catcherintherye
Player Valuation: £80m
It is difficult to know where to start with the stupidity of the Saints ITK. As a general rule I have not resorted down to their level of levelling people a small club, or being insulting or disparaging about another football club. I admire Southampton and have grown to like them in part as a result of their war of words with Liverpool! Whatever happens with Koeman I think they will continue to do very well.
Are we a “bigger club”? Well it’s down to perception and opinion. In my opinion yes, in their opinion no. However in the opinion of Koeman we are and rather than accepting that reality they are seeking misinformation to try and justify/delude themselves. I don’t particularly care if other fans want to do this but will set the record straight when it has a knock on affect for my club.
Lets go through his account step by step before I point out the glaring errors. Firstly Koeman made no verbal agreement he was staying at Southampton. Far from that he actually made it very clear in press conference he was wanting out. It was clear he wanted the Everton move from how he answered press conference to the end of the season. He went as far as he could go while still in a job to say he wanted our job.
I remember at the time the same ITK’s who tell us now he wanted to stay telling us then he would never leave and his comments showed he had no interest in joining Everton. I corrected them then, about what his comments mean and I will correct then again now. Koeman made it very clear he was interested in the Everton job.
Informal discussions were had and he liked Moshiri and the vision of Everton a lot and the feedback Moshiri got was positive. He was now very keen on moving to Everton. It’s important to note for later information no wage packet was discussed at this stage. Unfortunately for Koeman Everton were going to wait until the seasons end before making any firm decisions which meant we wouldn’t just appoint him back then.
This was due to us wanting to wait until the FA Cup, Europa League and Champions league Finals were played, all of which had either direct or indirect impact upon our potential targets. These were Mourinho, and then Emery & tentatively Simeone. It is important to note the firm we used to find a manager conducted it in a professional manner and a little different to typically how football teams do (ie meet someone and appoint him) they wanted to survey all the potential options.
This then gave time between the initially Koeman meeting us and indicating he was interested in moving and the end of season. This was then lengthened by Koemans decision to go on holiday.
In this time frame Southampton’s board essentially took a gamble and started trying to score easy points. They used the inactivity to try and make out Koeman had rejected us and gambled on us appointing someone else. They could claim they have withheld Everton then and ultimately get some good credibility with their fans. Their supposed “ITK” also started taking liberties and taking the mickey suggesting we weren’t bigger than them and Koeman had rejected us. None of that information was correct.
It was a gamble for the Southampton board they didn’t need to take and one that has back fired spectacularly. A major bluff which has ended up being called. It’s why I have limited sympathy, as they looked to use and run down Everton to make themselves seem better in a dishonest way.
Anyway we fastforward and the season ends, we book in to see people at the earliest opportunity (specifically Emery). Southampton’s bluff goes further as they make it public knowledge they have offered him a new Contract which increases his terms by 50% and also make it clear him not signing it is not a worry as it’s just because he’s on holiday. The first was true, but the second is untrue, he didn’t sign it as he was waiting to see the outcome of what happened at Everton.
I wouldn’t say that Emery turned us down but the negotiations weren’t concluded. It’s rare you get flat our rejections but Emery didn’t say yes and was going to consider his options further. The club felt he was taking too long and weren’t sure if he was serious and didn’t want it to drag on too long.
At that point a call was made to Koeman. It’s not entirely clear whether this was to pressurise Emery or because we’d accepted Emery wouldn’t come. In all honesty it was probably a bit of both. The site of Koeman meeting us could have prompted a response from Emery had he really wanted the job but that didn’t really come. Had it have come I am not sure how it would have played out. It didn’t and very quickly we then looked to confirm Koeman.
It is important to note that it was around this point that solid terms of his wage were made (the 6 million a year). Koeman had an idea it would be more but didn’t know it would be this much more. Suffice to say the idea that Koeman was swung for the Everton job based on the salary alone is untrue. It wasn’t irrelevant but it was a more incidental point, he was impressed with Moshiri and the vision he had for Everton. The salary matched that vision.
