Frustrating Season

Club Captain Alan Stubbs believes Everton's financial restraints, coupled with injuries and suspensions, have all conspired to make this season's efforts, a lot harder than last. After last season's high's, expectations were high of a similar season, and Stubbsy understands the fans frustrations.

Stubbsy says: "I think the season has been a little bit in and out, not just for me but for everyone. Expectations were high, we haven’t really reached what we set out to do and I feel that’s been the case for everyone, fans and all. I think they’ve been disappointed too but the budget’s tight and when we’ve wanted to bring new faces in we couldn’t. At the end of the day it all adds up. If you can’t bring in new faces when you want to then it’s going to be difficult. We haven’t got the biggest squad at the best of times. We’ve had one or two or even more, three or four key injuries at certain times and lately we’ve had a number of suspensions - Wayne, Duncan, Davey Weir all at one time which is not a good time for us."(07/04/04)

Struggle

Stubbsey could have to play through the pain barrier until the end of the season. His groin problem flared up again at yesterdays game against Boro.

Mick Rathbone says: "Alan came off at half time with a groin problem that has been troubling him on and off for the past couple of weeks. We will give him plenty of the rest in the next few days and hopefully he will be able to play on between now and the end of the season". (29/03/04)

Referee Was Poo

Everton skipper Alan Stubbs believes that referee Steve Bennett, needs to look at his performance from Saturday's Derby, as in his and every Evertonians opinion, it was definitely not up to scratch. Bennett, who missed a blatant handball, and should have sent off Sami Hyypia, was not available for comment today, as he was back at his desk at the durex factory were he works, where he is the chief tester. The Wanker, his words not mine.

Stubbsy says : "The referee needs to look at himself for a couple of decisions that he never gave. He was right on the spot." (02/02/04)

Living The Dream

Alan Stubbs is hoping to see out the rest of his career at the Blues. The Kirkby born defender, who took a massive pay cut to live the dream and play for his beloved Blues, after moving from Celtic, can't envisage himself playing anywhere else.

Stubbsy says: "I really can't see myself playing anywhere else. I have got 18 months to go and I would like to extend that current contract. Come the summer, I'm sure we will have talks and see what happens, but it's up to Everton. I would like to think though, that my performances since I have been here would justify something. As far as I am concerned, I don't want to play for another club." (01/02/04)

Must Do Better

Everton skipper Alan Stubbs believes we could have played all day and not scored against Charlton on Saturday. With Everton falling towards the bottom three again, after two consecutive defeats, the centre half thinks it is about time we started taking our chances, as with a couple of wins, we could he thinks, still push on for Europe.

Stubbsy says : "I think we still could have been out there for another two hours and not scored. We need to start creating more good, clear opportunities, which we never really did today. We were probably hoping that it would run into someone’s path rather than expecting it to. If we’d have managed to get an early goal, it would have helped us a lot. They kept hitting us on the break when they had a chance to and got the goal. They just sat back then and soaked up our pressure, and to be fair to Charlton, they did defend really well. But when you had as much possession as we had throughout the game, you’d expect to take something from it and it’s frustrating and disappointing that we didn’t. We’ve got to pick ourselves up quickly, because we’ve got three big games coming up. It’s no good feeling sorry for ourselves. We’re still dwindling towards the bottom end of the table, but we know that if we win a couple of games on the run, we’ll be challenging for Europe again, but if we lose then we’re on the periphery of the relegation zone again." (19/01/04)

Stubbsy on Road Back

Stubbsy who has missded the last couple of games with injury, is making good progress, and has an outside chance of making Saturday's squad to face Charlton. Stubbsy will join up with his team mates today to step up his training regime, in his battle to get match fit.

Basil Rathbone says : "Alan injured his groin when he was fouled for the second penalty against Norwich. It has settled down well and we are hoping that Alan Stubbs will join in training with the rest of the players later this week." (15/01/04)

Toffees Not Licked

Stubbsy is delighted that The Blues silenced some of the critics, who were lining up to predict that the Canaries were going to lick the Toffees (that's fuckin' ace journalism that, you know canaries lick toffees). Anyway he is delighted, were through to the next round, enough said.

