My Christmas message to Roberto

Brian Porter 20/12/2015 31comments  |  Jump to last

Dear Mr Martinez,

I was born in 1953, became a fan in 1959 when my Dad and Uncle George took me to Goodison Park for the first time. Since that time, I have been privileged to witness our Championship winning teams of 1963, 1970, 1985 and 1987. I was at Wembley for our stunning comeback to win the FA Cup in 1966 (have you heard of Mike Trebilcock?), saw us win again in 1984 and 1995 and watched on TV as we lifted the European Cup Winners Cup, also in 1985, as well as a few close-run title challenges and losing finals along the way.

I mention the above purely to illustrate not only my own history of following this once great club, but to make the point that you seem incapable, despite your continued rhetoric and talk of the club's history, to realise that you are rapidly losing the fans' belief that you are capable of emulating even one of those historical achievements.

I have seen pretty much the good, the bad, and the ugly of our teams over those years... but, even in our darkest days under Mike Walker, our team had fight and tenacity – though not always the skill to bring results as we wished – but then Mr Walker did not have at his disposal a £28 million striker or the wealth of talented players you have to select a team from.

I'm sad to say that it is becoming an embarrassment to watch our team (note, the 'our team' – not yours), imploding week after week when players of this calibre are capable of so much more. I blame you, Mr Martinez, because, as a former business manager, it is my belief that in any business, success or failure is measured by the performance of those in charge. Good management invariably leads to good results in any type of endeavour; poor management produces poor results. A very simple equation but one you are failing to live by with your inability to see what the fans have seen for a long time.

You 'play favourites', ie, you insist on backing a goalkeeper who the fans and indeed many pundits around the world can plainly see is no longer fit for purpose; you insist on playing 'your man' Arouna Kone, week after week when he obviously is no longer 'in a good moment' as you call it; and you refuse to use players such as Kevin Mirallas who at least offers you a different option. Steven Naismith scored a hat-trick against Chelsea but is now talking of leaving the club due to lack of game time, which leads to my next point: your record of (non-)substitutions.

Again, you often appear blind to what is happening on the pitch and have a tendency to wait until the last 10 minutes (if at all), before making substitutions which are usually (as against Leicester) a case of too little, too late. Perhaps if you had used players like Mirallas and Naismith over the last few weeks with at least 30 minutes to play, not only might they have made game-changing contributions but they might not now be on the cusp of leaving the club. Who's going to score the goals in the second half of the season if Lukaku gets injured?

In short, you have had 2½ years to mould this talented squad into a top-four challenging team and have failed miserably. No defensive organisation, no plans to make the most of set-pieces, and no instilling of pride and leadership on the field. Abject capitulation appears to be the hallmark of your teams and all the rhetoric and words like 'phenomenal' and "we must learn" mean nothing any more because we are not 'phenomenal' and we are not learning – at least not under your blinkered and arrogant style of management.

So, thank you for making an old(er) fan very unhappy this Christmas – unhappy to see the shambles you have made of the team I have supported and loved for longer than you have been alive. I hope you and your family enjoy your Christmas but I assure you that not many Evertonians will be enjoying the usual festive fare we are likely to see on the pitch over the holiday season. Peace on earth, goodwill to all men does not extend to gifting goals to the opposition. Please try to remember that as you make your team selections in the coming weeks.

Sincere regards,

Brian Porter

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Reader Comments (31)

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Reg Gates
1 Posted 20/12/2015 at 15:53:07
100% correct, nothing to add except can we get rid of him now so we can all have a good Christmas?
Chris Regan
2 Posted 20/12/2015 at 16:06:42
Cowards from top to bottom, no bottle for the fight. Kenwright and the board, Roberto, the team... show no desire and ambition.

Alex Ferguson, hated and detested his opponents, he psychopathically hated them. Our club just don’t have that same ruthless drive. That’s why he won so many trophies when we have won just one since the eighties.

Anthony Tully
3 Posted 20/12/2015 at 16:14:18
I have been watching Everton since 1950 and remember the good years like yourself.

But I feel we should all calm down and have a look at the league table. If Man Utd were top of the league, would we be so enraged if we had been beaten by them or are we jealous of the form of Leicester?

My opinion of the game yesterday was we played all the football, and yes, we could and should have changed it earlier... but I don’t think Mirallas with his attitude helps. Naismith was injured. We also have to remember we have had Baines, Coleman, Jagielka, McCarthy, & Besic injured.

I feel the next month is crucial and then we should look at where we are.

Bill Gall
4 Posted 20/12/2015 at 16:44:16
Excellent letter Brian that expresses the feelings of quite a number of older supporters. I was born in 1940 lived in Scarisbrick rd and first became a supporter in1952 after playing on Goodison Park for the school.

