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[thetoffeeist]

Looking back at the Everton Greats.

[thetoffeeist]

1) Koeman pressure

Now embarking on the second year of his three year plan, Ronald Koeman has had most of the presents he was promised when abandoning Southampton for the ‘Everton project’, recently declaring “everyone now understands why I chose Everton”. Despite still not landing the coveted target-man striker, Koeman can have little complaints towards the board this summer. Which means the pressure is all on him this season to get his players playing, and get them playing very good. If the Blues hit a bumpy patch in the road and some of the more anxious fans with itchy fingers who dreamt of Jose Mourinho as manager become disgruntled, it will be all too easy for them to point at the Dutchman. The pressure will be far greater than fucking up the colour of the tinsel on your Christmas tree. But if ever their was a head on a set of shoulders made for soaking up pressure, it would be the celestial-shaped dome of Ronald Koeman’s. You just wouldn’t want to be a journo at the front row of one of his press conferences during that period. The big Dutch crank.

2) Rooney revived

Wayne Rooney was dead to Evertonians. Or so we thought. A cameo appearance at a Duncan Ferguson testimonial panged the hearts of some of the bitterest Blues, and from that day on it was quietly hoped the prodigal son would return whilst his flame still burnt brighter than most. We all know the story since, Rooney is back, and ‘proving the doubters wrong’ is the journos go to theme of his first few months back on Merseyside. But it’s been spooky how similar some of his iconic moments have been so far, straight re-enactments of goals and celebrations from thirteen years ago. If Rooney was dead to Evertonians, the national press, and the national side, we really could witness an epic revival this season. Like a huge lion bellowing out one last soul shaking roar before it passes off into the night. Rooney undoubtedly has two goals in his mind – end the Everton trophy drought, and score a winning derby goal. It would be a great way to end the story.

 3) Bramley Moore Dock vision

The new stadium at the Bramley Moore Dock site will be placing Everton, and football, at the geographical and architectural heart of the city’s waterfront. It represents Everton Football Club coming in from the wilderness, the end to a forlorn search for a new home which would have always felt third rate behind Goodison Park and the failed Kings Dock dream. The fact we are now going back to the waterfront, claiming the centre of Liverpool as our own in such an iconic location is the most unbelievable development since Farhad Moshiri got Everton all jacked up on money and ambition. What we now look forward to seeing is the architectural designs of Dan Meiss’ vision for the 57k seater stadium. This will be our new home, and our kids’ kids’ new home.

 4) The return of Bolasie

“When I come back I know I’m the full package rather than still needing to do some little things. The hunger is to be back. I want to be back to prove to the fans at Everton what I’m really about.” After suffering a devastating ACL and meniscus injury early in to his Everton career, it remains to be seen how Bolasie will perform on his return, but he has been making all the right noises during his recovery. We saw flashes of his brilliance last season, although the best aspect of that was the link up with his mate, Lukaku (he jibbed you for Pogba, Yannick *spit*), he was always looking to influence the game, even if things didn’t always come off for him. With Everton crying out for options out wide, just how good the winger is on his return could play a massive part in the second half of the season. Yannick Bolasie 2.0 will be eagerly awaited.

  5) The return of Coleman

If we are eagerly awaiting the return of Bolasie, then we are absolutely pining for Seamus Coleman. A class act both on and off the pitch, the whole football club is proud of its flying Irish fullback and was left devastated by his horrific leg break on international duty. Almost five months after that double leg fracture Seamus Coleman is back in training and running again. With early reports suggesting he would be out of action until 2018, it is now hoped he could be back before the end of the year, which would represent an incredible feat of rehabilitation. It will take time after returning to first team action but Coleman’s game is vital to Koeman’s approach. The narrowness of Everton’s play would be remedied by Coleman bombing on down the right, offering assists and goals, as well as solid defensive play and leadership. Manchester City spent £50m for the same reasons this summer. Hopefully all we have to do is wait.

