Sleepwalking to Disaster, Part III — The Incurable Romantic

A perfect summary of where things stand at this point in time.

So well written and an excellent read.

The circus is still in town I see. Looks like Bill has donned the red coat and top hat once again.

Couldn't make it up.

Whoever gets it even if it's Martinez needs all the fans to get behind it from the start as with unity now then relegation looks inevitable! And where we go from the there doesn't bear thinking about.

Awful place to be but we are 6 points above drop, surrounded in the table by average and poor teams and still in the FA cup. Unity can get us out of this complete mess!

He makes his excuses, says you don't really need a decent roof, a sound electrical system is a luxury, windows are optional. You dispense with his services half-way through the contract.

Because of your own foolishness in agreeing to the contract terms, he successfully sues you for the full contract price.

Would you consider employing him again a few years later?

Tony - don't they say if you really love something then left it go - I don't see BK letting go anytime soon and it will take months to clear out FF

Moshiri can be blamed for not getting rid of this leech years ago, but in my opinion cannot be blamed for much else. He's hired managers who let him down badly. He's pumped millions into the club on players who have let the club down badly, bought by DOF's and played by managers who have let the club down badly. Who can honestly say the appointment of Ancelotti was a bad one? FFS, the man is renowned throughout world football, won everything going and we couldn't believe we got him. Same with Benitez. Managed at top European clubs, won major honours everywhere, but at the time of his appointment it was his RS connections that put everyone off, plus his “Small club” jibe.

So for me, Kenwright is the cancer, the poison within the club. FFS, he's never had a pot to piss in, in terms of owning a football club. He had to get a consortium up to buy out Peter Johnson. He had to re-mortgage his house to “save the club”. What does he own, Buckingham Palace?

KENWRIGHT OUT!

We had a millionaire owner when billionaires were taking over.

We get a billionaire when nation states are taking over.

Abramovich ditches Ken Bates and adds ruthless professionals with ambition. We keep Bill and add old boys with nostalgia.

We scratch around for a subsidised identikit stadium. Sunderland build the Stadium of Light.

We have an erratic non-footballing owner advised by Mr Yesteryear Bargain-Hunter and a self-serving unlicensed agent. At our lowest point in years we have the least amount of talent to solve the most complex set of issues with the most amount of ill-fitting players playing the worst level of football.

Big Dunc, Rooney, 35 year old German doing well with Höffenberg 1845 - doesn't matter, it's going to end in tears unless 'Paul The Esk' approved management recruits are drafted in and Moshiri accepts its a business and not his train set.

My first time on ToffeeWeb. We are a complete mess with no light at the end of this very dark tunnel.

Having supported the Blues since 1967, I'm at a loss of how we get out of this. Big Duncan and Baines till the end of season but it's a big gamble that, if it fails, will destroy the status of two players that are looked upon by many as legends.

God knows what we do but I don't think my heart could take another final-day survival.

I mean right now even mediocrity would be welcome. That's what we've been reduced to.

I agree he must go, if he really loves the club he should resign.

As for the family feel - Everton is an ageing mother struggling in a dilapidated home to control her feuding kids from 6 different fathers whilst her overbearing uncle introduces her to a sugar daddy to keep his promise to a dying nana that he'd look after her since dad John Moores moved out and left her illegitimate sister, still in the original family home, with all his money.

Doesn't matter who the manager is, Kenwright will ruin anyone who gets in his way.

Wake up Evertonians.

"When other clubs have problems they think... What would Everton do to fix this".
Can't lose can we? All together now.

We're gonna win the league.

He has gotten away with all of these mistakes because he has foolishly thrown a lot of money at the club and put us on the road to a new stadium. The price we are paying is simply not worth it because we are a total embarrassing club.

Our football is atrocious, we have multi-millionaire managers, coaches and players earning more in 1 year than most of us earn in 30 years and yet not one of them is top class and worth the money.

We are all being fooled in our blind faith towards the club we support. It's about time we let these fuckers know we won't take any more crap decisions being made. I'd much rather have a solid team and good manager challenging for trophies than free-falling into oblivion and a new stadium.

Moshiri can fuck off if he allows Martinez back because it will show that he is not in control of his mind and Bill is in control of the club.

