My favourite players (in no particular order): 1. Pavel Nedved

What a player Nedved was. His combination of technique, intelligence and work rate made him one of the best players of the nineties and noughties. He also had a foot like a traction engine! A playing career spanning 18 years, in which he earned 91 caps for Czech Republic came to an end in 2009 with his retirement.

I liked Nedved for a few reasons.

First and foremost his style of play, he was everywhere, always trying to affect the game. And when he got on the ball he always seemed to make things happen.

Secondly, he played for Czech Republic who were my second team at international tournaments during his time (I had a huge soft spot for them after their brilliant display at Euro '96).

Lastly, Pav was the creative genius in my successful Juventus team on Fifa 2004 that won me many a mini-league in my shared house at the time. You could tell how good he was that John Motson couldn't help but scream his name in the accompanying commentary no matter where is was on the pitch "NED-VED!".

Anyway, here's a compilation of his Juventus years:



And here's him hitting the bar against the dutch in one of the best games i've ever seen (at Euro 2004). I almost left a dent in my ceiling i jumped up so high!

What makes a good owner?

As i've noted recently, pressure is growing on the Everton board to provide some answers as to why the club apparently finds itself in such financial turmoil.

In the circumstances i've found myself wondering what it is that makes for a good football club owner. Here's what i think are the big 3:

1) Financial resources and business acumen

I don't think Everton need a mega-wealthy benefactor to come in and fritter away his billions to be successful. I think the club already has a lot of the ingredients to win things. Whilst they will need a certain amount of wealth (more than Kenwright) to allow the club to access credit on more favourable terms, I believe it is equally important to get an owner with business acumen. If someone could get the club punching just a little above it's weight through running the business more professionally, I really believe it could bring success. It's a travesty that administrative errors led to Everton losing a valuable young player (Gosling) for nothing and that the board wasted millions unsuccessfully pursuing plans for two ground moves. 

2) Someone with vision

For most Evertonians their beef with the board isn't really the lack of personal money they have injected into the club, rather it is the complacent, short-sighted way that they seem to have managed the operation for years and years. This has seemingly led to the club being outmanoeuvred by competitors with similar or fewer resources than Everton. I think we need someone with the vision to be proactive rather than reactive and make the most of opportunities when they arise.

3) Someone who values and communicates with fans
The fans are a football club's customers, the money they spend attending games and buying merchandise is a club's biggest source of income other than from television rights. These days the internet means that fans have access to more information and opinion about their club than ever before. For businesses in every sector the growth in internet use has made it increasingly hard to control the messages that their customers recieve about them. Now anyone can publish, the message that customers recieve tends to be whatever the masses say it is. The phenomena is even affecting dictators!

Social media is about having a two-way conversation and gradually this is what football fans are beginning to expect from their clubs. They want a chance to ask questions and recieve answers, give feedback and receive acknowledgement. The current board of Everton Football Club don't seem to have cottoned onto this yet, but I would like a new board to make addressing it a priority.

Bizarre transfer window puts pressure on Kenwright

In the aftermath of a rotten January transfer window for Evertonians, attention has now focussed sharply on the clubs finances and ownership. The inexplicable loss of two strikers on loan and the sale of Steven Pienaar without any replacements coming in was probably a worse than result than most of us could possibly have imagined.

This bizarre state of affairs, added to a patchy season on the pitch seems to be awaking the national media to the clubs financial situation. On 2nd February the BBC's Phil McNulty pondered 'What next for Moyes & Everton?' and on 4th February Andy Hunter of the Guardian wrote about Everton's 'dangerous drift'. This type of publicity may well push the debate on the merits of the current board from message boards and forums (where it has been raging for years) out into the stands, pubs and living rooms. If that happens pressure is sure to grow on the board and Bill Kenwright in particular to provide some answers as to why the club finds itself in the current predicament.

Attacking movement: Life after Pienaar

For me, good attacking movement is the key to scoring goals in the Premier League. With teams so well prepared tactically, the ability of a player to create a yard of space to receive the ball or for team mates move into is crucial to creating goal scoring opportunities.

Quick players are more likely to appear to have good movement as their pace allows them to find space more easily. However, blistering speed is not essential in order for a player to have good movement. Steven Pienaar was a good example of this, whilst no slouch he is not exactly a pace merchant but his movement from the left side of midfield for Everton over the last few seasons has been crucial to the teams success. Until his recent departure it also played a huge part in the effectiveness of Leighton Baines this season. In the two most recent games without Pienaar in front of him Baines has looked a shadow of his former self.

