Are Everton FC on a downward spiral?
By Stephen Jones, Merseyside (@SPJones7) 07/04/2015
As the 2014/15 campaign draws to a close, the Everton faithful can lament on a season which has been nothing short of a total disappointment. Despite the smokescreen provided by the Europa league campaign, Everton have exited both the FA Cup and Capital One Cup at the first round of entering. Add a lacklustre Premier League campaign into the mix and you end up with a plethora of discontented Everton fans wondering what the future may hold for the prestigious club.
Prior to this season, the boys in royal blue had managed seven top 7 finishes out of the last eight seasons. A degree of consistency which was instilled into the club by David Moyes. We all thought that Bobby Martinez had managed to build on this after a spectacular campaign resulting in a 5th place finish and qualification for the Europa League. The summer brought about a £33 million net spend, the best backing that the club has had; the permanent signing of Romelu Lukaku being the main crowd pleaser. Optimism surrounded the club in the build up to this season’s campaign. However, 31 matches in and we’ve collected just 22 points from 15 home games and 15 points from 16 away games. Far from what was expected. Pessimism quickly replaced optimism.
After rumours circulating about Martinez falling out with senior players such as Distin and Baines and losing the dressing room as a result, question marks have constantly been raised about the job he is doing. Are Everton on the road to becoming a Wigan Athletic? Last season the fans loved how Bobby was in interviews; consistently praising the character of the team and how phenomenal everything was. But, this season, despite the performances changing, the interviews haven’t which raises concerns amongst the supporters. Are the interviews just a PR stunt to protect his own managerial position? Does he mean what he says? Is he being honest with the fans? The absence of key players from the squad, like Baines, with no prior warning was worrying. Then, Bobby denied substituting Mirallas due to his refusal to obey club orders when taking and missing a penalty at home to WBA. Consequently, Goodison Park has been a place full of anxiety this season and that will certainly transmit to the players. I think I can speak for all when I say that the atmosphere has, for the majority of the season, been a shadow of its former self.
Well, what does all this mean for the future? Are we to expect a decade of mid table mediocrity? Is this the end to Everton strongly contesting the European spots and the top 7? One thing is for sure, this summer break is possibly one of the biggest in the club’s history. With Lukaku’s new agent already letting other clubs know he might be open to a move, it’s clear that Everton fans are in for a long transfer window. Clubs will undoubtedly come sniffing around the likes of Romelu, Mirallas, Seamus and Ross. If Everton are to bounce back and start competing again, we will surely need to keep hold of our better players whilst collecting some funds from the money tree in Kenwright’s back garden in order to strengthen. Deadwood needs to be disposed of including Kone, Alcaraz and McGeady who, in my opinion, are not deserving of the royal blue jersey. And, the biggest question, Martinez in or out? I’d be interested to see what the general consensus on that question is. The good bit of form that the team has found recently might just win over some of the fans and restore the belief that Everton can go again next season. However, his stubborn approach has worn thin on many. Nil Satis Nisi Optimum; if we are to adhere to the club’s motto, then surely he has to go. The manager himself hasn’t adhered to it. Week in and week out he rewards the mediocre performances of Gareth Barry and Tim Howard with yet another start. Muhammed Besic, who has quickly become a fan’s favourite, was one of the club’s best players for the time he had a run in the team but was cast aside at the first opportunity that Martinez had. The one dimensional approach has already surpassed boiling point for a large part of the fan base. Bill won’t do anything though, will he?
Regardless of what goes on, by the time August comes along, this season will be forgotten about and we will have all convinced ourselves that we are going to have a strong season with a solid cup run. We’ll sip on that first pint before the first game of the season with expectations of returning to the right end of the premier league table. Let’s hope we do.
Thanks for reading.
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Although Mr. Moyes inherited a much poorer squad we finished 17th in his 2nd full season. In this equivalent season for Martinez we will finish a fair bit higher than that. I know it has been frustrating for us Blues but getting rid of him now would be foolish at best. Let’s see what happens next season and let’s not be like every other fickle club in the country.
