Creek and paddle (the absence of)
September 12, 2011 
3 Comments
A club in crisis, the best players sold, fans in revolt, ticket sales slumping, writes Richard Knights.
Step forward Aston Villa. What does it say about the state of the Premiership when two of the oldest and most successful clubs in the history ofthe game can only attract 32,736 spectators (nearly 8,000 below the ground’s capacity) to a match at the start of the season.
In time honoured fashion the club have responded to fans concerns with a media blitz, carefully orchestrated no doubt by fans’ favourite Ian ’Comical Ali’ Ross. [The year is 2013 Ross appears on TV 'Everton are not going bankrupt' behind him bailiffs' vans are removing the furniture from Goodison.] The Daily Mail carried a two page hagiography devoted to the trials and tribulations of ‘Saint Bill’. As the applause and booing showed when Bill Kenwright’s image appeared on the big screen at the Villa game, fans are divided, there’s the ’silent majority’ who don’t want to examine the details of club accounts, who just want to go to the game and support the club.
Respect due.
The problem we have to confront is that without change Everton will plunge into a precipitous spiral of decline. Contrary to all the mythology it took Liverpool fans the best part of a year before the penny finally dropped about Gillette and Hicks (I’m not comparing Bill Kenwright to the American cowboys, just illustrating a point). Before that the fans did nothing because they were assured by Rick ‘Trust Me’ Parry and David ‘Trust Me’ Moores, that the club was in ‘safe hands’. As for the sale of the club it appears that Bill Kenwright is a businessman first and an Evertonian second.
After the transfer window closed David Moyes went off to play golf in Scotland for two days in order to ‘clear his head’, read into that what you will. The manager has come out fighting declaring that he has ’full control’ over sales at the club. That isn’t disputed, the problem is the other side of the equation, namely buying players and that is not a model of conspicuous consumption. The clock is still ticking, it is now over two years since Everton paid out real money for a first team player.
Let’s take strikers as an example, the club knew that Yakubu and Beckford were going, leaving us with Louis Saha (Everton have confirmed he has no plans to release a fitness video) and Victor Anichebe (out until Christmas due to a bizarre injury whilst playing in Madagascar). For the Villa game that left us with a loan (lone) striker and a youth team player, therefore Osman and Cahill were pressed into service as a temporary strike force. Why wasn’t the acquisition of a striker a priority in the close season?
The Premiership allows clubs a maximum squad of 25 players, Everton’s current squad is the lowest in the Premiership numbering only 18 – painfully thin if not anorexic. Sending Tim Cahill out to praise the ’unity’ of the squad was about as convincing as the average hostage video. No doubt when more players leave Ian Ross will assure us, that the squad is ‘stronger’ and more ‘united’.
In response to the Blue Union campaign the club hierarchy have attempted to belittle them, ‘You don’t know what you’re talking about, we’re the experts, you’ve never run a whelk stall’. I don’t want to rake over the coals of the 2000 NTL fiasco, the 2004 Fortress Sports Fund or ‘Destination Kirkby’, but last year we had the ‘Dan Gosling Affair’ where someone ‘forgot’ to organise an extension to his contract, as a result he went to Newcastle on a free transfer – estimated loss to the club £4million. Then there’s the ‘Mysterious Case Of The Park End Development’, in November 2010 the £9 million commercial plans were announced, in March 2011 ‘logistical problems’and ‘complex legal matters’ were cited as reasons for the postponement of the project until 2012. Research it on the Everton website? Like one of Stalin’s victims it appears to have been erased from history.
This season Moyes might still work a miracle and use the loaves and fish available to feed the depleted 32,000. The more likely scenario is that the season will be defined by two words, creek and paddle (absence of).
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“there’s the ’silent majority’ who don’t want to examine the details of club accounts, who just want to go to the game and support the club.” or maybe the silent majority trust the board to run the club?
“The problem we have to confront is that without change Everton will plunge into a precipitous spiral of decline.” big claim but no substance.
You are basically asking the silent majority to trust you rather than the board about the direction in which the club is going – first you stay its stable, then you say its declining, but we see the performance on the pitch and its improved greatly ot what it was – well apart from Victor of course.
Performance on the pitch has improved greatly? 3 games in and we’ve already dropped 5 points at home to teams that are supposed to be massively inferior to us. Great 3 points against Blackburn, but if you had watched the game you’d know that we were outplayed in every department and were lucky to come away with anything at all.
Just what are the credentials of those who purport to know better than the current Board, apart from collective frustration at perceived “lack of success”? Get real chaps, Mr Kenwright is the only person who both cares enough about EFC AND has put his money where his mouth is. Forget all the conspiracy theories – attendances at football are down all over the country because of the recession. Support the club through good times and bad, and there have been many times worse than this. Get behind the team – success on the pitch will make Everton a more attractive prospect for investors, and confident players with support behind them are more likely to produce good results.