Season 2011-12 Fan Articles

Osama Bin Kenwright or Bill Baden Powell?

By Michael   Hegarty  ::  19/08/2011   38 Comments (»Last) Is Bill really the evil monster he is painted as by the majority of people that comment on Toffeeweb? I for one think not.

Yes, there have been cock-ups ? the biggest by far being the failure to land the Kings Dock when it was there for us on a plate. Things would be very different now if that had gone through.

But there are also many positives most notably Finch Farm and our increasing ability to produce top quality homegrown talent. This is vital to the future health of EFC because one day the Billionaires will get bored and leave, the Sky monopoly will end, and these sources of income will disappear/reduce. A half-decent young English player fetches circa £20M these days so, if we look at the Rodwell situation, we either get a good asset to the squad or a shedload of money if HE decides to move on.

I highlighted the ?HE? in the last sentence because I can?t recall any of our top players in the Kenwright era being sold against their will. In fact, we usually try so hard to keep them that they end up rejecting a record contract and going on strike to engineer a move.

I along with many others thought that the squad that had been amassed at the beginning of 2010-11 season was the best since the mid-eighties. The under-achievement on the pitch means that the extra source of income from Europe is not available to invest further in the team. This I?m afraid is a sign of the times... in fact, the only Premier League clubs with a positive net spend in this transfer window are the promoted clubs, the Champions League qualifiers and Liverpool & Wolves.

I am definitely in the minority and may be mad but I would hate to see a billionaire from the Far East take over and buy us a Champions League spot. It just wouldn?t sit right, watching 11 mercenaries on Goodison Park playing solely for the £200k per week wage and not at all for the blue shirt... but maybe that?s just me.

The squad is still not bad although we could really do with a decent striker. But what the club need to do is accept that there isn?t any transfer money available and plan to move forward using other methods. The Youth is bright and this is what the club should continue to focus on. Out of a core squad of 18; 11 Barcelona players came through their youth system. Let?s copy the Barcelona model long term and forget about trying to compete in the transfer market as it?s a false economy.

Bill is not perfect but give me him over Mike Ashley, Gillet & Hicks and the Venkys any day of the week.

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