Editors' Blog

Dyke's England Commission Report

I'm not sure if this is really a subject that interests many on here, but I was too busy to see it last week and there was a fair amount of discussion on BBC 5Live at the weekend...

So what do people think of yet another set of proposals to shake up the structure of English Football to improve standards for the national squad? Greg Dyke's plan seems to be the latest in a long list as the FA searches in vain to revamp old glories...

The introduction of B teams, overhauling the work permit system and boosting the number of homegrown players in squads are among the proposals set out by FA Chairman Greg Dyke’s England Commission report.

In unveiling his FA Chairman’s England Commission Report, aimed at improving the Men’s Senior England team, Dyke set a target of increasing the current number of 66 English players playing regularly in the Premier League to 90 by 2022.

In order to achieve this, the Commission focused on the entire pathway for players to ensure they can develop to the best of their potential.

Along with introducing B teams and work permit reform, the Commission recommends creating new strategic loan partnering between clubs.

Important concerns for The FA around coaching and grassroots facilities are being addressed and will be reported on in more detail over the coming months, with the acknowledgement that much more work needs to be done.

Dyke said: "This decline is a problem in countries right across Europe but is a significantly bigger problem in England than anywhere else and if the trend continues we fear for the future of the English team. If this cannot be reversed, a future England manager will have fewer and fewer top level English players from which to choose.

"We want to continue to have the best foreign players playing in England and to strengthen the quality and excitement of the Premier League and the rest of English club football.

"But we also want to develop ways of giving more English boys the best chance of achieving their potential by enabling them to play football at the very highest level.

"We believe that this is not only in the best interests of the national team and the young English players themselves, but also in the interests of the professional football clubs who are spending millions of pounds on youth development programmes and are currently getting only a very limited return on their investment."

I can't find many comments posted on this last week, although we did not carry it as a story. I guess the B-team idea is the most interesting, but whether it will have the desired effect is a whole other matter. I haven't been able to find a link to the 80-page report that actually works, so I've only read the odd reprot in the newspapers...

Michael Kenrick     Posted 12/05/2014 at    Comments (32)

Not worth the paper it's written on

Amidst the understandable concern created by Darron Gibson's hugely unfortunate injury sustained last week, we were reminded of one of those immutable truths that it seems all football fans believe without question as a rite of passage, this regarding players' contracts: — "We all know that these contracts are not worth the parchment the damn things are quilled on."

Probably not even worthy of a ToffeeWeb Poll as the overwhelming response would be surely in the affirmative.

Yet, in the Premier League alone, every season, season on season, hundreds of players rely on those contracts to get paid. And likewise every club relies on those very same contracts to retain the players they need to compete, or to profit from selling them on. Contracts get renegotiated, and agents make a business out of doing exactly that. Players get sold on, presumably within the terms of those contracts, when other clubs come in and bid enough for them. Buy-out clauses... image rights... you name it. I suspect these contracts cover a myriad of things these days.

So why the persistence of this belief? Perhaps it has something to do with an innate reluctance to accept the reality of player power... Or the other lingering misunderstanding that clubs are somehow not businesses, or at least they weren't until the advent of the modern era (however you might choose to define it)... But the briefest study of the history of topflight football in England reveals that having players who were paid professionals was a huge deal in the very earliest years of the Football League, and that the clubs became businesses in the earliest years of their existence, the two issues no doubt being intrinsically linked.

In the last 20 years, the only contract 'problems' I can recall at Everton are (a) Gosling; (b) Stubbs; (c) Bilic... err... that's it. Perhaps add Williamson to that list (hopefully he will not be the closest analog to the Gibson situation). Yet none of them seem to be examples of this belief that the contracts they had were not worth the paper they were written on. Far from it.

In Gosling's case, the expiry of an existing contract, the club's belief that they could rely on a "gentleman's agreement" and the absence of a new contract meant that his agent could whisk him off to Newcastle.

The case of Stubbs was more related to contract negotiations and different perceptions regarding the risk that his cancer could return. The contract, and what it said, obviously meant a lot to both parties...

And in Bilic's case, lest we forget, after he had in effect gone on strike, the player conned the club to pay out, presumably in accordance with the terms of early termination of his contract, so he could return to Croatia and start playing again.

