End of Term Report

Call me old fashioned, but I waited until the season actually finished before writing this end of term report. It’s just a pity that several players didn’t do likewise and keep on playing until the end, and therein lies the problem; as a club we have been dragged into the cycle of low expectation leads to low achievement leads to lower expectations and so on. It’s difficult to break out of this, and even more so when many supporters of the club are now falling for the nonsense being pedalled by David Moyes about how we should be satisfied to aim for two consecutive top 10 finishes. It is utter drivel to equate Everton finishing 10th with a successful season. The fact that we did not attain even that lamentable target underlines the falling ambition of Everton Football Club.

Now let’s have look and award marks out of 10 as I present my own take on the performances we’ve witnessed over the season.

Nigel Martyn: Father Time has caught up with a goalkeeper who finally came to Everton about 6 years too late. The signs were there last season, fractionally too slow to get down to low angled shots, and this season has underlined that we shall see no more the instinctive reflex reactions that made him a once great keeper. 6/10

Richard Wright: injury prone, accident prone, poor decisions at crucial moments all point to a parting of the ways. Moyes needs to recoup some money on a sale to possibly Southampton and then to remember for future reference that Wenger never sells a good player. 4/10

Iain Turner/John Ruddy: how would we know? Both did well enough in fleeting but trying circumstances but the manager did not see fit to build on that limited experience by playing one or both for a few games at the end of the season. N/A

Tony Hibbert: a good season, fast and solid in defence and as good in that role as any other English full-back, but the usual limitations in distributing the ball when going forward. Why can’t Tony practice crossing a ball for an hour a day, every day? Hire a specialist coach for a short time to demonstrate the technique required, someone like Manny Kaltz. 7/10

David Weir: similar situation to Martyn, but being an outfield player, Weir’s age related limitations, especially lack of pace, have been more noticeable and cost us dear especially in the poor run of games at the start of the season. Club captain, yes, David is a good ambassador, but team captain, no. Moyes’s decision virtually to guarantee a starting place was as perverse as Weir’s own to re-start his international career. 4/10

Alan Stubbs: I was glad to see him come back and he has filled in admirably when called upon. The problem is that he was called upon too often and looked jaded in several games. Stubbsy has a role at Everton as the rock you can rely upon on the subs’ bench. 6/10

Joseph Yobo: The credit for bringing him to Everton goes to David Moyes. The blame if he leaves Everton this summer goes to David Moyes. How has Moyes not picked the best central defender in terms of pace, tackling and aerial ability we’ve seen for many years whenever Yobo has been available? Yobo must be thinking that if he can’t get in ahead of Weir and Stubbs, perhaps he’ll have a better chance of breaking into an Arsenal defence that hasn’t conceded a goal in the Champions’ League for an eternity. Surreal! 8/10

Matteo Ferrari: Unbelievable that we did not see more of a Yobo/Ferrari central partnership. Too late now, but he was a good player in his best position. 6/10

Sandro Pistone: hardly played, so nothing new there then. A class defender but without the heart to play for Everton. N/A

Gary Naysmith: Not injured quite as often as Pistone and with more heart but he just isn’t up to it. Lack of pace allied to poor anticipation makes him a serious liability. 4/10

Nuno Valente: After taking a bit of time to adjust to our game, Nuno got better as the season progressed. Decent in the air, strong in the tackle and prepared to go forward, but again questions about his pace. 6/10

Leon Osman: Slight in stature but big in heart and showed his skill consistently whenever he was picked. Which reminds me, why was not picked at the start of the season? It was only when he forced his way back into the team that we started to look coherent with an intelligent midfield player who knows how to link up with his forwards. 7/10

Tim Cahill: Second season syndrome for a while but Cahill never hides and gradually we began to see again the energy and never-say-die spirit of a player we cannot afford to be without. 7/10

Simon Davies: Moyes chased his signature for two years, got him on the first day of the Summer transfer window (so no room for the usual garbage about we’ll only see the best when he’s had a full pre-season etc), and I am not alone in wondering why the manager spent precious time and money on a wide right player who had to be played in central midfield when it soon became apparent that he was not very fast or very tricky and not a particularly good crosser. The knock-on effect was felt most by Osman although Arteta also had to change position. After the season Davies has had, I wonder how bad Kroldrup had to be to be the only “mistake” in the transfer market. 3/10

Phil Neville: Again I was probably not alone in thinking that in Neville, Moyes had bought a mediocre utility player for far too much money. I was wrong. Moyes got this one right. Neville has given us 100% in every position he has been asked to play in. I hope he’ll settle into the midfield defensive shield position and be made captain. 7/10

Lee Carsley: not enough games to judge him on but I have a feeling we’ll remember Lee affectionately for one great season at Everton. N/A

