MikeO

Independent on Sunday... By Steve Tongue Sunday, 30 March 2008 There can only be one thing worse than trying to restore a football club to what everyone considers to be their rightful place: namely, attempting to do so while the hated neighbours up the road are winning trophy after trophy. Perhaps a society should be formed for mutual support; founder members would be Everton, Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur. The latter trio have, of course, had their moments even in the past 20 years in the shadow of Liverpool, Manchester United and Arsenal respectively. Yet even then, the old enemy somehow seemed to have the last word. Spurs, all set to beat the other north London team to a Champions' League place, fell sick and failed on the last day of the season. Everton actually made it, only to lose in the qualifying round (doh!) after the other lot had staged the greatest comeback in 50 years of European Cup finals. Suggest, however, that a "Second Fiddle Society" or "Poor Relations Association" might be an appropriate tag and hackles will rise, for it is important to believe that there is nothing permanent about this condition. Hence the excitement on Merseyside since the new year about the possibility of Everton again pipping Liverpool to fourth place in the Premier League. They go to Anfield this afternoon two points behind the neighbours, and could therefore finish the day in front. That in itself is a source of pride to David Moyes, who is nevertheless torn between reflecting positively on the progress made during his six impressive years as managerand emphasising the gap in resources between the two clubs. The positive bits first: "Everton is a great football club," Moyes says, "and we've got it back on track now and going in the right direction. We're speeding along nicely and catching the people in front of us. Now we want to overtake them." The lowest point of the season, in every sense, came after a controversial 2-1 home defeat at the end of October by Liverpool, who won with a last-minute penalty against nine men (Tony Hibbert and Phil Neville had been sent off). Everton were left in 10th place, apparently suffering, as most teams do, from the rigours of a Uefa Cup campaign. But some excellent European form seemed for once to carry over into the League as well as offering invaluable experience to younger players. More positives for the manager: "We played 10 games in Europe, won eight, drew one and lost one before we went out [on penalties to Fiorentina]. So if you looked at that you would have to say, 'Very good, Everton'. So that's why we'll be confident if we get back into the Uefa Cup, and that's why if we're fortunate enough to get into the Champions' League we'll be confident of getting through the qualifier and into the group stage." Moyes is speaking on Friday afternoon at the smart new training complex in Halewood, another element of the club that has proved a positive one in attracting prospective recruits to the club – often young British ones. "I think Everton's now attractive to a lot of players," he says. "People are saying we're actually quite progressive, quite young, robust, trying to make things better. "Goodison's an intimidating place to play, with great supporters. Joleon Lescott's come here and done really well, and maybe next season we'll be looking for Leighton Baines to be in a position to get in the England squad as well. Phil Jagielka is quite close, he's had a good season. And if young players want a route through into one of the top teams, we try and promote them if they are good enough." So far, so good. But will so good only go so far? The players mentioned there cost £4m-£5m, from smaller English clubs. Last summer, Everton's transfer record may have been broken with the £11.25m purchase of Aiyegbeni Yakubu, but meanwhile Liverpool were able to spend twice as much on one of Europe's outstanding strikers, Fernando Torres. Moyes does not attempt to pretend the clubs are yet in the same financial league, which makes it all the more important for Everton to reach the League that rewards all participants (as long as they pass through that qualifying round) with such mountains of euros. "To be fair, in the last six years, you'd have to say on a business plan, 'Everton, first class, you haven't tried to bankrupt the club, you haven't spent at silly levels, you haven't done – dare I say it – a Leeds United'. We've been in a difficult financial state but now we've got full houses, money on the pitch. "So you'd have to praise the board and the chairman for the way they've done it. If we keep going on that way, we could get where we want. I'd say the bigger question is the investment that's going on throughout the Premier League now means that Everton will need to keep up with the Joneses. And the bit we might find difficult would be if we are trying to buy Champions' League players. There are some players who only see themselves as playing in the Champions' League and that's a different level of player again. I don't know if we've got to that level yet. If you buy one, he'll maybe drop downfor a year or so but then he'll be looking to get back there." Everton must therefore look to get back there too. Moyes is self-confessedly enough of a romantic and Everton a club sufficiently rooted in their community to hope it can be done without finding what he calls "a big sugar daddy". Having their finances underpinned by an amenable theatre impresario with a good Scouse accent in Bill Kenwright suits them just fine. "Hopefully it's still not all about money, hope-fully it's down to a bit of good management, good coaching, good scouting, great supporters and not just down to findingthis guy out there who'll come in and make everything better," Moyes says. On a day when the local evening newspaper's front page was devoted to the latest outburst from one of Liverpool's American owners about the other, the point was well made. While Evertonians are traditionally resentful of a perceived imbalance in publicity given to the two clubs, they are currentlylaughing up their blue sleeves at their rivals' self-harming. Moyes is justified in believing that in the wider world beyond the Mersey, his team will have a lot of neutral support in their quest to gatecrash the Fab Four of English football. Everton, once Joe Royle's "dogs of war", are still the underdogs a decade later. With James McFadden and Alan Stubbs sold, Tim Cahill and James Vaughan now among the injured, Moyes admits: "This is where we become a little bit more stretched than the others." Across town, in contrast, Rafa Benitez was claiming to have agreed the transfer this summer of a player who will be in next season's starting XI. What was indisputable was Benitez's assessment: "It is clear we are in a crucial period." Starting at Anfield, 4pm today.

