Season 2011-12 Fan Articles
A Brief History of Failed Expectations
By Nick Entwistle :: 19/05/2012
57 Comments (»Last)
For all those poor starts and dour surrenders, there are the scintillating runs and fantastic nights under floodlights. So, whether a glass half-empty may deny a section of Blues supporters this viewpoint, it is arguable that, since the investment in new players in 2006, the Champions League has been within touching distance each and every season.
The culmination of the three Europa League years, the strongest side from Moyes?s decade in charge, was good enough to promote the hushed whispers of possible success leading into the 2010-11 season ? up to the all-out brazen chest-beating of some with "We?re going to win the league!"
Proving all too literal the old adage, talk paved the way for a stagnating run of four transfer windows without a single first-team purchase. Europe was no longer achieved and, among others, the lynchpins Cahill, Arteta and Saha ? players riding the crest of their careers ? saw their Everton form plummet.
It was in contrast a different time for Everton that built towards their Europa League era. Howard, Lescott and Johnson arrived in 2006 to complete Kenwright?s ?triangle? of signings for a combined £14M: 6th place ensued.
Following up in 2007 with Baines, Yakubu and Jagielka for £21M and 5th, the summer of 2008 saw Pienaar?s loan turn permanent for £2M. Arriving too, and serenaded by the last ticks of the clock, was the eight-figure transfer record of Fellaini, funded by the laughably ridiculous £10M swindle of Johnson to Fulham and the hand rubbing glory of McFadden to Birmingham in the previous window for £5M.
Ending the season once again in 5th and just 9 points from Champions League qualification, excitement for the following season was understandable as the summer?s Lescott debacle at least provided funds for Moyes to sign Bilyaletdinov, Distin, Heitinga... and the short but profitable stay of Lucas Neil.
Yet, throughout these high points, the quality and squad depth provoked continued calls for significant investment, papered over by loan signings, each summer to try and close that gap between Everton and Champions League qualification. This was at a time when every semi-final in the world?s premier club competition seemed to exist entirely for the benefit of the teams finishing directly above Everton in the league.
Despite these calls heading into the summer of 2010, fans in the very least expected the same level of transfer activity. But, over the next four windows only Beckford, Mucha, Gueye and Vellios were to show for a top club with high finishes, big crowds, average wage bill, in by far the richest league in the world. A seemingly perfect opportunity, with Benitez?s virtual relegation of Liverpool from the Champion?s League, to enter into the elite was surrendered meekly ? passed over, to Spurs and City, through fire sales and halted ambition.
The 2009-10 season saw a finish of 8th, again only 9 points behind 4th, but stoically, David Moyes without a signing kept the gap between Everton and a Champions League place to 14 points in 2010-11 and 13 points in the season just past. This is only just down on the previous four seasons when gaps of 9, 9, 11 and 10 points reflected the stability by way of the transfer market.
This season past, January?s deals showed what Moyes can bring to Everton when there is room for manoeuvre in the transfer market. Champions League form has the excitement building once again as fans head into the summer?s window with eyes on who could, even should, be added to compliment the excellent Jelavic, the third tightest defence in the Premier League, and a midfield that finally works.
But bolstered by players in on loan, the Everton of today could not hope for the spending of 2006 and 2007, when expenditure far outstripped player sales. Naysmith, Beattie, Kilbane and Davies providing £10M during these years... Nor are they the Everton of 2009 who could reinvest up to and including the last penny of the massive Lescott fee.
The Everton of today are the same, if not worse, than last year?s vintage: selling off Pienaar, Arteta, Vaughn, Yakubu and Beckford for £17M, and not a penny did the manager see.
For so long, Everton curtailed their potential in reaching the Champions League, the next step up from this ?small time? existence, as significant investment evaded the hands of David Moyes. I know of nothing that will change that this summer. Everton have only two permanent signings from January and their lack of depth is frightening with the latest round of player releases.
Only the residual value from Bilyaletdinov, a goodbye to Saha?s wages, and I?m sure a good deal of fist-banging from Moyes on the desk of Kenwright in January did allow for the reinforcements who in turn re-ignited the hopes the fans now hold for the summer. Yet it is unknown whether the funds are even there to bring back the all important Pienaar on a permanent basis. The £17M has long gone to the banks...
Even Lescott-sized fees in exchange for Everton?s few remaining assets would not guarantee reinvestment on any level. If the ?Baines for £5M? rumours are even half true, the bigger clubs will knowingly come calling with half-empty pockets, while the Everton Board of Directors will be in no position to hold out for full market value.