 6) Barkley’s fortunes

Ross Barkley now has no future at Everton, that much is clear. The real reasons behind the midfielder’s decision to reject a huge contract offer to look for ‘a new challenge’ are probably multiple, but it seems as though he is pinning them on Koeman’s public criticisms last season. Criticisms which seemed to induce a reaction from the player who undoubtedly put in some of his best and most consistent performances in an Everton shirt through the second half of the season. Barkley, forever lamented due to poor decision making has revealed that it is immaturity that he is most guilty of. Still only 23, that is a natural problem to have. They say your prefrontal cortex - the part of the brain responsible for decision-making - isn’t fully developed until the age of 24. Wayne Rooney has returned to Everton for all the reasons that Ross Barkley is now turning his back on, but the last person who could lecture Barkely on staying at Everton is England and Manchester United’s all-time record goalscorer. So here we possibly have a little bit of history repeating itself, except Everton do not need to sell their star player’s out of necessity anymore and Barkley’s fortunes away from Everton could look a lot more like those of Franny Jeffers than Wayne Rooney’s. Only time will tell, but it is one to look out for because if it all clicks for Barkley like we hoped it would, at another club, it would be a painful loss for Everton… especially if he ends up leaving for free.

 7) The next academy breakthrough

Everton can spend £45m on Gylfi Sigurdsson but it would take something for the big money signing to match the impact on fans that the Tom Davies goal against Man City last season had. Evertonians love nothing more than seeing one of their own perform on the big stage. The academy is bubbling with talent, and the Ketwig Kaiser is the first in line of a queue of players of a golden generation that it is believed have what it takes to make the step up. As I wrote about a few months ago, Davies was part of a trio of players who earned the nickname the ‘Holy Trinity’ at Finch Farm. The other two being Liam Walsh and Kieran Dowell. By all accounts of his early performances whilst out on loan at Nottingham Forest, it looks like it will be Dowell. However, Jonjoe Kenny is waiting in the wings for the right back slot, should an opportunity arise this season. Blending top quality new signings with top quality academy graduates is the way forward for Everton.

 8) Which of the new signings will make it?

Everton’s summer transfer business currently stands at 13 new recruits, with seven expected to be involved with the first team this season. Wayne Rooney, Jordan Pickford, Michael Keane, Gylfi Sigurdsson, and Cuco Martina all come with Premier League experience. Davy Klaassen and Sandro Ramirez arrive with experience of the Eredivise and La Liga so will be expected to find life at their new club a little harder than the rest as they adjust to the pace of the Premier League. To offset the loss Lukaku and Barkely, the side’s two most productive players in 2016/17, will prove the greatest challenge this season. Pickford and Keane have already improved the side, without a doubt. Cuco Martina has looked precisely the player we was expecting – temporary cover for Coleman. That leaves the pressure on Sigurdsson, Rooney, Klaassen, and Sandro to provide the goals. With Sandro and Klaassen lacking Premier League experience these two will be under most scrutiny. They should both be allowed the time needed to bed in, and patience from fans will be needed.

 9) Winning at Anfield

Since Everton last won at Anfield, Blackpool have risen from the fourth tier to the Premier League, won at Anfield, and fallen back to the fourth tier again. Yeah, we all seen that tweet doing the rounds at the end of the season. The simple law of averages says we are a due a win there, and flukey win with an offside goal would be celebrated hard into the next day but what would be much preferred would be a statement win. Of the starting line up at Anfield last season you wouldn’t expect the following to be on the team sheet the next time around this December: Robles (Pickford), Pennington (Keane), Holgate (Martina), Davies (Schniederlin), Barkley (Sigurdsson), Lukaku (Rooney), Calvert-Lewin (Sandro). It will be a different side to the one that lost 3-1 last time, one that will offer different goal threats and a shored up defence with a massive improvement inbetween the sticks. What would a win at Anfield do for momentum going into Christmas? It would put a huge marker down in the development of this new Everton.

 10) Winning some silverware

Any will do. That stubby cup they give out when we’re all still wearing our winter coats would be sound. A victorious night in Lyon would be even better; that’s a tin pot and Champions League qualification in one go. The dream ticket right there. The last time Everton won something the kids were playing Subbuteo, not FIFA. A whole generation of Blues know nothing but heartache when it comes to actually winning stuff. Above all else this season, if Ronald Koeman could lead Everton to some honours, it would be the clearest sign of the direction the club is going in. It would send shockwaves through the football establishment, who are already noticing that things have changed on the blue half of Merseyside: Moshiri, money, and mentality. Winning is contagious, and all Everton needs now is that spark.

