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Blasphemy or Sanity?

By Lee Mandaracas :  30/11/2010 :  Comments (19) :

I Don't Want A Sugar Daddy! ? Blasphemy or Sanity?

I know some will read this thinking it is another Blue Bill love-in...  It is not.  I will keep my opinion on that particular can of worms (and which side of that fence I sit on) to one side as I don't think I could handle the stress of trying to answer it even to myself!  No, this is more related to our apparently increasingly depressed manager.  Hard to believe... but clearly he has managed to be more dour than before of late!

I do not want a wealthy benefactor for our club because of David Moyes.  I do not have confidence in him with money and I believe the facts bear this out (fees quoted are maximum as many include performance bonuses, etc in the deal):

Disappointments

  • Krøldrup ? £5M purchase with a £1.6M minimum loss in just five months and merely a handful of minutes on the pitch.
  • Davies ? £4M and probably about right, with a decent deal selling him to Fulham for a price probably more at his level at £2.5M
  • Andrew Johnson ? £8.6M transfer record did go off the boil after a period once other teams sussed him out and I believe he was incredibly harshly treated with the whole 'diving for penalties' bollocks. Good business to get £12.5M from Fulham for him.
  • Bilyaletdinov ? Clearly talented and has a real spark of genius but we need an inferno in that team lately, not occasional sparks followed by lengthy disappearing acts. £9.5M is massively overpriced
  • Fellaini - Great talent and huge prospect as a talisman if he makes some tweaks to his temperament but £15M? Really?  [No; ?15M = £11.9M back then.... why does everyone get this wrong? ? Ed]
  • Heitinga ? £6.5M and breaking the wage structure for a player regularly played out of position who repeatedly wants to undermine the club and its standing by telling the world he wants away - not just verbally but by his performances on the pitch this season so far.
  • Saha ? Genius transfer to get his services for peanuts but how on earth did Moyes turn down an £8.5M bid for him from a Turkish club in the closed season window before last only to offer a new contract to a player who has clearly since decided to give up?
  • Yakubu ? £11.25M well spent initially and paid us back for the first two seasons but his record speaks for itself. He has never performed anywhere successfully for more than two seasons so why, in the twilight of his playing career (I?m sorry but 28 years old right now? Seriously? Come on!), would it be different for us. Clearly it is not.
  • Beattie - £6M transfer record deeply investigated for his temperament prior to purchase but apparently not deeply enough! Lucky to get as much as we did for him at £4.5M.

On the other hand we have these offerings

  • McFadden - £1.25M and sold to Birmingham for £6M. They now realise they paid well over the odds but that was a right result for us.
  • Yobo - £5M and every inch value as much as he has cost us dearly at times. Pound for pound he has been a great servant and good value. To be fair, if this loan deal comes to a transfer, we will make a tidy profit on an ageing player.
  • Bent - Sold for five times his purchase price of £450k. Excellent business by any standard for an ageing player with so many clubs behind him.
  • Cahill - How was he a mere £1.5M?
  • Arteta - See Cahill but at £2M.
  • Pienaar - See Arteta.
  • Jagielka - £4M is superb value.
  • Baines ? £6.5M and definitely proven himself after a settling period.

Then there were the two legendary transfers

  • Rooney - £30M to Man United. I believe this saved our club as it stopped us being ?Rooney FC? and gave us not only desperately needed funds but also a hotline to Man United for the services of Tim Howard, Phil Neville & Louis Saha. Whatever you think of these players, they have brought us excellent value for money (well, Saha certainly would if we had sold him when receiving that bid!)
  • Lescott - £26M was colossally over the rate he was worth but he wanted to go, he had to go and we were handsomely rewarded for his departure.

Upshot!

Here it is. At selling players and getting a decent price for those he wants to  or must dispose of Moyes is excellent. At discovering talent and unearthing gems for fantastic value I consider him second to none.. but if you look at the transfers in of £5m plus in particular during his tenure there is a distinct pattern of failure.

Personally, I have zero confidence that, if someone were to pump money into David Moyes?s transfer kitty, we would not end up like Pompey. The thing that saddens and worries me the most is that I have no clue who would be a better custodian... so, for now, I will be glad we have a shoestring for him to work with and hope he gets a turnaround in our fortunes on the pitch as all we need to keep this team together is slightly improved luck for a few games.

Phew... I think I need to sink into a bottle of Jameson?s!