The window of opportunity in qualifying for the Champions League is wider now and easier than it has been since the inception and dominance of the Sky 4: Arsenal, Spurs, Chelsea, Newcastle and Liverpool will be vying for 3rd and 4th next season but, like the Premier League era as a whole, I fear Everton will miss the boat entirely unless Moyes is magically gifted the funds to make a competitive difference.
The Champions League final signals the start of my summer fast from football news and headlines. Yes, I will watch the Euros with all their excitement, but I will stay clear of all rumours and rumblings that greet my eyes or ears... even pub talk.
I will log back on to ToffeeWeb as usual one week before Everton?s opening fixture and immediately look for the new signings. I expect and fear though a repeat of the last two summers, as there is but a simple fact: There Is No Money! And what Everton do make in sales, the banks want.
How people expect the luxury of cherry-picking players which comes with the spending of money is beyond me; yet I will hope, as always, for the glory of Champions League qualification ? but I expect the loan market will undoubtedly have to provide that.
Roll on next season; another Drenthe awaits?
Reader Comments (57)
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2 Posted 19/05/2012 at 16:30:46
Thats our achillies heel,when we expect to do well thats when we fall apart.
Hopefully the addition of Jelavic means we can now deliver on expectations.
3 Posted 19/05/2012 at 16:41:42
4 Posted 19/05/2012 at 16:45:18
Why? Where did we suddenly get a load of money from?
5 Posted 19/05/2012 at 17:19:02
We didn?t lose any big names (such as previous summers) and even managed to make a couple of decent acquisitions to an already good squad. Playmaker Mikel Arteta recovered from injury and signed a 5-year contract, talisman Tim Cahill was finally fully fit and was hoping for his first full season in years, and a new generation of Everton players were really coming into their own
Fast forward to the summer of 2011, and the mood around Goodison Park wasn?t quite so confident ? the opposite actually. ?Mid-table mediocrity? was more apt than ?Champions League contenders?, and the club's complete inactivity on the transfer front drove all Evertonians absolutely mad.
Mikel Arteta departed to the Emirates, Tim Cahill was yet to score in the calendar year, and an exodus of other talented players seemed to be possibly on the cards ? think of the never-ending transfer rumours involving Jagielka, Baines, Rodwell?
The Blue Union was formed, protests were seen outside Goodison, and the old enemy?s seemingly limitless spending just poured salt in blue wounds.
And now we?re here: Summer 2012. We aren?t quite Champions League contenders, but we?re also above mid-table mediocrity. Some extremely positive results and attacking performances towards the tail-end of the season have left me praying for Mr Moyes's endeavours to take that approach from the outset next season. The emergence of a genuine goalscorer in Nikica Jelavic could prove to be an invaluable asset and, should the best little South African we know sign a permanent deal, next season could be fun ? very fun indeed!
Our situation in the transfer market is so far unclear... but we certainly won?t be as withdrawn as last summer. A couple of decent signings would certainly be welcomed and, as I mentioned earlier, the addition of Steven Pienaar is absolutely essential to any success we hope to have. Although Jelavic has received widespread acclaim (and rightly so), Pienaar?s flair and creativity played a major part in fashioning those chances.
I don?t know about you, but I am (once again) quietly confident. Should David Moyes finally find a solution to the slow-start conundrum, a top 6 finish and a good cup run could be on the cards.
Add to that good football and positive displays, a great platform for future triumphs could be established. You just have a look at our northerly neighbours, Newcastle United, to realise that you don?t need a sheikh to upset the traditional heavyweights and achieve success.
COYB!!!
Editorial Team
6 Posted 19/05/2012 at 17:19:49
7 Posted 19/05/2012 at 17:26:50
8 Posted 19/05/2012 at 17:32:34
9 Posted 19/05/2012 at 18:39:58
10 Posted 19/05/2012 at 19:36:25
11 Posted 19/05/2012 at 19:41:22
Actually sums up the transfers nicely over that time and how quickly the team was increasing in quality... in hindsight we all joked about Man City taking our 2nd best defender... how much I would love to see Heitinga and Lescott together.. can you imagine.
I believe the CB success is down to a partnership not one player and think that would have been an awesome one.. anyway.. hypothetical nonsense.
Guess where I'm going is that we didn't use that money wisely at all.. I am a massive Johnny fan.. and in the minority about Distin in not thinking he is THAT awesome.
We don't have the luxury to waste 10m and Moyes did that on Bily.... for that money there is definite quality he could have bought... such a wasted opportunity in my book.
12 Posted 19/05/2012 at 20:15:04
We lost money on him, but we lost even more money on Yakubu!
We now know that Moyes does not always handle his big buys well..
I am hoping that Moyes has learned from that.