[thetoffeeist]

Ross Barkley celebrating statuesque in the Gwladys Street was the perfect way to end a turbulent week for Everton’s most talked about player since Wayne Rooney. The hive of people out to attack Barkley has been disturbed and for such an inoffensive young-player the levels of derision he has attracted from all quarters over the last 12 months has been beyond harsh. Just like Kopites hoping for global-warming to swamp Everton’s new Bramley-Moore stadium once it’s built, the camera-shy scouser has been in danger of drowning in a sea of negativity and jealousy.

 Raised in Wavertree by a single mother, Barkley has had it harder than most since being picked up by his boyhood club. Bussing it to training and playing without the all-important impetus of a father on the side-lines, the club also had to support his mother financially when the healthy diet they placed him on proved too much for her to afford. A double-leg break when playing in the academy curtailed his progress to the first team as he was on the cusp of breaking through. It was feared he may never fully recover, but he did. Loaned out to Leeds but the sent back by Neil Warnock labelled as a liability who couldn’t defend. A succession of other dinosaur-minded managers have concluded the same since, including a shuddering roll-call of disastrous England managers in Hodgson, Allardyce, and Southgate. For these managers creativity is a risk they aren’t prepared to take. He is currently the English player with the most assists in the league.  

 A victim of his own fans’ expectations has seen him booed at Goodison in the past, causing murder between some fans in the stands. Hung drawn and quartered in the media, despised by Liverpool fans, and criticised by Leon Osman, a player that perfectly symbolise a decade of Everton mediocrity. But Barkley achieved the Holy Grail by attracting the venom of surely-must-be-a-kiddy-fiddler Kelvin McKenzie who pulled a cunt’s trick by slandering scousers yet again on the eve of the Hillsborough anniversary. Anybody who rubs that paper up the wrong way is doing something right. Although I believed some fans were putting the club in a difficult position demanding to ban The S*n, with the tricky territory that comes with banning any form of ‘journalism’, McKenzie made it an easy call for the club and they have done the right thing.

 They say diamonds are formed under pressure so we can only hope that Ross shows more of the strength of character he already has to get him to this point in his life and that we end up with a hardened, sharper, and brighter Barkley who knows that failure and feeding the circling vultures is not an option. The only way to hit back is by lifting trophies, at Everton.

[thetoffeeist]

Let us marvel at the Toffees of ‘96 taking on teams in nature’s snidiest colours with the a snidey Nick Barmby, Andy Hinchcliffe’s devastating left-peg and the critical mass of David Unsworth all getting involved and giving the Chelsea side of Zola, Vialli, and Gullit a classic game.

[thetoffeeist]

Tom Davies.

Kieran Dowell.

Liam Walsh.

Or as they are better known by some of the coaches around Finch Farm: The Holy Trinity.

The significance of such a bestowed name is well understood by any Evertonian worth his salt. The bursting levels of optimism held within the club for these three midfield prospects is real. Now, with Tom Davies transitioning from the kid invited to train with the first team to the latest Toffees’ treasure, in just a few short months, people are starting to believe that the footballing Gods may have blessed Everton once again and that one day soon we may see three central midfield academy graduates gracing the hallowed Goodison Park turf.

Howard Kendall, Colin Harvey, and Alan Ball was a triumphant midfield partnership worshipped by the blue faithful during the late-sixties. As a midfield unit they were a revelation, thrilling football fans far and wide. Between them they possessed the full range of midfield skills and had a telepathic understanding. It is on these similarities that coaches have baptized their own nurtured trinity with one of Everton’s most sacred names.

Consisting of the composure of Davies, the eye for goal of Dowell, and the insane passing ability of Walsh this mini trinity has been the substratum to the success of Everton’s youth sides for a while. All the components of a dynamic footballing midfield triangle are there - it has chemistry. Or it did. Now that Davies has left for the first team we won’t be seeing them play together again until the others follow in his footsteps. But the hope and belief is that they will and a path is being made for Dowell and Walsh to get their chances too.

Case in point: Ryan Ledson. Once Everton’s next big thing, Ledson had captained the England Under-17s to Euro 2014 glory before being called up to the senior side by Roberto Martinez. The Blues boss went on record saying that the holding-midfielder had a certain future in the first team, but this summer the 19-year old was allowed to leave the club to sign for Oxford United (where has been a hit and just recently bagged his first goal, a memorable 40-yard lob). The truth about why Ledson had to move on was that after returning from a loan spell he had found himself squeezed out of Unsworth’s U23s side by the better developing Walsh, Davies and Dowell who had established themselves during his absence. With first team opportunities getting further away and finding himself further down the pecking order of the U23s, it was decided best for Ledson and the club to go their separate ways.

