Why Everton duo should adhere to some wise words
At Everton, Steven Pienaar and Mikel Arteta are given freedom to express themselves. David Moyes has moulded his team over his tenure at Goodison Park into a balanced, competitive outfit. To match the creativity and guile of Pienaar and Arteta, the likes of Neville and Fellaini add the extra bite. Regardless of of who plays at the back – Yobo, Jagielka, Heitinga, Distin etc – there is an organisation that exists throughout. Everton have a lot of good players, and because of the fact that the club isn’t in the upper echelons, those players are always susceptible to rumours of bigger deals elsewhere.
Everton have struggled to make the inroads that Villa, Man City and Spurs have managed over the last few seasons because they simply don’t have the money to compete. David Moyes has to be certain in the transfer market because his board cannot afford expensive mistakes (think James Beattie). It’s not that Moyes has no money to spend, the likes of Fellaini, Saha and Yakubu didn’t arrive for nothing, but in terms of offering big contracts, and trying to match other clubs over transfer fees, then they are more limited than their rivals. If a bigger club come calling, it can be difficult to fend them off, case in point – Joleon Lescott. The biggest help Everton can get, is the commitment of the player them self.
Mikel Arteta and Steven Pienaar have both been linked with bigger clubs, most notably Arsenal, but would it really be the right move for them? Would Steven Pienaar get 40 games a season at Arsenal when competing for places with Arshavin, Nasri, Rosicky and Walcott? What he has at Everton may be very difficult to recreate elsewhere. Understandably, players want to play for as bigger club as possible; it takes a brave person to turn down a move to a big club and the chance of proving them self on a higher stage. Understanding that you have a good thing and not being greedy, balanced with the lure of trophies and success at the risk of a lack of games, is a difficult thing to come to terms with. For some it pays off, for others it can be years in the wilderness.
Louis Saha, Shaun Wright-Phillips and Scott Parker are players who moved to bigger clubs only to find that maybe it was a step too far. All have moved on from those transfers with varying success, but how different would their careers have been if they had stayed put. Then again, if Man Utd want you, how do you say no? It has happened to Everton before, Duncan Ferguson and Francis Jeffers both moved to bigger clubs only to find their career hit a stumbling block. Francis Jeffers is currently on trial at Blackpool, what would be his eighth club in the nine years since he left Goodison. Leaving Everton for a bigger club, for Jeffers, was a gamble that failed to pay off.
Players can spend entire careers trying to find a club that fits them; Craig Bellamy, Marcus Bent or Peter Crouch for example. Pienaar and Arteta have found their club. They are adored by Toffee fans, their team plays a brand of football that suits them, they are integral members of a squad that competes with the top teams in the country and enjoys European football. Everton have helped raise the profile of both players, considered far better than the ones that arrived at the club, and in response, the midfielders should realise they are part of a good thing. For fans of any club, it would be sad to see them have to start from scratch somewhere else, than continue to blossom at home.
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“Duncan Ferguson and Francis Jeffers both moved to bigger clubs”
I have no idea, How the hell you put newcastle bigger than us. What a stupuid thing to say.
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i can’t add much to that as you are 100% correct in your assessment of everton suiting their style of play, they would never be loved as much as they are with any other fans but evertonians
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“Everton have struggled to make the inroads that Villa, Man City and Spurs have managed over the last few seasons”??
Villa? – They finished 3 points above us last season & have reached a league cup final…
Spurs? – They’ve finished above us once in the last 3 years & won a league cup
City? They’ve finshed 5th .. Once
Everton Have finsihed 4th. 6th, 5th, 5th & 8th in the past 5 years..broke in the top 4, been to an FA cup final, UEFA cup round of 16 & League Cup Semi..how have any of these teams made in roads that Everton haven’t?
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I’m just gutted these guys got to make their point before I did.
I’d just like to add to Dan spot on point, that Everton had 11 first team pleayer out at the start of last season, and when we had all of them back, we only lost 2 out of our last 24!! None of the teams who have mad bigger “inroads” than us would have coped with those loses, and without them, we would have finished 4th, maybe 3rd.
Stop writing drivel you Pleb!!!
And Daniel, because Newcastle can fit more in their stadium, makes them Bigger than us
) Nothing to do with History, league position, etc etc etc. Same logic Dan Gosling has used!!!
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Duncan Ferguson moved to a bigger club? Newcastle? lolololololololololololololol
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Got to agree with Dan here,’struggled to make inroads’the author needs to get his facts straight, otherwise he will continue to write drivel like this for the rest of his journalistic career.
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Talk about not having a clue, Everton have more than made the inroads that Villa have. Also Saha did not struggle at Man U, he struggled with injuries! Even Ferguson has said that if he had not had the injuries he would probably still be at Man U.
Right, if you are a budding sports journalist, we all have some advice for you lad, do some research next time!
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I love this dopes idea of what constitutes a ‘bigger’ club!!! LMAO.
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I presume the young writer means “richer” not “bigger”; there are only 3 “bigger” clubs than Everton in English football
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I appreciate what this guy is trying to say, but the comments above have hit the nail on the head from an Everton perspective
As far as I’m concerned over the last 5 years we’ve achieved so much more than Spurs, Villa and City, only unbelieve bad luck with injuries at the start of the campaign last year had us in the position we were.
I’d be very suprised if we finished below Villa or Spurs this season, avoiding the major injuries we had last season, I’d be quietly confident of us topping one of City or Liverpool as well (counting on holding onto Arteta and Pienaar).
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