Stubbsy says : "We've shut a few people up who thought that we'd get turned over. But there's definitely a gulf between the Premiership and the First Division, and you could clearly see that. It was a good win for us in the end. We made it a bit difficult for ourselves in the second half. Going on our first-half performance, I thought at half-time that it could be a matter of winning four, five or even six one. When we kept missing all the chances early on, I wondered in the back of my mind whether it was going to be one of those days where we'd miss a lot of chances and they'd go up the other end and sneak one." (06/01/04)

Happy Christmas

Everton stand in skipper Alan Stubbs is delighted at how the Christmas period has gone for the Blues. Apart from Boxing Day's narrow defeat against the Champions at Old Trafford, Everton have collected maximum points from their other three outings. It was not all good news for Stubbsy over Christmas though, as he was invited around to Dickie Wright's for Christmas lunch and ending up eating beans on toast as the Blues keeper burnt the turkey beyond recognition.

Stubbsy says: "We have got virtually everything we set out for. If we had got something from United it would have been great but we knew it was going to be difficult. Our main aim was to get three wins from the four matches and go to Old Trafford to try to get something. And we nearly did that. All in all, we are thoroughly delighted with the way things have gone." (29/12/03)

I Love Nige

Stubbsy reckons that part of the reason the boys have been doing so well in recent weeks, is due in part to the excellent Nigel Martyn. He is also hoping that the Christmas good cheer also extends to the United defence on Boxing Day, and that we keep heading in the right direction in the New Year.

Stubbsy says: " Nigel's been great. Everyone in the team will say that since he came in he's warranted his place by his performances and that speaks volumes for him. We knew he was a good keeper anyway but he wasn't playing at Leeds and he's come here for a different challenge and he's risen to that admirably. It was unfortunate that Richard got injured but it was a chance for Nigel to come in and start playing regular football again. He's been absolutely fantastic this season up to now. Confidence is high at the moment, and we're going in the direction that we want to be going in and we'll go to Old Trafford with every chance of hopefully coming away with a result. We'll go there with our plan to get something from the game and if we set our stall out early doors and make it hard for them then we've got every chance of getting something there. It's got all the ingredients to be a cracking match and hopefully we won't disappoint. We've had two good performances where we've got what we set out for and we'll go to United hoping to keep this run going. The longer we can keep it going the longer and the faster it's going to push us in the direction that we want to be going in. Hopefully it won't be a busy afternoon but we'll be prepared for it. We all know how good they are but if we start worrying about them too much then it's pointless us going there. We'll give them the respect they deserve, which is a lot of respect, but at the end of the day we're going there with an aim to take something from the game." (25/12/03)

Leave My Mate Alone

Fellow Scouser and boyhood Evertonian Alan Stubbs went on the offensive against the knockers, who have took delight at having a pop at Wayne Rooney. Rumours were circulating that a rift had developed with Rooney and Moyesy, but Stubbsy is having none of it, and was delighted for the youngster when he answered his critics with Saturday's winner at Pompey.

Stubbsy says: "It’s great for Wayne as there’s nobody more delighted than me for him. It would have kept a lot of the knockers off his back for at least a day. It was just keeping them in a job more than anything when they were writing about Wayne. He’s such a fantastic talent and we’re lucky to have him and that’s why people want to write about him, though unfortunately lately they’ve all tried to write negative things about him. But as long as he keeps doing what he did last weekend when he came on then all the talk in the papers will be about him for the right reasons. He wears his heart on his sleeve and it’s fantastic to see, especially when we’re in the position we’re in and you see players who are right up for it like that. You can’t take that out of him, that’s all part of his game. We’ve absolutely no complaints at all." (17/12/03)

Fighting Spirit

Stubbsy has fired off a reply to the critics who have knocked the Blues in the last few weeks. He refuted suggestions that the spirit was missing in the Everton dressing room, and believes it won't be long till the lads are climbing safely back up the table.

Stubbsy says: "We have a great strength in mind in the dressing room and a great bunch of lads, a great fighting spirit and that will stand us in good stead. I said a few weeks a go it is just a matter of time before we climb the table. Hopefully this can act as a catalyst to get us up in the top 10 where we all believe we should be." (15/12/03)

No Tension Here

Stubbsy reckons the fans are feeling the tension more than the players themselves, as Everton battle to get out of the danger zone.To be honest I could not even feel my feet yesterday, it was that cold, and the game did knob all to warm me up.

