Bobby's Business
With all this talk of a Director of Football role, I started thinking why the club has shifted it's focus towards the implementation of a system that has brought many a manager to distance themselves from positions at major football clubs and which has wreaked havoc at places like Newcastle.At Everton we were incredibly lucky to have a manager in David Moyes who was brilliant at dealing with transfers. I was not the biggest fan of his tactics or, in the event, his ethics, but the man could sign a player. Amongst others he unearthed Coleman, Stones, Jagielka, Lescott, Cahill, Arteta and Pienaar from relative obscurity. There were pretty big misses too, but in the main he proved to be more astute than most in terms of the transfer market.
So just how badly has Bobby messed things up? Well, let's have a look.
Year One
Martinez's first summer actually displayed a reticence that was largely ignored — he signed 4 players that he knew from his old club; paying £4.5m for Joel Robles and £5m for Arouna Kone, while picking up Antolin Alcaraz for nothing and splashing most of his budget on James McCarthy. His other major inward moves were loans, with Lukaku, Deulofeu and Barry all arriving on season-long deals. We'll talk more about these guys later on because they all earned permanent moves to the club.
Alcaraz was an unmitigated disaster, but cost nothing. Kone was blighted by injury, but has been something of an unflattering workhorse, who is perhaps unfairly treated because he is our clear second choice forward and doesn't score or play enough. In terms of value for money, I feel in this day an age it is okay. So let's say on those two deals Bobby wiped his face. Joel has had a pretty good period in the second half of his third season at the club, but no-one (aside from maybe the man himself) sees him as the long term solution and £4.5m is a decent wedge for a back-up goalie. McCarthy would probably sell for at least what we paid, but he has been patchy at best, doesn't score enough goals and his best attribute remains his work-rate. This isn't something you say often about players in teams competing for the top prizes. So I am putting those two down as bad business.
In Year One Bobby also sold Fellaini (although he had little control over the situation) and Victor Anichebe. We got £5m for Anichebe. 3 years later, the lad is a free agent, having been mainly a bit-part player under a few different managers at West Brom. I think this was good business.
In January Bobby paid £1m quid for Stanek, the goalie and £1.5m for Aiden McGeady. He also loaned a player from Monaco, who scored one goal and then fell down. I don't think any of these transfers can be deemed good business. Stanek is about the brightest prospect of the lot and he is still a long way from first team duties.
He did sell another striker, though, getting £6.5m for Jelavic from Hull. This was another example of good business, but it all seemed to be happening on the selling side, which can't really be credited wholly to the first team manager. Up to this point, none of the permanent incoming transfers had paid off.
Year Two
With the prospect of European football and a record points total behind him, Bobby's stock was high. Rumours of Barcelona were met on ToffeeWeb with fear and trepidation. Where would find another Bobby? But in the transfer market, the clues were already beginning to show that our new leader was not all he was cracked up to be.
£1m was paid to secure Gareth Barry from Man City, when to the rest of the world it seemed strange — he was at the end of his contract after all!? In terms of his continued professionalism and performances on the pitch in the last two seasons, Barry has gone beyond our expectations, but I am still not sure we can class it as good business by Martinez.
One of our other loanees was brought in permanently, when £28m was shelled out for Lukaku. Eyebrows were raised at the time, but the fee always made sense to me, given his age and international status — we were always going to make a profit on the player. He has scored goals and, those that question his attitude off the pitch are, in my opinion, targeting a guy for having ambitions above his station. I don't see any problem in that, particularly when it is going to net us a tidy profit of anything upwards of £35m. Good one, Bob!
He also brought in Brendan Galloway this summer for a shade under half a million - more good business. This is a player that looks like he could play a big part at Everton, particularly now he has a manager who was unquestionably one of the greatest centre-halves of his generation to learn from. 2-0 to Bob!
Then there is Besic. On his day Mo can be brilliant, but he is injury prone and he struggles to get himself going at times. He is a squad player who doesn't have the versatility described to the faithful, but does offer the attitude and rambunctious nature that we all like to think we would display if we were fit enough to run around in blue at Goodison ourselves. £4.5m — let's call this one a draw.
