ToffeeWebLog

Inane, bite-sized ramblings by the Webmaster

4th September, 2003
If you ask me, David Moyes had a highly successful deadline day shopping spree. The Francis Jeffers deal had been in the works since mid-August — frankly, it was strange that it took as long as it did, but I think Moyesey was getting desperate and elected to worry about the buy-out option for next summer later on — so it was nice to see the jug-eared one return on Everton's terms. Nigel Martyn will be good competition for Richard Wright and can only benefit young Iain Turner. And while there were a few eyebrows raised on concern at the acquisition of Kevin Kilbane, he is a regular international and we will just have to wait and see how he fairs under Moyes. But the most exciting signing has got to be James McFadden and with Moyes appearing to favour employing him as a winger, Goodison Park may once again see some width in an Everton side!

3rd September, 2003
Well, it's been a while since my last entry — things can have been busy trying to keep up with all the transfer gossip and news, what can I say?! ToffeeWeb has been smashing records left right and centre for traffic this past week, such has been the thirst for information about players who may or may not have been signing for the Blues. In the end, we were the first site anywhere that I know of to announce that McManorwoman had chosen a different shade of blue than the one he reputedly grew up with in his veins. But we were as late as anyone with the most surprising signing on deadline day — that of Kevin Kilbane. And, of course, we were privy to some top secret information about the Jeffers deal that we would have loved to have shared but couldn't! One thing is for sure: the season looks a whole lot more promising than it did a week ago.

12th August, 2003
So Wayne Rooney has struck up an unlikely friendship with Robbie Williams after receiving an invitation to the singer's final Knebworth show. In return, The Boy gave The Ego an open invitation to Goodison Park so we could see more of the Robbie in the stands on match days. In days gone by, an exotrovert ex-Take That star on club-going A-list might have been the worst thing at Rooney's age, Williams' experiences dealing with fame at a young age and the fact that he has now sworn off booze could actually be a good thing for young Wayne.

11th August, 2003
Lots of rumours doing the rounds at the moment: Nigel Martyn for £400k; Pascucci has been signed on for the youth academy for two years; the Li Tie deal was sewn up long ago with a £600k fee being paid by sponors and commercial partners; and Everton only offered Fulham £900k up front for Sean Davis with the rest of the £3.5M paid over the life of the contract (no wonder it was rejected!) because Moyes only has a transfer kitty of £1.5M. Going full circle, if we've got so little to spend, why splash out almost half a million on a 37 year-old goalkeeper? Ah, rumours, rumours, rumours...

11th August, 2003
One reason why you can't use pre-season friendlies as an indicator of how teams might fare when the real action starts is because players usually hold back, for obvious reasons. From the disappointing results Everton have had over the past few weeks, you'd have thought the players really were being conservative but two key injuries have resulted from two of our friendly encounters. First Wayne Rooney was crocked at Rangers and now Kevin Campbell tears his hamstring on the eve of the new season. Even if Duncan Ferguson were eligible, this would be a major setback, but it does allow Nick Chadwick the chance to really impress — and where better than at Highbury!

7th August, 2003
The news that Sean Davis has handed in a transfer request at Fulham will no doubt alert David Moyes who, it was reported, had made the 23 year-old midfielder his top priority this summer. He even suggested that once Davis had signed he would turn his attention to Steve McManaman. Unfortunately, Middlesbrough, who have more financial clout than we do (doesn't that just make you sick?), are also in the hunt for Davis's signature and it could come to who offers more cash to Fulham, the player... or both.

2nd August, 2003
So, an uneventful close season has given way to a worrying pre-season as David Moyes's "as-you-were-then" squad struggles to build any momentum going into the new season which kicks off in just two weeks' time. Much of Moyes's success at Goodison thus far has been founded on confidence, morale and motivation but with nothing happening on the transfer front (I'm sorry, but as wonderful as it is that Joseph Yobo is staying, he doesn't count as improving the squad because he was already there), there is a growing aura of concern around the Blues' chances in 2003/04 among the fans. I stated in my last Viewpoint column that I believed last season's 7th-placed finish was founded on Yobo, Radzinski and Rooney and, with the possible addition of a fit Tony Hibbert, it's hard to see anything being different in the coming campaign.