Adding some more balance, Brian Viner (confirmed Evertonian) in the Independent...http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/colum...bed-802419.html Love the ending... It is time to reclaim the club's birthright as one of English football's powerhouses, and where better to assert that birthright than Everton's home from 1884 to 1892, when the Anfield tenancy was taken by a new team, a bunch of upstarts called Liverpool FC? It is time to answer the clarion call of history!

Makes you wonder what qualifications you need to work for Rupert Murdoch/the tabloids. GCSE Grade G in spelling seems to be enough, though most of them would struggle to achieve that without spellcheck I guess.

It's a disgrace that their deputy football editor is allowed to publish such a one-eyed blog. There is supposedly an Everton equivalent alongside it in the "Merseyside Fanzone" called "We need Big Dunc" ( <_< no we fucking don't) but the link doesn't work. There is a proper unbiased article though... David Moyes, the Everton manager, would never be drawn into boasting about his team before a Merseyside derby, but the Scot feels that the league table is a demonstration of his club’s progress rather than Liverpool’s failings. Having finished above their neighbours to qualify for the Champions League in 2005, only for Liverpool to gain entry by winning the competition, Moyes takes his team to Anfield tomorrow with seven matches left and the opportunity to erase the two-point deficit to Rafael Benítez’s team. While Everton’s attempts to break into the top four appear to have been more about catching Liverpool than Manchester United, Chelsea or Arsenal, Moyes, who has been in charge at Goodison Park since 2002, believes that his team’s strong position is a result of consistent improvement. “We are in that mix again and have been in and around it a few times now,” Moyes said. “We want to keep fighting to get to fourth place. The squad is quite light at the minute. We are a different football club [from his first derby match in charge] and we are looked at in a different light. “There are signs that Everton are moving in the right direction and we need to keep getting as close to the top teams as we possibly can. We have been edging closer and closer year in, year out. I remember bits of the run during 2005. The players had to grind out a few results. We finished that season with 61 points and qualified. As we well know, that points tally isn’t going to happen. We were always looking at Liverpool as they were pushing us hard. “It would be a tremendous boost. Whoever gets it, whether it would be Liverpool or Everton, will benefit, but we have got closer to them every year. We have been in fourth for a while this season and we have been there before as well, so we shouldn’t be too surprised about our position. The first priority is, at the minute, to make sure we finish no worse than fifth. That gets us back into Europe.” Derby matches in the mid 1990s were characterised by Joe Royle’s “Dogs of War”, but Moyes believes that an attractive game is not beyond the realms of possibility. “I think it is a compliment to say that the quality of our football has increased,” he said. “I still believe we always want to give teams good games. I want us to play good football. But you have to be competitive and we had to bridge the gap from what we had to what Liverpool had. Now the gap is getting much closer and it’s allowing us to play better football.” Motivation is never a problem in these matches, but Moyes insists that the 2-1 defeat by Liverpool in October, when Dirk Kuyt scored two penalties, will not be on his players’ minds before the short trip to Anfield. Tony Hibbert and Phil Neville were sent off in the match at Goodison Park, with Kuyt escaping with a booking for a wild lunge, and a challenge by Jamie Carragher on Joleon Lescott should have resulted in Everton being awarded a chance to equalise from the penalty spot in the closing stages. However, Moyes, who will be without Tim Cahill, the midfield player, for the rest of the season with a broken foot, said: “In football, you can’t think like that. It’s gone. You move on. I think what happened gave us a lot of strength because we were united in thinking that we were wrongly done to that day.”

