How can Everton get into top four?
During such a frustrating and disappointing season, there has been plenty of talk again about where Everton ‘should be’ and what the realistic expectations for the club are going forward.
So what should Everton be aiming for as the current season nears its conclusion and thoughts turn to the future. How can the club get into the top four?
Historically Everton has been one of the top clubs in English football.
With nine league championships to the club’s credit only Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal have won more. And this despite the fact Everton has not been crowned champions since 1986-87.
I remember that title-winning season well but it’s a very long time ago!
Goodison Park has also been graced by some of the finest players in English football history.
From the legendary William Ralph Dean known of course to everyone as ‘Dixie’, to his successor at number nine Tommy Lawton and greats from England’s 1966 World Cup winning team such as Ray Wilson and Alan Ball.
Idolised 60’s Scottish centre-forward Alex ‘The Golden Vision’ Young and players such as Brian Labone, Howard Kendall and Joe Royal from one of Everton’s best ever sides the 1969-70 champions.
Then there are the stars of the mid-eighties, the club’s most successful era, Neville Southall, Kevin Ratcliffe, Trevor Steven, Kevin Sheedy and Graeme Sharp to name just a few.
They contributed to a superb Everton side as the club finally put together a team that could compete for trophies with Liverpool after being so long in their shadow.
All this is part of a great history that Evertonians can be rightly proud of.
But that was then and it has been 23 years since the Blues have won a major trophy, the 1995 FA Cup. That is a dreadfully long barren run.
This has been an extremely disappointing season and the team have failed spectacularly to meet the increased expectations of supporters.
The Blues have a billionaire owner, Farhad Moshiri, with relatively deep pockets who has shown his willingness to dip into those pockets to fund some major spending.
But although Moshiri has shelled out millions on new players, this is in truth only going to enable Everton (in theory anyway) to keep pace with the clubs chasing a European place.
The reality is that every club in the Premier League has much increased financial resources, even without a billionaire owner and transfer fees have rocketed in consequence.
Last summer Everton had to spend £45 million to prise Gylfi Sigurdsson from Swansea City, who had been involved a relegation fight most of last season.
Think about that for a second; Everton spent £45 million on a player who was part of one of the weakest teams in the league!
Sigurdsson is a good player, although he hasn’t shown Everton fans his best form with any consistency this season.
However it is an indication of just how absurdly inflated the transfer market is that a player from one of the bottom clubs in the Premier League can command such a massive fee.
It’s now reached the point where a club has to spend upwards of £70 million to secure a really top drawer player. Can Everton spend that kind of money?
This transfer madness is partly also a reflection of the domestic transfer market where the Premier League’s vast TV wealth creates even more upward pressure on fees.
There are still ‘bargains’ relatively speaking to be found in Europe. When you compare the fee Everton paid for Sigurdsson with the money spent on Cenk Tosun, you see what I mean.
Tosun is an established international striker who has scored goals at the highest level in club football, the Champions League, and still cost significantly less than Sigurdsson.
All this means that it is extremely difficult for any of the chasing clubs who are not one of the much-hyped ‘big six’ to break into the Champions League places.
That matters so much of course because of the additional income it brings and also the profile and ability you have to attract the best players.
So for the moment the best that can probably be hoped for from Everton is to challenge for a Europa League place (a mixed blessing for sure) and for domestic trophies, particularly the FA Cup.
Tottenham Hotspur is the last club to force their way into that elite group of teams using a strategy that Everton should be trying to copy.
Spurs sold a superstar player in Gareth Bale to Real Madrid for what was then an astronomical amount of money bringing in a host of other players to replace him.
At first it didn’t appear to work as many of those players struggled to perform. But when Spurs brought in Mauricio Pottechino from Southampton things started to click into place.
Pottechino, one of the league’s best managers, has put together a very impressive team and Spurs are now regular and realistic contenders for the top four and the major honours.
Spurs are also about to take up residence in their brand new stadium from next season, so increasing their match-day income considerably.
Two things then are fundamental to emulating Tottenham’s achievement. Finding and securing a talented, young and ambitious manager and securing a move to a ground that can generate much greater regular income.
Everton have so far managed to do neither of these things. First of all it’s critical to identify and bring in that hungry young manager to build a real culture of success and stability at the club.
I’ve already talked about who I think meets those criteria, in particular Sean Dyche and Eddie Howe.
Although some might argue Dyche’s Burnley play a brand of football not too dissimilar from Sam Allardyce, actually Burnley have played some excellent football this season.
Their goal that beat Everton at Goodison Park earlier this season was, for example, one of the best team goals of the season.
And Eddie Howe’s Bournemouth are renowned for their attractive, attacking football. Even if they do sometimes come unstuck against better teams playing that way!
More from Prince Rupert's Tower
- Everton 0 Arsenal 1: Blues fall to third home defeat
- Further chaos in Everton takeover as other lenders not keen on 777 Partners
- Everton need repeat of Arsenal win to kick-start their season on Sunday
- More madness at Everton as Moshiri now agrees to sell club to 777 Partners
- Everton takeover talk cools after UK govt doubts and further questions
If another manager is to come in as I’ve said before the club must get this decision right. Everton cannot afford another wasted season next year.
And finally regarding the second point, the long-running saga of a new stadium does at last feel as though it is coming closer to fruition.
With the support of Liverpool City Council Everton are moving towards building a new ground in Bramley-Moore docks.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPTejO0WjH0
Next: Preparations for next season begin now
This will be key to increasing the club’s capacity and hopefully income too. Then it might be realistic for Everton to challenge for those elusive Champions League places.