Nice article Stephen.
I was going to say I’d give him until Christmas, but his judgement frightens me now, only last week he said he was ‘looking forward to McGeady returning’, well he’s the only one who is, as you rightly say, McGeady should never play again.
Remember last January transfer window, we bring in Lacina Traore, he scores one goal, gets injured and we never see him again, even though he stays with the Club and we pay for his rehabilitation, what on earth went on there ?
I really don’t trust him with any transfer money now, Kone and Alcaraz have cost the club a small fortune for no return.
The Samuel Eto situation, what happened there ? I heard stories of Eto leading a dressing room revolt after just a couple of months at the Club, next thing he’s on his way out, to the echoes of glowing tributes from Martinez.
His interviews have become increasingly embarrassing, if the roof of the Main Stand (which should be renamed The Howard Kendall Stand immediately) fell in as we were getting beat 6-0, he’d still come out and tell us everything was phenomenal.
Well everything isn’t phenomenal, far from it in fact, and as I’ve been writing this I’ve just convinced myself that he should be shown the door at the end of this season.
Whats the point in getting rid of Roberto? There isn’t a manager on this planet who can restore our once great club in the absence of a level playing field.This can ONLY be provided by our CHAIRMAN allowing in the required investment.
To attribute our poor season to a lack of funds is a lazy excuse. Only Arsenal, Liverpool and Man Utd had a bigger net spend than us in the summer. We all know that investment is necessary for us to get to the next level but for almost 9 seasons we’ve been able to compete with those sides spending big money every summer on a limited budget. Why hasn’t it happened this season too? I’m not calling for Roberto’s head but to shift the blame solely onto a lack of investment is not on. We’ve got a record of competing on a limited budget so this season shouldn’t have been any different. If anything, we should have done better than we have in the past.
Last season we surprised teams who were not used to anything, from Everton, like the attacking play Martinez instituted. This season, coupled to sloppiness and individual errors, we’ve surprised no-one….they’ve sussed us out instead. Press Baines and Seamus and our principle routes forward are pegged back…everyone knows it. Barkley through the middle should have been the beneficiary of that and he should have had a fantastic season…but he’s just not been firing right. The concerns are the sudden increase in sloppiness and seeming indiscipline, which points to weak man-management, allied to comments from Martinez that he thinks winning games 6-5 is a viable target for the team to aim at. Even writing that last piece still gives me a shudder. Martinez is still learning….a point which I think many forget….he has a lot to learn still which has become increasingly obvious. I think we can give him time to learn though. If we lose Lukaku it will be for big money…if we lose Seamus it will be for big money….Garbutt for me is the worry as we could lose him without getting anything like his value back. Allied to the new TV revenues though whatever happens we’ll have funds to recover from any of our big players moving on…..look at Southampton this season. The situation has been bleaker for us in recent years so no need for panic yet.
Thanks for an excellent artcile, Stephen; it is well written and thought provoking.I beilieve that due to RM’s stubborn and one dimensional approach, we have missed a big opportunity to progress this season. The team selections have been totally perplexing and the fact that we played an unchanged line-up for the first time on Saturday highlights his baffling approach. RM has fallen out with a number of senior professionals this season and unity has been replaced with disharmony. Pre season was disastrous and this spilled over into the start of the campaign. It is obvious that players aren’t convinced by his methods although he does have his favourites including Howard, McCarthy and Barry.
The incident during the WBA match highlighted a lack of strong leadership within the management team but also Jags, as captain, should have taken control of the situation. The level of entertainment served up at L4 4EL has been appalling and RM should take full responsibility. RM’s pre match and post match interviews are detached from reality to such an extent that I don’t believe a word that he says anymore. I would suggest that his positive spin has a similar impact on the players and this is the root of our downward spiral.
I openly admit that I want Bill Kenwright to dispense with his services in the summer. This conclusion is based on the fact that he inherited a top 6 squad and, with substantial investment, he has turned us into a dour mid table outfit and it is obvious that he has lost a substantial element of the dressing room.