A blue week for Evertonians

As weeks go for a football club, the one just passed was fairly dreadful. On Monday and Tuesday the transfer talk was fairly quiet, with Everton fans then hoping it’d all be built up for a great final transfer deadline day where we’d make a few blockbuster signings. As the day wore on Everton fans got increasingly frustrated at the lack of action as things started to go quiet.

When the news came through about Sissoko and the fee involved, I did wince at the price but then the optimism kicked in and hoped that we’d get to see the player that played in Euro 2016 and not the one that played for Newcastle, in the end however, it was Tottenham who will get to see how good he will be. Tottenham Hotspur are, unfortunately, a bigger draw than Everton at the moment. They came close to winning the league last season and have Champions League football to offer, there is no great shame in losing out to them for a player at the moment. How the events unfolded after the bid however was embarrassing, which hurt a lot more than losing out on a player that most were unsure that they wanted for that price.

Everton became a joke with what happened with many laughing at the club for their desperation in trying to sign Sissoko, and their very public rejection from him. It was horrible to see how the badly planned transfer dealings had led us to a point of such public ridicule, Everton fans had to try and take the jokes in good spirits, but it was a tough pill to swallow.

If that was embarrassing, what happened the day after was even more so, but thankfully less public. Jim White, one of Sky Sports’ news presenters has helped turn transfer deadline day into a big dramatic event, and isn’t exactly the type of man that Evertonians appreciated their new majority shareholder making statements through. That’s exactly what Farhad Moshiri did, and it made all Evertonians cringe with embarrassment as he said that the deal for Sissoko was pulled as the club didn’t want to jeopardise the place of James McCarthy at the club, which was simply utter nonsense and a lie. I don’t think anyone is buying the notion that the club put in a record bid for a player that was accepted, only to have a sudden change of heart and loyalty to a player that has been here for three years. He also said the club “don’t turn our backs on our own” referring to a player that probably doesn’t feature in most Evertonians first eleven anyway. It also contradicts the way Leon Osman and Tony Hibbert were treated, and they definitely were both one of our own. It seemed a desperate attempt for Moshiri to save face, but it made things worse and it was all done through a phone note on Jim White’s phone.

It looks like Moshiri will be great for this club, but the events that unfolded across this transfer window have dented confidence in him. What further dented confidence is how Everton have taken another loan out against the club which came to light in the week as well. What this loan is for and why we needed it has caused much speculation, and worry from Evertonians. Hardly any of us are finance experts, and it could have been taken out for a variety of different reasons. Not knowing is worrying however.

It’s a week that has hopefully caused many lessons to have been learnt, and it was a difficult one for the club. In context however, we have a very strong squad with a great new manager and a chance to have a great season. Added to that a new stadium move seems ever closer to being announced and the future still looks bright. Thankfully we’ll soon have football to look forward to as well, and hopefully a return of a few smiles on Evertonians faces after a week which gave many the blues.