Spurs does not give his own money to the manager, in a way that Kenwright does not. Spurs make money. Check out their ticket prices ? particularly season tickets ? far more costly than Everton. The Spurs manager gets what the Club makes, just as Moyes gets what Everton makes. We just make a lot less.
It is in a rich place, north London. One may conisder that they have a rich demography ? hopefully without seeming racist ? a strong Jewish following. Everton has none of this.
On loyalty, there was an excellent piece in the Independent today. And I echo what was said in that, namely my one chief problem with Pienaar was that he was not up for the derby game. I strongly hope and damn well expect that his wages were docked for last week. We cannot pay him as much as Spurs could, but he was handsomely paid by us: if I had his wages for one month, it would change my life. Sad, maybe, true, definitely.
I have always expected Pienaar to leave, going back over a year. For that reason, I wanted him gone in the summer with the fee paying for a winger. At least we have discovered what a good player Coleman is. But we arguably still need a winger for left or right side. We definitely need a striker. I hope the money for Pienaar and the expected money for Yobo and Yakubu, will be used to buy at least one of them.
Should we now be doing some sort of protest like the Shite to get new owners? Kenwright is telling us he has people on the phone everyday wanting to buy the club, basically he's just calling us all a load of knobheads.
During that power struggle when the Kings Dock thing was going on, I supported him but now I believe he just wants the club as a trophy... even though he can't afford the polish to clean it.
Let's be honest, he was good but not exactly brilliant, the World Cup showed that. We got our money back plus a bit more and he gets more pounds in his pocket but will he get that many games? In recent years, how many players who thought the grass was greener than Goodison have done better when they moved on?
I won't applaud him IF he plays at Goodison again, but I will not boo him either. Total indifference is far more effective.
We're going backwards, and I'm sick of not getting any updates from the club on what the are doing or trying to do.
As it is, I think he savaged the hand that's fed him very handsomely for the past 2/3 years. He turned his back when we could have done with him which in my eyes shows what Everton and his fans meant to him...
How can deciding whether to move to one club or another for ridiculous wages that we all can only dream of put you in a frame of mind that you can't play? Unbelievably spoilt and arrogant behaviour and he is not on his own there.
The fact he is going to a club to become a second-string player ? that makes me lose all respect for him as a professional footballer.
I'd love us to be in the Champions League but I'd still go if we were in League Two. I'd still have the memories and we would still have our tradition. It's not all about the mercenaries on the field. Everton is also about history tradition and the mates you watch the match with.
I'm sure that most of us in the stands would happily play for Everton for our current salaries (not much in my case) ? And there you have the difference between us and them.
But one thing I can't forgive is his 'head not right' attitude last weekend. I don't care what's on offer, he's a player who's employed by a club and effectively went on strike in one of our biggest games of the season. Says it all about him for me. Good riddance.
Let's move forward ? we should be happy with a top half finish, we are potless and Moysey has performed miracles to keep us up there .
Barmby was scum as he showed no loyalty, and we resurrected his career he kissed the badge and then rubbed our noses in it by joining the Shite.
SP was different, he's given us 4-years and wants to move on.
COYB
There is no greater honour than pulling on that blue shirt and he's just thrown it back at us. Don't anyone say "can you blame him?" because I can. He was offered a king's ransom to keep playing for us and he turned us down. We are Evertonians, born not manufactured. Those who don't understand, don't matter.
Fuck off Pienaar, you greedy shithouse.
How do you know he wants to leave Everton for money? You don't, full stop. He's not an Evertonian. He signed a 4-year contract, and was prepared to honour that contract until the summer. The fact is that the club accepted an offer for him now to cash in on him before then.
Although I guess I am wasting my time even explaining this to you judging by the language in your offering. Pienaar is moving on, and you should do the same.
Taking a step back and looking at the bigger picture with Yobo, Yakubu and now Pienaar moving on, Everton wiil not have the worry of the players taking off for the African Cup of Nations. Buy players that are committed to the Premier League schedule.
As for the Jews ? and I know you didn't mean it racially, neither did I take it as such ? it is an urban myth that they are all well-to-do. Take my word for it!;-)
I also doubt it very much that Daniel Levy and Co don't put any cash into Tottenham Hotspur FC.
Our financial plight is not basically down to demographics.
I say make a move for Tuncay from Stoke.
What the hell has happened to us? I remember when playing for Everton meant something, now it seems everyone is happy for a player to want to leave. I know for a fact, Pienaar will get a frosty reception from the Goodison faithful when he returns. You don't turn your back on Everton.
