COLUMNIST KEVIN SPARKE
Ambition and Other Random Thoughts
Comments (24) : Well Ladies the season is almost upon us and once more our brave boys will join battle for fourth spot. My heart leaps with pride when I think of the enormity of our ambition to secure fourth; which as students of the Olympic movement will tell you is ?almost a bronze medal?. Actually, that feeling in my chest might not be my heart leaping but might come from a little lower down — my stomach churning in disgust as finances and our relative poverty determines the width of our ambition; it never used to be this way. I can still remember coming second in the league as a signifier of abject failure, but I realise that times have changed and we must cut our cloth to suit our needs. We almost made fourth last season and this closed season has witnessed our doughty chairman building upon our success, strengthening the team and marshalling the troops for an assault on the aristocratic upper reaches of the Premier League ? or not.
So, what has Kenwright done to build on our success and provide material for Moyes to drive our team forward in the quest for the chance of a Champions League dream ticket? Well, he?s promised us that signings will come and he?s working 24/7 to bring in investment; and he?s almost gotten our much admired and envied manager to sign a new contract. He?s successfully divided the fan base over Kirkby; he?s overseen the complete omission of anything Everton related in 2008 City of Culture celebrations and he?s made it absolutely clear that we are in the financial mire by publicly stating that if anyone wants to buy him out he?s willing to listen to offers — our rivals must be shitting themselves with fear.
As an exiled Scouser living in the North East of England I heard an interview given by Kevin Keegan after our victory in the last game of the season. Keegan is an emotional guy and at times drifts into hyperbole a little too easily; but on this occasion he was gushing with well-thought out praise for Everton and Moyes. One phrase he used stuck out in my mind — ?Everton are where we want to be?.
Now, let?s get it straight, what he is saying is Newcastle United, who have had the luxury of building several teams with copious amounts of cash chucked at five different managers since Moyes took up the baton at Everton, will be content to come fifth. If that does not sum up how the Sky Sports era has fucked up the values and ambitions of teams, where they regard fifth place as success, then nothing does. On the other hand, what he was saying is by building slowly, even with limited resources an outstanding manager can provide a steady platform to hopefully eventually break the big four cartel.
In the past Everton have built slowly; Moyes has built the core of a very good team and he?s done so without the huge amount of cash that Liverpool, Spurs, Newcastle, Manchester City, West Ham and Portsmouth have had at their disposal. It was patently obvious in February last season that we did not have the strength in depth to drive forward and as personnel became injured or jaded, Moyes did not have the luxury of capable replacements to strengthen the ranks and keep our early season momentum moving forward. So this pre-season it was imperative that we continued our building and strengthened or position.
We?ve done absolutely nothing at all, we?ve been stationary, inert, frozen; it?s as if we?ve lost all of our ambition. We?ve been involved in a civil war that need not have happened. We?ve taken our eye off the ball and our rivals have strengthened whilst we?ve focused our attention on tilting at the windmill of Kirkby which in any case I believe was the wrong place at the wrong time. I?ve made my views on Kirkby plain in the past. Kirkby is almost finished, it?s history, it?s time to move on — united not divided. We?ve a football season ahead of us and it seems it?s going to be a long one.
Even if we get our much promised (and needed) 5 or 6 new replacements it is much too late for cohesive team building? these new guys will not have time to bed in and we?ll probably lose vital points at the start of the season when we should be forging into the top half of the table. I hate to be a gloom and doom merchant; anyone who has read previous articles by myself will realise that I?m normally an optimist but I?ll state again that our ambition seems to have been sadly lacking over the last three months.
There is one at Goodison who does have ambition in abundance: David Moyes. Like his dour persona or not, a persona which is often reflected in the way his teams play. He?s been the difference between Everton competing that the top of the league or being bargain basement perennial strugglers at the foot of the table. Given the signals writ loud in neaon lights by his non-commitment to Everton in the shape of signing a long term contract; I?d suggest that his ambition may soon take the form of sending his CV to one Alex Ferguson C/O Manchester United for the job of deputy? and considering the lack of ambition of our chairman demonstrated by his failure to support Moyes — who could blame him?
Reader Comments
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Further, I believe Moyes to be a rare breed of football man these days i.e. one that is true to his word. He recently came out and said that he wishes to fulfil his ambitions at our great club, and that he is only part way along a job he wishes to complete. Whilst it is frustrating that we have yet to improve the squad, I am encouraged by the form and enthusiasm of Arteta et al in readiness for the new season.
Unlike Rooney, I can’t see Moyes ditching us (and the core of a very good squad he has painstakingly built and nurtured) at the eleventh hour for pastures new.
Still, nothing is certain in football I suppose, but I feel there is more chance of us netting 3 points on Saturday and 3 key players plus other squad depth in the weeks to come.
There is too much doom and gloom and my biggest fear is that too many fans will allow their fearful negativity to lessen the voiciferous support at Goodison on Saturday for the big kick off, which may transmit on to the pitch.
Cheer up Kev and other transfer speculation weary blues, it might turn out well in the end. COYB!
But despite the fact that we have possibly lost our best chance to take our recent improvement a level further, I honestly think, even with the paltry amount of players available, that we can do Blackburn. We have a decent first XI to put out, not great, not what we want, but decent.