So I'm struggling to find anything at Everton that supports this commonly held notion... Perhaps there are some examples at other clubs where a player's contract has truly been worthless... Anyone?
Michael Kenrick     Posted 19/10/2013 at    Comments (19)

Set-Piece Goals Accepted but not Preferred?

The subject of set-pieces came up in that interview with Martinez at Sky Sports, where he was asked about not being a great fan of them. That took me aback, I must admit: is this common knoweldege, something I have missed?

Roberto took the opportunity to wax lyrical about the beauty of goals scored from open play, and the greater purity of the challenge in constructing the movement and synchronicity needed to break down the structure and discipline of the opposition. I was a little bemused, thinking about the marvellous execution of two fantastic free-kicks by Leighton Baines at Upton Park last weeknend but also recalling the frustration when other free-kicks that you'd expect to be lofted in to the area were just played sideways for the continuation of steady build-up play.

There is something to be said, perhaps about the inelegance of the lottery that normally ensues from most setpieces when they are used as launching pads for aerial balls into the opposition's danger area, but a fiercly whipped-in corner, galnced into the net by a perfectly positioned player completing a perfectly timed and executed movement to outwit the defence is equally as apealing in my book of Delightful Moments in Football.

The one that sticks in my mind is that fantastic opening goal for Everton against Spurs in the iconic FA Cup semi-final back in 1995. Andy Hinchcliffe whipping in a brilliant ball that Matt Jackson glanced superbly into the net, from an almost impossible position, well in adavnce of the near post, and seemingly through a crowd of Spurs defenders.

Come on, Roberto... that was beautiful football — and by our veritable Dogs of War! While I fully understand and really appreciate this focus on the beautiful passing game, the possibilities from set-pieces are I believe equally important, and should not be downplayed... even though the lottery of lofted free-kick or barrelled-in corner will result in possession turned over probably far more often than it will result in anything positive for the attacking side. Is that what they mean by playing the percentage game?

Michael Kenrick     Posted 29/09/2013 at    Comments (31)

Intrusive adverts on ToffeeWeb

We recently trialled a new web advertising platform on ToffeeWeb to sit alongside our usual ads delivered by Google Adsense.

The ads from both platforms were (and still are) only intended to appear as 300x250-pixel rectangles in the right-hand column of the page or as text ads further down the same right-hand column, but it came to our attention in July that users were seeing what they described as ads popping up over the page or expanding to take over the screen.

This was never our intention and we requested that the providers of the new platform remove these "takeover" ads from the rotation of adverts that are delivered to the site.

When we kept hearing from readers that these annoying ads were still appearing, we pulled the code for the new platform completely about 6 weeks ago, assuming this would fix the problem. (Google Adsense say they do not support this kind of advertising.)

And yet, despite our best efforts to eradicate them, we are still receiving complaints regarding these ads even though we are not seeing them ourselves.

Making money off the website has never been our raison d'etre; we don't link-bait to drive traffic (we rely on good old-fashioned content for that) and we have always been committed to ensuring that the advertising on ToffeeWeb is as unobtrusive as possible. Which is why we have always turned down the regular overtures we get from advertising platforms who want to put more profitable pop-ups, pop-unders and text-link advertising (where the ads appear when you hover over underlined keywords in the middle of articles) on our pages.

So, as a last resort to finally sort this issue out, I'd like to:

1. Get an idea of just how many people are seeing these types of ads from the poll available on this page below
2. Find out from readers via explanation in the comments section below how these ads are appearing – for example:
   • do they appear when the page first loads or as a response to a click or rollover by you on an advert in the right-hand column?
   • how often they show up?
   • do they appear only on the homepage, only on article pages or all over the site?
3. Request help from some willing readers to provide some detailed information about what you're seeing and help root out the source

In the case of no.3, ideally, you'd be someone who either has more than one browser on their system or is willing to install another one, who knows how to delete cookies from their browser or send us the full source code from an affected page.

Even if you're not computer or browser savvy, any information you can provide below or by emailing me at support@toffeeweb.com would be really helpful. Essentially, I'm trying to nail down whether this is something still being delivered by a piece of code on our site, or if some interaction with a third-party browser plugin, malicious or otherwise, is responsible.