Remember M.Trebilcock as he used to come into the Broadway pub with some friends and he even came in on either the Monday or Tuesday after the cup final. Hardest thing I ever done was leaving Everton by emigrating to Canada in 1976 but have always returned for holidays in the September and October after checking the fixtures .

Went to the 1984 & 1995 finals through a travel agent in Canada that provided tickets, and cant say how much money I have spent over the years travelling back and forth watching Everton ,but every penny was worth it even if a lot of the games were not.

People comment on OFM. and the present manager. To me the difference is OFM took over a poor team, struggled at the beginning but with not a great deal of funding compared to today, gradually brought us up to a respectable position in the league, but in the end was not able to bring us up to the next level. This may have been because of lack of funding or the level he achieved was the highest level he was capable of obtaining.

Our present manager seems to be the opposite of OFM as he was given a good team, played well brought us up to a higher level, promised us a better future with a different style and philosophy and now is starting to struggle, we are getting poor results, and he may be starting to loose the support from the supporters. Mr Martinez has been given ample funding to build a good squad but a mid table position seems to be the level his style and experience of coaching can achieve.

Wonder if our Chairman and Board will ever get it right.?

Jay Harris
5 Posted 20/12/2015 at 16:47:42
Brian,
Being of a similar age and vintage I totally share your frustration.

We have the best collection of talent we have had in a long time capable of being consistent top 4 if managed. organized and motivated properly.

I was shocked and disappointed with Martinez appontment at the time when we were consistent top six and felt we could have attracted a much better manager than one who had just got his team relegated with a record number of goals against.

We were told he was a progressive manager who would break eggs with a big stone ( "I will get you CL me Chairman").

Now two and a half years later and after the worst season in recent history we are asked to be patient while good experienced pros who can score goals at this level are being allowed/encouraged to leave the club to get more game time.

Roberto you have shown an ability to talk the talk but not walk the walk.

Statements like "It is a squad game" and "We must defend better" and then send the same team. formation and tactics onto the pitch and expect better results is tantamount to madness or obstinacy or both.

Rob Halligan
6 Posted 20/12/2015 at 17:08:05
Good message, Brian. But unless you print it off, bang it in an envelope, put a first class stamp on (too late for second class now if you want it to reach Goodison before Christmas) I doubt Martinez reads ToffeeWeb so is unlikely to see it.
John Pickles
7 Posted 20/12/2015 at 17:17:01
I like and agree with a lot of your sentiments but I still have the ’Kendall Phenomenon’ at the back of my mind. The ’what if we just need to click and it’s anytime now’ feeling.

No-one saw the multi-trophy winning team of the 80s coming but it just took one bad back pass at Oxford (my first away game) and we became a different team.

We have fantastic talent throughout this team. Okay, Tim at his best was not in Neville’s league and Tim’s best was years ago, but what if it all is just about to click, what if...!

Paul Saleh
9 Posted 20/12/2015 at 18:00:22
Can't defend and won't defend, reminiscent of Wigan. My Christmas message to Roberto is learn to defend or do one.
Steve Davies
10 Posted 20/12/2015 at 18:55:06
Great article, Brian. Martinez needs to show a set and drop his favourites. All great managers show a ruthlessness. How Howard continues to get a game astounds me when he has Robles on the bench. What does he have to do to get dropped? Give away a needless penalty? Oh he did that yesterday.

If he cannot fix that obvious weakness, he hasn’t got a hope in hell of sorting the rest. It is an excellent squad but RM is a hopeless tactician. Win, lose or draw I never listen to him being interviewed before or after a game as he talks nonsense.... COYB

Charles Brewer
11 Posted 20/12/2015 at 19:32:39
Brian, as a fellow 1953-er I find much to sympathise with in your letter. Looking at things slightly differently, I see that yesterday we dominated possession 67 - 33, and that today, our "pals" across the park, had rate of 66-34, identical.

Liverpool’s hammering 3-0, has been blamed by the press on an awful display be the Liverpool second goalkeeper, and while Tim Howard had a decent-ish match yesterday, it does seem the both teams have much the same in the way of problems: very high possession leading to minimal chances and few goals (Lukaku is probably the best, or joint best striker in the Premier Leagueand still not winning), very dodgy goalkeeper, leading to a chaotic and terrified defence.

Yesterday, Schmeichel, while not as good as his father, showed what a dominant goalkeeper can do, and how easy it is for a resolute defence to look untroubled even when under siege. While Vardy has clearly had an outstanding season to date, the solidity of the goalkeeper must be a major contributor to Leicester’s success to date.

I thought both Everton’s goals yesterday were excellent, because only excellence was going to have any effect. Leicester’s goals were all on the "spawny" side, two dodgy penalties neither of which coming from a situation which looked in the least dangerous and one bit of hara-kiri defence when Row Z would have been a sane option.