Stubbsy says: "We're not feeling the tension, I think the fans are feeling it more than the players. They are fantastic fans but there's a bit of frustration creeping in, and it doesn't help if there's tension there. It was a difficult game, not one for the purists but they aren't at this end of the table.There weren't many clear cut chances. Although Thomas Gravesen had one at the end. We expected to pick up three points, but we'll keep trying and improving. If we can keep on keeping clean sheets it won't be long before we're out of it." (08/12/03)

Movin' On Up !!

Stubbsy believes the recent jaunt to the Canaries has done him and the team the world of good. He is now hoping that last week's win over Wolves will act as a springboard to push Everton up the table.

Stubbsy says: "Hopefully Saturday's win over Wolves will be a catalyst for a good run. It is difficult to get that winning mentality back when results aren't going your way.The break in Tenerife helped. We had a good time together as a squad and we enjoyed being in each other's company. People may think that footballers are always out together but that is not the case.The younger lads will go out with their own mates, there are lads who are just settling down in places of their own with their girlfriends and then there are the guys who are married with kids and who like going home to the family. Now we need to get a run going. We have picked up hardly any points away from home this season, which has prevented us building up the kind of momentum we had last year.The division is so tight now that just taking anything from the games is a big bonus.We haven't done that away from home but it is important we change that now. This is always an important time of the year because of the number of games you play in the run-up to Christmas." (29/11/03)

In With A Chance

Stubbsey could be in with a shout to start the game on Sunday, as he's responded well to treatment.
Moyesy says: "Alan has a chance of being fit for this weekend's game, which is good news. He has responded very well to treatment. He has not quite joined in with the rest of the lads yet but he is getting much closer." (16/10/03)

Pain In The Groin

Centre Half Alan Stubbs was dealt an injury blow today, with the news that he will be missing for about a month, as a result of straining his groin in last weekend's Spurs defeat.Although the injury is not deemed to serious by the Everton staff, no chances will be took with the Everton Skipper to rush him back.

Mick 'Basil' Rathbone says: “Alan’s sustained rather a bad-ish groin strain when he slid in for the ball last Saturday. I anticipate that Alan will be out for around about a month with that.” (09/10/03)

Happy Birthday

Stubbsey celebrates his 32nd birthday today, hoping the 2 week break due to the internationals will be enough to get himself back fit for the home game against Sothampton on Sunday 19th October. (06/10/03)

Sitting in The Stand

After playing all 6 Premiership matches for the Toffees, Alan sat in the stands to leave Davie Weir to partner Joey Yobo against Stockport. (25/09/03)

Frustrating Ref

Referee, Rob Styles was the man everyone was talking about after yesterday's 2-2 draw with Newcastle.

Stubbsey says: “It was an interesting performance from him. It was certainly an indifferent performance from the man in the middle for both teams. After the game, you want to talk about the match and now I’m talking about the referee. That says it all. We should be talking about the football and we’re not. But you have to be careful on what you say. There were two players sent off, about ten players booked - and it wasn’t a dirty game. Usually the best referees are the ones you don’t even hear about. It’s frustrating, but we just have to get on with it because we haven’t got the three points, when we felt we could have won the game. I suppose in the end the draw was a fair result. I didn’t think there were times in the game when we were in an awful lot of trouble, but we conceded two goals, albeit penalties. I didn’t think they hurt us that much. We’ve got a great spirit among the lads. We showed that last season. We’re never going to be found wanting on that part. The fighting spirit: never lying down, never knowing when you’re beaten is a great commodity to have. I’m sure if we improve on other parts of the game, then we won’t be far away from either equalling or doing better than last season.” (14/09/03)

Waiting Game

Joey Yobo will play at centre half against Arsenal in the 1st game of the season. But will it be Stubbsey or Davie Weir who partners him.

Moyesy says: “It’s just a case of checking who we feel would be the right combination to start the season with. I think Joseph needs as many opportunities to play as he can. I think everybody knows that David Weir and Alan Stubbs are tried and trusted, so what we’re after is finding the two who we feel will start the season for us. There’s one thing for sure, we’re not just going to go through the season relying on just two centre backs, we’re going to need three.  So whoever is left out, they’re still very much part of the plans." (15/08/03)

Goal Against Auld Enemy

As a former Celtic player, Stubbsey would have not have only enjoyed the win, but the winner he scored. Having been given the bird all afternoon by the Rangers fans, Alan hit a stoppage time free - kick home via a deflection off former Everton player, Michael Ball. (26/07/03)

Stubbsey Last Season