In my opinion improving Everton's attacking movement is David Moyes' biggest challenge for the remainder of the season. This season must now be a write-off but if he can find a system and personel with the movement to hurt teams next year then it may not have all been in vain.

A new era for English football?

Is it just me or are we starting to see a general shift in playing styles within English football?

It's not so much the top 10 clubs in the Premier League that i'm referring to but those teams that might expect a Premier League relegation battle and even a number of teams in the Championship and League One.

The change in style i'm referring to is a move away from the defence-focussed, direct style of play that for several years, most teams below the top-10 in the Premier League felt the need to use. The style of play synonymous with Sam Allardyce, Gary Megson and even David Moyes early in his Everton career. At the time it was seen as the most effective way of achieving results on meagre resources.

Half-time in the transfer window

As we enter the second half of January, this transfer window suddenly seems to be hotting up. Everyone knew that City would sign Dzeko or a similar blockbuster but Aston Villa's swoop for Darren Bent yesterday took everyone by surprise. It's a real coup for Villa and reverses the recent trend of talent walking out of the door, though if it's offset by Young or Downing leaving it might not look so much of a good deal. That said, there's no commodity more valuable in football than goals and Bent guarantees them. Young and Downing, good as they can be on occasions, don't.

Which brings me to the blues. I posted back in December that I felt Moyes absolutely had to get some players in during this transfer window, and of course as it's Everton, I appreciated this would require players to leave. In that posted i suggested the best strategy may be to sell one 'big' player for mega-money and replace them with two or three.

Well, it doesn't look as though Davie thought that was the way to go. Instead he's opted to offload some fringe players and cash-in on Steven Pienaar before he left for free in the summer. This may give a small budget for transfer or loan fee's and more crucially free up some wage budget to accommodate new faces. So Yakubu and Pienaar gone, Vaughan on his way soon and the possibility of Heitinga joining him before the end of the month. And on the way in? Well, strong rumours of interest in two youngsters, Eric Dier of Sporting Lisbon and Dale Jennings of Tranmere but other than that nothing concrete. My guess is that Moyes has two lists of targets, one for the budget we have now (the two youngsters above + 2 loanees - striker+midfielder) and one for if we sell Heitinga (in which case the extra money would almost certainly go on a striker). One things for sure, this is at least going to be an interesting window for Everton. It could all be doom and gloom, but i'm a positive person. I think the squad needs freshening up and it'll do us no harm to shuffle the pack. Moyes has got a good record in the transfer market, especially when he's up against it and funds are tight. We'll see i guess.....

The flip side to managerial stability

It's been a crazy few days for managers in English football. Since Christmas there have been numerous sackings in the football league and this morning Liverpool announced that Roy Hodgson is leaving Liverpool to be replaced by Kenny Daglish for the remainder of the season. The timing of these sackings is obviously motivated by the desire to give the new men the chance to make decisions to sign/sell players during the January transfer window.

Two things jump out at me about the Hodgson sacking. Firstly, will Kenny be able to recreate his former glories? He's been out of football for best part of 15 years and as we know the game has changed a lot in that time. I'm not sure, letting the players know 'what it means to play for Liverpool' will really make much difference to them. Is it really just passion that Liverpool have lacked i wonder? No doubt it will get the fans going though so i'm half expecting an upset against United in the cup and of course the blues need to beware next week at Anfield.

The second thing it underlines for me is how difficult it can be for a club to move on after having had a long-serving manager. Invariably long serving managers have been  successful and stamped their mark on the whole club. By the time Benitez had left Liverpool in summer 2010 only Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher survived from before his reign and as late as 2007 Academy Director Steve Heighway had been replaced with Benitez's man. Long serving managers tend to have a vision that permeates through the whole club, from playing staff, to backroom staff and even to fans. When a manager goes, quite often their vision can live on elsewhere in the club for quite some time. I think it's this that Hodgson refers to when he expresses his regret at not being able to put his stamp on the squad. Liverpool aren't unique in struggling with the transition, Aston Villa are another example right now and i could cite Charlton Athletic post-Curbishley, West Ham post-Redknapp and Leeds United post-Revie as other examples.

Everton fans that have called for David Moyes' head this season need to be careful what they wish for. Inevitably even the most successful managers reach a point where it goes stale and they can take a club no further. Sometimes change is neccessary. But what Evertonians need to understand is that whoever comes in after David Moyes is going to have a very tough job on their hands. Whilst we may decide Moyes has taken us as far as he can we need to be aware that it may not be possible for anyone else to take us any further in the near future either. We may well go backwards before we go forwards again.