Potter was being criticised by Brighton fans earlier in the season when they went on a sticky patch, even booing at the ground. The guy could have a mediocre second half of season and get sacked or overlooked for other high profile jobs.

The thing that will turn his head is simply money. Let's face it, that is why Ancelotti came and Koeman before him.

I'm not sure if Potter would be a success, but he is flavour of the month and many halfwit pundits and ToffeeWebbers seem to think he is too good for us.

If they had been his first suggestion, the Evertonians in the main would not have been happy. However, if the choice is Martinez or those two, it's a case of the lesser of two evils. In my opinion, whoever comes in will fail while the current owner and chairman are in place.

The only reason Everton will stay up is the fans at Goodison getting behind the players 100% for the rest of the season. After that, who knows... but, until someone is put in charge of the club who knows how to run it professionally, nothing will change.

"But while the former Swansea and Wigan Athletic boss was able to layer a youthfully exuberant and positive attacking outfit replete with Romelu Lukaku on top of the defence he inherited from Moyes and briefly “reopen the School of Science” as he guided the club to its best-ever points haul in the Premier League era, it was "lightning in a bottle" that faded away very noticeably after that."

Now you either explore the options "Why?" at this point or go for the route of least resistance... mumbling "He was just shite".

Personally, I thought the loanee recruitment of Lukaku and Deulofeu and the promotion of Stones and Barkley – together with the acquisition of Barry and a fit McCarthy – the most remarkable bits of business this club had seen since the '60s.

Now, what if he had been presented with real money to abandon the lucky dip method of loanee trading?

What if Oviedo had stayed fit and Baines, Howard, Coleman, Jagielka, Pienaar, Osman and all other remnants of the trophyless regime had been replaced with decent players?

No one will ever know. But, prior to Everton, he won stuff at Swansea and then incredibly at Wigan. Since then, he has taken Belgium to their highest ever tournament finishes, beaten only in the latter stages by the eventual winners.

To the flag wavers of Wigan's relegation, if you don't understand Whelan was orchestrating a controlled descent back to their comfort zone out of the Premier League, you haven't being paying attention.

Ludicrous piece but, as I've said elsewhere, this is exactly the reason Martinez should not return – the poison here is beyond irrational.

That said, I don't buy into the claim that he has 'failed' with the 'Golden Generation' of Belgium football. He has taken a minority football nation to the semi-finals of the World Cup and the quarter-finals of the Euros, narrowly losing both games to a couple of football superpowers in epic ties to the eventual tournament winners. That's an achievement.

I certainly didn't want him when Everton recruited him. When we contracted him, I bulk emailed my mailing list with just a subject line, no text, 'Fucking Martinez???!!!'

By the end of his first season, I was a convert. He had us playing scintillating football, both home and away, against all levels of opposition. He got us a record 72 points in the Premier League era.

But then, immediately going into season two, it all stalled. The rapier-like counter-attacking with essentially the same players turned to tediously slow backwards and sideways passing which made no headway into the opposition's penalty area.

This was compounded by the meagre 39 goals conceded in his first season growing to 50 in his second season, then 55 in his third season.

Defensively, we were doing a Wigan, as they too followed a similar pattern under Martinez until they were relegated.

The Martinez I feared when I sent my curt email on his appointment was coming to the fore, as confirmed by some of his more bizarre comments with regard to never doing training groundwork on offensive and defensive dead-ball plays.

All that said, has anyone watched the excellent BBC documentary, available at this YouTube link:

Roberto Martinez: Whistle to Whistle

It was aired last summer around the time of the Euros.

There is a lot to admire in the man, not least of all his implementation of data gathering on all football matches in Belgium, in particular of Belgium nationals.

Nationwide they have implemented a Wide Angle program which films entire games so you can see the entire pitch and all that happens on it.

Not just professional games, but amateur, development and women's football also.

A videoed game is tied into sophisticated data gathering which, as Martinez explains himself in the documentary: “The data doesn't drive the conversation. What you see in the video gets supported by the data.”

The Belgian football headquarters has a team of data analysts who crunch the data and then present it in easy-to-access visual format, which Martinez and his coaches can do on huge TV screens to improve a team's collective performance and that of individual players.

