Colm Kavanagh stands back and takes a good look at the sate of Everton FC six months into the Moyes Era
SIX MONTHS ON...
I allow myself a wry smile when I hear of the problems currently crippling clubs like Derby County. It's not that long ago since Derby County were knocking on the door, looking to break into that elusive top six. They, like many other clubs, had turned to importing players from abroad and hoping that a team gels together from the collective. Why pay overpriced local transfer fees when cheaper alternatives lie overseas?
Works sometimes; other times not. Sadly for Derby, their foreign adventure eventually blew up in their face as Nationwide Division One dusted down the welcome mat — ironically at a time when a healthy home grown presence was understood to be their route out of trouble.
Think about clubs like Derby County and other clubs like Coventry City, Sheffield Wednesday, Nottingham Forest — it was not so long ago that we were looking up at these clubs in the Premiership. In fact, we've been looking up at too many clubs over the past decade and, like it or not, we've had to grit the teeth while others often dismissed us as derisory opposition. Well, we've had the last laugh at clubs like those mentioned, haven't we? Or have we?
The black storm clouds that hovered menacingly over Everton just six months ago as Walter Smith ran out of ideas seem a world away now that we have David Moyes at the helm. A spring in the step has returned to the Club in general and optimism for the season ahead appears greater than at any time in recent seasons. One of the game's brightest young managers in charge of a once big-five Club (before that select group was whittled to a select G14 three) expressing a desire, an ambition, to return this Club of ours to former glories. Well, manna from Heaven for any Evertonian hanging onto every last word. (May I refer you all to the "This is the People's Club in Liverpool." quote?) Throw in the hottest young striker for years and all seems well at Goodison: the only way is up.
Hopefully, upwards is the direction we'll take this season but I've a nagging doubt in my mind over a few matters. It's the pessimist in me I suppose (I've had good reason to be in recent seasons!). David Moyes has been in charge of Everton for only a matter of months but you'd think he'd been here for longer. I don't know why it feels like that but it does.
Moyes is trying to implement a renaissance of sorts at Goodison (on the playing field at least). A few months ago, we were witnessing a one-paced Everton side fielding players like Gascoigne, Ginola and Blomqvist — all yesterday's men benefiting from Everton yet again employing players seeking to turn back the clock when there was more chance of seeing George Bush holding a party convention in downtown Baghdad.
It rarely, if ever, succeeds and hopefully we've seen an end to Everton FC becoming a last port of call for such ageing pros — youth is the only way to build something for the future. Moyes got shut, and it went down well with the Everton public. An injection of homegrown young talent from the likes of Hibbert, Chadwick and now the kid himself, Master Rooney — it's what most Evertonians love to see; brings a collective smile to Evertonian faces.
But, whilst we're basking in some sort of gratification, seeing a successful promotion of home grown talent, does it not also highlight our position financially as a football business? We are skint — Official! We do not have the cash to splash — Official! All of which makes Moyes's transition from a team with one foot hovering close to the trapdoor to one that has serious aspirations of competing in Europe all the more testing.
The summer just gone was a bit like the tale of feeding the masses with fishes and loaves. Little or nothing in the kitty, David Moyes has brought into the Club two quality internationals — Joseph Yobo from Nigeria and Juliano Rodrigo from Brazil — and two lesser known (but possibly better value?) Chinese internationals, Li Tie and Li Weifeng, who are quietly going about their business of greatly impressing everyone. We'll call them quality internationals because that is what we've been told they are.
Since their arrival, we've only witnessed brief sightings of Yobo and Rodrigo. Now, with the news that Rodrigo could be sidelined for a spell, — it doesn't bode well for the season ahead. It appeared to be good business sense at the time to take both players initially on loan spells for one year with a review and decision to follow. Players secured with a minimal initial outlay — about as good a deal we could hope to see at the Club considering our finances. With memories of Messrs Nyarko and Bakayoko still painfully fresh, it wasn't such a bad idea to have a look at the goods first before tying down foreign players on lengthy contracts.
We've been stung once too often in the past and can ill-afford a repeat. Which leads me nicely to Joseph Yobo. By all accounts, he had a superb game against Manchester United's reserves last week and many of us would have expected to see his long awaited debut with the first team (his presence in our defence is clearly essential). Instead, what happens? The lad breaks down in training with an ankle injury!
