Season 2011-12
The Mail Bag
A case for keeping Yobo
35 Comments: There's been a lot of talk on ToffeeWeb about about whether or not we should sell two or three of our big name players or just the one. There's also been a lot of talk about which of the fringe or older players we should sell. One player who has been dismissed out of hand has been Joseph Yobo.
The idea of keeping Yobo and putting him back in the squad occurred to me when I was thinking about what would happen if we were suddenly to sell two or three of our biggest assets on the pitch. There are a couple of reasons why we all think this might happen. It could be the banks putting the squeeze on for cash over the summer. Players could also look to jump ship if offers start to come in for our better players. This is something that we have been dreading for a while and I would not be surprised to see offers come in for the likes of Baines, Jagielka, Felliani and Jelavic. The club, though unlikely, could decide to take some positive action, maintain control of who we sell and sell to cut the debts and stabilise the club.
For me in particular, if it came down to it, I would be okay to see Baines and Jagielka be sold as I think it is in defence that we have the best cover in depth. It is the one area that I think we could afford to lose players.
The key to this for me would be to hang on to Yobo as a senior player who may not have a huge cash value if we were to try and sell him but who would provide cover at the back ? a senior player with a lot of experience. I would go all out to keep Heitinga and Distin, leave Hibbert where he is, keep Yobo as cover, and bump up Duffy and Garbutt.
I think that Duffy has shown himself to be ready for first team games. Garbutt has been earning rave reviews all season, albeit in a lower league and I would not pitch him in straight away. Heitinga would be able to talk Duffy through games. Distin has also shown that he can play at left back. Have Garbutt as his understudy and give him game time over the course of the season. With Gibson as a holding player in front of the back four, this defence would be solid enough. A Moyes led team would also be well drilled defensively and this defensive unit would be well drilled during the summer.
The financial benefits of selling the likes of Baines and Jagielka would mean a reduction in our overall debt, some cash to strengthen in midfield and upfront with the ages of Baines and Jagielka there to cover this.
We would also see Duffy and Garbutt develop into first team players which means that next summer we could look to sell again without depleting the squad too much.
I know that this scenario would depend on where Yobo's head is at. He may not have any interest in coming back into the squad. Also, I have not seen him play over the last couple of seasons so I don't know how much of a liability he would be. I know to a huge extent it would also depend on the club being able to maintain some semblance of control on transfers out during the summer.
Kieran Fitzgerald, Posted 16/05/2012 at 10:30:05
Comments
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
Selling Jagielka would be no great loss but we should have done it when his stock was high. Would it be really worth it now? Can't see anyone bidding over 8m for him now. Baines is a no. We would be stupid to do that. Everything good comes down our left side with him and pienaar so why break that up?
I also don't think Duffy is good enough so that wouldn't work either.
Yobo is hated by Moyes, just as Drenthe is.
I agree we can sell Jags though.
But I think Yobo will be sold, as Moyesdoes not want him .
But how do you justify that losing Jagielka would be no great loss. He would have to be replaced. Personally I wish he had been playing at wembley but that is a seperate debate.
How can you pass judgement on Duffy have been watching Stwathorpe over the last 2 seasons because we have seen very little of him in our 1st team to be able to assess him.
Sweeping statements mate without the knowledge to back them up.
He was talking about wanting away not so long ago.Basically I have spent much of my working life in the middle east for the money and that is the lure of the premiership for ALL foreign players (incidently I dont blame them).
Jags has thrown his body in front of more shots than any other defender and has never talked about leaving the club.
FFS keep our best English players and Pienaar is not one of our players. WE LET HIM GO BECAUSE WE WOULD NOT GIVE HIM WAGE PARITY WITH OUR TOP EARNER WHO HAS NOW LEFT US !!
Think before you manouever...Foreign players will follow the dosh...look at Torres, Arteta and many others. Our most loyal players are the home grown ones and perhaps the likes of Distin who is coming to the end of his playing career.
I dont count Cahill as he has been playing in the UK for yonks and anyway, he is another fading star.
We must keep Baines and Jags....as we cannot count on the mercenaries staying...that includes Johnny 'Dutchy Schultz' Heitinga, Fellaini and Jelavic.
gremlins about
Are we here to win things or just balance the books?
What a strange suggestion and subsequent attempt at justification.
Sell Yobo for a kick-off - what future does he have at the club, or potential to offer it? And let the likes of Anichebe, Rodwell, Gueye, McFadden, Cahill and even Osman go with him. There must be £20-25m worth of saleable assets there?