I still don't want Martinez as our next manager, now or ever, least of all in the precarious position we currently find ourselves in.

However, not now but in the future he could make a helluva Director of Football with the innovation and attention to detail he is evidently applying to the benefit of Belgian football.

Dave (5), the "why" is that I think he genuinely believes he is the best man for Everton. He does love the club, I have no doubt about that, but loving oneself and the Blues don't have to be mutually exclusive!

Barry (30), I don't play to anyone. I just write what I feel and believe to be true; you either agree or you don't.

There was plenty to admire about Martinez – those early pieces of transfer business were very astute, he bought into the history of the club and had some excellent ideas over how to develop the academy. As Jay (32) says, he could make a terrific DoF in years to come.

But your defence of him ignores all of those really alarming instances I listed in the piece and you cannot tell me that we weren't on a worsening trajectory under his stewardship. I remember what it was like at the end, particularly with that Anfield derby and those really miserable defeats at Leicester and Sunderland; his stubbornness had us heading in the wrong direction and the fans couldn't wait to get rid of him.

Kenwright is a fan and loves the drama and excitement like we all do.

On these pages every week we have people with all different points of view in how things should be done or who was great and who is rubbish. We all have opinions.

In Kenwright's position after 25 years of bull nobody listens to him or much cares for the man. He is the pantomime villaine and he loves the attention.

If I was in his position and had the charge sheet of kings dock, Kirkby, Rooney, Sheikh Mansor (does anyone have evidence of this), I would have walked away long ago giving another blue the chance to run things.

He is turning into a PFA Gordon Taylor, FIFA Sepp Blatter or even a Mugabe character. Unless someone (Moshiri) boots him out of the club, he will never resign from his position.

To be a healthy club, we need regular elections for these positions not just people feeding their own egos. The man has made himself rich off the back of Moshiri but incredibly still clings on to power.

The Roberto rumours look to be pure Kenwright. The man has no idea about advancing a club.

If I had bought a failing business, after conducting a thorough review I would start to remove and replace the problem areas. Kenwright has been an obvious problem for a long time.

The only time he will relinquish power is when he is carried out in a box.

I wish him the best of luck with Belgium and indeed, will support him if he gets the job but it's just too big a risk at present.

It was likely he will continue the same, now with Kenwright's help, without a accountable structure in place, which created alot of the problems that have manifest themselves since he took over the Club.

That's why I liken it to a merry-go-round that we are all sick of being on. It will continue the same, as long as the deep problems within Everton, which everyone now acknowledges are addressed.

They are not going to be addressed so off we go on merry-go-round again. The merry-go-round will not go on forever.

Matinez would suit, because they will find him easily managed, to suit their agendas, To progress Everton is not even being considered.

I totally agree with you regarding Martinez. Maybe it was because he was still stuck with Moyes's loser's that the 2nd and 3rd seasons were a let down even though we got to 2 semi-finals?

If the shout that he only succeeded in his first season because of “Moyes's defence” then maybe that was the problem in the following 2 seasons was that Moyes's defence was not as good as being made out.

And isn't it possible that Roberto has adjusted his tactics now and can be pragmatic when needed? I'm okay with him coming back if he does because he might be able to sign us some of the up-and-coming talent from Belgium.

That Kenwright can't see beyond his sentimentalism is one thing. He's an old man and a theatre luvvie, so his lust for a redemption arc is probably irretrievable now.

But for Farhad Moshiri to be incapable of recognising the need for proper counsel on how to lead Everton is mind-boggling. Hubris and arrogance is fine if you're making money but his investment is on the edge of the toilet bowl right now.

I genuinely thought it would be Kenwright who went instead of Brands but that would've been too ruthless for our glorious leader.

Ironically the most positive news I've read today is the prospect of Tim Cahill being drafted in to advise the board or occupy some or other position. This is a man who I believe could develop into a Director of Football based on everything I've observed of him following his retirement from the game.

Somehow, there needs to be a bridge between the collective wisdom of the supporters and the owner. It's easy enough to filter out the vitriol and find a clear understanding of what is needed. Martinez, quite obviously, is not it.

