Fans Comment
John Robert Preston

Lazy Journalism
21 July 2004

I've been very annoyed by all the media negativity recently; I know its always been there but there's negative spin on everything these days.  I was annoyed by this  article on Soccernet: Everton Bigwig Resigns  It's about the tragedy of Arthur Abercromby resigning his post on the Everton Board of Directors'  So I decided to e.mail them and complain.  It turned into a bit of a rant but contains some of my views on the current situation. My e.mail follows:–

To whom it may concern,

I believe that this article and many others like it are an absolute disgrace, solely intended to undermine the reputation of Everton football club.  To describe the club as being in a financial crisis is wholly inaccurate, the club is approximately 35 million pounds in debt, there is no denying that, however there is no financial crisis' and the reporting of such a crisis is a journalistic failure.  The club has consolidated it debts with a 30 million pound loan repayable over 25 years, the club has no problems repaying this debt, secured on season ticket sales at approximately 2 million pounds a year.  The club also owe 5 million pounds of an overdraft facility with their bank. Both of these debts are totally manageable.  There may not be millions to spend on new signings but there is clearly no 'financial meltdown'.

I also can not deny that the club have had an unsuccessful close season in the transfer market and I believe this is due to our club being undesirable to certain players who we have tried to sign.  This undesirability is partially due to the clubs poor finish to the season leading to us to a finish of 17th, although our safety had been assured weeks earlier.  The other reason for our undesirability to players is that lazy, biased journalists, like the one who has written this article, have spent most of the close season slagging off Everton football club at any opportunity, creating a crisis out of any incident. I know that your job is centered around sensationalism however this does not give you the right to publish untruths.

The description of the resignation of Arthur Abercromby as a shock turn in the power battle for control of Everton is also inaccurate.  I myself, along with many other Everton fans and the board of Everton football club, was not shocked in the slightest by the resignation.  To describe a decision which had been made last season as a shock turn is ludicrous and is another example of how the journalist writing this article puts the worst possible negative twist on this story.  Another example is the description of the departure of Michael Dunford as anything other than planned, reporting it as Everton football clubs 'failure', it is laughable how the media are describing Everton as having slashed the wage bill with the departure of 15 players.  The truth being that the club has lost two first team regulars, David Unsworth and Alex Nyarko through no lack of desire to pay their wages, with the rest of the players released being unwanted and unneeded reserve or youth team players.

The sporting media have been putting the worst possible slant on any story that relates to Everton football club and this state of affairs is totally unacceptable. I believe the media are taking this negative stance towards Everton because of their inability to accept a player of the quality of Wayne Rooney being employed by a club not seen as one of the 'big four'.  I do not understand or accept this mentality, weather it is based on jealousy or just lazy journalism.  Why is it so unacceptable for a man who is just 18 years of age to be plying his trade at his hometown club?

I believe that Wayne Rooney has a huge future ahead of him and will also have huge personal ambitions which he may not be able to fulfill at this club.  However, I also believe that at the age of 18 there is no reason why he should not continue his development at the club which has brought him so far.  I am in no way resigned to losing Wayne Rooney but I am a realist and I believe Wayne may well leave Everton at some point, if he takes the decision not to sign the new contract I can not say I won't be disappointed but it is not the end of Everton Football Club.  If Rooney does not sign the new contract I believe he will have made the wrong decision, but at the end of the day that is his decision to make and if he wants to leave and go back on his declaration of 'Once a Blue, Always a Blue' I will have no reservations about him leaving the club if he no longer has the desire to be here.

The state of affairs concerning Wayne Rooney does not give the media the right to slag off Everton at any opportunity and, as a seasoned reader of your reports, I am disappointed that your website is following the same route as all of the rest and I am not at all happy with this unacceptable abundance of negative spin.

Once a Blue, Always a Blue

John Robert Preston

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