Osman is much easier to say... Maybe that's why he keeps getting in the team.
By the way, I hope the wages clerk wasn't in the "right frame of mind" to submit his last weeks pay. Enjoy keeping the bench warm, Steven.
I think Pienaar has been quite honourable in all of this. I would hope he would offer this weeks wages back though. Whilst I understand his reason for not playing, it would be an honourable gesture and only fair to be honest.
Other than that, I don't get the few posts such as Alan's and Frank's. His agent hasn't turned his head; he has made the decision to move to a bigger club. This may be painful but we have to accept the reality that ? due to the amateurish way we have been financially managed, coulpled with genuine bad luck in looking for investment ? we are not in the same league as Spurs.
Sorry to see Peanuts go, but he's certainly replaceable: I just hope we get someone with some skill. We need more skill: someone to pick a pass, to commit defenders, to play in between the lines ? in short, to do all the things Cahill patently can't.
And if Anichebe gets any more starts I'm going to give someone a Chinese burn.
How about organising a take-over instead? It's been said to be more effective.
Before Sunday?s match Pienaar knew that he no longer needed to put a shift in ?for EFC? because the scale of lucrative move/contract that he was after would be happening imminently for him regardless of whether he did or he didn?t. It was at ?that? stage that he decided to disregard the contract which he had with EFC.
Prior to Sunday, I would have said "I wouldn?t clap and I wouldn?t boo shall his name ever be announced at Goodison Park when he was playing for another club". Circumstance has now changed, however; if you are within earshot of me and Pienaar returns to Goodison Park when playing for a club other than ours, you will definitely hear me boo when his name is announced.
Get a winger with pace, two even. There's a few about, granted quite unproven but worth a shout for a couple of mil ? Jarvis, Jennings, Hammill. And a striker with less glass in his legs than Saha and who's second touch isn't a header or a sending off. Not many about though. Bothroyd maybe? I'm thinking limited spending.
At the end of the day, he's gone to a club which could have actually been us, in the Champions League, challenging for 4th and perhaps even the title.
If anyone is to blame, then blame the fucking board. They couldn't organise a piss up in a brewery let alone having any ambition or vision for this club which is slowly eroding away day by day under this ownership.
If anyone wants loyalty follow international football.
Anyone who tries to compare a normal average wage and salary earner being offered more and posing the question "wouldn't you move" or "do the same thing" is not fair and reasonable.
I have been offwered more in my job but have decided to stay with my current employer because they are a company of integrity and have shown me flexibility when I needed it. If you are earning £50k a year and get an offer to earn £80k a year, that is not comparing apples for apples with someone who is earning £60k a week being offered £75k a week.
When Tim Cahill was in Sydney, I had a discussion with him about loyalty and he more or less stated he loved playing football and loved Everton, and that the fact he was being paid to fulfil his dream was a bonus. People who assume everyone else would do the same in his position are sadly mistaken.
I sincerely hope there are a few deals in the pipeline before the window shuts.
I don't want to sound too pessimistic, but one takes a look around and sees everyone improving while we stand still. If things don't change, it won't be long before we're back fighting relegation every season.
Clearly an agreement was done in principle with Spurs and / or Chelsea. He was effectively on Sunday not an Everton player any longer.
The kid hustled his nuts off for Everton and they got a great return for their money with his service to the Club.
Wish the boy well.
It's a business. That's the reality of it. To say anyone who has appreciation for Pienaar and what he did for his time at the club is not an Evertonian?
I'm not picking a fight at all but that seems very naive and polyannish (did I spell that right?)
But I do admire your stance and your approach to fealty and loyalty.
It's never good that a quality player leaves for what he may consider greener pastures. But it happens at very big clubs as well. It's reality and it will happen time and time again as long as there's big money being tossed around.
We cashed in, possibly too late, but at least got something for a 28 year old with very questionable finishing skills.... it's not the end of the world for either Everton or Pienaar. In fact, it is what it is.
We all know that Moyes won't see any of the transfer money from Pienaar's departure, but let's get behind Bily, Gueye and the rest of our boys and we can beat any one wr play!!!! COYB
I don't think it's good that Pienaar has chosen another club over us,but is it wrong? He decided to leave a while ago - remember it was Moyes who came out and said we would keep him until the summer and if he leaves for nothing so be it.
We accepted a bid for him in the build up to the derby. From the moment we accepted the bid from Chelsea,he was no longer in our plans. Moyesie shouldn't have even been considering playing him ? if he'd got injured that could have cost us £3 million. I also understand Pienaar's position ? how can he honestly give it everything he has got for this club when he is in transfer negotiations,with one eye on joining a new club?