Reader Comments (19)

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Ryan Holroyd
1 Posted 30/11/2010 at 21:18:51
"I believe this saved our club as it stopped us being ?Rooney FC?"

No, his transfer stopped us from becoming bankrupt.
Ernie McAllister
2 Posted 01/12/2010 at 01:56:11
Yobo - "£5M and every inch value as much as he has cost us dearly at times". Sorry, I completely disagree with that statement entirely.

The man was a afraid of his own shadow, regularly contributed to massive hoofball, more prone to nodding off and scoring own goals... just simply not good enough.

The moment we dropped him, the hoofball tended to disappear; the moment he arrived back in the team, hoofball returned.

I for am ecstatic he was got rid off... good servant, my arse!
Martin Faulkner
3 Posted 01/12/2010 at 03:09:27
Yobo - £5M of value? Wasn't he brought in on a season-long loan in Walter Smith's last year in charge? Then signed by Moyes in the summer after he took over?

My main concern with Moyes is who we didn't buy when we did have a wee bit of money. Darren Bent, linked a lot with us when he was at Leicester, mooted to team up both Bents, missed opportunity think he went to Spurs for £3.5 mil in the end.

Another that sticks out is Brede Hangeland, was well thought of but only Fulham actually backed it up with a bid; between him & Jags I know who I'd rather have. I'm sure there are quite a few more missed opportunities due to dithering, hard to tell if this is Moyes's fault or bullshit Bill's though.

Not giving Carsley another 2-year deal to end his days with us, we missed him for 2 years after he left.

Only signing one alcoholic winger in 8 years. There's been many a winger available on a free but Moyes can't bring himself to buy one or even pay wages for one. Zenden/Pennant/Petrov have all been available for loan or frees recently.

Bob Parrington
4 Posted 01/12/2010 at 06:01:36
Lee, I note your comment about the "increasingly depressed David Moyes. I think this sums it up. He needs a good second-in-charge if he is to stay at Goodison. That is, somebody that can lift him and his level of thinking. Moyes clearly has some great qualities but complete strategic understanding doesn't seem to be a strength and some aspects of his people skills seem to be lacking (er, is that an understatement?).

Injuries don't help consistency but I'm sure many of us are surprised regularly by his team changes.

Currently, I don't know what the right answer is to our predicament but I don't want to see us bought out be some sugar-daddy with no heart.
COYB
Neil Abraham
5 Posted 01/12/2010 at 07:33:16
Fellaini cost £15m, or ?18.5 according to the official site.

http://www.evertonfc.com/news/archive/fellaini-becomes-record-signing.html
Derek Thomas
6 Posted 01/12/2010 at 08:36:33
If the second-in-charge was that good, he would have the top job quick smart.

Moyes is the deadman walking, walking the blue mile. But, with BK's record, it might take a year ? as it did with Walter.
Brian Donnelly
8 Posted 01/12/2010 at 11:31:52
I suspect that Saha was given the option of going to Turkey and turned it down. The club would then have to act like it was the club's decision not to sell.
Peter Warren
9 Posted 01/12/2010 at 13:06:09
You forgot Richard Wright who I think cost £5m when we had no money and Mhyre was better.

Disagree with Fellaini who I believe is well worth £15m.
Jamie Tulacz
10 Posted 01/12/2010 at 13:36:37
Darren Bent actually cost Spurs £16.5M ? a bit out of our price range I think!

Think Moyes's transfer record is fairly decent (most managers make a few mistakes, look at some of the duds that SAF has signed over the years even). Though I agree that he is not always so good on the high price transfer.

Problem with the Lescott money last summer to a certain extent was that it was spent in a bit of a rush as we only sold him at the last minute. Still, presumably Moyes had time to scout a few players out beforehand.
Lee Mandaracas
11 Posted 01/12/2010 at 13:20:43
Ryan : The complete quote was "I believe this saved our club as it stopped us being ?Rooney FC? and gave us not only desperately needed funds but also a hotline to Man United for the services of Tim Howard, Phil Neville & Louis Saha." Reason for a partial, misrepresentative quote? I thought I had stated it gave us desperately needed funds. Your point is not in question

Earnie & Martin : I understand your perpective and have shared it often. Yobo was indeed a loan signing by Walter Smith and Moyes completed the permanent signing as his first. My belief is that he represented value for money when you consider we have had nine years of service from him and it looks like we can profit from the sell-on. I am willing to accept he has never realised the potential I initially believed he had. Definitely not of the calibre we deserve as a club but loyal, kept his head down and was worth the money. I just wish we could have afforded more cash for a better calibre player but that is a different matter altogether.

