Billy Dean
Player Valuation: £70m
In his first spell with us he was decent. Got an England cap and was a highly rated young player IIRC. In his 2nd spell he was a grock. Too many injuries maybe?
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brieverton
Player Valuation: £40m
Theoretically we have much better players but I believe morale is on the floor, to a far greater extent than the struggles of the 90s.
We knew we were poor then. This time round we unexpectedly find ourselves slumming it in the bottom six after unprecedented levels of enthusiasm and optimism just a few short months ago. If that hits us as fans, it hits players and coaches too. The whole club is under a cloud.
The mental aspect of performance in sport is not appreicated enough I think. We are punch drunk as a club at present, conceding 5 goals in 2 of the last 3 home games. Those are shattering blows that are hard to recover from. This is the nub of the situation. A humiliation like last night, whatever the circumstances, filters through the entire squad, the entire club. That's what shakes confidence to its very core.
It going to require a lot of mental strength to get through Sunday even with a point. Lose, and lose badly and the sense of rot, of decline sets in even further. This is the danger we face. There is no substitute other than effort and resilience. Fighting a battle you didn't expect to need to fight is much harder than one you come prepared for.
We knew we were poor then. This time round we unexpectedly find ourselves slumming it in the bottom six after unprecedented levels of enthusiasm and optimism just a few short months ago. If that hits us as fans, it hits players and coaches too. The whole club is under a cloud.
The mental aspect of performance in sport is not appreicated enough I think. We are punch drunk as a club at present, conceding 5 goals in 2 of the last 3 home games. Those are shattering blows that are hard to recover from. This is the nub of the situation. A humiliation like last night, whatever the circumstances, filters through the entire squad, the entire club. That's what shakes confidence to its very core.
It going to require a lot of mental strength to get through Sunday even with a point. Lose, and lose badly and the sense of rot, of decline sets in even further. This is the danger we face. There is no substitute other than effort and resilience. Fighting a battle you didn't expect to need to fight is much harder than one you come prepared for.
Yarrgh
Player Valuation: £70m
Everton don't do relegation. Not on my watch.
Undisputed_blue
Player Valuation: £8m
We're in a dark place but if we pull out of it then we'll be stronger for it.
Hopefully good times is just around the corner with good players coming back from long term injuries.
Hopefully good times is just around the corner with good players coming back from long term injuries.
And yet.......they are the blokes who got us into the mess in the first place.
And who had landed us in a very similar mess the season before.
I watched them lose 4-0 at home to old time Manchester City early that season and it was every bit as bad, if not worse, than last night's drubbing.
No, it was worse than that. Last night was a friendly for us....the City game was a vital league game.
There were no "Dogs of War" until Joe came in, coined the phrase and got them playing that way.
Prior to that they had been playing the same spineless, rudderless way this lot are playing.
Actually no....they were playing way worse,
They had 4 points after 12 games.
These have 12 points after 12 games.
The doughty fighters of November '94 had escaped relegation by the skin of their teeth earlier that year after meekly walking into the drop zone over a period of months.
The bulk of today's team finished 7th last session,
Which is not to say they cannot or should not be doing better.
But we cannot make a true comparison until a new manager comes in and we can look at the two seasons in their entirety.
For all anyone knows the new man might unleash the inner Dogs Of War in this current squad
I don't believe that we are as bad as '94, not even close. We are undoubtedly bad though and we are carrying too many players in the twilight of their careers and THAT needs to change.
In '94 I had lost all hope and was resigned to relegation. I fully understand why some feel like that now, but I honestly think we will turn things around (Darkest before the dawn and all that)
The above post makes a good point however. 'In theory' this squad is packed with leaders.
Do we have just too many over inflated ego's in the squad?
Is that the problem?
TGW89
Player Valuation: £35m
And yet.......they are the blokes who got us into the mess in the first place.
For all anyone knows the new man might unleash the inner Dogs Of War in this current squad
Pehaps my wording was a bit, as they say, Williams-esque. While the stats are obviously better than they were in 1994, my concern lies within the CHARACTER of the team - and the current football environment. Back then, we had players who CARED for the club, and faced dire career consequences if they went down.
This is not the case now, and let's be honest, why would any player want to take interest in "long term project" Everton, when agents can wangle deals for the Sky Five? Soon the Chinese Super League will also be a viable alternative to anyone who can't get in a Sky Five gravy train.
Given that, what is actually in it for ANYONE (owners/managers included) to embark on a "five-year" project with the second-best club in a city that still (despite rapid growth) lags economically compared to its neighbours?
Be under no illusions, I flucking love this club - as a firstborn grandson, I even refused my birthright (my red grandad's centenary ST) to follow the blues. Still, I'm trying to view this objectively, and put even my own personal slant on this.....
Three years ago, I was working for a small-time insurance company, doing the social media, boss was a nice guy, not much money, 5-year project blah blah blah.
Well after six months it all went kaput and I was on the scrapheap for a while.
Even if things hadn't gone kaput, it was still 5 years of my professional life dedicated to a "project" that was sentimental at best and fanciful at worst. The alternative? Go out and seek projects that have already experienced great success. I did just that and have almost tripled my income.
Our players, in the modern bustle of the PL, are no different - and that extends to the clubs around us in the table as well, which would account for the massive gulf in class between 5th and the rest (ignore Burnley, they'll be in the mire again soon, Dyche or no Dyche).
If we go down in May, basically all of our players will shrug their shoulders, their agents will have them shipped off to other Premier League clubs. Somehow. I mean, someone somewhere thought that a Burnley defender, a Swansea midfielder and a Sunderland goalkeeper were worth a total of 100m
For 100m I'd want Koulibaly, Mertens and Schmeichel at the VERY least.
Unlike today's crop, most of the 1994 squad, playing in an era before the coining of vvanky terms like "super agent", knew that relegation would ruin their careers.
Ultimately, if they do not (as the 1994 squad did) understand what it means to play for Everton, then no amount of revolutionary management can save them. We also forget that only nine years had passed since the greatest season of all time, so Everton were still considered a sleeping giant worth the effort, rather than a big sad joke without any silverware for 20+ years.
Abuse me if you will (everyone), but I speak only the brutal truth.
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Oh no one wants to “abuse” you.
You are a passionate Blue like the rest of us and emotions are running high given the current crisis
Just say your piece
That is the beauty of forums like this.....you can come and vent among like minded souls.
I think it is the same thing, though.
We won’t know the true character of this team until they have a proper manager.
Just like we never knew the Dogs of War were already on the premises until Joe unleashed them.
Now, I agree with you that the likes of Parkinson, Ebrell and Horne seem, in hindsight, more likely to step up than those we watch poncing about today.
But we didn’t know that about them, nor think that about them, when we were booing them off the pitch during the dog days of the Walker era
I am staying optimistic anyway.
Top half by Saturday week......8th place on New Year’s Day
TGW89
Player Valuation: £35m
Top half by Saturday week......8th place on New Year’s Day
Keep drinking, the alternative is horrific.
Osamabindiesel
Player Valuation: £60m
Without Niasse, we are absolutely hopeless.
Sunderland afc
Player Valuation: £8m
If you had said that a year and a half ago they would have sent the men in white coats for you
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