Finally, if you are being affected by these ads, please accept our apologies.
Lyndon Lloyd     Posted 03/09/2013 at    Comments (75)

A Grand Old Evening

I've never supported another team but I, like almost all Blues I have come across, firmly believe that Everton Football Club is an almost uniquely special institution followed by some of the best people on God's green earth, a conviction that grows stronger the longer time goes on and the more of my fellow chosen ones I encounter. It is one which was only reinforced by my experiences this week on the first leg of the USA tour.

The title refers to a special night spent in the company of the inestimable Dr David France and his wife Elizabeth, Everton's Chief Executive Robert Elstone, Carena Duffy of Everton in the Community, and a dozen or so fine Evertonians of varying origin, but, in truth, three tremendous evenings were had this week in San Francisco.

This isn't, of course, the first time Everton have come to the States on a pre-season tour but never before have they benefited from as much exposure. Our participation in the International Champions Cup alongside European giants like Juventus, Real Madrid, AC Milan and our nouveaux riches rivals in the Premier League, Chelsea, was a real coup and the club have really risen to the occasion by organising supporter events in each city.

When you think back to the discontent that accompanied the team's last visit to Los Angeles where fans, many of them who had made the trip over from England, were apparently turned away from a closed training session as their wish to attend hadn't been anticipated, Everton (together with the likes of Southern California-based David Kurtz who helped coordinate and host many of the events) deserve enormous credit for the planning and organisation that has gone into catering to the fans during the course of this summer's tour.

The first event in San Francisco was a case in point. In association with Chang who provided a complimentary beer to the 180-odd fans in attendance, the club put on a supporter's evening and forum hosted by Darren Griffiths, Graeme Sharp and Robert Elstone at Buca di Beppo restaurant (the chain ultimately owned by Everton director Robert Earl's Planet Hollywood).

A "state of the nation" introduction opened the evening in which Elstone and Sharp focused on the club's commitment to these types of supporter events, not only across the UK but abroad as well, as the club seeks to retain the close ties with its fans. Both touched on the optimism that has been generated by the arrival of Roberto Martinez and how much what continues to be a close-nit group of players is enjoying the team's pre-season preparations thus far.

Referring to the current climate of where Premier League players have been getting a bad rap for the huge salaries they command and their increasing detachment from the ordinary fan, the CEO, rightly, placed emphasis on the lack of egos in the current Everton team. "They all have their feet on the ground," Elstone said, while taking particular pride in the fact that "no player likes leaving Everton," a testament to everything from the culture at the club to the quality of the training facilities at Finch Farm.

Having attended the team's training session earlier in the day, Sharp spoke of the players' progress through pre-season and how useful he thinks it will be for players to play the quality of the opposition that the Blues could end up facing on the tour of the USA. He was under no illusions that Juventus would pose significant opposition on Wednesday but, presciently, gave Everton every chance.

A meet-and-greet opportunity with Tim Howard and Steven Pienaar followed, with one player assigned to one side of the room and one the other, but seeing as USA's number 1 was, predictably, the bigger draw, I was able to steal across to shake Stevie's hand as well and let him know that there was another South African in the room.

Allowed just an hour off by Martinez, both players were whisked off back to the team hotel before the panel resumed with a refreshingly open Q&A session from the floor. The key takeaways from that exchange were the desire to keep hold of Leighton Baines and the reaffirmation of the commitment to revise the badge for the 2014-15 season.

Some lucky bugger then made off with a shirt signed by the entire team in the raffle while another snagged a signed ball and we all drifted off into the night.

I might well have attended the second supporter event put on by the club the following night at McTeague's Saloon with Phil Jagielka and Tony Hibbert in attendance but one simply does not turn down a dinner invitation from "Dr Everton" himself, so the inaugural ToffeeWeb "Grand Old Evening" took obvious precedence on Tuesday evening.

Dr France's initial invitation had been to Robert Elstone, Roberto Martinez and Graeme Jones to join the first 18 or so Blues who responded to our invitation posted on the "Everton in San Francisco" page at the Grand Cafe near Union Square. In the end only the CEO was able to accept and varying circumstances trimmed the ToffeeWeb contingent to about a dozen by the time the evening arrived but an excellent time was had by all.

