Fans Comment
Paul Houghton

Dark transfer-window cloud
3 February 2006

I wrote earlier in December about the lack of management acumen which David Moyes has shown over the last 12 months and about how I thought he should be replaced as soon as possible. After having thought over my original input for a while and seeing yet another transfer window come and go with only major outgoings (approximately another £5M in the coffers) and one incoming (on a free) I have had other thoughts on a possible way in which Everton might improve this side of its business.

Everton's transfer dealings recently have been absolutely abysmal, and anyone who tries to put another spin on this should have all sharp objects removed from their vicinity and the men with the white coats called. Given the state of our squad, to have sold two players (one from the position we desperately needed to strengthen) and to have only brought one in is nothing short of disgraceful. However let’s look at those dealings a little closer:

Marcus Bent – Ever since Beattie arrived he has been running round with an enormous chip on his shoulder and his performances since then have shown just why he has had near enough a club a season. So his selling has not made me shed any tears but to have sold him without anyone coming in almost immediately most certainly has. To have done this can only be described as gross negligence, especially when you consider the managers statements of only a few months earlier which echoed the feelings of everyone who has had a look at the premier league table over the last two years ……..”we are in need of a striker.”

Per Krøldrup – Having hardly even seen this man play football I cannot make any judgements on his ability other than to say Italian football which prides itself on its defending ability wanted him back at the drop of a hat. I can only put the lack of first team chances down to Per not enjoying life in Britain and his unhappiness transmitting itself into his general demeanour around the training ground hence the lack of first team games. In my humble opinion if you have a player who is unhappy for these reasons and is not performing to your expectations the only sensible decision was to get rid of him and try to minimise your losses on the transaction. What we have lost on this transaction I don’t think we will ever really know so its not worth commenting on this aspect. I would only say it’s a shame that this lad couldn’t settle because I think we could have had a top quality defender on our books but c'est la vie.

Alan Stubbs – I will say no more other than after selling Per Kroldrup we were desperately short in the middle of defence and bringing him in as a short term measure makes sense. I know there is the baggage of the Rooney affair and his comments against the club with respect to the clause in his contract concerning his cancer problems, but looking beyond that I thin k this decision is on the whole sensible (after all we don’t want another Kroldrup type problem lots of money for little gain).

So after my brief analysis of our January transfer dealings I’ll say what my main problem is with the way Everton seem to be conducting their transfer dealings. I’ll try and explain this by way of example; would you allow someone with no experience to negotiate major deals which could cost your company millions of pounds? I for one would not. This appears to me to be a big flaw in the way we deal in the transfer market. Moyes appears to be obsessed with the amount paid for the players he wants “I wont pay over what I feel is the going rate for a player”. As the manager of the football team he shouldn’t be giving a toss about how much has been paid for the players in his team. The amount paid should be put down to his chief executive who is used to dealing with large sums of cash and should do his dealings for him, It should be up to the hierarchy to decide on the wage structure and not Moyes he should be left to manage the team only!!! Don’t get me wrong he should be kept abreast of transfer negotiations and if we don’t get a player for financial reasons he should be told and at the end of the day either accept those reasons or kick up a stink about it. I can hear it now…. “yeah but Billy Liar and Bully beef wont tell him the truth about those dealings”, that may also be true but I firmly believe that the manager should not be in charge of the amount the club pays for players or how much those players are paid (as long as it is within a decent wage structure).

On my way home from work I listen to the legends phone in and a lot of talk has recently focussed on this aspect and the possible use of a “Director of Football”, I, like Sharpy, don’t like the idea as I think it can cause unnecessary friction between the clubs management team (David Pleat anybody?), that’s why I am advocating that this should be Wyness’ job so that Moyes’ toes don’t get trod on.

I can only see one glint of silver to this lack of transfer dealing cloud which is hanging over us at the moment and that is the youth team players may now get a chance to start to prove themselves. Anichebe for one, although only on the field for 5 minutes, looked like he could be a bit of handful certainly be the way he muscled out Terry while putting onto a plate a good chance to win it only for the idiot Ferguson to fluff his shot as he has done so many times for us in the last 9 and a half years (legend ??? give me a break the likes of Barry Horne and Graham Stuart deserve more recognition in Everton folklore than him).

After all that I am genuinely pleased about our recent run of results and only a few more out of the remaining 14 games will see us to safety (but with such a depleted strike force I can only see this happening over the 14 games rather than in the next 4). To think we had a chance of reaching safety so soon is something that a month or so ago I didn’t think I had a chance of saying, so you’ve got to say well done to the team and Moyes for that. However, I am still in the Moyes out camp but I firmly believe that no matter what the opinions are of those critical of Moyes he is going nowhere.

Having said all that if results and performances continue to improve, along with our transfer dealings in the summer, I may be able to be persuaded to move to the Moyes in camp, but it will take a sustained improvement over the next 12 months to do that considering the damage the last 12 months of ineffectual and dire performances has afflicted on me, not a run of results (Arsenal and Chelsea excepted) which have been against teams struggling as much as we have been (although you could say Arsenal are a struggling team after last nights result.)

Here’s to the summer transfer window and to lots of bids for lots of strikers just short of the actual amount of cash needed to get them.

Come on you Blue boys!!!!!!

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