This summer will be vital, we must keep Baines, also Fellaini as he is key to how we play.
Problem is these are the ones that the big clubs want, and we can only hope Moyes stands firm.
After selling Arteta I feel certain we will lose one of these two.
13 Posted 19/05/2012 at 22:59:41
Perhaps he's finally moving on?
14 Posted 19/05/2012 at 23:28:39
I wrote an article about a year ago on expectations which was fairly well panned by a lot of people, yet expectations are the only things that keep you moving forward.
After this season, our realistic expectations for next season should simply be: 57 points, 51goals, and 16 wins.
I've always been an advocate of 114 points being the goal of the season, but in a realistic world, supporting a club with no money, old players, and a negative manager, an improvement on the three tangibles by one will do.
With football over for the season, my attentions have turned to my beloved Aussie Rules. One thing that stands out from AFL to EPL is that almost every player under the age of 28 comes back the next season a much better player, whereas in the EPL, Everton specifically, we don't see improvement in our players' abilities as much - Baines being an exception until this season. What do Moyes' coaches do with the players at training?
15 Posted 19/05/2012 at 23:55:14
Arsenal show how it can be done, they usually bottle the majority of their big games and will never win the league that way but they absolutely decimate all of the lower teams and finish in the top 4 every year even with some very questionable weak teams.
It's the same old story of we'd probably make it if we didn't have relegation form in the first quarter of every season. Mind you, if we did have a good start and were in a position to strike for fourth, we'd probably choke, lose the away derby before rallying round to finish fifth and bask in yet another glorious failure.
16 Posted 20/05/2012 at 00:20:42
Anyway... see you all in August.
17 Posted 20/05/2012 at 00:27:23
18 Posted 20/05/2012 at 00:32:48
"Bily was a strange one, did not seem like Moyes had done his homework on the guy at all".
Agree and if he hadn't done his homework on Bily, regarding Krøldrup, even 'Sir the dog ate it' wouldn't do it it justice.
I'm still mystified as to what happened there.
What was he, 5 mill?
He played one game and was..gone.
All kinds of mad rumours (ie: "he can't head a ball") do the rounds and he ends up at Fiorentina.
Now admittedly, they might not be the top team in Italy, but they do ok for the most part and (as far as I know) he's still there.
Out of any transfer deal we've been involved in, THAT is the one I'd love to know the full story on.
19 Posted 20/05/2012 at 01:10:45
We had some funny deals that summer though as it was definitely the one time where all of our signings (and I won't count Arteta's loan becoming permanent) were rubbish like Simon Davies and Shandy. The latter is the one I'd like to know about. Inter must have had a right laugh at our expense!
20 Posted 20/05/2012 at 01:23:12
The problem was Bily represented a major investment for us at £9 mil. He'd have been an afterthought, coming and going, for any moneyed club.
21 Posted 20/05/2012 at 02:28:28
We got 56 after a terrible first half of the season. 70 points minimum next season.
22 Posted 20/05/2012 at 02:33:34
"a top 6 finish and a good cup run could be on the cards" though.
We finished 7th with a good cup run just now. Given the 2nd half, I'm feeling more ambitious. 70 points and let's see where that puts us.
Ownership must realize they have to go into their own pockets (which are deep indeed) for 15-20 mil to put the finishing touches on a Side at the edge of exploding in the league.
Piennar in and some bucks to get someone to link up with Jela. We already play some of the best defense in the league.
The only way I see us held back is if Kenright, or Green or whoever holds the purse strings, refuses again to invest the minimal amount (15-20 mil?) to take us to league contention.
The only clubs rated better defensively were the 2 best scoring clubs. Our defensive ratings were borne of neccisity. The Manc teams garnered much of their defensive standing because of most opposing managers shitting a brick about losing to them once they read the schedule.
We've had to fight for everything to get to 56 points. With Stevie in, we can get out the gate fast. Let's say 3-5 mil to keep him.
Now, how about all the players around the league who are talented but not playing time? Lot's of them available. Lot's of them.
Our owners don't have to get up off of Russian/Middle Eastern money to move us up. 15-20 mil will be enough.
23 Posted 20/05/2012 at 08:22:51
The annoying thing is that it would not take a lot over the transfer window to improve the current squad for this target, if Moyes had the same control as he did five years ago. Then, the rule of thumb from the board was that he had to sell first before he could buy. No great problem, there were plenty of players he could comfortably move on. Moyes would get some cash and improve his squad. Now, the rule of thumb is that he has to sell his best players first to appease the banks and anything left over may or may not come near replacing the player he sold.