Lacking a thug in charge of the defence, Everton desperately need a new confident, dominating goalkeeper. As I understand it, this is one of the cheapest positions to buy, but surely one of the most important.

It is depressing to call in aid of an argument the team we probably dislike more than any other, but the evidence is clear.

Andy Riley
12 Posted 20/12/2015 at 19:35:48
I think the basics of Kendall 84 is there and there could be a possibility of a repeat – but we need a leader on the pitch with some real drive as we had then with Peter Reid and Andy Gray. Is Wayne Rooney the answer if some sort of deal could be sorted out?
Clive Rogers
13 Posted 20/12/2015 at 20:25:53
Andy, no he isn't. He's fading fast.
Colin Hughes
14 Posted 20/12/2015 at 20:38:21
Forget Rooney, any deal to bring him back here would involve Stones or Lukaku going the other way.That would be a step backwards for us.
Michael Penley
15 Posted 20/12/2015 at 20:42:42
If Tim Howard is such a big influence on the pitch like Martinez says he is, why didn't he shout at Stones to get back in position for the throw in that led to the 3rd goal, instead of leaving him waiting at the corner flag. I know Stones should take responsibility for that, but as the senior player and goalkeeper of the team I think Howard needs to be more commanding in situations like that. Organising the defence is one of his responsibilities.
Raymond Fox
16 Posted 20/12/2015 at 21:16:26
Charles it make a change to read a post that has a different slant on it than its 'all the managers fault'

It does seem a trend that 'lesser teams' are using smaller quicker players to their advantage against shall we say the ' pure footballing team' if such an animal exists.

None of or players fit that MO, maybe we could do with 1 or 2 ourselves.
Quite a number of the best Prem. players are small, Aguero 5' nothing, Silva the same, Hazard and Willian both small, and theres Vardy and Mahrez for Leicester + I'm sure a few others that don't spring to mind.
The main advantage they have is that their quicker over a short distance than your bigger player eg Vardy v Stones yesterday.

Ian Hollingworth
17 Posted 20/12/2015 at 21:20:42
Excellent Brian and spot on. Martinez is wasting a great opportunity we have with a decent set of players. We need a manager who will get the signings we need and manage the team to get the very best from them. Martinez was not the man, is not the man and never will be the man for the job. Every day we cling on to him is a day wasted as he is not up to the job.

Early in the season we said we had a hard run of games but a more winnable sequence of games was coming. Now as we have won only one of those winnable games we are talking about the importance of the next month.

When will the penny drop? Show some real ambition Everton please.
Andy Riley
18 Posted 20/12/2015 at 21:32:35
Clive - I remember myself and the majority of other fans being distinctly underwhelmed when Andy Gray signed but he galvanised a young underperforming team. Wayne Rooney could do the same.
Nick Entwistle
19 Posted 20/12/2015 at 22:59:42
A lot of people said they'd take mid table if we won with 3-2s under Roberto. Of course that also means a shite load of losing 3-2s. Top half under this numbnuts its a good season. Sack him and get Mourinho.
Peter Murray
20 Posted 20/12/2015 at 23:19:20
Totally agree EVERTON NEED A LEADER – with some fight, oh for another Reido. Somebody who can galvanize players, not as it currently appears, just turning up. Unfortunately showing no PRIDE or comprehension of what an actual fan at least expects from an EVERTON player – ALWAYS!!!

F I G H T

Mark Andersson
21 Posted 21/12/2015 at 01:21:18
I’m sure you feel better after venting your frustration Brian, I will never cease to be amazed that still some fans cling onto the hope that we are just the next game away from it all just clicking into place.

Kendall was a brilliant man manager Roberto is not. Kendall was blue to the bone, Roberto is not. Kendall was a brilliant footballer, did Roberto even play?

We are one game away from been sucked into the relegation trap, with players who have no fire or fight in their bellies under Roberto.

The debate over Rooney is interesting but I don’t think he would make any difference playing for a fool like Roberto and Roberto would not want Rooney contradicting his inept tactics.

Amit Vithlani
23 Posted 21/12/2015 at 10:23:40
Nice letter, Brian, although I was surprised to find that you found evidence of us having had "fight and tenacity" in the Mike Walker era.

I recall only one match under Walker where we showed any fight and that was 3-2 against Wimbledon. We may have won a few other games but my recollection of those dark days was that the oppo in those games did not put up any sort of fight.

Subsequently, the aspersions cast against Hans Segers made the one game where we showed any bottle a little dubious.

Otherwise, I wholeheartedly agree with the gist of your post. Mr Martinez has undoubtedly fashioned a team which says more about him than it does about the great history of our club.

Along the way, we have lost the organisation, discipline, grit and effort that was the hall mark of many of our less talented teams.