I quote from Leon Osmans autobiography.

"Another difference between the managers was their approach to set pieces.

" Every Friday under Moyes we would spend an hour and a half going through routines as he was meticulous in that aspect as he hated conceding goals from set plays as that could be avoided".

But under Martinez we spent no time at all at defending set-pieces.

"We asked Graeme Jones why we didn't work on defending set-pieces. His reply was "How many do you have to defend in a match?"

I think there is your answer as to why it all went tits-up in Martinez's 2nd and 3rd seasons.

That is bizarre. Just bizarre. I also remember another pearler from Bobby when asked why we don't play more direct in the last few minutes when we're chasing an equaliser.

He said, "If it's the right option in the 90th minute, then it should be the right option in the 1st minute". Incredible! I mean... Phenomenal!

I did like Bobby and wanted him to succeed but he was simply obsessed with his Philosophy, despite overwhelming evidence that it wasn't working.

He's got a lot in common with Moshiri and Kenwright come to think of it.

https://edition.cnn.com/interactive/2021/06/sport/belgium-euro-2020-spt-intl/

It provides a probable roadmap as to how Everton could go about a total revamp of the football club - by bringing in professional people who are given the tools and freedom and authority to carry out the necessary changes.

Any by the way, I don't get the hostility towards Roberto Martinez. Reading through the comments above, and seeing the lovely family life that he has in Belgium (in the video that Jay references above), he would be either incredibly brave or incredibly stupid to accept the Everton job, with 10x the pressure, 1/10th of the talent available to him now, and the personal abuse he would be subject to were things start to go a bit south, as things inevitably do in football.

"But your defence of him ignores all of those really alarming instances I listed in the piece and you cannot tell me that we weren't on a worsening trajectory under his stewardship."

Didn't deny it went pear shaped I challenged the simplistic notion it was because he was shite. He won stuff at Swansea and Wigan, clubs in dire circumstances, either at the beginning or during his tenure and presided over record tournament finishes at Belgium. Success everywhere else defies the accusation he is shite.

I get pelters for suggesting financial pressure was the real reason it went downhill as it resulted in purchases like McCready et al - fair enough. I forgot such reasoning only applies if a coach says "knife to a gunfight" instead of "sin miedo".

Anyway we're dead in the water no matter who comes

We have already taken our eye off the ball. The midfield needs strengthening and Martinez will have no clue about what needs to be done. The Dunc will.

Thanks right back at you. The CNN article made for an interesting read.

It highlights what can be achieved, no matter how low your starting point or how limited are your resources, if you establish an achievable plan and don't waiver from it.

Definitely something Everton could learn from.

Anthony#45

Duncan would be scared to death if he took the job on a temporary bases, that he might get lumbered with it long term. He can't say he is not ready for the job , as he did the last time.

I'd interview Martinez. You don't do what he did in his first season without having something.

I'd ask him how he now organises a defence, what his set-piece drills are, and whether he'd talk to me about buying players before telling the press.
'we need seven.'

And I wouldn't let Moshiri near the interview.

Jay Wood's point about making him DOF is a salient one. That would be a more suitable role, methinks.

Depends on the remit of the role he is given. Still think he might be being approached for a DOF role. It would make the starting of a up and coming Manager more plausible. It's a win win for both the egos of Kenwright and Moshiri.

His first season was brilliant, I remember being at Swansea, (the day Coleman and Barkley scored) and whilst having something to eat before the game, honestly feeling like a child, because I was going to watch “my Everton” and I just knew they were going to entertain me.

I remember a semifinal at City, when he took a tiring Delafoe off, (he'd been the best player on the pitch imo) and replaced him with Kone, leaving the more natural, energetic replacement Lennon, sitting on the bench. Stones who was playing fullback, suddenly stopped getting the protection a natural wide player gives, and Everton's team of losers, blew fucking up again.

I think Roberto, could become the best academy manager in the world, but the first team? No, because I don't feel that he concentrates on the dirty side of the sport enough, and this is something that real winners do very naturally imo.

As for Kenwright? if Everton keep me awake, this fella, genuinely helps me to sleep, because I've got that many different reconstructions in my brain, about how I could get away with murdering this self obsessed jinx, it works better than counting sheep, every time.