The first and biggest piece of work for Moyes this summer is to decide which of his best players he sells and then convince the Board to back him in terms of keeping the rest. After that it's down to Moyes hopefully still having his mojo in the transfer market that he managed to find again last January.
24 Posted 20/05/2012 at 09:21:35
And yet ... watching Everton the last few weeks it feels like something has changed. Now when we go forward I'm expecting us to score. Jelavic, Pienaar and Fellaini are on fire, and when they're all starting it feels like there's noone we can't beat. If Moyes can rebuild his squad around them then maybe, just maybe ...
25 Posted 20/05/2012 at 09:50:06
26 Posted 20/05/2012 at 10:52:51
27 Posted 20/05/2012 at 16:53:28
28 Posted 20/05/2012 at 17:01:08
Conservatories, photocopiers, advertising, telesales etc.
29 Posted 20/05/2012 at 18:46:35
30 Posted 20/05/2012 at 19:07:02
:)
31 Posted 21/05/2012 at 07:02:19
We have to face reality that the following teams will very likely take CL positions next season: Citeh, Manure, Arse, Chelski. Chelski's not ready to pack it all in yet as Roman's just realized there's one more stamp he can collect ? that's the World Club cup.
So, together with the Shite, Spuds, Barcodes maybe, we are left with, wait ? zilch CL places to fight for. Which means there will be no extra worthwhile income coming into the club that is not merchandise, sponsors, gates and Bill's mates.
Expect Jags to be sold late August. And the re-re-re-building of the team.
32 Posted 21/05/2012 at 08:32:55
33 Posted 21/05/2012 at 08:54:56
We've had other signings that took a considerable amount of time to cement their first team place ? Baines, Jagielka, even Fellaini. Krøldrup was never given that luxury and, unfarily to my mind, branded a flop after one bad game against Villa, just so that he could be removed from the Champions League wage bill!
34 Posted 21/05/2012 at 10:32:43
We'll never know I guess, dont think there will be too many English translations of Billys autobiography....
35 Posted 21/05/2012 at 11:41:19
1. We have a closer eye on our own team so more of a perspective of godd and shite
2. We are so potless that even £1m wasted is a big deal
You'd hope that the powers that be do their homework as thoroughly as possible, it wont eradicate the chances of problems but should reduce them signigifcantly
36 Posted 21/05/2012 at 11:59:15
37 Posted 21/05/2012 at 12:08:21
38 Posted 21/05/2012 at 17:29:53
For the most part, I reckon Moyes has done much more good buisness than bad.
39 Posted 21/05/2012 at 18:06:48
For me Moyes is second only to Wenger in terms of finding a player for buttons. Anyone who watched the CL final will know the result would have been very different if it was Jelavic up front instead of Gomez, and how much did he cost?
One thing that's sometimes forgotten is while we all talked about Moutinho and the like it was ultimately squad depth and poor starts(sometimes because of squad depth) that done us.
The season Chelsea beat us in the CC semi's Pienaar, Yobo and the Yak left for the Afcon when we were flying and comfortable in third.
Then there was a season when the whole spine of the side was out injured.
We also started with a bench full of kids one season with Baxter missing a sitter against WBA when he was 16.
No doubt Moyes was capable of getting us right up there given the right support. I'm just not sure events have affected him to a point where he no longer can?
The first half of this season says no he can't. The second half says he's still got it.
40 Posted 21/05/2012 at 18:40:48
The thing is most of Moyes's big money buys (by our standards) have at least been questionable.He might have had some great buys for little money but i'm not sure I would trust him with a large transfer kitty.
41 Posted 21/05/2012 at 19:05:46
£15m Fellaini - showing more consistency, likely to yield at least money back if sold
£11.25m Yakubu - failure, injury didn't help. Question whether given enough of a chance on his return before being loaned out and sold
£9m Bilyaletdinov - not sure why he was bought, first thing he said was "I'm not a winger". Failure.
£8m Johnson - not sure he fitted our style. Sold at a profit
£6m Heitinga - player of the year, solid, dependable
£6m Distin - over-priced for a 30yo CB, but good player
£6m Beattie - failure after 1 decent season
£6m Baines - key player after taking a while to settle
£5.5m Jelavic - looks like a bargain
£5m Lescott - solid defender, made good profit
£5m Jagielka - solid player
£5m Kroldrup - sold on as soon as we failed to qualify for CL group stages
These are just some off the top of my head, but it's not exactly a list of shame as you suggest.
Also, whilst some of the fees are high, that's nothing to do with the manager, other than he sanctions whatever he feels he can afford from the available funds to bring a player in.
Not all players (e.g. Distin) will have a resale value but are necessary transfers at the time.