Kevin Kilbane: At his best, Kilbane is very good. The trouble is he is very rarely at his best and fails to use his talents. How often has he gone past his man this season and delivered a decent cross? 4/10

Mikel Arteta: Moyes shows again that he can spot a good player. By a mile the player of the season in all positions in midfield, but he will do most damage by running at opposition defences from a central position. 9/10

Andy van der Meyde: He showed enough when fit, and that was clearly not often enough, that he will be an automatic selection next season. I think we all hope he can stay fit to give himself the chance to show us what he can really do, something he is desperate for. 5/10

James McFadden: This was his best season so far for Everton but still not what we or, to be fair, he himself would expect from someone with such natural ball skills. Does the manager know, does the lad himself know what his best position is? I think this question needs to be resolved before we’ll ever see the best of James McFadden. 6/10

James Beattie: Beattie is entering the best years of his career and we saw enough in the second half of the season to believe he’s going to be a real force for Everton especially if he is given a consistent strike partner. He needs to realise that playing well for Everton will bring him all that he wants. Nobody, not even Kopites, believes Crouch is a better centre-forward than Beattie. 7/10

Duncan Ferguson: It was a fitting end to his Everton career that Duncan’s last kick for the club brought a richly deserved goal. I was as delighted for him as any Evertonian, it was a great Goodison memory. But…putting all the emotion to one side, it was far from a great season for the big man. The real question is; was it a great career? It was fascinating to listen to well-respected former Everton players, including an undisputed legend, Neville Southall, talk about Duncan last week at the Bluekipper Awards Evening. Their view, received politely but patently not shared by the majority of fans present, was that “Duncan could have been a great player if he’d really wanted it.” I was in the minority who agreed with this and for me it is further proof of the general lowering of expectations that a lot of Evertonians really want to believe that Duncan Ferguson achieved the status of a “legend”. I’m sorry, it was more a case of what might have been. The handful of truly majestic Ferguson goals might have been a feast had the man ever really loved the game that rewarded him so well. 4/10

The Board: internecine squabbles, Fortress Fund etc etc 2/10

Keith Wyness: one memorable live on the radio spat with Parry apart, out of touch with what we want from a “People’s Club.” One example; how does he justify allowing a bank to come in with a seriously exorbitant rate of interest (around 20% APR from memory) to fleece supporters who need to buy their season tickets over the course of the season? Answer: the bank then cuts the People’s Club in on the interest it is charging to the people. This is unethical. Everton has the clout to demand a far lower rate of interest to be charged to people buying season tickets. 2/10

David Moyes: Well, it’s cards on the table time now. I have always believed in the ability of Moyes the coach but this season has undermined my confidence in him as a manager. Great signings like Arteta and Yobo are nullified both by not playing them as in the case of Yobo and by dreadful signings like Davies and Kroldrup (allegedly). Once again Moyes’s cautious, conservative team selections deprived us of the chance of taking a closer look at young and hungry talent (Anichebe, Turner). Worse still, young lads who a short time ago showed all the promise in the world (Hopkins, Hughes et al) have now been shown the door while guys closer to 40 are getting contracts. And worst of all we now seem to have become some kind of feeder club to Manchester United. Can anyone tell me the sense of taking a United goalkeeper on loan for a year and giving him first team experience so that when their current first choice keeper retires they’ll have a new one ready to go back? Apart from the crass man-management, where does Iain Turner go to get first team experience so that he’ll be ready to play for our team? This is the nadir. Call for Dave Jones. 5/10

For the record, I believe that any rating of less than 5 means that these persons should no longer be part of Everton Football Club. A rating of 5 means they are “on notice” and unless there is rapid and tangible improvement they have to go. 6 is a “benefit of the doubt” mark but the message is pretty much the same as for a 5. To those who got 7, 8 or 9 I can only say that as an old-fashioned Evertonian I expect more from you. Let’s see you turn these into 10’s next season.

All good end of term reports end with a look to the future and clearly the board is hoping that we can sign top class players at bargain basement prices. Moyes has done this before with Cahill, for example, but wouldn’t it be good if we could change them for a board with money and ambition and high expectations? Everton FC has enormous investment potential and with the right people to run the club, high achievement is realistic. It’s not my job to spot good, young, hungry players coming through but I like what I’ve seen of Nugent at Preston and Sidwell at Reading. Nugent is a Blue, of course, and there’s another Everton fan banging goals in for fun down at Yeovil called Jevons. Come to think of it, is that the Phil Jevons who came through our youth programme before he was released without really being given anything like a chance to impress in the first team? Farewell Paul Hopkins then, too.

JOE 90. (21/04/06)

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