England

James White

It is very clear that these are critical times at Goodison Park, the home of Everton FC. Everything at the club seems to be balanced on a knife edge which could be the making or breaking of the clubs resurgence as a power in the English game.

Just how far off the top 4 clubs they were last season is debatable. Having occupied 4th spot for a long period it could be argued that the club is not far behind their city rivals Liverpool. European football too returned to Goodison last season and if it wasn’t for a terrible performance away in Italy they could have easily, and deservedly, marched on to meet eventual winners Zenit St Petersberg in the final of the UEFA Cup.

Their highest points tally in the Premier League, planning permission for a new ground and the level of performance reached by some players all suggested exciting times ahead for the blue side of Merseyside. With such a small squad there is no doubting injuries took their toll on a campaign which seemed to come off the rails towards the end of the season. That said you couldn’t help but think with extra strength in depth they could push on to become the best of the rest and even threaten to break into the top 4 as they did in 2005. 

David Moyes is a manager who is held in high regard by many people in football and rightly so. With a limited budget he has taken Everton to levels that simply weren’t expected when he took over the relegation threatened club seven years ago. Clubs like Newcastle, Tottenham and Aston Villa have spent vast sums of money trying to achieve what Everton have. The manager has also managed to unearth players of the calibre of Mikel Arteta, Tim Cahill and Joleon Lescott for relatively small sums of money. He has also taken risks on players like Yakubu who arrived with a reputation of being lazy. It is this success in the transfer market combined with moulding together a competitive team that have led the club to try and tie him to a long term new contract.

With all these positives it is hard to see why so many fans are becoming increasing concerned about their club, but the truth is, talk is cheap, it’s action people want to see.

The manager has been offered a lucrative new four-year contract and has publicly stated he can see no problem with putting pen to paper (which could prove to be the best signing achieved by any top flight club this summer). The problem is the offer has been on the table for such a long time, so people are rightly asking, why has it not been signed?

Despite their lack of numbers last season, five players have now left the club. Lee Carsley was an unsung hero and his importance to the team is not fully appreciated by many people outside of Everton, but those in the know realise the importance of finding a replacement for the departed midfield enforcer. Andy Johnson is another high profile loss whose enthusiasm and work-rate will be hard to replace despite his lack of goals last season. Fernandes, Gravesen and Wessels are other less important losses, yet this reduces the squad further.

Moyes was quoted earlier in the summer stating the club needed six new signings, and the club now appear to be linked with a higher calibre of player, like Vagner Love (CSKA Moscow) and Joao Moutinho (Sporting Lisbon). These two are strong possibilities and would add a lot of quality to the starting line up, as well the expected arrivals of Stephane M’bia and Alan Smith. Yet the season has begun, with a disappointing 3-2 defeat at home to Blackburn, and none have arrived. With only 15 days left in the transfer window it seems highly unlikely that the original quota of six new playing staff will be met.

Off the pitch, with limited options at the aging stadium it was decided the club needed to find a new home to generate higher match day revenues, allowing the club to compete with the big 4. The long search for a potential new ground ended when “Destination Kirby” was unveiled, a state of the art new stadium. The move was put to a vote and the fans decided to take the plunge and move.

Further strengthening the case for the move was a deal with supermarket giants Tesco, which means the £400m, 50,000 seater stadium will only cost the club £78m. Again this isn’t as straight forward as it seems. The Government has called the plans in for review which could delay the project by up to two years, forcing costs up to a level the club may not be able to afford. Despite a majority of fans voting for the new stadium there is still a very large number that oppose the move outside Liverpool’s city boundary. There are also questions as to whether the club will be able to fill the extra seats such a stadium would provide taking into account that many fans have vowed not to renew season tickets if the club move to Knowsley.

Another issue the club has to deal with is the shock resignation of chief executive Keith Wyness, thought of by some fans as a many who simply wasn’t up to the task of running a major football club. This was proved by the club’s failure to exploit its city’s status of European Capital of Culture. Whilst rivals Liverpool now have two club stores in the city centre, you have to travel to the ground itself to find Everton’s. With many visitors from around the world in the city it was a good opportunity to sell merchandise and even recruit new fans.

Wyness’ departure is seen as an opportunity to start afresh in a new era. This does not change the fact that an opportunity has been missed and Wyness’ tenure at the club did little to achieve anything in terms of PR for the club or increasing the club’s brand and global profile.

The owner of the club, Bill Kenwright, recently revealed his willingness to sell if the right investor came along. With rumours of another rich Russian oligarch interested fans are dreaming of a Chelsea like situation with money being no object. However there still appears no real interest in the club, and the situation across Stanley Park should highlight that a takeover is not necessarily a good thing, as many Manchester City fans will agree as they wait to see what will happen to their sugar daddy Thaksin Shinawatra.

There are certain things that every football fan wants to see at their club. In no particular order, new players that improve the squad, a good manager on a long term contract, financial investment, a state of the art ground and most importantly silverware! The flip side of this is what worries fans, depleted squads, good managers contracts running out and no money. The truth is there are two ways to view Everton’s current situation. There are those who believe no new players will arrive, the manager will see out his contract and leave (if not sooner), the stadium plan is doomed and the departure of Wyness signals more heartache. Others believe many new high quality players will arrive before the close of the window, the manager will commit, a new benefactor will deliver the new ground and Everton will move up to the next level.

My personal opinion is that it will be somewhere in the middle. New players of good quality will come in but not enough to make the step up to the next level, and maybe a little too late to have a massive impact this season. The ground should eventually get the approval needed, but I can see the manager letting his contract run down to review his options next summer. There are many issues at Everton that need to be sorted out quickly, and other longer standing problems. I believe though, come 1st September the fans will be a lot happier with the situation than they are now!

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