It would be naïve hyperbole to claim that the three academy products can go on to achieve a status anywhere near touching that of Kendall, Ball, and Harvey. But if the trio of local lads can at least establish themselves in the first team squad that alone would be a massive achievement. We are currently in financially crazy times where it is deemed logical to spend £30m on Moussa Sissoko. How much money would it save the club if it successfully produces an entire central midfield capable of holding their own in the Premier League? In a league where money mostly talks (we can never forget Leicester City), that in itself would be a minor miracle. Manchester United’s Class of ’92, with Scholes, Butt, and Beckham helped propel that club further on its way to being the biggest in the world. So just exactly who have Everton got on their hands here?

Tom Davies

Over the last 12 months Tom Davies has begun to fill out physically. Being built more like a man has enabled him to hold his own against the fully grown, grizzly central midfielders that the Premier League has to offer. Not since Wayne Rooney exploded onto the scene have Evertonians warmly embraced and identified with a graduate as one of their own to the extent they have with young ‘Davo’. From head to toe he stands out from your typical footballer. With his blonde ketwig, scraggly facial hair, and rolled-down socks, the freewheelin’ Tom Davies doesn’t looked fazed by anything. He is a Bob Dylan in a world of Drakes: Pure substance, unique style - and after that City goal – bonafide folk hero.

Kieran Dowell

The player that Ross Barkley keeps tabs on. Kieran Dowell was the name on everybody’s lips before Ronald Koeman took charge. A left-footed attacking midfielder with silky skills, dribbling ability, peachy crossing and known for scoring outstanding goals was the first of the three to make a senior team debut back in 2014 in a dead-rubber Europa League game. He made his Premier League debut in April 2016 when he replaced Ross Barkley as a sub. Opportunities with the first team have since been paused. Coaches believe he has found coming up against bigger defenders a challenge that requires the 5ft 9inches 19-year-old to complete the growth spurt he is currently going through to handle the physical side of his game. He recently stated in an Echo interview that he would relish a loan move in order to ‘make him a man’. There is no doubting Dowell’s attitude or ability and it is just a matter of time before we see him involved with the first team.

Liam Walsh

When the first team coaches ask questions around Liam Walsh’s diminutive stature and ability to defend, the counter-argument is Iniesta. The 19 year-old centre mid from Huyton is only 5ft 6inches tall, but it is his outstanding passing ability which is his strongest asset. David Unsworth has praised Walsh for his ability to control games demonstrating a maturity beyond his years. He has already been tested in the lower leagues with a loan spell at Yeovil Town in 2016, where he made 15 appearances, scoring one goal and earning several man of the match awards playing a key role in helping keep the struggling side up. He demonstrated the fearless streak seen in other Huyton-born midfielders Joey Barton and Steven Gerrard quickly handling himself at Yeovil, telling the Echo:

“When I got the call from Unsy he was all for me going down and said I could handle it footballing-wise but off the ball (I wasn’t sure) because they are tough men,” he added.

“In my first game I had a 50-50 with one of the biggest players I’ve ever seen in my life and I went right through him and from there I just thought ‘I can’t really back down’ and that I could handle myself.”

A string of recent stellar performances since returning to the U23s has brought him to the attention of Ronald Koeman and earned him training sessions with the first team.

[thetoffeeist]

Build ‘em up and knock ‘em down. It’s a perverse mob mentality. You’re great, until you’re not, then you’re just shit. Ross Barkley now fits within this paradigm of some Evertonians. Struggling performances by the 23 year-old see him singled out for strong vocal criticism by sections of the Goodison crowd. But is it really deserved?

In the fog of football it’s easy for the, let’s say, less cultured football spectators to grab on to the most clear events in front of them. In the case of the Barkley boo boys it’s usually this: Ross runs with the ball. Ross loses the ball. Ross deserves 10 days in solitary at the back of Oumar Niasse’s locker.

The Barkley boo boys only see the world in black or white shades. Ruud Gullit doesn’t. One of the game’s most cultured Ballon d’Or award winners sees the game in all the shades of grey. He also sees Ross Barkley lose the ball but he doesn’t see it like the boo boys do. The following excerpt is lifted from the Dutch legend’s new book How To Watch Football:

 Cause and effect

 For the wider public, cause and effect are not always obvious, so that is what I focus on as an analyst. In fact that’s how most footballers and managers watch a game. Whether it’s at home in front of the television, at the stadium, or in the TV or radio studio, what I ask is: ‘Why did it go wrong?’