Pleasingly – and not unexpectedly – Robert was genial, open, professional and, like every club employee I met, encountered and interacted with this week (from the cameraman and photographer to the press officers and players), was a credit to our football club. Though he and his team in the Communications and Marketing team are on the receiving end of a lot supporter frustration at a difficult time in the club's history (and would, no doubt, be the first to admit that they have made some mis-steps along the way), every one of them to a person was friendly, warm and approachable. They also seem to get on very well with each other as well which is also bodes well.

For me, it really was a grand old evening, not just for the honour of meeting the good Dr France and a highly amicable chat with Mr Elstone but also for the pleasure of spending it in the company of some fantastic Blues: Gerry Quinn and his wife, Cathie; John and Pat Raftery; John Budworth (one of Ken "From My Seat" Buckley's drinking buddy, it turns out!); Steve Sturm from just over the state line in Nevada; Brendan Connolly, his wife Carolyn and son Mikey (who is on the trip of a lifetime touring the States and  following his Blues at the same time); and Bob Evans and Shaun Robinson who arrived midway through the evening with EitC's Carena.

Tales and reminiscences of decades, players and memorable matches gone by made the evening pass in the blink of an eye, the revelry brought to an unwelcome end by the increasingly obvious restlessness of the waiters wanting to push the last lingering customers out the door! Time for one last photo with our two esteemed guests, Dr France and Mr Elstone, the crossing of fingers for a victory over Juventus that would set a up likely date with Real Madrid, and then… eventually... sleep.

Match day… and a rendezvous once more with Dr France, Gerry Q, John B, Steve S and the Connollys at Pedro's Cantina and the chance to meet yet more staggeringly fine Evertonians, including Mike Gaynes and my brother-from-another-South-African-mother, Matthew Douglas.

Sharpy popped by to sign shirts, pose for pictures and generally be accosted by Blues in varying states of inebriation, while the infectiously exuberant Mr Kurtz helped Carena rouse the generosity of the patrons to buy raffle tickets for yet more signed merchandise in aid of Everton in the Community (not to mention a raucous rendition of "Grand Old Team..."). Mr Douglas scored a signed Tim Howard jersey; I missed out on Ossie's signed boots by a single digit, but was just pleased to see how well the charity seemed to be supported by those present.

All too quickly, match time arrived to call time on the festivities and it was off across the street to the San Francisco Giants' breezy, Bay-side stadium for a quick chat with the club's official cameraman and photog in Willie Mays plaza before the icing on the cake: a victory over Juventus that should have arrived on the back of an impressively composed display – and surely would done had Pienaar not shot wide with 2-0 on a plate – but eventually did after a dramatic penalty shootout. John "Pirlo" Stones indeed...

By way of bringing these ramblings to a close, two observations: First, even in this embryonic phase, the Martinez era has ushered in an unmistakable air of cautious optimism among the fan-base and that was reinforced by my conversations with almost every Blue I met. As I've mentioned before, he has been a breath of fresh air so far but it feels to me as though the club has take a number of positive steps forward in recent months – from the appointment of a devout Blue to the Communications Director role in the form of Alan Myers and the mea culpa over the badge to the increased interaction with supporters online and the organization of the USA tour itself. That is not to ignore the bigger, all-encompassing issues surrounding the stadium, investment and ownership, etc but there is a sense of moving in the right direction.

Second, I was struck and humbled by just how much people value ToffeeWeb as a means of either staying in touch with the club or staying abreast of Everton-related news. With that… power isn't the right word – perhaps "reach" – comes great responsibility (I might weave some more thoughts on that into a weighty Column I'm drafting) but suffice to say that hearing how much people get out of this colossus we have created is the reward for the countless hours spent keeping it going for the benefit of Blues everywhere.

COYB

Lyndon Lloyd     Posted 03/08/2013 at    Comments (63)

Alex The Great

If ever you need an injection of royal blue enthusiasm, I suggest that you consult the Good Doctor.

I had the pleasure, no make that honour, to bump into Dr David France rather fortuitously last week and consequently am now looking forward to the Martinez era with unbridled optimism.

