• Used to be eager and committed
• Used to know where the goal was
• Used to get stuck in

• Goals have dried up
• His heart just isn't in it
• Three months wasted on loan

Spencer is a 27-year-old striker who started his career at Glasgow Rangers, before joining Chelsea in a £450,000 transfer in 1992.  He made exactly 100 starts for the Londoners, scoring 43 goals, before switching across West London in November 1996 for £2.5M. 

Spencer has been at QPR for 16 months and scored 25 goals.  But he had an ankle injury, then a virus and has just got back from three weeks out with a knee injury.  Let's hope he has not come merely to swell the lines of Everton's walking wounded...

Can Howard Kendall wave some magic wand to revitalise Spencer's career with World Cup looming, or are Everton merely marking time as Peter Johnson eeks out the maximum mileage from his frugal front-man?  Kendall continues to put a good light on things as he endeavours to patch together a side with a succession of cheap deals.

After watching Spencer's initial matches for Everton, Kendall resolved to sign Spencer on a permanent deal for £1.5M.  But the deal foundered amid rumours of loyalty bonus issues and possible heart murmurs

Then after the usual round of misleading rumours (this time suggesting that Peter Johnson had put a hold on the deal) Spencer ended his loan period with the Toffees by signing a 3-year contract.  This finally brought to an end seven weeks of anguish which had culminated in medical tests when it was believed he might have a heart condition. 

Spencer hung around the fringes of the first team, hardly getting many games.  When Walter Smith arrived, it was became clear that Spencer would not get much further consideration after failing to impress in the first couple of games.  Then came Mr Johnson's unfortunate home-truths about poor signings made by Kendall, specifically Spencer and Ward.  The departure of Spencer on loan to Motherwell in October 1998 hardly came as a surprise.

That was until the Everton Goalscoring Crisis started to really hit home. It's January 1999.  Duncan Ferguson and Mickael Madar have both been sold, and Ibrahima Bakayoko is only scoring in fits and starts. Motherwell were determined to take the under-achieving striker off Everton's hands, but the price seemed to be just too high.  After a deal fell through amid much public recrimination, it was suddenly resurrected and Johnny was on his way.  

In retrospect, the entire John Spencer episode was a wasteful and pointless fiasco from start to finish.  £1.5M was obviously a ridiculous price for him, and his salary was incredibly high at around £9k or £10k per week!  And he did nothing for Everton.  Nine games in 12 months, and nothing to show for it.