The bigger question for me is how we are going to replace him now we have some money? Will Moyesie even get the full £3 million to spend?
when did we last challenge for Europe?
For the last 2 years we've signed nobody and shown no ambition.
If the board had shown Pienaar's ambition, I am sure he'd have stayed.
But it wasn't enough.
In the case of Lescott, we seduced him from another club, waving a cheque book that was (then at least) much bigger than Wolves'. Then someone, i.e. Citeh, basically did to us what we did to Wolves, but we were very handsomely compensated thank you very much. We could have bought Distin three times over but one of him was enough to make up for Joeleon's departure.
JL gets shit and Peanuts gets approval. Tell you what, it's a funny old game...
ps: Kudos to Davey for spotting Peanuts was a good bet. He got a lot of good games out of the lad and in what is a very quiet transfer window he got at least 150% of his outlay back.
Jesus...
Six months before he either a) whines like a bitch about not getting in the team and is shipped off to some outfit in Istanbul, or, b) is arrested for real on an assault charge.
2. He didn't fulfill his contract, "my heads not right" = "fuckin shittin it I might get injured by that twat Kyrigakos and forego my bucket of gold".
3. At least he agreed to fuck off now for a fee, the lesser of the two evils, he could've got a nice signing on fee in the summer.
4. Would I clap/cheer him at Goodison? Would I fuck...
Any one of some of the wingers mentioned on this thread and others would ensure he was forgotten rather quickly:
Hammil
Jarvis
Etherington
Jennings
Eagles
All these guys have one thing Pienaar hasn't got and that's pace, something we sorely miss in our side. I'm not that well up on Jarvis & Jennings but from what I've seen of Hammil, Etherington & Eagles, they can play a bit too.
Here's a thought, let's try the "secret weapon"?
I echo your sentiments. As it stands we have one of the smallest squads in the league, yet we are letting players go left, right and centre without anyone coming in.
No money, no depth, no clue, no ambition... I see no light at the end of the tunnel. We are in steady decline.
Yeah... (We didn't get Pienaar from another club, did we!?)
Team v West Ham
Hibbo
Ossie
Rodders
Baxter
Erm, uh, oh crap.....!!!!!
FFS! ? The club has shown little or no ambition; don't blame him for going.... Fellaini will be next...
I believe most clubs were quite happy to sit on the fence and wait it out as it was quite clear that Pienaar wouldn't sign a new deal already before last season ended.
I actually believe we would not have been able to sell in the summer. Shame really as Pienaar for all his effort has failed to make a telling contribution all season.
Getting the £3 mill for him now is in fact the best we could have hoped for, sadly.
I wish him the best of luck at Spurs although I doubt he will make much of an impact. If he does then he's a better player than I have believed.
What the fuck is going on? A press dribble from the club saying Billy Bullshitter is now going to allow DM to have the Pienaar money for a replacement, well how about a fucking replacement for Yakubu and if he isn't staying Vaughan?
It's not a joke our starting 11 and bench will soon look like those dark days of the other summer with the bench packed with babies and every one with their fingers crossed we can get more than two games on the trot out of Balsa Boy Saha. Roll on season ticket renewal time because I think Billy Bullshitter has an even ruder awakening coming.
Mario Balotelli made my point with great eloquence in his interview in "La Gazetta dello Sport" when asked about how long he'll stay at Man City, he replied, "For this year and one more I'll stay at City." Such attitudes are beyond loyaty or disloyalty, they are simply aloyal.
Come hell and high water the players and their agents know that loyal supporters will pay at the gate, buy the shirts, pay their Sky subscriptions and that it is this constant cash flow that allows players to live the high life. All the money in football originates from the pockets of supporters of clubs and of the game itself, supporters who could only dream of living the lifestyle that the players do.
What pisses me off is that this 'loyalty' is totally one-sided. In a sense, supporters are being taken for a ride as when a player decides he wants to move on for money or CL football or whatever other spurious reason, the supporters of the club he's leaving get nothing save the occasional platitude and most often not even that.
Also, it's funny that a lot of you have said Pienaar is going to be a bench warmer at Spurs ? that shows how far behind Spurs we really are, when one of our first team regulars, who was one of our better players, isn't going to make the Spurs first eleven.
Your comment "SP is simply moving for a pay rise, wouldn't you?" ? well, no actually. If I'm earning £60k a week for doing something I love rather than working in a dead-end job, then is there really any need to want say another 10 grand a week?