17th July, 2003
You've got to love Mark Pembridge when he claims he can solve the problem of Everton's lack of goals from midfield if David Moyes gives him an extended run in the team. No one can deny that he was a regular scorer from midfield at Derby County and Sheffield Wednesday — indeed, we fell victim to him on more than one occasion during his days at Hillsborough — but since arriving at Goodison, his rate of scoring has been less than impressive. Now, rushing headlong towards his mid-thirties and hampered by a lack of pace that would embarrass most people's grandmothers, the player we affectionately dubbed "Pembinho" feels that he can still command a regular first team berth in a side with European aspirations. Unfortunately, as well as he has repaid the £850,000 we initially paid Benfica for him, the Welshman is part of Everton's midfield problem rather than its solution.

9th July, 2003
Not surprisingly, David Moyes's £3.5m offer (rising to £5m on appearances, etc) was rejected by Fulham today and the rumours are that he will now turn his attention to Charlton's excellent midfield dynamo, Scott Parker. Unfortunately, I can't see how Parker will be any easier to prise away than Davis. Alan Curbishley will be keen to hang onto his prized asset and it will surely take more than the amount offered to The Cottagers for Davis for Moyes to land his man — assuming, of course, that he's interested in Parker!

8th July, 2003
So we're finally dipping our toes into the transfer market with a bid to an "undisclosed" club — even though we all know it's Fulham and the player in question is midfielder Sean Davis! I have to confess to not knowing much about Davis so I suppose I'll have to trust Moyes on this one, but I suspect it won't be as straightforward as offering the rumoured £3.5m. Fulham will probably dig their heels in on their vastly inflated valuation of the player, even though they are in dire need of cash.

25th June, 2003
These Steve McManaman rumours have been flying around for months now and all we hear is consistent denial that he even wants to return to the UK this summer.  Yet the possibility of him fulfilling his supposed desire to play for the club he supported as a boy keeps the media rumour mill grinding away.  Assuming he is now thinking of leaving Real Madrid with a year left on his contract, would we even want him at the age of 31 — when David Moyes is clearly looking to build a younger team?  And would McManorwoman (old habits die hard!) consider taking a £40,000 pay cut to join us anyway?

21st June, 2003
So, the fixtures for the coming season are out and Everton are presented with an opportunity to make a flying start to the campaign and get one of our worst games out of the way from the get-go at Highbury.  Arsenal away; don't we just hate going down there?  Still, with young Wayne's goalscoring record against the Gunners, there's always the chance to send some early warning signals to the rest of the Premiership — that is assuming Moyesey has made any significant signings between now and then.  Did you know we're 100-1 for the title at the moment?  Stick a tenner on that.  You know it makes sense!

The release of the new fixture list also presents another opportunity to laugh at the unfathomably anally retentive loons that govern football in England.  Yes, for the third successive season, you have to purchase a rather expensive license to display something that's already in the public domain.  The FA argue that this factual information is copyrighted because of the software and databases that are needed to generate it and that they charge money for its usage to protect the member clubs by driving traffic towards the official websites.  Protect them, my arse.  It's purely a scam to rake in more cash which is why we're not playing that game.  Even if we could afford to buy a license, we probably wouldn't and if that means we at ToffeeWeb can't display the full fixture list, then so be it.

20th June, 2003
I always vowed I wouldn't succumb to this fashion of so-called web logs, or "blogs" for short, but it struck me that it would be the ideal alternative to another plan I had been turning over in my head: namely to condense a few subjects into two or three Viewpoint articles on one page rather than have to write out time-consuming diatribes for each one.

So, here it is, the Toffee Blog — a little area where I can put some Everton-related thoughts down as often as they come to me.  Not that I'm assuming it will be very interesting, but if you find it worthwhile, make it a regular stop as you cruise around ToffeeWeb!  This page might often be updated every day, sometimes several times a day or once very few days; I suppose it all depends on what there is to talk about regarding this club we all love so much.

The views expressed on this page are solely my own and are not intended to represent either ToffeeWeb, Everton FC, Evertonians in general or anyone else, really.

Lyndon Lloyd