Franny's fate: only himself to blame
Koi Yu Ng sees Franny's demise as somewhat inevitable

11 April 2004

Franny's loan spell is ending in tears.  He will be training with the youth team for the rest of the season before being of offloading back to Arsenal, and a very uncertain future (not even his old shirt number available, the No 9 shirt at Highbury went to Reyes). 

Now, he has become the Alex Nyarko of this season by declaring himself unavailable to play for Everton again.  So who's to blame? Despite understandable fears that this sad predicament may well have been spun by the Club, to be honest, it seems he only has himself to blame. 

First let's talk about his performance on the field.  After two seasons of poor showings at Highbury, Moyes gave him a chance and he returned to Goodison Park, talking much about his ideal partnership with Wayne Rooney.  However, his form back in a blue shirt was simply dreadful.  He did little to impress the manager or the fans.  I clearly remember him missing a golden chance to equalize against Chelsea in November 2003 when he headed the ball outside the post from two yards (I was sitting so near to the goal and felt so frustrated that me and those besides me suddenly shouted together "Franny, fuck off back to Arsenal!").  Nobody could say that Moyes did not give him a chance to shine... but he just couldn't.  So how much did the almost certain knowledge that his loan would not be made permanent start playing on his mind?

That's brings us to his attitude.  The reason given for the bust-up with Moyes that effectively ended his loan spell six weeks early was that he was not happy as a substitute when Rooney, Big Dunc and Super Kev were laid up.  However, actually, his style of playing was a bit similar to Radzinski.  As Radz was still in good form, it did not make sense to have the two playing together.  OK, even if this reason could not persuade him, how about his attitude about not being in the starting line-up?  If his reason for the bust-up was regarded as sensible, then Leon Osman should be long gone (Moyes did not even give him a decent chance to shine, despite his reputation and potential in the reserves).  Instead of working harder, Jeffers grumbled of not being chosen to start.  Well, if we lost to Spurs, he might still have a reasonable claim.  However, the result was justification enough that James McFadden should be chosen ahead of him.

Possibly Franny needs to learn something about the difficulty of "turning the clock back".  Before, when he was a gem for us, he ended up falling out with the management and snubbing us.   However, time passed, for him and for Everton.  He had little chance to impress at Arsenal, thus also limiting his chance to play, not to mention his skills.  When he came back, he expected that he should walk into the team, but Moyes made it clear that he would have to earn his place.  At Everton, the management had changed; Rooney and Radzinski had already established themselves; and there was, of course, the existence of a large number of naysayers within the fanbase, who had not forgiven him for that over-the-top celebration of his Arsenal goal against Everton in May 2002.  However, his outcome, as mentioned, could only strengthen this belief.  I am sure that he himself also knew that. 

In fact, this recent incident with Moyes was probably inevitable as a kind of mixture between jealousy and desperation.  (Even so, his chances of staying in Goodison next season would have been minimal after his string of less-than-impressive performances), Add to this the effective "slap in the face" from Moyes and the great performance by the rest of the team against Spurs on Good Friday, and the writing was clearly on the wall...

Well, and so to his fate.  I wonder where he will be offloaded next season?  I heard from some sources that Glasgow Rangers were interested in him.  If true, I think Franny could consider trying his luck north of the border, so that he could start all over again and rebuild his career.  More importantly, at least he might have a chance to play some European football.

His loan ended in disaster.  But how about the fans?  I anticipate less than 10% of them would really shed tears for him.  Here's the exit door, Franny!!  (Also, one wonders, Does this sad episode provide a lesson for Wayne's future?)

Koi Yu Ng

�2004 ToffeeWeb