Dennis Ng
25 Posted 21/12/2015 at 18:07:09
My Christmas (and New Year’s) List:

- Get a defensive coach
- Get a new GK
- Get a defensive coach
- Get a defensive coach
- Get a defensive coach

If we’re stuck with RM, at least I want to see how he reacts to contrasting ideas of how a game should be played when complemented by a defensive coach to patch the big hole in his training and tactics.

John Aldridge
26 Posted 21/12/2015 at 19:39:41
Spot on Brian, great summary of what is wrong with Everton at the moment. As others have commented, I would end the message by pleading for him to leave and give us a chance to salvage what is left of the season. My fear is that we keep playing like this and our "Fab Four" will be heading towards the exit door when we should be building a top four team around them.
John Aldridge
27 Posted 21/12/2015 at 19:45:22
Interestingly, I saw how Thierry Henry just described how Barcelona we drilled to play:

The first two thirds of the pitch – stay in position, trust your teammate on the ball
The final third – you’re free to do what you want.

It struck me as I know it has been mentioned a lot that Martinez is trying to get us playing like Barcelona and it seems this is true. The trouble is, he just hasn’t got the tactical nous of a Pep Guardiola. In fact his tactics beggar belief at times. I truly think he is deluded and totally out of his depth,

Eddy Grundy
29 Posted 22/12/2015 at 12:35:52
Totally agree with so many of you, 2½ years is enough to say we have stayed calm and that knee-jerk reactions are best left for other clubs but, for goodness sake, enough is enough – either fix it, Roberto, or fall on your sword.

Personally I’m sick of the sound bites we hear from you; taking Wigan down to the Championship wasn’t a fluke – you couldn’t set the defence up properly and your weakness has followed you to our club.

Most of us work on our weaknesses to improve – home, work or sport – but you are too stubborn to concede that you have a weakness.

Andrew Brookfield
31 Posted 23/12/2015 at 04:03:36
Dear Mr Martinez,

I just wanted to say thank you; and ask for your strength from disillusioned Everton fans.

Prior to your arrival we had Mr Moyes, a man I admired for what he had done. But towards the end the Everton fans became disgruntled, so let’s look at the reasons:

Dour Dave they called him – instead of staring each season suggesting we would be luckily to finish in the top half, you aim for top four, we may be missing it, but at least we have some hope at the start of the season.

Moyes doesn’t blood youngsters they said – you’ve brought through Barkley, Stones, Galloway – the future looks bright.

We played defensive football and it’s boring to watch – thank you, you addressed this, we play some amazing stuff now.

We can’t attract top talent, they said – thank you, you’ve addressed this. Players like Lukaku and Deulofeu make me proud.

We don’t have the money to compete, they said – and we still don’t – but despite spending less than most in the league you have bought very well.

So from what I can see you’ve taken a hard to beat team with top 7 ambitions and created confidence and excitement. Fans expect top four finish now, players want to come to Everton to play for you, pundits wax lyrical about our style. The team is not without fault, we need to be stronger defensively. But it’s much more exciting now than it was 3 years ago.

Have a good Christmas Bobby, ignore the critics. You’re doing an okay job.

Robbie Shields
33 Posted 23/12/2015 at 05:12:28
Andrew #32, great post, agree with all your points and they are well made. Having said that and despite being a big Martinez fan, the other posts in this thread have a lot of validity in them.

Personally I believe that we are still too nice, despite not kicking the ball out twice against Leicester. We need someone with balls to drag these bastards every inch of the way to the very top. Rooney could do it. Howard needs to go, he's cost us at least 12 points now this season, enough is enough.

Get Rooney, get rid of Howard, get organised defensively for corners, get nasty and stuff everyone from now on Martinez, it's time to deliver.

Michael Polley
34 Posted 23/12/2015 at 06:15:19
Totally agree with everything mentioned. Is there any light at the end of the tunnel???
Jack Cross
36 Posted 24/12/2015 at 16:40:09
Instead of jabbering on about Martinez, this and Martinez that (me included) why don't we all (who attend the match) not go to the next home game? And show this board enough is enough.
Harold Matthews
37 Posted 24/12/2015 at 18:24:51
I watched Leicester the other day. I also watched Arsenal and Palace. With all three teams, the thing which stood out was their organization, determination and energy OFF the ball, whether it be at set pieces or open play. The opposition had trouble finding space to operate.

When they do have the ball, these teams do not allow defences time to organize. They do not spend five minutes passing the ball sideways and backwards.

Merry Christmas.

Helen Mallon
38 Posted 24/12/2015 at 19:00:04
Brian Porter, have you sent this letter to Roberto? I hope you have because it will do no good just posting it here as you will just get people agreeing with you.

I don’t agree with all of your letter but I do agree with the substitution part. I believe we would have won three games we have drawn if he had put Naismith and Mirallas on at half-time... and he should have dropped Barkley and Howard.


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