Fans Comment
Jez Clein

It doesn't add up
12 June 2005

The Official Website: does it need to carry a warning that not everything you read can be believed?

But "Who are 'they'?" you may ask... and why have I been fooled?

Let me explain...

A couple of weeks ago (26 May 2005), Everton announced the expected signing of Simon Davies (expected since about January if reports are correct).  Within days, a piece appeared on the official club website saying that we were not too far away from reaching a deal with Chelsea for the signature of Mikael Forssell.  Great, I thought.  The very next day, another article again on the club website linked us with Scott Parker.  Even better, I thought. £4M spent, another £3M on Forssell, another £6M on Parker – being linked with Cudicini and Upson, the imminent signing also of Arteta for £2M – the Everton dream team was starting to take shape.

For once it wasn’t just paper talk – these comments were on the Official Website so they must be true.

Suddenly I was picking the team in my head and wondering if I could find a place in the same team for Arteta, Parker and Cahill.

THEN reality hit!  They’ve taken us for a ride again.  They know how optimistic we are when we have had some good news so when best to get our hopes up than when we have just sign a player for £4M, and it worked

Moyes said we needed six new players as well as replacements for players who were going to be leaving.  As I write this piece, it looks like three players will be on their way, meaning we need nine new players.  Wyness said we had £12M to spend on players — that’s when I started putting my Business Studies degree to good use and realised that something all of a sudden didn’t seem right or, as the title suggests, doesn’t add up.

The signings of Davies, Parker, Forssell and Arteta by my reckoning would add up to £15M however we would still be five short of the realistic number of players required by the ginger one as a minimum size of squad expecting to challenge on four fronts – five Eddie Bosnars anyone?  No thanks !

Whilst I’m on the subject of Wyness’s statement on £30M to spend but only £12M on transfer fees, was it only me who couldn’t quite work that one out?  I could work out that £30M less £12M was £18M on wages but where did he get the £18M from?  Signing 10 new players on £30k/wk would only come to £15M so if seems as if our CEO has tried to pull another fast one by including a players wages in 2 and 3 years time in this year's transfer kitty.  Surely Mr CEO, next year's salaries would be paid from next year’s turnover which you promise us will soon be increasing to the £60M mark — I would guess that’s how every other business works, mine included.

So were does that leave us?  Well it soon became clear to me.  All I could think of was Alan Smith (not in that sense!).  Last year, we offered Leeds £7M for the services of the highly overated Alan Smith — both Moyes and Kenwright couldn’t wait to see Rooney and Smith upfront together (unfortunately they didn’t have long to wait).  A source very close to the club asked Bill Kenwright why we were offering £7M when we didn’t have the money; Kenwright replied that it was irrelevant as he would never want to sign for us.

Can you see where I am coming from?  We never did spend that £7M last summer, in fact even ignoring the Rooney fee, the selling of Linderoth (remember him?) and Radzinski meant we actually made a profit on transfers last summer.  Then Rooney was sold seconds before the transfer deadline which meant we didn’t have anytime to spend that money.  Those with longer memories will wonder why we didn’t spend the £6M Sean Davis money although eventually £3M of it did go on four last-minute, (panic — some would say) deadline day signings (Martyn, Jeffers, Kilbane and McFadden).

So will this £10M (Parker and Forssell money) be spent?  Probably, but it will probably be diluted so it ends up buying five or six new players.  When the inevitable fingers get pointed at Bill Kenwright for lacking ambition, he will just point at us trying to sign Parker and Forssell and say that it was not his fault one failed a medical and one wanted too much money.  Although you’d like to think that we had an idea of what Parker was already earning.  By the way, if we start next season badly, do you think the Sky cameras will be able to find Mr Kenwright as easily as they did recently!

I am being too harsh.  Is it unfair to highlight things that happened prior to our new CEO being appointed.  Time may tell whether we were correct not to take a risk on Forssell.  However, who was the one to get our hopes up in the first place?  Our CEO.  Has anyone from Everton since commented on why we haven’t consequently signed him — was he here last weekend for a medical or not ?  Yet again, the fans are left to wonder what happened.

Which leads me nicely onto Scotty Parker.  I’ll hold my hand up here and admit that I like him a lot.  Whether he is worth £55k a week is irrelevant.  It is irrelevant because there are at least four clubs Newcastle, Liverpool, Boro and Birmingham who are willing to pay it and always will.  Expecting David Moyes to unearth two or three Tim Cahills every year is unrealistic so, in order to compete, unfortunately occasionally you have to pay the going rate; that’s life.

I’m sure plenty of fans will be pointing to the fact that we’ve just managed to get our biggest wage earners off the bill and we don’t want to make the same mistake again, but this is different.  Scott Parker is only 25.  If he signed a four- or five-year deal, he would still have a realistic sell-on value in 2 or 3 years time when we would be renegotiating his contract.  If we had a poor season next year, I’m sure there would always be a Birmingham. Middlesboro or Aston Villa willing to take him off our hands so for me there is no risk — we may even make a profit on him.  18 months ago he was worth £12M and I’m sure if anyone other than Chelsea were selling him he’d be worth £8M-10M.

I’m afraid it's too easy to use Leeds as a reason why we won’t push the boat out.  This may be our only realistic chance in the foreseeable future to be able to compete for the top players.

The worse thing is, most fans will actually think that we were genuinely in with a chance of signing Parker and Forsell.  As I said, it doesn't add up

I suppose we could always ask our good friends at the Fortress Sports Fund to pay for Scotty’s wages – don’t get me started on that one!

Jez Clein

Regarding the Official Everton Website, there are two things to remember: firstly, they are no different than any other media outlet when it comes to reporting on transfer speculation — you can expect no qualification or filtering when reading what they publish.  And secondly, they very rarely use their exalted position as part of the Club to actually reveal something that is going on behind the scenes.  In fact it is usually the opposite. Other sources make claims or spread rumours and the Club may be forced to make some kind of statement via the Official EvertonFC.com website.  Don't look for them to change this approach any time soon, because it epitomizes a classic corporate way of thinking about information — which is power — and the need to screen it very carefully when deciding who should know what about whom, when, where and why. 

We, on the other hand, at ToffeeWeb, have the benefit of independence which allows us to disseminate information we receive or find — primarily on the basis of its relevance to Everton and interest to the fans.  Of course we can't guarantee the truth of everything we publish: caveat emptor!  Now, Keith Wyness has been heavily lambasted by some Everton fans for making perfectly reasonable comments about expecting to sign Forssell.  The negotiations were well advanced, a medical was lined up; usually, that means things are close to completion and imagine he would have been slaughtered if he'd said he did not expect to sign Forssell because of worries over his knee!!!

Sometimes, fans are far too quick to condemn, based on the great wisdom of hindsight.  Yes, he could have said nothing, but so what?  The fans need to take more responsibility for their reactions and expectations in such circumstances.  As I have said elsewhere on this website, there is only one rule to remember regarding transfer speculation in the silly season: believe nothing until the press conference. — Editor

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