Season 2011-12 Fan Articles

I can't take much more of this

By Matthew   Lovekin  ::  02/10/2011   68 Comments (»Last) I am and have been a proud and fanatical Everton fan for as long as I can remember, which is close to 30 years. I have seen the highs of an FA Cup Final win, trips into Europe and competitively competing in the transfer market and at the right end of the league table. The lows have been staring relegation in the face on the last day of the season.

However, it now feels like an all-time low. The reason is, that now, there is no hope... nothing to aim for, no future. As a club we are merely plodding along the highway of the Premier League, being overtaken by faster cars in the outside lane.

We have a chairman whose business decisions are so incompetent that he would be laughed out the room straight away by Alan Sugar on The Apprentice or by The Dragons. Kenwright?s cock-ups have included the spending of the never materialised NTL money, the Trevor Birch appointment/resignation, and the Kirkby ground move. There have also been the broken promises of the Fortress Sports Fund and the Walton Lane development, not to mention the biggest of all ? the Kings Dock disappointment.

There was also the player contract fiascos of Nyarko and Gosling. I don?t doubt Kenwright?s commitment to the club that he has also supported from a young age, but his refusal to sell the club to anyone other than a billionaire Evertonian who is prepared to waste his fortune is doing more harm than good as well as covering up his diabolical business decisions.

As mentioned, at least Kenwright is an Everton fan; we could?ve ended up doing a Leeds or Portsmouth with a new owner. Perhaps we are worse off? Those clubs will at least rise from the ashes one day. Everton have simply stagnated and therefore have nothing to play for.

It is not just our Chairman that gives us no hope. We have a manager that, despite getting all the plaudits for keeping us in the Premier League, plays the most defensive and mind-numbing football I can remember. There are barely no strikers in the squad following a list of previously ruined forwards. There are no playmakers and no creativity in the squad and not much pace either.

There is nothing in David Moyes?s workmanlike squad to get excited about. We develop a few good youngsters that either get poached by the bigger clubs or Moyes will refuse to give a decent chance. Ross Barkley impressed in his short time on the pitch then gets benched for the next few games. Vellios impresses but only gets ten minutes at a time, so Moyes can keep his favourite players happy.

If Everton are to stagnate or slowly decline, at least do it by trying to play decent football like Wigan or try to be entertaining like Blackpool. You never know, we might even improve with a few strikers, wingers or playmakers in the team! Moyes sent out a team away to Man City to simply get a 0-0 draw. When Rodwell got sent off yesterday, there was no Plan B, just get everyone apart from Saha behind the ball and defend for as long as possible.

I got fed up of watching England play after the last World Cup. They are simply a bunch of overpaid, overhyped, prima donnas that give the impression they don?t give a toss playing for their country.

I lost interest in the Premier League last season with the emergence of Man City. How or why can an average yo-yo club with hardly any history soon become the best team in the country if not Europe simply by spending billions that they don?t have? What other business would allow their company to spend an obscene amount of money, never likely to retrieve it, just for the fun of it?

It is purely fantasy football, played by Russians, Arabs and Americans with nothing better to spend their money on. It is not sport anymore, it is barely even a business now, it?s simply a joke. It may be fine if you are a fan of a top team challenging for honours, but being a fan of Everton, there is nothing to cheer. I?m sure fans of Bolton, Sunderland, Fulham and Blackburn feel the same.

For about a year now, I?ve simply been concentrating on Everton?s results on a match-by-match basis, almost like every game is a cup game, a one-off. I haven?t looked at the Premier League table; it?s of no importance to me. Everton won?t compete for the title, we won?t even challenge to get into Europe for the foreseeable future, it?s just a case of not getting too close to the relegation zone.

The last straw came yesterday. It?s bad enough with the football authorities (Premier League) conspiring against us but now we have the match officials blatantly against us as well. How anyone can say Rodwell?s tackle was a red card is a mystery. Even Souness said it wasn?t a red card. Justice should be Atkinson coming out publicly and saying he made a mistake, or the Premier League saying he made a mistake and suspending him for a time.

Even the FA knew what Clattenburg did was wrong as he hasn?t taken charge of an Everton game since, but they still didn?t come out publicly and say he did wrong. It?s because it?s Everton, we get pushed under the carpet by the FA and the Premier League. Why has Moyes lost his bottle speaking out against the FA? Moyes should criticise Atkinson on Sky Sports, in the media, anywhere he can, like he did with Clattenburg, until he gets an apology. So what if he gets a fine? He gets paid enough in his contract to be able to afford a fine.

I would rather have a manager like Holloway in charge who has strikers in the squad, because he knows you need to score goals to win games. Even if those strikers aren?t good enough for the Premier League, they are still going to score more goals than the options Moyes has at the moment. Holloway would also come out and berate the ref for a performance like that yesterday and take the fine. If it happened regularly enough, which is does to Everton, the FA would have to look into why it regularly keeps happening.

I know I?ll get criticised for wanting a manager like Holloway because he has suffered a relegation, but perhaps a relegation is what Everton need. Relegation might force Kenwright to leave; if not, it might force him to drastically reshape the club. For example, put a club wages cap of 50% of the club?s income. After other expenses are taken out, this should leave about 20% of the income, hence a transfer budget. At least then a manager will have something to work with.

Not even Jose Mourinho could come and save Everton at the moment as there is simply no money. It really can be that simple but Kenwright is so incompetent that he can?t see it. Instead, he has just increased all the player contracts until there is no more money and the bank have rightfully said no more borrowing.

I?ve read a few articles recently on this site from ?fans? giving up or losing passion for football and Everton. Well my passion for football has gone but I can?t give up on Everton. Everton is like an addiction but something has to change, and change quick because I can?t take much more of supporting Everton ? it?s bad for my health.

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