In those two seasons, we played 76 games. We won 23 of them. That's 30%. To the best of my knowledge, that's the worst two-year stretch Everton has ever known. (By contrast, Koeman and Silva -- both bounced from their jobs after a year and a half -- won 40% of their games. And they didn't have a 20-goal scorer as Martinez did.)

That, and that alone, should disqualify Roberto from ever walking our touchline again.

They won't get Duncan. He knows it would end his cushy Everton career.

Lyndon if he really loved the club he would have taken stock at some period, especially anytime in the last six years, and realised the mess we were becoming and are now, put his hands up and took a rest, a long and complete rest from being part of the club.

Does he ever look back, I wonder and admit how many cock ups he has made and kept the club back or does he never think he is wrong and is blameless for the position we are in now, surely he can't be that arrogant, mind you the only time I had the displeasure of meeting him I knew how arrogant he was, full of himself and didn't know a lot about football or about Dave Hickson the player he said he idolised, I put him straight on a few things about Davie because I truly idolised him, no pretence.

Let me just quote one of Martinez comments"

"We don't practice set pieces because not many goals come from that scenario"

Can you imagine him with this defence and just to correct his so called magnificent first season we were nailed on for a CL place until the last quarter of the season when the "Martinez" effect kicked in and we lost out t Arsenal as defending collpased and "tippy tappy" football across the back 4 became de rigeur.

If that clown ever has any part to play at EFC I will be finished with the club until we get proper ownership back.

.

I don't want to turn this into a who should be the next manager thread as we have one of those running with over 600 posts at present.

But briefly on Martinez, it's a no for me. Not in the current situation. I wanted to touch on the DoF mention, which is interesting. I actually said during his time at Everton, he would make a better academy coach, developing young players rather than the first team. Just my instinct watching and listening to him.

You're preaching to the converted on the promoting within. We need to stop it and bring in professional and ruthless outsiders to shake the club up from board room to academy. Bill's time was most definitely done once he'd brought in Moshiri; okay maybe a transition period but exactly what you say. Your job is done (eventually).

The jobs for the boys is contentious and as always, I'll put my hands up and say I've used that phrase flippantly myself. But to the promoting within point, Everton are portraying that perception and making it easy for critics to point that finger at them. And being an exile, it's not just Evertonians speaking that; others are increasingly noticing and jumping onto it. Cosy club and as I've said previous, the biggest insult I get is a compliment. Other clubs like us and don't mind us. That grates.

Of course we'll always have ex-players and Evertonians in the club, just as every other club does. But are they in positions of influence and wielding high level decision making at Chelsea, Manchester City, Manchester United? And if they do have links to their clubs, I'll bet they are football people or astute business people.

And I mean real power, not just ambassadors or token life Presidents who attend matches?

Sensible, emotive but calculated input from many football greats on the man in question all well delivered… until we get to our chairman's segment.

What followed was Billy Bullshit wallowing in sentimentality, with an actor's eye on the camera, tearing up and waffling utter bollocks about the sacking of Smith and his own gentle and loving role in it.

The man sickens me and has to be forced out of Everton before he does anymore damage… he's an embarrassment, a soppy as shite, self-preserving, melodramatic dinosaur stuck in the past and has no place in the modern game.

If he has any power at Everton now, we are seriously fucked. Cut the fraud loose.

Bring in Nicola Cortese as CEO, the Mastermind behind Markus Liebherr's unbelievable turnaround of Southampton from League One to Premier League. (First read of Cortese here a truly remarkable man, he discovered Pochettino when scouting Coutinho).

Do it! And do it now!!

Kenwright Out!

Then, Mr Moshiri, bloody well listen to Cortese!!

Meantime, appoint Duncan with a simple brief: "Keep Everton in the Premier League!"

But couldn't this article be written about sports clubs all over the world. This is the schizoid nature of being a modern sports fan.

Nepotism could be "knowing our identity".

Romantic could be "historic".

Stuck in the past could be "knowing our heritage".

We are "The People's Club", so we are told. Not just another corporate machine with no connection to the families who attend the games?

I believe that the chances of Everton going down this year are very high.