If the defence can perform like they did last season, but without Cars, we still have the Yak, Arteta and Ossie who can bag us a goal. With the possible exception of Portsmouth, it is not beyond the realms of reality that we could make a good start to this season despite all that has happened in our summer of discontent.
That would buy any new signings a few precious weeks to bed in a bit better and the season might not be the disaster we all fear.
Sadly, for me, and for whatever reason there are far to many ifs in there. Too much has been left to chance in what could and possibly should have been a monumental season for our club.
Who is to blame? I don’t know. I don’t think any of us really do. To be fair, other than the Sky-money-4, have any teams in the Premiership signed anyone we’d like to see in the Everton Royal Blue? I can’t think of too many, maybe Jo at Man City, maybe Elmander at Bolton, maybe Modric or Bentley at Spurs, maybe Sidwell at Villa, but maybe not as well. Does that mean that the required quality is unavailable at a price that top half teams can afford?
There will be arrivals between now and 31st August, there have to be. Whether they are the quality we need, there remains a huge question mark.
People who are going to be there, please don’t let them down, the players we have have already got all this shit flying about off the field to deal with. So please for the duration of the match, get right behind them and support them.
At the final whistle, let the board have it, if that’s your wish.
Micheal Hunt - I’ve read your optimism on a few threads now about the transfer window. To put it simply we should have brought in new players in January never mind on the 29th of August. You also seem to be misisng the point that the season starts on saturday not the end of August.
Michael. I’m sick of people using the late signing of the Yak last summer as a reason it’s ok to start the season with no new signings. Signing one player late in the summer is one thing, signing 3-6 after the season’s already started is just ridiculous. You can’t seriously expect them all to bed in straight away, meaning dropped points early on which could be vital to our final placing in the legaue.
Also, the Yak didn’t settle into the team until Oct/Nov last season. Imagine how much closer to 4th we could’ve been if he’d of been brought in at the start of the summer and had a full pre-season behind him? He even said himself it took him time to get used to the work ethic of the team.
Its a no brainer, make your signings before pre-season and they’ll settle in sooner. Look at how well we started when we brought AJ, Lescott and Howard in early.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=VMshMQP0Q9A&feature=related
I dont know if this has been picked up on, but if Moyes isn?t signing his new contract then maybe this is?nt the best advertisment for a potential new player. Maybe Moyes should sign his contract then this will show the football world that he is?nt about to move on and leave any new player having to impress a different manager in the near future and this will show his commitment to the club. Just a thought!
Everton are not a vehicle for david moyes to reach the top of his profession although i?d be delighted if that?s what happened.
Sometimes he will need to temper his ambition because we cant go out and buy whoever he ask?s for.
Would you give a manager a large amount of money to spend with no guarantee that he?ll still be managing the players he signs in 12 month?s time?
The fans, manager and players are determined for an assault on 4th and the cups... but the chairman, it is abundantly clear, is not.
Everton is just a big floppy dick whilst Kenwright is in charge. We will be seeing no action this season.
Next you’ll be telling us you believe Kenwright is actively looking for investment 24/7!
The Sky money is due in today.
Moyes has had enough of Billy’s bullshit and wont sign till we get some players in.
Watch Tiago being Bill’s guest at the game tomorrow with the promise of him being "signed in the morning" (One of BK’s famous lines it’s always in the morning)
Then on Monday we’ll find he signs for Atletico Madrid.
Then we’ll sign a couple of token gestures just before the EGM with the statement "there wasnt much available this summer so we’re going to wait till the January window so watch this space".
1. We are trying to buy 30 million’s worth of players for 8 million with the rest on the never never.
2. We haggle far too much over players wages
I dont mind 2. so much but we shouldnt be wasting our time on players we have no chance of landing.
I dont know whether it’s wishful thinking or bullshit for the fans but we need to be realistic about our targets.
There is something seriously wrong at E.F.C at the moment, I am sure we will find out what when Kenwright leaves.
I agree with Kevin Tully, no way will DM leave to be a No.2 anywhere.
There is s job to do at Everton. We will get some players in before the window slams shut. It will be a mad scramble over the next 2 weeks. I think our saving grace is that we have a fairly easy start to the season. By the time the derby comes we will have at least 4 or 5 players in.
COYB
My take on things is that the squad is good enough to do well in the first 5 or 6 games (further key injury permitting!) and that Moyes would have walked already if we were not gonna make key additions by End August. Watching Moyesy in today’s 8 minute pre-match interview on EvertonTV further instilled confidence in me that his ambition and commitment is un-diminished and he is acutely aware that we need to make signings ASAP.
Here’s to 3 points in the bag and no injuries come 5pm tomorrow...COYB!
I believe Moyes has a steely determination to get off to a good start and get the new signings in ASAP and that he is confident we’ll get them but,like us, wishes they were on board already.
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1 Posted 14/08/2008 at 01:26:20
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One thing you point out that I think everyone needs to bear in mind is that it?s the state of the PL and the way cash has been invested that lead to not only many evertonian but also managers of other big teams considering 5th a success. Unfortunately without a billionaire backer it is...
Personally I?m far more worried about Moyes signing a new contract than the signing of players (although I?m concerned about that too..)