As Low As It Gets
Joe Daly is not too happy with the recent turn of events at Everton

13 February 2004

I have never previously felt compelled to write to this website or a fanzine about Everton, but there is something wrong in the club.  I have been following Everton since I was five when I was taken to Goodison in 1992 and had a season ticket for three years.   The 1995 Cup win aside, there has not been a great deal to cheer in these 12 years but I have never felt as utterly deflated as I do now.

When we were losing to Tranmere and Middlesbrough, I was low, very low, but for some reason this recent slump has just left me wondering, what now? According to the world and his wife, we currently have:

• The best young manager
• The best young talent
• A better financial state
• A sound base for improvement

Improvement, I have been led to believe, means getting better, not being as bad as before.  I can honestly say, without exaggeration, Everton v Man Utd was the worst first half display I have ever seen at Goodison.  No commitment, no adventure, no passion, no clue, just like the bad old days of Smith, Knox and 5-3-2.  Unsworth gets ball, lumps it to Ferguson, he nods on, they collect and send it back to us, it’s the same as it always has been.  But now it seems worse, it hurts more, there is no forward thinking, we are going nowhere.  Everton appear to have run out of ideas, we’ve got the manager, we’ve got the player, we’ve even got Ferguson playing to his potential, but we aren’t putting in the performances or getting the results.

I have never seen a Championship come to Goodison; I have witnessed one Cup victory followed by an early exit from Europe the following season.  We have trophies and legends; we have reputation; we have the fans; we have one hell of a past...  BUT do we have a future?  I honestly don’t know,  I am finding it so hard to feel excited about the team we’re building.  Remember when Moyes came onto the pitch before Fulham?  The anticipation, the definite feeling of a revolution, seems a long way off doesn’t it?  I’m not saying that we are a dead duck — we are a huge club with 40,000 fans at home games and a name which still means something... but will it still mean something in 20, 30 years time?

If so, we need youth and what exactly is happening there?  Osman? — over-looked; Schumacer? — gone; Clarke? — going.  These are all players who were apparently going to be important players in the revolution of the People’s Club; not so.  Moyes needs to give the youth a chance; we have nothing to play for, and it’s unlikely we will go down (no matter how close it looks).  Surely we have at least one youth player who is able to take someone like Carsley’s place?  At least let them try, and stick with them, not one bad game and throw them out of the side.

If the youth aren’t the answer, we need to buy players which raises the question of transfer funds: are there any?  Moyes needs a bare minimum of £5 million if he is to be expected to get anyone of quality and even that will only just cover it.  The share issue has been proposed and seems a sensible way of raising cash if the board will accept they might lose value on their shares — aren’t they after all ‘True Blue’?

I have raised only a few points in this article and have not answered them as I honestly do not know if there are any answers left in the club.  I don’t wish to sound like I’m moaning: I believe Moyes could be a great manager; I believe Rooney could be a great talent; I believe Everton Football Club can once again stand proudly with the top teams.  However, I also believe that it is possible for Everton to mess it all up, time and time again and I really hope this does not happen for our sake.  After the Birmingham game I felt completely empty, I was destroyed: 3-0 against a poor quality side is not what we excepted nearly 2 years after Smith.  Lurking somewhere inside this once great club is the chance to rise again, I just hope it can be realized before it’s too late.

Joe Daly

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