That might well be deemed as unlucky — cynical minds might think otherwise, possibly edging towards assuming the worst-case scenario. Time will tell. We need him out there playing football. His continuing absence will only fan the flames of suspicion. It has happened too often over the years at Everton, having players on the books getting good wages, and a return on that investment ending in frustration at a player who is seen more often in a suit instead of the Royal Blue shirt.
For the record, I'm not suggesting that we're going to see this happen with Joseph Yobo — but the sooner he's playing in the team, replacing Alan Stubbs, the better. Presuming that the above fears are no more than idle speculation and Joseph Yobo finally takes his Premiership bow, it is to be hoped that the player proves to be as good as some have said he is. Indeed, he looked more than decent during the World Cup.
If he plays well for Everton this season, will we be able to keep him? Contracts nowadays are not worth the paper they are written on. It's my understanding that we have Yobo for one year on loan with an option then to conclude the agreement which brought him here. If we lose him to another club next summer, then it's back to the drawing board.
A similar scenario looms with most of our other foreign summer acquisitions — Rodrigo, Li Tie and Li Weifeng. The fact that these three players are, for the moment, only on loan at Everton serves to highlight the position we are in. We have got to get ourselves off the rocks, so to speak, as we cannot really make the anticipated progress if we're going to witness a continuing ferrying of players in and out of the Club. It's as though the perceived improvement to the team is built upon eggshells.
It's one thing having a fine manager and a team with potential running through it but, without solid financial backing, we're going to be forever taking two steps forward and one back. Or even one step forward and two back — whatever's your preference! I read a nice quote in The London Independent, taken from the match report of the Middlesbrough win (and wasn't that a precious three points!):
"Rooney, who stepped forward last week and offered to solve the club's goalkeeper crisis — strictly on a temporary basis, he insisted — introduced a new dynamic, a new spirit, a new raging consistency of purpose and if he's still performing on Merseyside in two or three years time it will mean that his protective manager, David Moyes, has dragged the club, kicking and screaming and counting the pennies, back among the elite of English football."
In a way, that says it all. Money, not footballing ability, will dictate where David Moyes takes his side in the coming seasons. Money will dictate whether or not he gets to secure the signatures of players like Joseph Yobo, like Juliano Rodrigo, like the Chinese pair Li Tie and Li Weifeng. Money will also dictate the future for people like David Moyes and the boy who will be King!
What happens, twelve months from now, if we fail to sign the players mentioned due to a reality being that we cannot afford to buy them? What happens if the Club fails to secure the long-term services of Wayne Rooney? There's a fantastic surge of royal blue blood coursing through each and every last one of us Evertonians at the notion of an emerging Everton side in the coming seasons, led by the likes of Rooney and his mates.
Pride is a wonderful thing and, as utopian as it may sound, would it not be fantastic to see a healthy injection of home grown quality coming through the ranks — and staying there, developing into a team capable of competing with the best? It's been done before and can be done again if the spirit and commitment coincides with developing talent. Young Rooney may deservedly be the focus of attention right now but let us not forget some of the other young talent we have at the Club. Five years from now, wouldn't it be great if they were to become the backbone of a successful Everton team, with the present manager still in charge and as hungry as ever for success?
Aye, it's a dream we all share: we all want to see Everton back up there competing. We all know and appreciate the potential our great Club has when we possess a successful side. Even during the worst of times, we've had the odd day when we've risen above the dross to remind ourselves that we can be something in the modern game. I'll not forget the day, two seasons back, when an injury-ravaged Everton side defeated the current Double winners, Arsenal. It can be done.
Right now, more than ever, we need to see visible signs of improvement off the pitch with our finances. Mr Moyes possesses a zest for the glory days; that vigour firmly places the ball in the boardroom's court. If it doesn't happen, then we'll be well and truly cast adrift with the rest of the no-marks who make up the numbers in the so called Premiership.
It's time, once again, for Everton as a Club to aim for the stars. We might not get there; we might have to settle for less. But if we remain as we are currently and accept our present standing, then the oxygen that makes a club like Everton tick will slowly evaporate and, in time to come, we can add the name of Everton Football Club to a list that now includes the likes of Derby County, Nottingham Forest, Coventry City, and Sheffield Wednesday...
Colm Kavanagh 17 September 2002