At this point we are waiting to finalise the deal.
Just to correct some of the misinformation specifically.
1) “Ronald Koeman agreed to a new Contract”. Very unlikely. Koeman made it clear he wanted to discuss terms with Everton. It’s why none of this was a shock when he has come, I’ve said it all along well before the press reported it (as have others). Their track record is largely incorrect on this.
2) “He indicated after our approach he would like to stay at Southampton”. Again not true. If he wanted to stay at Southampton he would have signed the Contract. He didn’t he went away on holiday to let Everton conclude their business. If he wasn’t selected by Everton he would stay, if he was he would leave.
3) “The 100 million Kitty swung it for Koeman”. Koeman was well aware of the vision for the club from before he went on holiday. This would not have been something that swung it for him at that moment. He knew of the transfer kitty (and broad vision) from the end of the season and this is why he wanted to leave. It wouldn’t have come as a big shock to him on holiday. Hence why talk of him signing a contract with Southampton is not the case.
4) “Koeman wanted to use Everton to get a better deal out of Southampton”. Simply not true. The fact they are still peddling this nonsense is incredible. If that were the case he got offered better terms(a 50% increase by Southampton) and he chose to go on holiday rather than sign it!
Koeman wanted to join Everton. Southamptons board (as indicated above) tried a huge bluff manoeuvre of hoping Everton wouldn’t accept him so they could make out he choose them over us. It has backfired.
5) “Southampton’s hierarchy didn’t like him so were happy to let him go”. How does this fit with offering his a club record salary and new Contract? If you are not happy with someone you either sack them or don’t renew their contract. At the very worst you renew it on the same terms. What you don’t do is let it be publically known how much you like them, how they will stay, how you will sign them to a long term deal, increase their wages by 50% and make them the best paid manager in the clubs history.
It is nothing but extreme revisionism to suggest Southampton shoved Koeman away. They moved heaven and earth to keep him but couldn’t match Everton.
6) “Players don’t like him”. Easy point to make, lots of player do like him and have said so. Some don’t I am sure. He has finished 6th with them though so not bad at all for a manager they dislike.
7) “famed academy”. Ok mate, the same academy that I saw get hammered by a bunch of significantly younger Everton lads at under 21 level? Same famed academy that we have finished above for several seasons at under 18’s? The same famed academy that has produced less first team players than our has.
You have a good academy but very little talent in it currently. Look at Koemans record at Feyenoord (his previous job) to see his record on youth development.
I could go on but have said too much already. It is painful losing your manager and people can justify that any way they like. I don’t particularly care however I will always correct information when it concerns my own club.
Throughout this episode some Southampton fans have made idiots of themselves because they have tried throughout to dogmatically defend the idea that we are not miles bigger than them. That’s their prerogative of course however it just doesn’t bear any resemblance to reality. Rather than accepting reality for what it is they have chosen to build a fantasy story that allows them to uphold that narrative.
That has been the case from moment one, where they tried to tell us Koeman wasn’t talking to us. At Every step along the way they have proven to be fibbers. Firstly Koeman wouldn’t entertain speaking to us. Then after he was approached it was Koeman he would sign a Contract with Southampton. Then when the contract wasn’t signed it was he had turned us down. Then when he agreed to join us it has become this was all one elaborate way to get an unpopular and poor manager out of the club and they didn’t cave in to the blackmail.
It’s obvious to see the glaring inconsistencies to this story. In comparison I, and many other Everton fans have remained very consistent on Koeman. He approached us re the job, liked what he heard and waited to hear our final decision. When we elected to choose him he moved to us.
I want to reiterate I have nothing against Southampton. Whether they choose to accept reality that we are a much bigger club/draw than them, or whether they choose to mis represent and falsify facts to try and build a propaganda narrative that we are not a bigger club is up to them. I think their board have behaved in a particularly underhand manner and have been caught out. I don’t have any bad feelings to them, I don’t think they are a small club or anything else. All I’ve maintained is, in the eyes of their manager he would rather join us.
