on August 17, 2025, 1:39 pm, in reply to "gary Abletts greatest moment for us"
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was the diving cross to amo in the spurs semi
summed him up
complete effort application and spirit Previous Message
There were several reasons, like always. One was the Euro ban, which meant some of our best players left too early. The other was that however great Evertonian he was and is, Colin Harvey was a very mediocre manager, who didn’t have the same eye for a good signing that Howard had. When Kendall returned, we didn’t have anymore the flow or the money that he would have needed to restore the success. Quite strangely, the club seemed to lack ambition, and didn’t seem to realize how the business was changing, with the Premier League and the TV taking over the old Football League. It is also possible that Kendall wasn’t the right man to replace Harvey, but who knows. At the time Peter Reid led ManCity to 5th in the league. Either he or Joe Royle could have been better picks, as we seemed to favour an Evertonian manager. When Mike Walker arrived, everything was already lost, and he was definitely the wrong man to be the gaffer, at least if you believe the Binman Chronicles.
If we had managed to beat the RS in the 1989 FA Cup final, our later history might look very different.
One interesting detail is, that Sir Alex Ferguson benefited heavily from the youth set-up at ManU, with players like Giggs, Scholes, the Nevilles and Butt emerging. They were a product of the youth team system created and nurtured by Eric Harrison, who went to ManU in 1981 from - yes, of course - Everton.
All in all, we went from champions to nine minutes from going down in seven years because of things that were out of our hands, weaker players replacing the better, and because the world around us changed quicker than we could react. Previous Message
Would you really think it good business if we signed someone for 30 million and he was reliable, played that number of matches and then left for 15 million?
But I think some people miss the big picture. Ablett was obviously not the issue here, it was more a general trend. Why did we drop from being the best club in the world to almost being relegated in mere seven years?
There were obviously some poor signings but every club makes them, even the best ones. IMO, main issue was signing loads of average players on rather high fees and recouping only a fraction of that.
Ok. I admit I have to rethink this. I had a look at our signing from that period and damn how many bad signings we made. More than I remembered. Like, I have always thought 88/89 signings were an issue and they were in the sense I just said above. Cottee was a new British record signing at 2.1 million but he scored 99 goals and we still got 1.5 million when he left six years later. We actually made a profit on McCall when he left for Rangers and we recouped our money on McDonald. Nevin was the biggest loss in that lot as we lost over 600k on him (925k to 300k in 92).
Even next season wasn't a disaster if we just accept mediocrity as we signed Keown, Newell, Rehn, Whiteside, Atteveld and Beagrie. Whiteside was unfortunate but Keown I remember being quite decent and we made a profit on Newell and got our money back on Beagrie.
But then. 90/91 Hinchcliffe was a good signings but Milligan for a million and Warzycha for half of that?
Next season we signed Beardsley for a million which was actually money well spent as he clearly lifted the whole team but also spent 900k on Mark Ward, 600k on Matt Jackson ja 1.5 million on Mo Johnston. 750k on Ablett wasn't too bad in that context.
So. My claim was that the issue was we signed too many average players. Ablett was one of them but by far not the worst signing (which I never claimed he was). Now, having gone through the transfers of the time I have to admit there were more expensive duds than I realised.
But I would like to know why you think we went from #1 to garbage in such a short period of time? We did sign some decent players after all. Previous Message
Ablett was a very reliable servant for our club, and an FA Cup winner. Not a world-beater but over the five years he was at Everton, certainly worth every penny Howard paid for him. Previous MessagePrevious MessagePrevious MessagePrevious MessagePrevious Message
But this argument drives me crazy as it is to misunderstand how any football club can and should manage its finances.
The best run clubs make a variety of investments: in the youth academy, in younger and cheaper ‘prospect’ players, young expensive more established/highly regarded ones, mid career value buys, mid career more expensive guys and cheap/mid older guys.
You don’t have to make every buy with an eye in fiscal rectitude, just enough of them overall to stay on the right side of the rules and enable continuing investment. Obviously you cannot do too many but one here and there is perfectly manageable if competently run.
So, thankfully, there remains room even in modern football to buy a player simply because they improve your squad for now and a season or two more providing your overall transfer dealing remains within the parameters permitted by club-level financial modelling. Previous MessagePrevious Message
and if he chips in with some goals it could be priceless. He could easily player another 3 seasons. Previous MessagePrevious MessagePrevious MessagePrevious MessagePrevious Message
The messaging our end has been consistent, an enquiry, a possible option on loan late window. I have never had the impression Moyes is keen on him. My money remains on Soucek. Moyes is still Moyes. Previous Message
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