Don't think any of us realised just how lucky we got six years ago. The man's a one-off and you never know, he may just achieve what he's aiming for!! Be great to have him around for Wenger/Ferguson time scale, would mean we're still going forward because as soon as the board fail to back him there'll be clubs all over Europe fighting for his services.

"Benitez denies that Everton were victims of poor refereeing decisions in the reverse fixture at Goodison Park, instead saying he felt it was his side who received the short end of the straw, despite being awarded two penalties." ...the man's delusional .

Rafa stands fully behind Mascherano....and has fined him two weeks wages to show solidarity .

Just looking at the odds to finish fifth (actally it's the "without 'big' four," which amounts to pretty much the same thing), we're anywhere between 2-7 and 1-9. Villa and Pompey best price is 12-1, Blackburn 20-1 and City pushing 30-1....so I figure... If you're worried we might blow it have a tenner on each of them, and then at least if the worst comes to the worst you'll have a pocket full of cash to drown your sorrows . £90 at worst or £270 at best. But realistically it's good to see that the bookies have faith that we're relatively safe from those below us.

Couldn't someone have pushed a contract (and a pen) under the door ?

Is it? Don't care eally . Gave me an excuse to do an Amanda Holden picture search....I've no idea who Keeley Hazell is (but I will do in a few minutes ).

Also agree with that Mark, you can't buy someone in and immediately make them captain, but we need someone in that mould. Ideally someone from within will step up, TC's a possibility in my view as is Jags possibly in the future. Yobo isn't, and neither is Lescott. That's not to say that the captain neccessarily needs to be that type of character if you have other leaders on the pitch. Calm captain, which could be Yobo for example, has benefits as well.

Agree but I wouldn't put Robson in that group, as inspirational as a halibut imo. Peter Reid (even though he was never Everton's captain I don't think) I'd go for as a better example of the type we need. There's precious few about today, Gerrard for sure but I'm struggling to think of others.

I believe it's the well known Evertonian Amanda Holden Kuz....bigger pictures HERE, HERE, HERE & HERE .

Have a great day!!

Nice comment on there... If (last August) you'd have told a Liverpool fan that they'd go into the Anfield derby next March two points ahead of Everton they'd have laughed in your face. Completely true and no matter what they say they know they've had a poor season, we've had a good one, and they can't stand it.

Actually closer to £8m with the current hopeless exchange rate Bill. Looks a scary bloke....the one eyebrow does it I think . Mascherano'd get himself sent off in the first minute if he came up against him !

Looking back though this we've gone 5-3-1 since then, so we could lose four of the last seven (as long as we win the other three) and still hit the 66 point target. It won't be enough for fourth but would almost certainly get fifth.

Nice one, the first of many . I remember the feeling...Josh was a bit older but we got the result, 4-1 against Villa.

Yea I'll hold off a prediction until we see who's playing, hopefully Lawrensen will go for Liverpool because he's got us wrong for the last five games straight . Having said that like Pat said elsewhere you'd expect whatever XI we put out to play above themselves....the team that won 3-0 was Howard, Hibbert, Yobo, Lescott, Naysmith, Osman (Beattie 83), Neville, Carsley, Arteta (Nuno Valente 90), Cahill, Johnson. On paper that team shouldn't have won.....and we should be a lot stronger this time. I'd love a bit of controversy (our way naturally), an offside goal given or a cast iron pen for them refused....then Davey could just say calmly afterwards that these things tend to even themselves out over the season while Rafa spontaneously combusts. Maybe Lescott could haul down Carragher in the 93rd minute .

Well put....sad bunch of dinosaurs.

Agree, he'd been in the ref's face four or five times before. If he just wanted to know why Torres had been booked why didn't he ask Torres (who incidentally had accepted the booking and had walked off)? One of the stupidest sendings off I've ever seen, he might just as well have walked up to Bennett and said, "Send me off please you fat c**t."

Complete bollocks. Giggs was ManU's new star from when he signed pro in 1990. There was huge press at the time about how good he was and much was made of Ferguson protecting him from the press....he was rarely, if ever, interviewed. Made his début (against Everton) in March '91 and was a regular by the 91/92 season. Who invents this crap?

If true it'll just be Rafa's way of keeping him out of the Spain game.

I don't think you'll have a problem, the fact that they always sell half-season tickets at Christmas suggests that they never sell out . Likely to be higher demand than usual next year with the current optimism but I'd have thought you'd be OK.

Can't find any info I'm afraid....does seem a bit daft. I'd give them a ring if I were you..0870 442 1878.