A good example is Ross Barkley, who the press and the public talked up as one of England’s most talented footballers. I analysed an Everton game in which the midfielder was running with the ball far too often and constantly losing possession. The longer you run with the ball, the more likely you are to lose it. It’s simple probability. But was it the lad’s fault that he kept running? Why didn’t other players offer to take the ball? Why weren’t they making runs?

Everything Barkley did showed he was trying to live up to expectations. In his desire to prove himself he kept calling for the ball, but often lost it too. I show examples, but I wouldn’t lay the blame on a young guy like that. On the contrary. Alongside Barkley there was the experienced Gareth Barry, who could have solved Barkley’s problem by telling him: ‘Don’t run, Ross, pass the ball, look for an easy option.’ That’s the kind of coaching young players need, not a roasting for losing the ball. Without support from a player like Barry he’ll carry on making the same mistakes time and again.

You have to put the blame where the responsibility lies. First point out what Barkley is doing wrong, then discuss why it happens. In effect you’re giving viewers a manual and, if they’re smart, Barkley and especially Barry will also benefit. That’s how I analyse football: identifying cause and effect. The player who loses the ball in a tackle may seem to be the one to blame, but in reality the real error was often not his.

As a manager I tried to make sure the less experienced players were never made scapegoats; I put responsibility on the better players. It was up to them to lead the way. Often I had to use tough language. Later I’d take the player aside and explain. If you’re as good as you’re supposed to be, and you’re so confident and classy, then you should be helping the others and warning them about what’s going to happen and the mistakes they’re making. You’re the one who’s responsible and you should feel that responsibility. It’s easy to abuse inexperienced players. When experienced players make mistakes then it’s only fair they take the blame.

 When we have a player as revered in the game as Ruud Gullit coming to the defence of the Everton midfielder - not to mention Steven Gerrard putting up a vociferous defence of Everton’s local star on BT Sport - surely it’s time for a re-evaluation of the expectations placed on the stuttering-form prone midfielder from some within Goodison Park.

Confidence needs to be rebuilt as well as the team around him. Schniederlen looks like a great midfielder with the legs to compliment and augment the central midfield set up which can only help Barkley.

Next time our diamond isn't shining so brightly it might be worth taking a look around him. Where was his midfield support? Where was the run ahead of him? Maybe even some encourgement for the lad to keep his head up? Offer a little something called support.

[thetoffeeist]

In 1994 I was like any other footy-mad kid of the day.

Every time I got some pocket money, I’d run up to the shop to buy a packet of football stickers to add to my collection as I tried to complete that season’s Merlin’s Premier League sticker book. Those stickers were like crack cocaine for kids. The high you got when you opened a packet to reveal the shiney club badge you had been after for months wasn’t matched until later in life when you lost your virginity.

Anyway, Everton weren’t very good at the time. Manchester United had Ryan Giggs and we had Stuart Barlow. Still, I could console myself when looking through the honours lists for each club. I could see that only a couple of clubs had won more stuff than Everton had. I could see that in the year I was born, Everton were crowned the best team in the land, and again two years later, which was the last time they won the league. So I thought the good times would come around again. Then, just a year later, Dave Watson lifted the FA Cup and I actually witnessed Everton success for myself.

With our exit to Leicester City in the FA Cup this season, it will now be a guaranteed 22 years since the Toffees lifted some silverware. As a kid in 1994, Everton’s greatness still felt tangible. Today it has quite literally never been further away.

The last time the club suffered through a barren period as long as this it had started after winning the 1938-39 championship, when the Second World War broke out to disrupt any progress. That’s Everton all over, that.

It wasn’t until 1960, 21 years later, that the blues would be roused again and it was all down to one man. Sir John Moores - a mega-rich millionaire who had earned his fortune founding the Littlewoods Pools - took over the club and began bankrolling record-breaking British transfers in an aggressive bid to build a squad with some of the best players available. The ‘Mersey Millionaires’ were born.

