Colm Kavanagh, quiet for weeks as Moyes rides high, has been ruminating on one subject that gets his goat
"Only two weeks away from resuming training..."
Who is the Man in Blue?
If ever there was a word invented to describe the modern-day football fan it is, without doubt, the word fickle. It applies to us all — only from time to time, of course! No one escapes its clutch; we're all a bunch of fickle you-know-whats!
I can think of two present Everton players who, in recent times, have been on the receiving end of my own personal vitriol: Alessandro Pistone and Lee Carsley. Their crime? Not good enough (in my opinion) to wear the shirt!
Well, well, well! Who has looked absolute quality in recent weeks, playing on the wrong side of defence? Give that man an extended contract now! Also, who has acquitted himself capably as a right-sided midfielder when selected? Aye, the humble pie does indeed taste sweet from time to time!
However, it's only human to have a good ol' gripe from time to time... and there's most definitely one that still rankles with me at the new-look, vastly improved Everton. Now, I stand to be corrected on this matter but, with Everton FC living in an era where every penny counts, we have on the payroll, a player in Duncan Ferguson who is a serious weekly drain on the finances, bonuses not included!
Since he returned to Goodison Park on a misguided wave of euphoria, in 2000, he has hardly kicked a football — which is precisely what he is paid to do at Everton Football Club, is it not? [Er... yes. It's called a contract.] Christ, wouldn't we all kill for a job like Duncan's! What disappoints me most is that Duncan was once a player I genuinely admired. Opponents feared the towering Scot and he scored vital goals. With heroes in Blue being few and far between at the time — Marc Hottiger, anyone? — it was only natural that Duncan would soon become identified as a hero to many on the terraces at Goodison. Aye, we loved him dearly back then...
That was almost ten seasons back. The "player" we have today is very much a pale shadow of his former self. [Well, he's had a chronic injury problem.] Any Blue who continues to cling onto the notion of a Duncan Ferguson, returned and reborn, is seriously deluding themselves. It simply won't happen.
He wasn't fully fit when he left Everton the first time. He wasn't always fit when playing in Alan Shearer's shadow at Newcastle. He's rarely, if ever, been fit since returning. [Er... trapped sciatic nerve?]
Those are the facts today: Everton Football Club continues to pay a rather hefty sum of money to a player who simply doesn't play! With our finances being what they are and, with the current financial health of the game in general being extremely fragile (Ipswich Town, not so long ago a side playing European football, applying to go into administration, being the most recent example of football as a business hitting the rocks) we are in no position of luxury to afford such a loss week in, week out with nothing in return. How long can Everton FC continue to pay for his services with so little payback? [Er... until he's fully recovered?]
What annoys me most though about Duncan's habitual absence is that many who worship his every move, or would dearly like to, are the same people who labelled Franny Jeffers as a greedy bastard for leaving Everton. There's also an apparent sense of glee amongst a section of the Everton support in seeing Jeffers unable to cement a permanent place in Arsenal's current team. I find that attitude extremely baffling. He is a member of a squad containing arguably the finest striker on the planet, Thierry Henry, as well as Dennis Bergkamp, Sylvain Wiltord and Kanu. I'm sure even training with that select quartet will be beneficial in the long term.
No denying that young Jeffers made mistakes, in public, regarding contract demands some seasons back but, once he crossed swords with the previous manager, he was always bound for the exit door: with or without the help of parties in employment at the Club. Whether true or not, those who didn't exactly see eye-to-eye with Smith eventually all found themselves plying their trade elsewhere.
Franny's sale may have filled the Club coffers enormously but his departure is one I lament. Still quite young in term of years, he has acquired plenty of experience and it now appears that the injuries, which have stalled his anticipated progress, are a thing of the past. [Er... so it's alright to be injured if you eventually recover?] I wish the lad well in the future as I still look upon him as a Blue. As we all know, once a Blue, always a Blue!
It seems though, that young Franny will forever be somewhat tarnished for his "reputation" as a greedy bastard, whilst quietly and uneasily we have, at Everton, a situation where we can ill-afford to see such a highly paid player not out there on the pitch. It's a situation requiring a solution in the very near future.
Sitting, and watching, from the sideline, I see two options for Duncan:
If we continue, as we are at present, then Duncan Ferguson will continue to eat into what little resources we may have available for potential squad building over the coming months. [Er... the transfer window's closed till June, Colm] We are in no position to accommodate such luxuries. Football has had to tighten the purse strings as never before.
A final note to those appalled by my stance here — rewind back to those days when Duncan actually had a presence on the pitch. Wayne Rooney was nothing more than an Everton mascot in those days. Time's change. Players change. Duncan, as ever, remains unfit [— due in the main to a chronic and long undiagnosed debilitating condition].
How long must this farce continue?
Colm Kavanagh 11 February 2003