The other major incomings that summer were a loanee in Christian Atsu and a marquee in Samuel Eto'o. Eto'o was perhaps the first player to see Matinez for what he was, but his status as a visionary should not undermine his lack of professionalism, considering the money he was earning. The less said about Atsu, the better.
The major outgoing was that of Shane Duffy, who we got £1.5m for. Not too bad, but his potential is still huge — even if he is now mid-20s. I'll sit on the fence with this one.
January offered one new face in the shape of loanee, Aaron Lennon. We'll talk about his permanent transfer later on.
ADVERTISEMENT
Year Three
So, the general assumption was that European football had distracted the players In Year Two, so this would be the year when we would emerge, without such a distraction and finally become the team that Bobby had envisioned. We were right — sort of.
Distin and Alcaraz were shipped out and there wasn't a whole lot of shipping in. We didn't have Europe, so the squad size was sufficient and tweaks were needed, rather than major upheavals.
Everyone was anticipating the arrival of a player who had been excellent on loan and played mainly on the right wing. Yes — we already had Mirallas for this role, but we needed serious competition. Cue Lennon. Right? No? Deulofeu? Really? Okay. Brilliant. And Lennon. Okay. Great, but why?
Suddenly we were overstocked in one part of the pitch, which would be great if we weren't so desperately under-manned in other areas. Lennon cost £4.5m, which was pretty much what you would expect to pay for a player who had clearly all-but left his previous club, where he wasn't getting a look-in. He was also a winger in his late-20s, which means no real re-sale value. The fee was about right. Gerry cost us about the same, but it is layered with buy-back clauses that mean it could yet be a wipe-your-face sort of deal, rather than a good one.
In other business, £9.5m was paid to get Ramiro Funes Mori over to England. He has been good and scores goals, but at the moment he remains a question mark, perhaps a victim of bad coaching alongside a major cultural change, or perhaps genuinely playing to potential — in which case £9.5m seems like a lot, given his prone-ness to error. He reminds of Joe Yobo in this respect. Mason Holgate followed the route of John Stones from Barnsley, but has so far failed to emulate the latter. Time will tell with both of these defensive players.
The only other bit of business was the acquisition of Tom Cleverley, who cost us nothing and gives us great squad depth in a 2 or 3 positions. Truth be told, he isn't quick enough to be a winger or tough enough to be a defensive midfielder, nor does he score or create enough to be an attacking midfielder. That being said — he will do a job in all those areas, without going missing or underperforming. Cleverley is a decent squad player and a good signing for me. Pretty obvious, though. the whole world knew he was out of contract.
In January, Tarashaj and Foulds were brought in for £3m and £300k respectively. I don't know enough about either to judge them as signings, but their acquisitions came at a time when the positivity of the most ardent Martinez fan was starting to fade. The most telling bit of business of January 2016 was, perhaps, the deal agreed between Tim Howard and the Colorado Rapids.
Conclusion
Bobby's business has largely been unimpressive. His best signings, in my opinion have been Galloway, Barry and Deulofeu, when all factors are considered. Lukaku will prove to be good business, but the vast majority of his signings go under the category of a break even or a loss in terms of value. More significant than that is the consequent inbalance in the squad at the end of his tenure.
Koeman must pick up the pieces of a first-team with no depth at Right Back, no starter in Goal and nobody on the left of midfield. There is also major surgery required up front and huge question marks and debate about the personnel at Centre Half.
Hopefully the club will find the right person to work alongside Koeman in a Director of Football role. I only hope we haven't made a reactive decision based on the weaknesses of the last person we put in charge of player acquisition — the manager.
My suggestion: ask Moyes. What a great Director of Football he would be. And he's not doing anything else!
Reader Comments (40)
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
2 Posted 14/06/2016 at 20:34:30
Jesus, if I die tomorrow,I'll be wondering just what IS good business then for £1m when I see some of the absolute garbage available for ten times more.
Just about the only good thing Martinez achieved in his time here.
3 Posted 14/06/2016 at 20:38:45
"The major outgoing was that of Shane Duffy, who we got £1.5m for. Not too bad, but his potential is still huge – even if he is now mid-20s"
4 Posted 14/06/2016 at 20:44:05
5 Posted 14/06/2016 at 21:15:56
Traore was a disaster, we effectively paid him for five months and he made just one 60 minute appearance (although he did score).
