Walter Smith
Not good enough

5 February 2002

What I'm about to write here has probably been told and heard thousands of times before by fans such as myself to fans such as yourselves — it's the Evertonians who still back Walter Smith that I am trying to get through to now.

Walter Smith is not good enough to manage Everton Football Club.  It is as simple as that.  I am not going to spout statistics or write about an apparent lack of funding.  I am going to write as a season-ticket holder about what I see every time I watch Everton Football Club play.

Virtually every game, eleven players who have all been capped at international level will amble randomly out onto the pitch and then continue to do the same for the next hour and a half.  Not once under Smith have I seen the team probe the opposition for a weakness and then exploit it.  We stand off against the lesser teams and hope for a break and we stand off against the stronger teams and expect to be beaten.

From what I can see, the team as a unit lacks any positive attributes.  We are unable to graft and grind out a result.  We lack pace everywhere so are unable hit teams on the break and are not good enough defensively to initially soak up the pressure anyhow.  We have a complete absence of creative flair and imagination with which to open up Premiership defences when in possession, and no cutting edge on the odd occasions that our clueless team do penetrate.  We appear to play on totally different wavelengths; our international players are unable to anticipate the rare runs or balls into space.  We are completely unable to adapt to when an opposing team changes their personnel or formation.  We never play to our strengths; we only ever play into the hands of the opposition.  Too many times the players just don't seem to care.

Every team in the Premiership can be noted for a distinctive style of play — except for us.  In every department we are poor or average.  I am yet to see a tactical substitution of Smith's change the game to our advantage.  I have never looked at a game and thought, "that's what he was trying to do."  Most Premiership teams are well drilled and with a cohesive game plan — not us.  These are all Smith's players and he has had long enough for them to know what they should be doing.

I have watched Smith and Knox on the touchline, screaming contrasting orders.  One time in particular I watched Knox gesticulating wildly to Niclas Alexandersson to get forward and exploit the space in behind a full back.  Thirty seconds later Smith was on his feet pushing him back to cover Steve Watson.  Most of the midfielders at the club have been on the receiving end of this.  If the management team are unable to agree on what should be happening on the pitch, how are the players supposed to know what to do?

Under Smith, Thomas Gravesen has played as a central midfielder, a right-winger, a sweeper and a centre forward.  Gravesen is either the most versatile player in the Premiership or the most blatant example of Smith's inability to play players where they should play.  Out of the current first choice eleven, only two players have always played their customary position, and one of those is Steve Simonsen.

All this is on the pitch.  A book could easily be written on what has gone on off the pitch during Smith's tenure.  I am sick of listening to Bill Kenwright wax lyrical about what a fantastic asset Smith is to our club when he has just sat through the same 90 minutes of crap that I have.  Walter Smith may be able to pull the wool over Bill Kenwright's eyes but he can't pull it over the eyes of most Everton fans — we are not normally wrong.

This rant is not about the state of the club or finances.  It is all about the lack of ability and know-how of our club's manager.

Nick Armitage

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