We chatted about the ability of David Moyes to manage two Premier League clubs concurrently, the superb new crest of ToffeeWeb as well as that of the club (er... less so), the tenacity of the Shareholder’s Association, of which the good Dr Everton is Life President, and much more.

First things first: the clash with Juventus in the International Champions Cup. Dr Everton has tickets in Section 130 for what he refers to as the final of the Lost Uefa Super Cup:

"Because the winners of the 1985 European Cup-Winners’ Cup were prevented from playing the winners of the 1985 European Cup, in my eyes, the game against Juventus at AT&T Park has extra significance," the Good Doctor insisted. "For starters, it gives Merseyside an opportunity to atone for the Heysel Denial. Also the competition gives Roberto Martinez an opportunity to win something from the get-go and, more important, further raise our profile in North America.

"All we have to do is beat Juventus, Real Madrid and then either AC or Inter Milan. Easy peasy. We have a decent side and – while lifting the Lost Uefa Super Cup may not make us America’s EPL team – it would give me something to brag about to my neighbours. I just hope that Martinez is a lucky manager as well as a good one."

The good doctor congratulated us on the simple and tidy redesign of the ToffeeWeb crest. As might be expected, he doesn’t like the new club badge (see his wife’s gag cartoon, below) but has never liked the last version of the old one either – the one with the questionable birthdate, fire-escape and tacky club name:

[Does Teach not look rather like the indomitable spouse, Liz the Incredibly Understanding One?]

"About 15 years ago, I tracked down Theo Kelly’s original rendition. Given that we have won only four titles in the 70 years since its introduction, it’s possible that the Latin motto is a lofty ideal as well as a bit of a burden. Any new design must reflect what makes us so extra special. Therefore, we need to take a hard look at who we are and how we want to be perceived by people who have known us for decades as well as those who have heard about us for minutes.

"I was brainwashed as a child. My grandfather told me that Everton enjoyed a unique culture based on the Ten Blue Beliefs that make us peerless. Unfortunately, I can recall only eight of them …

1. Everton wear Royal Blue and White
2. Everton play entertaining football
3. Everton are leaders, not followers
4. Everton possess the finest facilities in the land
5. Everton maintain a high moral code
6. Everton encourage youth development
7. Everton reflect the character of the local community
8. Everton are run by Evertonians for the benefit of Evertonians."
   
   I meekly offered the Good Doctor two more quintessential sobriquets:
9. Everton always believe they can win if they play well enough
10. Everton would never say "knife to a gunfight"

The now stern Doctor opened his gleaming blue eyes wider than ever and stared me down with an almost fearsome Presbyterian intensity as he scowled derisively, "Ya pompus wee jumped-up sassenachs. Ya think ye can beat any won on yer dee... weill, i' isn''ae tru at the minute, ya dunaye ha the pleirs"

[Yes, that's what Scottish sounds like in broadest Widnes brogue....!]

Back to more serious matters of state: "So what in 2013 differentiates us from our rivals?" I asked, all ears...

"In my eyes," said the Good Doctor, "it is our unparalleled tenure in the Big League. At the kick-off of the new season, we will be embarking on our 111th campaign in the top flight. Our rivals, and their histories, trail far behind – we lead Manchester United by 22 seasons, Manchester City 26, Tottenham and Chelsea 32. I’m confident that they’ll never catch us in my lifetime. Therefore I would introduce a new shirt and refined badge every summer to emphasize our unparalleled tenure in the top flight. For example, the following words would be integrated into the design CXI. Imagine some Manc or Cockney asking about the Roman numerals and their reaction to being put in their Johnny-Come-Lately place."

Now to one of his favourite subjects – a certain Alex Young. On the DVD cover notes for Alex The Great, the Good Doctor claims that his hero could do things in a match that no other player would even attempt in training.

"Because of a dearth of television coverage at that time, the centre-forward never received the national fame his talents warranted. One exception was The Golden Vision, the first docu-drama of its kind back that made the auspicious Wednesday Play series on BBCtv back in 1968. Directed by Ken Loach; it captured hero worship that bordered on hysteria and is an incredible 'real-life' kitchen-sink type of vignette that were only just coming into vogue at the time." [Not that I had any idea what he was blabbering about... but I continued to listen with renewed intensity.]