McGeady joined us looking unfit and never improved, he was loaned out to the Championship last season but failed to impress and was eventually dropped from all their play-off games.
And Jindrich Stanek spent two and half years in the reserves, never made a first team appearance and was just recently released along with Osman, Pienaar and Hibbert.
January 2014 was not a good transfer window for Everton.
6 Posted 14/06/2016 at 21:23:00
Meanwhile Stanek never made an appearance for Everton and has just been released by the club. ٟ million for Stanek was bad business, ٟ million for Barry was a fucking steal. Arguably the best transfer Bobby completed for Everton.
7 Posted 14/06/2016 at 21:36:27
Ofm spoke about Kenwright being the 'transfer conductor', by having a DoF Kenwright would then have to step back further into the shadows.
As for Moyes, what is it going to take for people to stop continually linking him in some way or another to our club, he is history. Move on.
8 Posted 14/06/2016 at 21:36:33
Some fairly sweeping statements regarding ginger and brown shoes, who have both had hits and misses in the transfer market. In fact, all managers are like that!
Moyes made some fairly god awful signings too my friend, for the lesscott deal, see per coughdrop.
For every Tim cahill, I give you billyetdinov. I could go on. Let's not kid ourselves that Davey was some kind of transfer guru.
And reading your line about the lying ginger swine, DoF and Everton almost killed my newfound Koeman/Everton buzz......please never put those three things together again.
I wouldn't trust Moyes with being director of making tea or coffee at the club, so let's just leave the fraud where he belongs, as a footnote in our history.
9 Posted 14/06/2016 at 21:42:39
10 Posted 14/06/2016 at 21:42:46
Moyes got lucky with Stones, he was looking for a centre forward but couldn't scrape the money together, so one of the scouts said they could get Stones for the money they had available.
Jagielka was hardly unknown having previously been player of the season for Sheff Utd in the Premier League.
The rest i'll give you, but how many stikers did he buy that when we sold them we lost money.
You seem to not want to give Martinez any credit at all and rekon overall his signings have averaged out apart from Alcaraz (Per Koldrup equivalent) I would say they have all been good buys.
You also don't want to give him credit for any players that were sold sayimg he probably had little choice but to get what he got for Jelavic and Victor and as you put it the major out going Duffy if you think he was ever going to get near the 1st team you would be wrong.
And don't get me started on Moyes releasing Mustafi and not signing Dier.
Out of the 2 Martinez has the better eye for talent so I would choose him, bit in all honesty I don't want either!!
11 Posted 14/06/2016 at 22:01:36
12 Posted 14/06/2016 at 22:01:42
The signing of Niasse has been an unmitigated disaster that tarnishes Martinez's transfer business. That said, but signings of McGeady, Eto'o, Alcaraz, Atsu and Traore were just nominal, free transfers and loans respectively and David Moyes was no stranger to these kind of deals.
Kone would have been a better signing had he not had a career threatening injury. Even half crocked, he was no worse than Anichebie.
Rom, Deulofeu. Barry, McCarthy, Galloway, Cleverley, Lennon and Funes Mori have all been good buys for me.
I'm so glad we didn't have Moyes back. I bet he thought the interview for the job was a formality judging by the big grin on his face at the Below fight.
13 Posted 14/06/2016 at 22:18:45
Simon, I disagree.
Re: Spanish clown:
"I would say they have all been good buys."
Seriously? Kone, Alcaraz, McGeady, Atsu, Niasse, McCarthy, Robles, etc, etc.
Martinez record is TERRIBLE. He deserved sacking for Niasse alone.
How on earth can anybody say his record is better than Moyes? I don't like Moyes, but he is a far better manager than that deluded Spanish twit. Every manager has bad buys, but: Jags, Baines, Lescott, Cahill, Pienaar, Arteta, Yakubu, Howard, Stones, etc. most of them for a few million, tremendous buys. Before people say Koldrup et al - everyone has bad buys. And we weren't allowed to sign Dier, he was always going back. Mustafi perhaps should have been given a change though (though how do we know he was ready?). Moyes was decent in the transfer market.