Your response also takes away any right you may feel you have in the future to complain when another selfish, money-grabbing tosser comes along and thinks he's better than the rest of his team mates and so fucks off for extra money that, in truth, he doesn't need. Unfortunately you seem to have have absorbed the Sky bug where fuck the loyalty in football, it's all about the money.
Steven Pienaar, or indeed his agent, needs to remember that Everton and David Moyes basically resurrected his career which was going nowhere before he arrived at Goodison Park. Had Moyes not taken a gamble on him then he would probably be just another "has been" wallowing in the seedy, shitty second-rate leagues around Europe.
My guess now is that Steven Pienaar will spend more time warming the bench at Spurs so it won't be long before he gets frustrated and wishes he was playing in a team that virtually guaranteed him a game every weekend.
Dave Roberts #6;- I couldn't agree more.
Maybe in the summer when Pienaar rejected our final contract offer, IF the board had backed Moyes and said "Sell him now and we'll give you £x million to replace him," Moyes would've had the grounds to cash in then. The problem is Moyes probably knows that cash wouldn't have been passed back for reinvestment. So it was probably worth hanging on till Jan, as he wasn't going to get any substantial funds either way.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bABYmY4Yag8&feature=related
On the subject of Pienaar I feel he's always given his best for us and has been a highly effective player. Although I agree that his assists and goal ratio could have been better the nature of his industrious running and terrier-like hassling of the opposition allows others to shine and his comfort on the ball always makes him an option for a pass.
I don't feel that my love for Everton is less because I wouldn't boo him. In fact I wouldn't be surprised if he was told that he would not be playing the derby because the deal to sell was too crucial.
Good luck Steven!
When Moyes took an age to sign his new contract, everyone was saying he was only stalling because he wanted to see what BK's plans were for the future, funny he ended up signing it when £65k was put in front of him. But I suppose it's okay them two getting huge new contracts, because they stayed with us???
The difference is, Pienaar wasn't getting what he wanted, so he moved on to get it.
Of course he's a mercenary...most players are, so he doesn't need to explain himself...but don't ask me to give him a wishy-washy round of applause on his return. He'll be with an opposition team of his own choice, so a robust sledge is expected. All this 'corinthian-spirit' rubbish is misguided. You'll be asking me to clap Rooney next - he went for the same reasons as Steven did, so let's not get all precious or hypocritical.
Loyalty is a rare thing and to me the player who epitomises it is Cahill. I have no doubt that he would have commanded a large transfer and interest from the Sky4/5 in recent years, but he has chosen to stay with us. When Piennar is forgotten in Everton (and Spurs!) history in a few years, Tim will be a legend. Enjoy the money Steven....players like Tim look beyond it!
I love Everton; I'm aged 71 & have supported them since I was 7 years of age. Yes, I have been one of the lucky ones seeing them win the league, FA Cup Finals (66 Fantastic) and Euro Cup Winners. But many of the players involved where bought for big money in them days: Kendall, Ball, Steven, Stevens, Sheedy, Latchford, Lineker, etc etc...
How do you think those other clubs supporters felt when they all left (even ask Leeds fans when Beckford chose us)??? Just like so many on this site right now?? By the way all (except Beckford) of them moved on... BUT EVERTON still exists.
Gavin (87) I rarely go shoulder to shoulder with you but yeah.... and £3m? Big fucking deal!
Ok Pienaar going to Spurs was the worst kept secret in football since the summer. (Strange really as the only time they should have been allowed to talk to the player was after having ageed a fee with Everton - so Monday then!) When will this complete tapping up of players stop?
But let's look at those players who seem proud to be in the shirt. Lately we have had Baines coming out ignoring admiring glances from Bayern no less, Bily now comes out and states he wants to play more, is working hard, never thinks about changing clubs etc. This is a proven Russian international who wants to give everything for Everton and we should be getting behind him.
And today we have two of the younger players signing new long term contracts, players who have made a contribution this year and i think can help us kick on. Add to that Arteta being happy here, Cahill a true blue, Rodwell so far staying, Felli starting to boss games and even Heitinga starting to show a bit of desire.
So as depressing it is to be coming up to the end of the window with more outs than ins, I still think we will bring a couple in and in the meantime we need to really get behind the ones here already and start kicking some ass like we know we are capable of! COYB
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1 Posted 18/01/2011 at 17:24:23
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Wouldn´t you?
S.P. should be applauded on his return to Goodison, if he can get in the team!!!