"This new film chronicles Alex’s career and includes exclusive interviews with his team-mates and opponents. For as long as Everton Football Club survives, men will talk in awe of his skills. When I think of the beautiful game, instinctively I think of Alex Young. He was Alex the Great. Strike that: he was Alex the Greatest.

"Tabacula, the Merseyside film-makers known for their work on The Ballad of Dixie & Kenny and Cunard Yanks as well as the trailer for Dixie Dean – The People’s Legend, have created a unique and iconic 50-minute documentary. In the absence of video footage, it’s not been easy for them to capture Alex’s sublime skills. In fact, it’s been a bit of a challenge....

Enter Jah Jussa, the producer, who – during the past five years – has interviewed 40 or more old team-mates and opponents. Those include Colin Harvey, Tommy Jones, Bill Kenwright, Bob Latchford, Ken Loach, Dave Mackay, Duncan McKenzie, Pat Nevin, Ken Rogers, Joe Royle, Graeme Sharp, Neville Smith, Ian St John, Derek Temple and – wait for it – the one and only Ron Yeats. Although their glowing words demonstrate spine-tingling admiration, it would be difficult for any film-maker to relay to those who didn’t see Alex in action just how good he was. Perhaps that’s why it’s taken five years."

Dr Everton is a big fan of Ian Lysaght, the director and a lifelong Blue. He embraced the challenge of complementing Ken Loach’s trail-blazing film – that is The Golden Vision – by skillfully blending the narration of Paul Duckworth, and the music of Gerry Marques with available images using the unique Tabacula approach. If you don’t believe me, then take a look at their trailer to ‘Alex The Great’.

I detected that the recent version doesn’t quite meet Dr Everton’s demanding requirements but I’m confident that the DVD will be released in time to be stuffed into Christmas stockings. He understands (from people who know more about these things than he does) that there will be a premiere at a Liverpool theatre in the autumn and a television broadcast sometime next year. Hopefully, they elevate the national profile of Alex and the club that he loves.

Finally I must relay this one Big Evertonian story that the ageing Blue Wonder saved until the end of our all-too-brief encounter:

"I was more than a tad wary of visiting Buckingham Palace for my investiture. I was truly humbled, not by the grand surroundings, but by the accomplishments of many of my fellow recipients. Some had been gallant, others had been selfless. All had brought distinction to the old country. Meeting them brought home to me that the United Kingdom is made up of some truly remarkable people."

[I wasn't sure what he was talking about until he reminded me, with a reprise of that withering stare, that he was indeed a Member of The Garter, Holiest of Holies, a man above all men, whom Dan Brown would one day come to write about...]

"The ceremony took place in the magnificent ballroom where no expense had been spared on attention to aristocratic excess. With the Royal Household orchestra playing in the background, I approached the Sergeant at Arms and waited until my commendation was announced. I had been instructed to take three strides forward, turn left, bow and advance another three strides before halting in front of the dais.

"Prince Charles was attired in a magnificent uniform covered with more medals than in the Everton Collection. He was attended by Gurkhas and Yeomen of the Guard. I noticed his equerry providing him with my background details and was ready to clarify that I was indeed the only man from Widnes with a bookcase wider than his television screen. I had been briefed to look at him throughout our interactions. I didn’t. My eyes followed his fingers as he pinned the medal on my jacket. It had a red ribbon...

"I glared at him: ‘Don’t you have a blue one?’ My words were flowed by a moment of absolute silence, like the one that followed Graham Stuart hitting the bar and Paul Rideout nodding in the rebound.

"Then he uttered: ‘Everton ... a compassionate club ... compassionate people.’

"He asked me about our former-players and what can happen when the comfort blanket of professional football is removed. I mentioned proudly: ‘We’ve arranged 210 surgical procedures to date; 100 hips and 100 knees.’

"It was when he asked about the remainder, that the heir to the throne and I talked about Fred Pickering’s toes."

I looked away, trying to picture this bizarre royal encounter, pondering more questions than answers about the unique occasion this inestimable giant of Evertonia had shared with me... but when I looked back, he had vanished once again. leaving me puzzled and perplexed... as usual.

Michael Kenrick     Posted 20/07/2013 at    Comments (61)