Peter Warren : Fair point. I think Moyes' signings for goalkeepers (with the exceptions of Howard that was probably only facilitated by the Rooney deal, and the aged but superb Martyn) have been woeful. I could never understand the relegation of Myhre behind the £5m Wright. In fact, our 'keepers have been a strange one. Simondsen tipped to be the next UK No 1. Same with Wright and Ruddy. Turner meant to be next Scotland No 1. I suspect this could have more to do with the coach and (as much as he may be a decent and knowledgeable bloke) I would love to replace Woods with Southall but this is far from an ideal world isn't it?
Joe Rourke
12 Posted 01/12/2010 at 13:57:36
@ Martin (#3)

Bent went to Charlton for £3M or so and on to Spurs for £15M or so, if memory serves me correctly. I think Joe Royle when he was Ipswich was attempting to give Everton the hint to sign him sharpish...

Yakubu a few years before went to Middlesboro for £7M after a good stretch at Pompey...should have got him then I think!

And there was Parker for £6M in 2005 but Moyes wouldn't pay the agent fee of £1M and we had to live with Phil Neville in midfield for years instead!

And we only got Cahill because Palace baulked at this wage demands... thank you Simon Jordan!

@ Lee (Author) - a nice balanced piece and food for thought though I don't agree with all your comments.

ps: Loss of Gosling for nothing as well? That was just silly in fairness...
James Stewart
13 Posted 01/12/2010 at 17:07:10
Coleman was a bargain that you missed.

But generally agree with most of it. I would not trust Moyes with spending big money on players as he tends to get it Wrong. Bemoaning the fact we don't have the money for Darren Bent is just infuriating when you did Moyes, you idiot! He went for £3M and you blew £6M on Beattie instead!
David Thomas
14 Posted 01/12/2010 at 17:17:23
Lee,

I don't remember Walter Smith being at the club with Yobo. As far as I am aware, Moyes brought him in on loan during his first summer at the club in 2002.
Ciarán McGlone
15 Posted 01/12/2010 at 17:30:54
Interesting that there's no room in the 'Moyes is fantastic at unearthing unknown gems' category for players such as Arnoux and Vidarsson...

For every Arteta there's 2 or 3 Peterlins.

Moyes has deficiencies in most areas.
Andy Crooks
16 Posted 01/12/2010 at 18:59:20
Ciaran, you make a very good point. Is there a club in the Premier League that doesn't unearth a mixture of duds and gems? I think David Moyes is overrated in this department.
Sam Hoare
17 Posted 01/12/2010 at 21:45:51
Ciaran to be fair, the likes of Peterlin and Arnoux cost peanuts. If you can unearth one Coleman (or maybe Gosling) for every 5 Vidarrsons you're probably making profit.

I agree with Martin Faulkner, it's the people we didn't go for that irks me. £9M on Bily with the likes of Pennant and Petrov on frees?
Martin Faulkner
18 Posted 02/12/2010 at 01:26:59
Jamie, my mistake, mate ? it was Charlton who actually got him for the £3mil mark... Joe you have a good memory.

What is it with Moyes and Strikers and Keepers?

Lee Mandaracas
20 Posted 02/12/2010 at 10:28:35
Message to the editor : By the way Michael, your correction of my £15m Sterling figure is at odds with the figure on the EFC official site that quotes £15m. Therefore, I think Neil Abraham is correct and you might want to reconsider challenging 'why does everyone get this wrong?'

Perhaps it is because everyone else is actually getting it right ;o)
Michael Kenrick
Editorial Team
21 Posted 02/12/2010 at 15:43:34
I do recall it was something of a mystery at the time Fellaini was signed. I think Lyndon researched it and concluded that it appeared most likely to be ?15M and not £15M.

However, there was also some amazement that we had actually paid such a fee for an unknown Belgian, and many were convinced it was a ploy to satisfy the baying mob who were at the time very frustrated with the lack of activity in the transfer window and wanted a big-fee signing.

Let's face it, they could tell us any price they want, and we'd have no alternative to accepting it. So £15M it is. I withdraw my correction.

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