Amid the fume and despondency that descended upon the Grand Old Lady following Everton’s stalemate opening fixture of the new Premier League season, few could argue against criticisms directed towards the board of directors and their farcical management of the club. Some however did find the time to defend Everton’s masterful spin doctor, Roberto Martinez, whose job of manoeuvring the blue ship through dangerous waters is becoming ever the more perilous.
Kenwright and co. have long been questioned over their barren run of success at the controls of the money-making machine that is Everton Football Club, but the last 12 months have seen something of an onslaught directed towards the men in charge, as the revenue generated by TV sponsorship deals alone is frighteningly vacant from sight and this sudden disappearance is throwing question marks left, right and centre.
A lack of investment is worrying, especially when looked at alongside the expenditure of other clubs in the division who are beginning to close the finance gap, leaving the Toffees treading water far adrift of the pack. The main problem with the board is the lack of commitment shown by the members, save Kenwright, who leech status from their high profile roles without putting any money back into the club. Robert Earl has a net worth of approximately $240 million, yet his financial support is minimalistic, as isthe contribution supplied by Jon Woods and Robert Elstone. Kenwright’s lack of investment is currently being criticised on a daily basis by Evertonians, but the truly disturbing factor is the lack of ambition being shown by the three stooges that remain on the board, avoiding any variety of active contribution to aid in the club’s growth.
However, I do believe that to blindly vent years of pent up frustration towards the board without re-evaluating the efforts of the Catalan at the helm of the ship is unwise; as his reluctance to shuffle the pack is leaving us dangerously exposed. I began writing this before the 3-0 victory over Southampton, where uncharacteristically Roberto switched up the sides formation and dynamics, so my complaints seem to have been answered before I could address them, but one explosive victory does not change the quantity of points dropped last campaign that I would simply attribute to the stubbornness of our manager, not our ambitionless board.
The 2013/2014 season was one I’m sure many will remember for some time, as Roberto’s magical injection of precision and high levels of ball retention earned his side a deserved reputation of being a truly difficult opponent. This dynamism completely vanished for the 2014/2015 campaign as Everton were as predictable as they were poor. Indirect forward play and a strong desire to maintain possession at the expense of forward movement led to a number of problems, as opposing sides were able to easily predict the team’s movements and prevent them from building any momentum. This was evidently a huge problem, as mirrored in Everton’s final league standing. This, over the course of this summer’s pre-season, should have been addressed; however, against Watford we saw the same old Everton from last season.
Frail at the back, with absolutely no bite up top, we resembled a tired old dog. Completely vulnerable to any pace, the defence was torn to shreds by a side, newly promoted no less, who had completely reshuffled and were expected to take some time to gel effectively. In fact, Watford resembled a more fluent eleven as their gung-ho approach caught Martinez by surprise. His response? Play in the same pretty yet toothless manner that we did so often last season. Regardless of how good Watford were, Everton should not have been held by a newly promoted side, at home of all places.People may argue that this is because of the board’s lack ofambition, not providing Roberto with the desired quality to elevate the team to the next level, but I couldn’t disagree more. I refuse to believe that the players we have already employed at the club aren’t good enough to effectively challenge any team in the league. I put this down to tactical naïveté on Roberto’s part. The eleven that started the game against Watford have 1,982 Premier League appearances between them, the experience and ability is there,and with the right man directing them I honestly believe that they could beat anyone on their day.
A manager’s job is to manipulate the players at his disposal with the aim of wringing the best out of them to achieve the club’s desired end result. As much as I despise the board members, save Kenwright, Martinez has to face criticism as he is failing to do his job effectively by remaining constant. We don’t need stagnation.
It is easy however to pick holes without providing a valid solution to the problems at hand, and unfortunately I don’t possess the answers to these problems, but the banner above St. Mary’s was certainly not it. The fly over was a poor attempt to reach out and, despite attracting the media’s attention, belittles the club and should be seen as an embarrassment.
So in spite of the Southampton result, this piece was intended to bring to light the misdirection of Martinez when handling squadselections and the tactical approach that subsequently follows. I’m not necessarily saying that Martinez is no longer the man to lead us forward, although my personal thoughts are beginning to sway, I’m simply saying that there is much more to Everton’s failings than a lack of financial backing.
We are Everton fans and we shouldn’t accept a top seven finish as being a success. We should strive for silverware, but it is important to understand who should face the brunt of criticism when things go a wry.
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