EVERTON PAST PLAYER PROFILES
Gary Naysmith

Squad number | 3 |
Position | Left Back |
Joined on | 17 October 2000 |
Joined from | Heart of Midlothian (Sco) |
Signed by | Walter Smith |
Transfer fee | �1.7M |
Debut as sub | v Newcastle
Utd (a), 21 October 2000 |
Full debut | v Aston
Villa (h), 5 November 2000 |
Contract duration | 5 + 3 years |
Contract expires | June 2008 |
Final� | v
Portsmouth (H) 5 May 2007 |
Left Everton | for Sheffield Utd 5 July 2007 |
Transfer fee | �1M |
Born | Loanhead, Scotland |
Date of birth | 16 November 1978 |
Height | 5' 8 " |
Nickname(s) | Nayce |
Honours | Scotland international |
STRENGTHS |
Tenacious |
Good pace |
WEAKNESSES |
Lacking genuine Premiership quality? |
Goalscoring |
Soccerbase Datafile
As Richard Dunne was finally shown
the door, Walter Smith went back to his roots in October 2000 and snatched
up the 21-year-old Gary Naysmith, who was all set to make the switch from
Tynecastle to Coventry City. After some sneaky intervention by
Everton, he was redirected to Goodison Park. Coventry had made a bid
but they couldn't reach agreement with Hearts and when Everton came in
with a bigger bid, Hearts couldn't refuse, much to Coventry's annoyance.
Naysmith is one of a number of talented players that Hearts have unearthed
over the last few years but have been unable to retain because of money
problems, the most noteworthy being McCann and Johnston (Rangers), David
Weir (Everton) and Ritchie (Man City).
Everton fans needed to be patient with the young Naysmith. He was
talented but he had a lot to learn in a better-quality league. This
was apparent in the first 20 minutes of Scotland's 2000 World Cup Qualifier
against Croatia when he looked raw and exposed. But he recovered to
play a very good game.
Gary Naysmith graduated from Hearts reserves to
make his senior debut in September 1996 – a superb win cup win over
Celtic. Initially he was in and out of the team as he found it
difficult to displace the vastly experienced Neil Pointon. After
Pointon's departure, Gary made the left-back position his own and
developed into one of the best young defenders in Scotland. His
trademarks include cushioned headers / chest-backs to the goalkeeper,
surging runs down the left flank.
But the Hearts fans were far from happy with his departure:
"Naysmith is the best left-back in our game, which is why he is in Croatia with Scotland.Gary Naysmith is more of an attacking player than a pure defender. He settled in well at Everton and, in his second full game, got the winner at Bradford City. But for much of the 2000-01 season he fell victim to the chronic Everton injury syndrome.
"Hearts offered him an extension to his current contract but he turned it down because it did not reflect his status. No one can blame him for that.
"The fact is that Hearts cannot afford to hold on to their top players. Gary is the latest in a long line of players - Neil McCann, David Weir and Paul Ritchie - who have left Hearts. Losing Gary will be a massive blow. "
With good pace and tenacity, he was ahead of David Unsworth and the injury-prone Alessandro Pistone in claiming the left back role in 2001-02. He also often found himself employed in left midfield as Walter Smith struggled with a seemingly endless injury crisis.
Naysmith was not spectacular but he was getting consistently good reports by the sporting press in general. He was not the sort who plays a blinder but neither did he have really poor games. Under David Moyes, he was turned into a good squad man, able to fit in at left-back or wing-half.
But as the pace (and work rate?) increased with David Moyes pushing the team to greater heights in 2004-05, Naysmith struggled increasingly to make an impact. An early red card cost him dear, and injuries kept him mostly in the Reserves, and the rumours of an imminent departure were rife as the season drew to a close.
Yet David Moyes was probably relieved when Gary finally agreed to a three-year deal, reducing by one the number of senior squad replacements he would need to merely maintain the numbers into next season. Then Naysmith injured his foot and needed an operation that kept him sidelined for most of the new 2005-06 season and he did not play again until March 2006.
The 2006-07 season wasn't much better, with long-term injury against reducing his appearances to a handful that only tended to confirm the widely-held view of Gary Naysmith: just not good enough. Despite becoming a regular member of the Scotland team (we know how good they are... *cough!*), there was some fairly widespread relief when he moved to Sheffield United in July 2007 for �1M, partly in response to Everton's acquisition of Phil Jagielka.
With the left-back position covered by Valente, Lescott, and hopefully the fit-again young prospect in Paddy Boyle, this brought to an end the somewhat unimpressive seven-season Everton career of Gary Naysmith.
By
Last updated July 2007
Everton Career | |||||||
Season |
Squad Number |
League Apps (sub) |
League Goals |
Cup Apps (sub) |
Cup Goals |
Total Apps (sub) |
Total Goals |
2000-01 | 15 |
17 (3) |
2 |
1 (0) |
0 |
18 (3) |
2 |
2001-02 | 15 |
23 (1) |
0 |
4 (0) |
0 |
27 (1) |
0 |
2002-03 | 15 |
24 (4) |
1 |
3 (1) |
1 |
27 (5) |
2 |
2003-04 | 15 |
27 (2) |
2 |
4 (1) |
0 |
31 (3) |
2 |
2004-05 | 15 |
5 (6) |
0 |
4 (0) |
0 |
9 (6) |
0 |
2005-06 | 3 |
7 (0) |
0 |
0 (1) |
0 |
7 (1) |
0 |
2006-07 | 3 |
10 (5) |
1 |
1 (1) |
0 |
11 (6) |
1 |
Totals | 113 (21) | 6 | 17 (4) | 1 | 130 (24) | 7 |
Prior Club Record | |||||||
Season | Team | Appearances (sub) | Goals | ||||
1997-2000 | Heart of Midlothian | 94(4) + 25 | 3 + 1 |