Thanks to some memorabilia that has been handed down to me, we can see exactly how the mood had changed around Everton shortly after Moores’ takeover. The following quote is lifted from the Everton FC Football Handbook 1960-61, a tatty, yellowing booklet I have been lucky enough to find:

The Everton manager whose own playing career marked him as one of the greats of all time is a quiet, serious-minded man whose aim is to please the great number of fans who demand the best of their club. Attendances of 50,000 and more at all home fixtures towards the end of last season indicates what support the club can expect if they are even reasonably successful.

The Everton supporter has been brought up to recognise class football and anything less than that does not satisfy him, It is my belief that Everton are about to begin a new era, one in which the many changes made at the club during the past few seasons will have their real chance to show results for their considerable labours. The new pitch, too, should help the re-constituted team to perform better than they did on a most difficult surface last mid-winter.

Everton’s plan to make themselves a force not only in retain but on the Continent and elsewhere is no dream.

All the moves they have made recently have been aimed to that purpose and if progress has been slow it has certainly been sure.

In my view they are very much a club of the future, a club whose post-war record will soon be forgotten when they begin, as I think will, to make their mark in League and Cup within the next few months.

By Sports Editor, Liverpool Echo, 1960.

56 years later and Liverpool Echo journalists are making the same noises around Everton’s immediate future. The current Echo sports editor, Dave Prentice, has even published an article on the similarities between now and then proclaiming the rebirth of the Mersey Millionaires.

 “Everton is a very good club with a very good crowd, but they expect success and if they don’t get success something should be done about it and something will be done about it.”

-          John Moores, 1960.

 “It is not just enough to say we are special. We don’t want to be a museum, we want to be competitive and we want to win.”

-          Farhad Moshiri, 2017.

 With Moshiri matching Moores for financial clout and ambition – he also seems to be going down a similar route for building a squad. The then Everton manager in 1960, Johnny Carey, shared the club’s vision and strategy for assembling a winning team in a piece titled “The Season’s Prospects” as part of the 1960 Football Handbook.

There are three ways in which to build a team. The first is to buy all the best available players, but this requires a great amount of money, and probably much more than any one club could afford.

The second is to embark on a youth policy, and depend entirely on producing the players needed for the first team. This method may take more time than a club can afford if it is to maintain its present League status meanwhile.

The third way is to have a combination of both. This is the method I favour. A sound Youth Policy is a must in present-day football for a senior club. From among the club’s young players should come the nucleus of the first team of to-morrow. Where the inevitable gaps occur, recourse to the transfer market must be made to complete the team.

It’s fair to say that then, as is now, the Everton squad faced a cull. Today we’re also doing it the third way with the likes of Barkley, Holgate, and Davies complemented by the recruitment of Steve Walsh and the cash of Moshiri.

Unfortunately for Carey, his prospects weren’t so good. Despite steering Everton to their most successful season since the war, John Moores decided to sack him - in the back of a taxi. And so when Moshiri called a taxi for Roberto Martinez last season you can trace that saying directly back to that incident.

Moores’ decision was justified as after just two years the new manager, Harry Catterick, had won the league. Ronald Koeman speaks of a two year timeframe needed to build the side he wants at Everton. All Evertonians should afford him that before passing serious judgements. After all, the financial landscape today with competing clubs is the major difference between now and then, even if it seems everything else is in place.

When Everton avoided relegation on the final day – twice – in the 90s, we truly escaped the jaws of disaster and may have ensured that league success would one day return to the club. In an alternative universe, we went down on one of those nerve-racking days and suffered the fate of Leeds or Nottingham Forest. With the poor management of the club at the very top it is actually a miracle that we didn’t go down. The board during that period would have fully deserved it. But we didn’t and now, like in 1960, Everton is emerging from the doldrums of a dark era, deprived of success and diminished in status because of it.

If I was a kid today there is no chance I would have had the same optimism I had back in ‘94 scanning through the club honours lists. Blackburn Rovers, Middlesbourough, Portsmouth, Birmingham City, Wigan Athletic, Swansea City, Tottenham Hotspur (twice), and Leicester City (three times!) have all won major trophies since Waggy lifted the Cup in Wembley on that day in ’95.

The only hope now is that Matthew McConaughey’s alcoholic cop from True Detective, Rust Cohle, is right. That “time is a flat circle” and history is repeating itself. The present gives us hope that in Moshiri we are resurrecting an era of our past and that a bright future lies ahead.

When Chelsea and Manchester City were bankrolled all the way to the Premier League summit, their billionaire benefactors succeeded in making them great. But if Moshiri’s millions return Everton to the top there will be one major difference... 

