Fans Comment
Andy McNabb

Time, Gentlemen…Please.
8 August 2004

On what?  Well, rather than withdraw to a dark room and quietly slit my wrists after listening to all the depressing news, I would like to try and concentrate on some of the positives.  Don’t get me wrong.  I can be as negative as any Evertonian; however, the time has now come to look at the new season with the heady mixture of fear and blind belief which we experience every year.

In my case, as soon as I walk under the railway bridge on Walton Rd and pause for a moment to remember James Bulger, the feeling of anticipation really starts to rise.  Don’t all of us approach the old ground with the sights, sounds, atmosphere and rising butterflies filling our senses, particularly on the first day of the season?

I have lost count of the number of ‘first days’ I have attended.  We managed to get to Goodison against Leicester last Christmas on a rare foray back to the UK but this August, Foxtel and the Internet will have to suffice.  Poor fare indeed but it’s part of the price for living where the sun shines with more regularity.

Have to get it over with I suppose... Our Kid; will he stay?  Will he go?  I’m almost past caring to be honest.  If he goes, the money will disappear down the black hole we call a bank loan and if he stays, the media frenzy about January transfer windows will crank up again by mid-September.  It’s a little bit like hanging on to the coat-tails of the last person in one of those ‘trains’ which are now banned in school playgrounds.  Can you remember the feeling of gathering speed and knowing that any second you would have to let go or risk being hurled to the ground?

We’ll never hang onto him now.  The ‘train’ has reached the speed at which our fingers are starting to lose their grip on Our Kid’s coat-tails.  I possibly have less patience than most but I agree with John Crellin in the ToffeeWeb Mailbag.  He can be blamed for this current mess over the “will he won’t he…” saga.  He’s a big lad and as he has often shown on the pitch, won’t be intimidated.  Get a grip, Wayne, and decide one way or the other.  Better still, take a leap into the unknown and think for yourself, rather than letting your agent decide what colour socks you put on in the morning.

Incidentally, did the rest of the world receive the Sky coverage at a peak news time of Wayne’s Gran being interviewed in the Bingo Hall?  Maybe it was just reserved for Australian audiences but I watched with my wife and sons in a sort of stunned disbelief.  Surreal!

Anyway, enough of that; what of the new season?

Manager:  One of the best in the League.  Intelligent, hard working, honest and prepared to throw all his energy into the mammoth task at our club.  Last night at training I experienced the sort of rubbish from my U-16 team which Moysey put up with all last season.  The lads actually timed their moans badly.  Considering all I have read about Everton players for months now, I was ready for them!

Goalkeepers:  Martyn and Wright.  The first is top class and, if Wright avoids falling out of lofts this season, he will push Martyn all the way.  I often wonder what could have been if Nigel had chosen Everton over Leeds all those years ago.  Think of all the messing around we have done in between, trying to get a ‘keeper of his quality.

Defence:  A fit Naysmith, Yobo, Pistone and Hibbert.  We also missed Weir badly towards the end of the season.  Yes, I know he and Stubbs have no pace but I believe they still have important contributions to make.  Against Newcastle last season we stayed with them whilst he was on the pitch.  When he left the field it created a gap we couldn’t fill. 

I would have liked to see us recoup some of the money we paid for Pistone over the Summer but that looks unlikely.  Yes, I know he’s quality – yes, I also know he manages to injure himself tripping over a toffee paper.  Newcastle must have been “…laughing all the way to the Leeds” when they offloaded him and Big Dunc. 

I for one, was sorry to see Unsworth move on.  I know he had his failings but he is about the nearest thing we have to an honoury Scally and he did not deserve the vitriol levelled at him by certain areas of our ‘fans’.  Possibly the fact that he’s a Kopite meant Matteo’s chances of playing for us were slim but he would have added much-needed strength here.

Midfield:  Tim Cahill?  An unproven talent in the Premiership but we know that any player bought by Moyes will at least give us 100% effort for 90 minutes.  Would have liked to see Jermaine Pennant too but anyway.  Sorry Gravesen and Agent (they do appear to be attached at the hip, probably one reason why his performances are so erratic) — just go away and frustrate someone else. 