Far better to dispose of those we don't need and add to those we do - than just effectively swap two valuable assets for two more.
Forwards, not sideways or backwards for me... I'd rather improve our trophy list than the sales and purchase ledger summary!
Jagielka is a limited defender. Committed yes but not the kind of guy you need if you want to play good football from the back. Jagielka's passing is woeful mate and its the same every bloody match so no I would no be opposed to his exit and someone else as cover brought in.
Surely no one in their right mind would rather sell baines or fellaini over Jagielka.
This is not a corner grocer's we are talking about here....it's a football club, it's Everton Football Club, and while I appreciate it is also a business with all the constraints and responsibilities that that imposes, we are only a business BECAUSE we are a football club.
If we cease to be a football club because we are more interested in balancing the books then what is the point?
What a ridiculous post....but it is not the first I have read like this and it probably won't be the last I suspect.
Fucking accountants.......
Then again, Moyes may be tempted to cross the park to the dark side seeing as King Ken is out........:-)
The plan should be to get what we can for Yobo and Anichebe and put it towards signing Pienaar. Then get out the prayer mat and pray to any god who'll listen for a right winger.
Our debts are slowly killing the club. It's wonderful to be able to say that we are Everton and that we deserve better, or that we should behave in this way or that way. But right now the banks don't give a shit if we were the Ming dynasty and the Marvel Comic superheroes all rolled into one. Eventually we will not be able to fend them off at all. What happens then? And I for one am not going to hold my breath waiting for a white knight to ride to our rescue with the £150m to buy out the Board, clear all the mortgages and buy back everything that has been leased out.
If I have a choice between being proactive, of taking some control back over how we manage our debt, and waiting for the inevitable to happen, then I will take being proactive every time. I do not like the idea of playing Yobo as I do think it a step backwards. But if we wait for the vultures to take Baines and Jagielka and Jelavic and Fellaini off us for half nothing because the banks have put the squeeze on, then the best we are going to ever hope for is the Yobos and the McFaddens of this world.
By looking at making use of a player like Yobo while we still have him on the books, it gives us a chance to develop players like Duffy, Garbutt and Gueye. I'm not saying they're world beaters but they have shown all the potential to be given a chance. Would I prefer to keep Baines and Jagielka and develop the younger players at the same time? Of course I would. It's a no-brainer, if we had the choice. But right now the club's debts don't give us that option.
if thiss is the case, doesn't this make the post a non-starter/argument?
I know there is much navel-gazing when the season is over, but still...
Yes, he's on big wages, but why some clubs in the Premier League don't take a gamble on him is beyond me. I would put him ahead of most outside the top 8.
I would not sign Strach, sell Anichibe, sell Rodwell, Cahill and Coleman then get a right sided midfielder and an attacking one. Would use Velios as my back up striker. Smaller squad but would use younger players when injuries creep in. It is easier to do that when you are winning. Suspect Rodwell has turned into an injury prone player of great promise we will never see. Another Vaughan.
Leave the humour to those who know what they're doing and you might see that Duffy is a very good prospect and not nearly as bad as you might think.
it wasnt James it was me and if you read 477 you will see the answer - gremlins mate. Something to do with the letters that make up the word perhaps.
No joke or mis-spelling intended or used.
SELL SELL SELL!!
BYE BYE...
The board cannot increase income as they do not have the money to address the biggest barrier (stadium) to raising income.
The only other way is to reduce costs which would mean implementing a harsh wage structure which would limit our ability to compete on the pitch.
The reality is selling Baines, Jagielka and Fellaini would not clear the debts. Even if they did, who's to say the debt wouldn't creep back up again? After all when the club was last sold, the debts were around the £5m mark.
Not to state the bleedin' obvious, but it would depend how much we sold them for. For what I would be prepared to let these players go for (roughly a combined £60M) I think it would clear the debt. If you're going to tell me they're not worth a combined £60M then fine, they won't be leaving. We also could avoid the debts creeping up again in one simple way, pay lower wages. Work out our income and pay the players a basic wage plus pro-rata for achievement that fits into our income rather than goes slightly beyond it.
It's all a brilliant plan with the one slight drawback that all our players would want to leave and no new good ones would want to join.
Still, its only slightly worse than the OP's plan.
Any wonder why City came in strong for Lescott and not Jags? They were a partnership for a fair while.
Add Your Comments
In order to post a comment to the MailBag, 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 MailBag submissions across the site.
-sm.jpg)
-sm.jpg)
-sm.jpg)
461 Posted 16/05/2012 at 15:08:51
Report abuse