Big Team Mentality, Small Club Complex

[Guest millwallforever]

Contrary to the habitual moaners on here and elsewhere, I am a shameless partisan for Martinez. Call me cheerleader, call me tool, call me sockpuppet...I don't care what the blueshite say.

 

I hardly ever watch Martinez's press conferences, but I try to keep track of the bare essentials of his message to the crowd.

 

One quote of his that I wish to dwell a little on is the following:

 

"We want to develop a big club and a big team mentality..."

 

Martinez wants to radically alter the self-perception of a club that for two decades has assumed the role of the underdog.

 

The message of the board to the fans went something like this:

 

You want us to compete with the likes of Manchester United and Chelsea? Sorry, can't be done. They have the means, whereas we do not.

 

David Moyes was a dutiful sycophant of the board and instilled in us a similar message:

 

"We Were Happy to Leave Old Trafford Alive While at Everton ... You want to get out of Old Trafford alive, that used to be our saying..."

 

"We're in a gun fight armed with a knife."

 

I think the small club mentality that we the fans have developed is evident in the case of the puerile glee we feel at every misfortune that befalls our mighty neighbours across the park. We are a bit like those Scotland fans to whom English failure is often more important than Scottish success. We will have come a long way once we have learnt how to give our lovely neighbours a patronising pat on the back and tell them they did well.

 

But such a change in attitude will only be the beginning.

 

My impression of our team's performances of late is that we are trying very hard to play as a big club, only for our material shortcomings to let us down. When we went one up against Spurs, no attempts were made at parking the bus. Instead we went for the second. This change in outlook is in itself is a sign of great progress.

 

Martinez to me is a truly great man. We should consider ourselves fortunate to have him as our manager. I will be perfectly frank: I don't think highly of athletes, and my thoughts on fans who live and die for football are not even suitable for publication. Martinez is the paragon of Hochkultur amid uncultured creatures, among whom I count the the likes of Alex Ferguson, Jose Mourinho, and Brendan Rodgers. If I expect Martinez to succeed in his mission, it is because I have unshakable faith in his superior intelligence and his organisational skills. If Alex Ferguson could get Manchester United to dominate the league with his customary bravado of a trade unionist, imagine what a genuinely brilliant man like Martinez could do for our great club. We are no upstarts; we are one of the finest clubs in the world. Fighting for titles should not be a privilege bequeathed to us by divine providence or whatever it is that we wish to call it; fighting for titles is our Right!

 

I would like all of you to conclude this homily with me by closing your eyes.

 

Inhale - then exhale.

 

Now say with me:

 

We are Everton.

We are no upstarts.

We can defeat anyone.

We are as bloodthirsty

As Huns.

Anything that gets in our way

We shall trample underfoot.

We are the new Mongols.

We shall overrun Europe.

Let the name of the scourge

Be known.

From Cordova to the Urals.

From Sardinia to Svalbard.

The Blue Peril - is nigh.

Edited December 5, 2014 by millwallforever

[Shukes]

Ever thought of giving half time team speeches ;-)

Edited December 5, 2014 by Shukes

[johnh]

The problem is, Martinez won't be around for long. Someone will make him an offer he can't refuse. Most likely in Europe.

[Guest millwallforever]

He is a fiercely proud Catalan and I can see him manage Barcelona at some point, but I have the impression that he wishes to accomplish something substantial at Everton.

 

 

 

The problem is, Martinez won't be around for long. Someone will make him an offer he can't refuse. Most likely in Europe.

Edited December 5, 2014 by millwallforever

[Elston Gunnn]

I like RM, and appreciate, seriously, millwallforever's analysis of his intelligence; and I'm glad to hear Roberto's a paragon of Hochkultur.

 

I admit, however, to some concern for how Roberto's Hochkultur sensibilities will cope when Goodison is transformed as its nice families and supporters become the new Mongols, bloodthirsty Huns, trampling and scourging, and such.

 

Might make him yearn for the (relative) sanity of la Sagrada Familia.

[Matt]

He is a fiercely proud Catalan and I can see him manage Barcelona at some point, but I have the impression that he wishes to accomplish something substantial at Everton.

 

i agree, but he's going to have to prove he is capable of winning something before he goes there

[Guest millwallforever]

The Hun-Mongol reference was obviously not to be taken literally, as you probably figured. But I like the way Martinez is going about restructuring the club from top to bottom; endeavours from which we will reap many benefits in the long run. I think what we are doing resembles what Dynamo Moscow are trying to accomplish in Russia:

 

 

 

I like RM, and appreciate, seriously, millwallforever's analysis of his intelligence; and I'm glad to hear Roberto's a paragon of Hochkultur.

I admit, however, to some concern for how Roberto's Hochkultur sensibilities will cope when Goodison is transformed as its nice families and supporters become the new Mongols, bloodthirsty Huns, trampling and scourging, and such.

Might make him yearn for the (relative) sanity of la Sagrada Familia.

Edited December 5, 2014 by millwallforever

[Brett Angel]

Three simple words make it all better- I love bobby

[Guest millwallforever]

People who object to Martinez's mode of communication...perhaps they would have preferred the ghetto bollox spouted by Holloway. Oh well, there are people out there who think that Stephen King is a literary genius...

 

Enter Holloway - patronising grown up men in such a childish manner says a lot about what sort of a man Holloway himself is:

 

"As long as he's consistent, I'll reward him. If my kids want an ice cream, they've got to earn it because I won't just give them one."

 

"But I did that a little bit with Magaye because I love talent and he's certainly got it. I gave him things a bit too easily but not now."

 

"If he wants to utilise the talent he's got, then I'll be the man to help him do that."

 

"The lads have got to die trying for me. The lads that do that will be the ones who make it the ones who are desperate to improve, to keep working and running."

 

http://www.newsatden.co.uk/43551-theres-no-limit-to-what-gueye-can-achieve-at-millwall-ollie.html

 

Martinez, on the other hand, has the mentality of a selfless politburo member:

 

"Well stick together during adversity."

 

"Sometimes you can come out and criticise people to just get rid of your frustration, to vent your feelings after a bad result."

 

"We will get adversity during a season and its my responsibility to make sure I take the lead in facing that adversity and keeping us developing and learning from that."

 

"Id never try and blame anyone apart from myself."

 

 

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/roberto-martinez-more-minded-focus-8237636

Edited December 6, 2014 by millwallforever

[Newty82]

I've got man love for Martinez.

 

It's frustrating watching us play at times just now. But we can play a hell of a lot better and we will.

 

We are in the right hands. He'll improve a lot at the club...the culture, mentality, belief.

 

I think this season he will learn a lot. It's his first time juggling Europe with the league. It's a tough task. He will, and has, get things wrong (although hindsight a fine thing). But he will learn.

 

I look forward to the future.

[Sibdane]

He is a fiercely proud Catalan and I can see him manage Barcelona at some point, but I have the impression that he wishes to accomplish something substantial at Everton.

 

 

 

I completely agree with the latter of half your statement. I really feel Martinez is a goal-oriented manager who won't move on until he wins something... or is forced out.