We won’t just be great - we’ll be great again.

[thetoffeeist]

Jurgen Klopp absolutely flying off a Graeme Sharp wonder goal in the derby, here. Love all that. Up the Toffees!#Everton #EFC #Derby pic.twitter.com/ozcetzqwVg

— The Toffeeist (@TheToffeeist) December 18, 2016

[thetoffeeist]

The Romanticism of Rooney’s Return

The big new stand at Anfield falls silent as the Evertonians in the away end go delirious. Wayne Rooney wheels away from the goal to celebrate in front of the Kop, cupping his ears towards the red wall spitting poison down towards him. This didn’t happen during Rooney’s first spell at Everton – but it just might do at his next. Rumours are abound that Rooney will be making a return back to where it all started at Everton.

The two sides of the fanbase for and against the move will flare up with their opinions. The loudest will be those against the signing and who are basically broken down into two schools of thought: Those still embittered by his departure from Everton who are unwilling to forgive and those who realise the England captain is past his best and question if he is even good enough these days to offer Koeman’s side anything. Let’s look at both of these viewpoints.

 Firstly, Wayne Rooney was only a kid at the time of the transfer, just 18 years old. At that age my mum was still washing my clothes and making my tea for me. I was hardly taking control of the basic tasks in my life, let alone coordinating between my own career goals, those of a cash strapped club facing administration and a blood-sucking agent looking for a big pay day. Never mind the gutter media. In the end, Everton was a Ford Ka and Manchester United was a Ferrari.

All those feelings should be water under the bridge by now. At Duncan Ferguson’s testimonial against Villareal in 2015, the sight of Rooney in a blue kit seemed to diffuse any lingering animosity toward Everton’s lost son. It’s what the Gwladys Street wanted to see, and they chanted his name once again. On that day old wounds were healed and bridges were rebuilt as part of a brief reunion. Fans should now embrace the possible, not the past.

 The second school of thought is that at 31 years-old, Wayne Rooney is past his best. Yes. He is definitely past his best. Personally, I believe the raw power, pace, and aggression he displayed at Euro 2004 was peak Rooney. Nutmegging Robert Pires, skinning Claude Makelele and tearing at Mikael Silvestre to force a penalty in the game against France sums up where he was at that moment in time. He’s won it all at United since then, but he has never caused as much excitement as he did in an England shirt that summer, as an Everton player.

 The world’s top strikers are romanticists when it comes to their boyhood clubs. Sergio Aguero wants to return home to Argentina to play for his beloved Independiente when his contract at Manchester City expires and Lionel Messi intends to one day return to play for his boyhood team, Newell’s Old Boys. But neither of those moves would be as dramatic or emotive as Wayne Rooney returning to Everton – moving at a time when only a few points separate the two clubs in one of the most competitive leagues in Europe.

 Rooney’s return won’t be like Alan Shearer signing for Newcastle in 2001. The Geordie goal machine was in his prime, aged 26, when he came home. Five years later though, at 31, he was bagging 23 goals for the Magpies and helping them finish fourth in the Premier League. Rooney’s return will probably look more like Robbie Fowler’s 2006 Liverpool homecoming, who was also 31 at the time. Although he didn’t set the world alight, he outscored the club’s other forwards for a period of time (the likes of Crouch, Kuyt, and Bellamy) before being released to make space for Fernando Torres.

 The situation at Everton today is that Lukaku is upfront and then there is nobody else. Rooney guarantees much needed goals to Ronald Koeman’s side. The squad would be going from Kone to Rooney. The younger players would be turning up to train each day with a footballing icon rather than watch Oumar Niasse throw a wobbler because the kit man didn’t have his gloves and leggings ready. Just think about that.

 But what does it mean for Ross Barkley who is filling the position Rooney most often takes? Nobody can be sure. But it is said that Rooney believes he can bring out the best in Barkley and help develop his game. It might mean a deeper position for Everton’s current number eight – one many Evertonians believe would be better suited to his style of play anyway.

 I have my favourite memories from Rooney’s time at Everton. The torpedo that sank Arsenal’s ‘Invincibles’ side, of course. Cutting Cristiano Ronaldo in half at Old Trafford in retribution for a free kick he had purposefully slammed in to the face of Tony Hibbert, is another. Leaving West Brom’s yard dog of a defender, Darren Moore, for dust before killing the ball and putting his hands on his hips, goading the centre-half to catchup with him and attempt to take the ball was pure arrogance matched with equal amounts of talent. And he was one of us.

