2011/12 Campaign (7th in the Premier League)
Back in the summer preceding Everton’s 2011/12 campaign, The Toffees alarmed the national press for a failure to spend yet again: in fact, since signing Jonny Heitinga for £6.2m in the 2009 summer transfer window, Everton were yet to spend over £1.5m in combined transfer fees. Then, conveniently hours before Everton’s official site released a blog written by their chief executive Robert Elstone, detailing the club’s finances in the five seasons preceding the 2011/12 campaign, they signed Manchester United’s Darron Gibson on January 13th for just under £500k.
Yet, their transfer activity up until that to be turning point merely consisted of: James McFadden and Marcus Hahnemann on free transfers – who have both been released this summer; Denis Stracqualursi, Royston Drenthe and Landon Donovan on loan; and their only bought player, the aforementioned Darron Gibson. It was an Everton far flung from the free-spending side we saw in the second half of last decade.
When Wayne Rooney left Everton for Manchester United for £25m in 2004, Moyes went on to smash Everton’s transfer record 4 times in 4 years and spend over £40m on James Beattie, Andrew Johnson, Yakubu and Fellaini. Moyes’ ability to spend led to Champions League qualification in 2005, and UEFA Cup runs in the 07/08 season and 08/09 season, as well as an F.A. Cup Final appearance in 2009, finishing runners up to Chelsea.
However, a deadline day sale of Mikel Arteta to Arsenal for £10m and a series of comments from players and David Moyes alike, which suggested there still wasn’t money to spend, resulted in protests from a section of Everton fans not happy with the club’s progress under Bill Kenwright, nor the money available for new signings. The unrest began during preseason and having heard a telling interview from Sylvain Distin to BBC Radio Merseyside, where he stated that they have “a small squad” that is wary of injuries being able to threaten their campaign and if so they’ll “have to deal with it,” a phrase again echoed by Tim Cahill, questions started being fired from fans at the powers who be at Goodison Park, prompting January’s in-depth blog on their finances and most importantly further transfer action in the shape of Steven Pienaar rejoining Moyes’ side on-loan and Nikica Jelavic from Rangers for a fee marginally over £5m.
With Everton’s borrowing having risen from £22m to £45m from 2006-2011, an increase of 104.5%, and player wages increasing by £20m over the same 5-year period, despite an actual 4% drop in the proportion of revenue spent on player wages, it was clear that money for investment in the playing squad wasn’t readily available any time soon – however, without it, Everton’s repeated success in the top-half of the table may have dissipated, considering they had the third highest average squad age in the Premier League, something Elstone denies in his blog: “this is not an ageing, threadbare squad.”
Fortunately, Everton found the money to cough up just under £6m in the January transfer window and the 9 Premier League goals from the Croatian striker Jelavic and the 7 assists from returning South African Pienaar was the firepower needed to ensure Everton finished in the top eight of the Premier League for the fifth season on the trot. More importantly, they finished above Liverpool – something they hadn’t done since the 2004/05 campaign in which Everton finished 4th thus qualifying for the Champions League.
Preseason
If transfer activity was a clear cut benchmark of progress, then Everton are already shaping up to have a better season that last year, having already secured the permanent return of fans’ favourite Steven Pienaar and the arrival of Steven Naismith following the administration and liquidation of Glasgow Rangers.
In the opposite direction of the £4.6m spent by Everton during preseason, are the outward transfers of: Australian midfielder Tim Cahill to the MLS’s New York Red Bulls, for a fee estimated to be around £1m; the permanent switch of Joseph Yobo to Fenerbache following two season long loans for £1.9m and three lower key departures in the form of Adam Forshaw to (Brentford for an undisclosed fee, James Wallace to Tranmere in similar fashion and Joao Silva also moving for an undisclosed fee, this time to Levski Sofia.
The loss of Tim Cahill should not be seen as so – a loss – for that would only transpire his sentimental worth. On the decline for a while now, plagued with injury and a constant weight of expectation on an interfering international level, Cahill has delivered less and less for The Toffees. His name will live on at Goodison Park to a greater effect than his presence would have. It may well just open the door for Ross Barkley and Jack Rodwell to establish themselves at the heart of the Everton midfield, too.
Prediction
Do Everton have what it takes to finish above Liverpool again? Perhaps. Whilst Liverpool may benefit from Brendon Rodgers’ inspired breath of life into what is becoming a more and more dormant giant year after year, Everton are an ever-present hassle for their Merseyside rivals and an ever growing force under David Moyes. They have the capability and capacity to rejuvenate again and again thanks to the stability in management that Liverpool have been lacking of late.
Phil Jagielka feels Everton are having their best preseason in a number of years: “We always seem to have an air of confidence, especially after the finish we had. But it was important whether we were going to do business, be it ins or outs, that it’s done as soon as possible,” alluding to the last minute departures of Mikel Arteta last season and Joleon Lescott the season previous, “Hopefully we can get a couple of more in and start the season with a squad rather than having it clouding over us, and wondering ‘are we going to get him or lose him’.”
Meanwhile, Liverpool’s transfer activity looks far from over, having to potentially deal with replacing players such as Daniel Agger if bigger clubs come calling. This could be the defining factor in the race for Merseyside dominance this season: how steady each ship is at the start of the campaign for these dockside clubs. If Everton can finish above Liverpool it may be down to The Reds’ inability to secure the big-money deals that are being talked of in the papers at current.
Prediction: 6th.
Written by Jordan Florit for www.maycauseoffence.com/ For more articles visit my website or my Twitter @JordanFlorit