14 Posted 14/06/2016 at 22:28:20
I agree with most of what Gavin says, although I'm still hoping the Niasse situation isn't as bad as it seems.
It probably is though, isn't it...?
One thing in defence of Moyes, apart from that he didn't get much money (obviously), is that he bought good character and worked with a stable squad (you missed out Baines by the way). I always compare Moyes' Everton to Tottenham. Spurs usually spent more on transfers and wages, and certainly had more ins and outs, and we finished above them more often than not.
This idea of a stable squad, and players playing together over a number of years, is more important than a lot of posters seem to realise. For many it seems they want the summer to be a time of 10 out 12 in, but that sort of thing rarely works.
15 Posted 14/06/2016 at 22:28:26
I agree with most of what Gavin says, although I'm still hoping the Niasse situation isn't as bad as it seems.
It probably is though, isn't it...?
One thing in defence of Moyes, apart from that he didn't get much money (obviously), is that he bought good character and worked with a stable squad (you missed out Baines by the way). I always compare Moyes' Everton to Tottenham. Spurs usually spent more on transfers and wages, and certainly had more ins and outs, and we finished above them more often than not.
This idea of a stable squad, and players playing together over a number of years, is more important than a lot of posters seem to realise. For many it seems they want the summer to be a time of 10 out 12 in, but that sort of thing rarely works.
16 Posted 14/06/2016 at 22:31:48
I must admit I do think Moyes had the better eye for players. Unfortunately the only really top striker he bought was Yakubu. But it's hard to get top strikers for bargain prices. I thought he's cracked it with Jelavic until he suddenly forgot where the goal was.
17 Posted 14/06/2016 at 22:35:37
The biggest criticism of Moyes was playing style and lack of ambition... so if the DoF role has any involvement in long term strategy then he's the wrong man from the start.
Even if we accept that transfers represent the entirety of what the role is, Moyes' big wins were bringing in bargains on a tight budget. I think we're all hoping that were not still constrained by that in the same way.
I don't even agree with your assessment of some of the signings but I guess that's an individual thing.
Overall, thanks for making your case, but I'm out.
18 Posted 15/06/2016 at 00:50:18
Bet you can't Nathan. Give it a go, you'll surprise yourself.
Agree with the thrust of the article; Martinez record at signing players has been poor whilst getting wee gems was one of Moyes' strong points.
Not that it really matters anymore.
19 Posted 15/06/2016 at 01:30:01
As Damian says - He deserved sacking for Niasse alone.
Distin might argue against your claim that Eto'o was the first to suss him out, but I'll give you that one.
Fairplay to you for putting it out there.
20 Posted 15/06/2016 at 03:45:49
Anyone who thinks Martinez was better than Moyes about anything except bullshitting doesn't know a thing about football.
Anyway neither of them would make a good DoF. It is a specialist role and needs careful selection of someone who can work in harmony with the managers and the scouts.
Personally, I prefer the manager to run the whole club and stamp his philosophy on it but it seems to be the modern way to have a DoF.
21 Posted 15/06/2016 at 05:09:51
His track record says he's happy to move around in search of career advancement.
Now, I'll have no issue if he leaves us in a better position in two years and secures a job he considers to be a step up for him. But I wouldn't like to think he'd be allowed to start stamping his philosophy on the club only to move on.
22 Posted 15/06/2016 at 05:38:44
The millions squandered by Martinez will never be retrieved so forget it.
One a boring safe manager, who stabbed us in the back and got what was coming to him, the other one just plain crap.
We have a new manager with a proper war chest. What say we discuss that ?
23 Posted 15/06/2016 at 05:57:15
Martinez' transfer record was like his reign in general. It started off brilliantly, but got progressively worse, ending up with Niasse. He bought some decent players, but didn't seem to have a plan of how we were going to fit them all together. The result is an unbalanced squad, top heavy with flair players like Barkley, Niasse, McGeady, Mirallas, Del Boy etc. But we only have 1 right back and 1 striker! (Koné is not good enough to challenge Lukaku).
Under Moyes, we had a clear strategy. We had frustrations, like being too defensive, but we were generally well run and in a good place when he left.
Under Martinez, we are all over the place. We've wasted money in the transfer market, forgotten how to defend and forgotten how to score.