 In 77 appearances for Everton, Rooney played in just four Merseyside derbies. Scoring in none. It’s something every Evertonian dreams of and it’s something Rooney could never tell his kids about. There’s a piece missing for him which would be worth more than some of the medals held in his trophy cabinet.

 In a world where loss and pain is unavoidable, even if there is just a slim chance that the Rooney story could be reconciled with the club he loves and the creation of a few more good memories – perhaps even a piece of silverware - that’s a romantic move worth getting behind.

[thetoffeeist]

Ross Barkley’s Existential Crisis

Tim Cahill described him as the best talent he had ever seen; Wayne Rooney said he was his son’s favourite player; and Stan Collymore accused him of having ‘no football brain’. There have been lots of different ways of describing Ross Barkley since his emergence from Everton’s youth academy.

‘Devastated’ was how most described Barkley when, after already finding himself dropped to the bench, Enner Valencia was picked ahead of him, as Ronald Koeman’s final substitution, in the recent game against Manchester United. Enner Valencia was a low blow. A player whose signing was as warmly received as a Lynx Africa gift set for Christmas. The Sky cameras captured Ross, head in hands, and most people went; ‘he looks devoed there. Good. The lad needs a rocket up his arse.’ But what I saw was a young lad, looking completely alone in a stadium of 40,000 people, as the shattering of his Martinez-moulded reality hit home. I saw Ross Barkley having an existential crisis.

Yes, our Ross, is suffering from a bout of philosophical existentialism. You only have to look at some of his Instagram posts to know he is the introspective type. An existential crisis occurs when the answers you previously had to the meaning of life – as well as your place in it – no longer provide satisfaction, direction or peace of mind. There have been plenty of questions to cause Barkley to pull his Porsche over to the side of the road and sit and contemplate recently. If one word is now associated with Ross Barkley it would be uncertainty. Uncertainty around his England place, his role in the Everton side, his Everton future. Somewhere between that goal he scored against Manchester City and where we are now, things have gone a bit wrong for the lad from Shake a Bush.

The crowd at Goodison is aggressive by nature. I once spoke to a foreign Liverpool supporter who told me he had visited both of the city’s football stadiums and was taken aback by the hostility he saw on the faces of Evertonians at the match. I loved hearing that. Roberto Martinez assembled a squad of soft players in pursuit of an idealism of passing football at a cost of grit, determination and strong leadership on the pitch. This jarred with the psyche of swathes of fans on the stands. Unfortunately for Ross Barkely, his formative years as an Everton first-teamer have been shaped by the Spaniard’s philosophy. Even the ‘diamond’ tag is now being questioned as the midfielder has found himself out of sync with the crowd, and Koeman.

In a split moment against Arsenal on Tuesday night, all that changed. With 20 minutes gone and the Blues trailing the Gunners one nil, Barkley lost possession in the middle of the park, but unlike other times when the big built midfielder has turned possession over cheaply, this time he got on his toes and launched himself into a solid tackle to win a ball he had no right to. As that ball broke, the rest of Everton’s midfield followed his example with McCarthy and Gueye both launching into successive stinging tackles. This was the spark that was needed. Goodison witnessed some determination and much missed aggression. The Old Lady had been starved of these facets of the game for too long – and now it was feeding off them. The game turned in that moment.

Barkley displayed the attributes the crowd loves to see and his confidence grew as the game went on, although the fact he didn’t take the chance to make it 3-1 in the helter-skelter final minute of the game, opting to pass instead of punish with the goal begging, revealed the levels are still low. Evertonians want to see more of the mean bastard in Barkley: thundering volleys, strength on the ball, scoping deadly passes, hard crunching tackles. We know he has all these attributes in his locker - and we’ve seen him bully Mikel Arteta, so we know he can be a mean bastard.

As the tabloid vultures circle around the potential carcass of a Ross Barkely Everton career, every Evertonian should remind themselves of what the 23-year-old is capable of. For all Martinez’s faults, describing Barkely as a diamond was spot on. It is pressure that forms these rough stones into shining minerals more valuable than gold – this might be the polishing up period that Barkley needs to go on to the next level. Everybody has had their say on Ross Barkley and now it seems only he can help himself. He needs to choose what he means to this team. A winning goal in the derby wouldn’t do him any harm either.