Bainsey
Player Valuation: £20m
"I love it at Everton,” he declared. “I love the club, I love the fans and I love the lads. It’s a great place to be. I have now got to look forward to what will hopefully be a great season and one where we have got UEFA Cup football on our agenda.
Taken from this
Taken from this
POSH Spice was nowhere to be seen, Eva Longoria and Katie Holmes were otherwise engaged, and Arnold Schwarzenegger was back behind his desk running California.
Hollywood’s A-list may have been out in force for David Beckham’s much-heralded LA Galaxy last Saturday night against Chelsea but, 72 hours later at the Home Depot Center in Carson City, the scene was completely transformed.
Bar a handful of spectators, a couple of security guards and the odd groundsman, there was little interest in the match that was taking place on a training pitch not far from the main arena. Yet that did not matter a jot to James Beattie.
Although Everton were effectively only having a training game against Ventura County Fusion, David Moyes’ reaction to a sluggish start made it quite clear that this was an important exercise.
Going through the motions was simply not an option.
Once they eventually warmed to the task, Everton had little trouble dispatching their opponents. But while infinitely bigger tests await, this contest could just be the kick-start that Beattie needs.
Having waited what seems an eternity to get a goal, there was plenty to like about the way the former England international raced clear to crisply dispatch a through ball from Mikel Arteta and the celebration which followed suggested a weight had been lifted.
“I enjoyed that,” he said afterwards, a smile replacing his furrowed brow.
No wonder. The last time Beattie scored in open play came against Aberdeen in a friendly almost 12 months ago.
You have to go back to March 11, 2006, for the last time he achieved such a feat in Premier League combat.
A dismal return of two goals – both penalties – last season has led to speculation that Beattie’s time on Merseyside may be drawing to a close and his former club Blackburn Rovers would like to take him back to Ewood Park.
ButBeattie – who cost a then club record £6m when he arrived from Southampton in January 2005 – has given no indication that he wants to up sticks and is still confident that he can play a part in Everton’s future.
If that is to happen, though, he knows there must be an immediate improvement in his goal return.
Last year was the worst of his career by some distance, but who knows? Maybe that effort against Ventura is just the spark he needs.
“You say it was a glorified kick around and the gaffer said as much beforehand,” said Beattie, sitting on the veranda of the team hotel. “But we started sloppy and he wasn’t happy. He had a go at us and rightly so. You take personal pride in whatever you do.
“Whether you play a group of college lads or Real Madrid, you have got to show the opposition respect, not just as a team but as people. The lads we were playing were trying their hardest and if you don’t apply yourself, you could get injured or be embarrassed.”
Given that he is the owner of the most famous Everton shirt of all – number nine – Beattie knows much is expected of him and he shares the frustration of supporters that his form has been so up and down. To his credit, he is not apportioning the blame elsewhere.
“It was hard to build up momentum last year, but there were no excuses,” he said. “It was a bad season for me. I won’t skirt away from that fact. It’s the first season ever that I have not got into double figures.
“It was very disappointing. But who is going to look backwards? You have got to look forward and remain positive. I have never doubted my own ability and I have never lost faith in myself. That’s up to other people to do that.
“There are people who still believe in me. I know the lads do. That is what is important. I can’t lose my own self- belief because that would just be an absolute disaster. But that hasn’t happened and it won’t happen.
“I read lots of stuff in the papers that I am fat, I can’t score in open play and my time at Everton is finished. I read it every week. They never ask me and they think that they know best.
“If they asked me, I’d tell them. But it doesn’t bother me. It’s more upsetting for the people who love me, like my family, when they see and hear things like that. But it’s just one of those things, isn’t it? You get on with it.”
Such a positive outlook will give him an infinitely better chance of proving his detractors wrong and he has worked hard since arriving in the United States last week. Time will tell if he moves on but, for now, he is ready for the challenge.
“I love it at Everton,” he declared. “I love the club, I love the fans and I love the lads. It’s a great place to be. I have now got to look forward to what will hopefully be a great season and one where we have got UEFA Cup football on our agenda.
“The season starts afresh. If you ended up dwelling on something like that, you’d end up hanging yourself. That’s not what I’m about. That not what this game is about. The best thing about football is that if you do something wrong, you can put it right the next week.
“There is always that chance. If you do amazingly well or if you do really poorly, you don’t dwell on what you have done. You want to do better all the time. The objective remains the same.
“You want to progress and it’s a great sport for that; the best there is. I’ve got to believe I have got a great chance to go onwards and upwards and hopefully that will be the case.”