The 2 managers were like chalk and cheese.
24 Posted 15/06/2016 at 09:52:40
Danny, Moyes did not buy Lukaku...
25 Posted 15/06/2016 at 10:22:01
Dicky Wright, James Beattie, Simon Davies, Shandy Van Der Meyde.
On balance, Davey probably had more successes than failures than Mr brown shoes, and I admit any positive thoughts of Moyes I had, were considerably clouded and tainted during his exit from Everton to his Uncle Alex.
The point I was trying to make (quite badly it would seem) is that the article seemed to promote the notion of bringing Davey back as DoF, simply due to the few gems he signed in the transfer market, which is folly and a complete nonsense IMO.
As others have said, lets discuss Koeman and the things that will be happening going forward with the club, and I totally agree with your last line – Moyes/Martinez don't matter anymore.
26 Posted 15/06/2016 at 11:03:24
If you paid £15k for a brand new Aston Martin, I'd be impressed. But if I found out that the Aston Martin was free and you insisted on paying £15k for it, I'd think you were an idiot. Doesn't make it a bad car.
27 Posted 15/06/2016 at 11:11:24
They only serve to enhance my point further though - we have taken massive strides backwards in terms of a transfer dealings since the Moyes era and I am worried that the drive towards a traditional DoF role is a reaction to that.
That being said - if we are heading in that direction, I think we could do worse than look to someone who knows the club already, knows the league already and has an eye for a bargain. Just cause we have £100m to spend doesn't mean we should bring in someone who is going to make that £100m work hard for us. If we can acquire £300m worth of talent for a 1/3 of the price we will be a in great position in 2 or 3 years time even if Project Koeman ends up in failure.
The thought of Moyes returning as Manager made me feel a little sick, but the idea of him as a DoF makes a lot of sense to me.
28 Posted 15/06/2016 at 11:16:58
29 Posted 15/06/2016 at 14:54:42
30 Posted 15/06/2016 at 15:21:53
It's only when we spend real money am I concerned that we get a decent player and, by and large, both Moyes and Martinez had good records in my opinion. In 11 years, Moyes only really had two disasters in Kroldrup and Bilyaletdinov - but even then he got his money back. Martinez has Niasse but, for me, under a new manager in a more successful side Niasse might yet have a part to play.
If a punt comes good (Coleman, Stones) then massive credit has to go to the manager but, if not, their stock pretty much remains unchanged.
As for the conclusions in the article ... baffling!
31 Posted 15/06/2016 at 15:46:04
there is no loyalty in any walk of life these days unless you are a supporter and a lot of them disappear when the results go South.
Personally I wanted Emery but I think Koeman will do a good job, get some organization into the squad and improve the quality of play.
Every manager has his strengths and weaknesses and you can only hope the next guy will build on what went before.
I think that was Martinez downfall. He was intent on removing anything Moyes related. The training and fitness regimes, the back room staff, practicing crosses and free kicks etc.
We need to see a DNA blueprint that is continued no matter who is in charge and that is what happened at Ajax.
32 Posted 15/06/2016 at 17:19:40
33 Posted 15/06/2016 at 17:27:23
35 Posted 15/06/2016 at 19:40:54
37 Posted 16/06/2016 at 08:46:40
But Moyes had a couple of clangers too. I'll never forget Per Kroldrup. £5m was decent whack over a decade ago for a centre-back, and represented a big chunk of that summer's budget. He played one game and was never seen again. Then was quickly sold for an "undisclosed fee" (read: big loss) to Fiorentina.
38 Posted 16/06/2016 at 11:45:19
Very strange affair that.
39 Posted 16/06/2016 at 11:45:59
40 Posted 16/06/2016 at 21:28:02
41 Posted 17/06/2016 at 16:35:46
I'm not expecting too much from Koeman just steady improvement that sees us in the top 8 playing good football and hard to beat.
42 Posted 26/06/2016 at 15:01:54
Add Your Comments
In order to post a comment, 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 Talking Points submissions across the site.
-sm.jpg)
-sm.jpg)
-sm.jpg)
-sm.jpg)
1 Posted 14/06/2016 at 20:20:14
Moyes has gone, move on.