Can’t believe Murphy would make the short trip over the Park but I for one would welcome the part exchange with Gravesen.  Thomas may be quality but the proof of the pudding is in the eating and he has left us on starvation rations on too many occasions.  It’s one thing having a player like Unsworth who can frustrate due to a lack of skill but gives 100% every time.  In my book, there is no excuse for Gravesen’s undoubted ability but psychological ineffectualness.  Skill you can teach and persevere with.  Brain transplants come at a much higher price.

Talking of brains, or the lack of them, Muzzy Izzet would have been a fantastic buy but after his treatment by a section of our ‘support’ there was more chance of me winning Miss World.  To conclude this area, I think Osman will prove to a lot of people this season that he is good enough to play in the centre in the Premiership and we have also offloaded another honest but simply not good enough player in Linderoth.  We all know that it is easier to play in a good side but he and Gravesen suffer from the same affliction. They need good players around them if they are to really make a significant contribution. 

Kilbane and Watson? We are all aware they are not going to figure in many people's dream team but they are honest hard-working footballers.  I may be grasping at straws but when we cannot even interest the likes of Savage, then we have to rely on workers such as these two.  Maybe it is because I am a similar type of player but I have a thousand times more respect for the Watsons and Kilbanes of this world, than the likes of Ginola.

Attack:  Right, I must remain positive...  Not going down the road of “will he, won’t he” again.  McFadden HAS to play there.  If he can continually score for a weak Scottish side from that position, then he has to be the first name on the team sheet in that department.  Alongside him?  Thought that the Baby faced Assassin would have done well for us. 

From what I can see, he is our top scorer in pre-season games and maybe Campbell could still do a job, however, they have an expression here in Australia – “Old men were young once.”  What a tragedy that he got injured and wasn’t allowed to recover properly.  He needs to go, as does Dunc and stop bleeding the Club dry. 

If I had one criticism of Moyes it’s that younger players find it very difficult to break into the Senior squad.  I’ve always felt sorry for Nick Chadwick and never felt he was given a fair crack.  The match reports pre-season haven’t rated him too highly but a decent run in the first team may give him the confidence he badly needs. 

Bent?  All we can do is wait and see but again I have confidence in the Manager’s ability to bring in players who will give their all.  Quality comes at a price and we quite simply don’t have the money to buy it.  In the mean time, we may survive with workers in the team. We won’t survive with overpaid, over the hill mercenaries who play when it suits them.  Let’s look on the bright side again.  At least someone else is now paying Radzinski to miss the proverbial barn door.  He’ll have to be quick if he isn’t to miss the Olympics.  Sprinter, he may be; quality striker, he aint.

Like the man said – “I have a dream…” and in that dream our Blue squad is full of Scallies.  Real, in your face, “mind your car mate” Scallies.  Lads who care about the Club.  They are also on ‘pay as you play’ salaries.  It’s an interesting concept that much of the sporting world operates like this.  If Tim Henman goes out in the 1st round at Wimbledon he wins ‘X’ amount of money.  If he wins the title (please may he do so one day for my wife’s sake), he wins ‘Y’ amount of money. 

I know it’s only a dream but it would surely make a difference to how players competed.  Who actually had the bright idea of paying players the same amount, week in week out, whether they are rubbish or outstanding?  When you are a badge-kissing mercenary, you have to be motivated in some way and when we offer these individuals money whether they even play or not, they must think all their Christmases have arrived at once.  “But they only have short careers…”  Go jump in the lake.  They earn more in a week than real people earn in a year, so grow up a bit and put some of your thousands in the Bank instead of spending it.

Agree?  Disagree?  However you feel, spare a thought for my family at this time.  My sister has taught for two years at a Primary school in Preston.  A certain Premiership manager sends his two kids there and this September one of them was going to be in my sister’s class!  At last – access to the inside track of information at Goodison.  A chance to meet and chat with the man himself on a regular basis.  What a privilege!  Then she announces she is leaving the school.  We are all devastated.  What do they say about not being able to choose your family?

However, to finish on a positive note.  After owning a red car for the last three years, I have sold it and bought a blue one, a real Everton blue as well!  Now you can call it blind optimism but that just might swing it.  You doubt my word?  Wait and see, by November Lord Grantchester will have ploughed £40M into the Club, we will be in the top 6, Rooney will have told Stretford to take a hike and McFadden will be the top scorer in the Premiership – and all because I bought a blue X-Trail.  It’s quite simple really… now for World peace…

Andy McNabb