Overall I think given the limited funds we've had (and bearing in mind a lot of those funds were from major player sales) Moyes has done very well. Had he had more failures we may well have ended up in a very different place.
42 Posted 21/05/2012 at 19:28:19
Making a profit on someone doesnt make a good signing even if it is good when it happens so I dont think justify the likes of Johnson as a success because we made money on him.Even Heitinga who I think is great has been wasted for over a season by being played out of position.
Fellaini as good as he is we were ripped off at the time,if we bought him a month earlier I doubt he would have cost a third of what we ended up paying.
Beattie was never decent.
Out of the signings you mentioned I would class 5 as failures and another 2 as vastly over paid for,not great out of 11 signings (Jag was only £4m).
43 Posted 21/05/2012 at 19:39:58
I actually think Bily is a good player who was not particularly well managed. This is not a pop at Moyes because every coach makes mistakes. I have many reservations about David Moyes but his transfer dealings are not among them.
44 Posted 21/05/2012 at 20:05:09
I'm going to have to be in the unfamiliar Moyes defender role here.
His really poor signings can be counted on the fingers of a leper. And even then the likes of Yakubu going wrong was down to injury. He was dynamite in his first year.
Kroldrup and Bily couldn't adapt to Englsih football and a few other small time gambles like avdm looked good deals but always carried a high degree of risk. We would never be able to get these players otherwise.
The very few really big money players we've been in for like Felliani, who was the second highest rated young player in Europe at that time, and Moutinho are all class. The type of money were paying for these is still buttons for all the sides around us too.
Moyes got a lot of stick over the Bily signing after a season because he wasted £9m. Same with Kroldrup
They are the only signings, hand on heart time, I can remember thinking what a big mistake this fella is.
45 Posted 21/05/2012 at 20:34:20
Yak's injury played its part but I think Moyes handled him bad on his return and ruined his confidence.I still think his signings over £5m have been more miss than hit for one reason or another.
46 Posted 21/05/2012 at 20:37:02
47 Posted 21/05/2012 at 20:44:17
Out of them players listed
Billy
Yak
Johnson (even though I liked him)
Beattie
Kroldrup
48 Posted 21/05/2012 at 20:49:45
The yak had a killer of an injury, plus he was probably the worst player you would want to come back for that injury. He was expensive, but that's what 20+ plus goal scorers go for.
Johnson was expensive, given most of his goals were from penalties at palace. Wegner finished him with his moan, and he never really recovered after that. Quick, limited ability english player. Had the misfortune to have to play with Beattie.
Beattie - the laziest signing we ever made. Absolute garbage. With the same money we could of signed Ashton and Darren bent who both moved to charlton and Norwich when we signed him. Who ever scouted Beattie should be shot.
49 Posted 21/05/2012 at 21:01:28
It doesnt matter what reason a signing failed,just that they failed.Like I said earlier I think Moyes handled Yak badly and thats why I think he never got his form back.
50 Posted 21/05/2012 at 20:58:42
I think it was simply a case of the player being totally unsuited to the pace and physicality of the English game. At least that's what he himself claims:
? It was very difficult to settle and fit in at Everton"
?I did not feel as a part of the team because I did not play. I had big problems in adapting to the playing style in England and also the hard play"
?The referees allow much more than I had ever tried before and that meant that the play becomes very fast. And I had big problems with that,?
51 Posted 21/05/2012 at 21:04:49
You seriously don't consider Bily to have been a failure then? For the fee paid, I would rate him as one of our worst ever signings.
52 Posted 21/05/2012 at 21:06:30
Yak without that injury would I think have carried on scoring or would have moved to a top 4 team for more than we had paid.
Given the football graveyard of or centre forward signings Johnson was a relative success.
Here are my personal favourites of the graveyard:-
Mo johnson
John spencer
Bakayoko
Brett angel
Beattie
Mikel madar
Joe max Moore
Radzinski
53 Posted 21/05/2012 at 21:15:06
54 Posted 21/05/2012 at 21:15:22
I agree the Yak would have continued scoring if not for the injury but he did get injured and was shite since,one great season followed by three shit seasons equals failure.
55 Posted 21/05/2012 at 21:19:26
56 Posted 21/05/2012 at 21:26:31
I misread your post and thought you were listing Yakubu, Johnson and Beattie as the three failures.
Never mention Simon Davies to me again though. It's like slapping Bruce Banner across the face with a wet sock.
57 Posted 22/05/2012 at 20:36:19
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1 Posted 19/05/2012 at 16:25:32
In January we'll pick up and win against Man City and Arsenal at home - go in to the derby in great form and lose.
Same old, same old...