Football Bloody Football

Yes, it has reached that time of year again, when the football league begins (what, already?? I hear the women cry!) and thousands upon thousands of men up and down the country, cheer, cry, drink in celebration, pull their hair out, and every other over-the-top response that can be had over what is in essence, just a game. (*gasp* oh no he didn't!)

Well, I say the football league begins, in all honesty it never really ended. The gossip and activity of the transfer becoming more and more newsworthy, perhaps more so than the league itself. Primarily this year due to the activity over in Middle-Eastlands with the Manchester Arab Emirates taking it upon themselves to throw ridiculous amounts of money at any club with a slightly half decent player as they try and win everything in the world. Something which I'm sure the rest of the footballing community will take much pleasure in seeing them fail. All the while everyone else is struggling to catch up by spending slightly less ridiculous, but still extravagant, sums of money on distinctly average players, I mean honestly, how much for Darren Bent?? 

Everyone, that is, apart from Everton, who as usual are refusing to buy anybody despite having the smallest squad in human history. Moyes himself even saying that he is happy with '13 or 14' of his players, but needs to add 6 or 7 new faces. Has he yet? Has he fuck. Maybe he's been too busy telling Dubai City that they can't have Lescott, no matter how much money they say they'll throw at us (Credit crunch? What credit crunch?). Fair enough I thought. Good on you I thought. Stick to your guns I thought. That was, until Saturday.

Basically, what the fuck?

First game of the season, at home to Arsenal. A team who gave in to the moneybags of City and sold two of their best players, with no real sign of replacements. A fairly alright game then? Easy draw? Maybe a win? Seeing as we were unlucky not to beat them in the corresponding game last season. Oh how wrong I was.

Half time: Everton 0 - Arsenal 3. Oh joy.

Final score: Everton 1 - Arsenal 6. Wait.....what??

In what can only be described as the most abysmal result to a curtain raiser that I can remember, we get well and truly trounced. Absolutely terrible performance. Awful defending by Sunday League standards. What went wrong? It's been put forward that the whole saga with Lescott wanting to leave has dampened spirits, damaged confidence, etc, etc. But no amount of excuses can make up for such a shit performance. If things don't improve very quickly we may end up becoming what Newcastle were last year. God help us.

The only way I think this situation can be resolved, unfortunately, would be to cash in on Joe. He clearly wants to leave, as shown from the worst performance he's had in an Everton shirt. And if we don't get rid of him I fear we will only be given more of the same. So perhaps we'd be better off without him. I mean, look what happened with Wayne. Cashed in on him then finished 4th. Incidentally after being trounced by Arsenal at home in the opening game of the season. At least if we do decide to give in to the rich kids we'll have some money for Moyes to not spend as he tries to bring in more high quality players. A task which is now much more difficult, following the nightmare performance his team gave on Saturday.

Don't get me wrong, I think Moyes is a fantastic manager. What he has achieved with worse than limited resources is fantastic. Could anybody else do what he has done with as little? Probably not. We just need to sort out the mess, and quickly. Sell Lescott, so that he will be a happy bunny getting paid £90 thousand a week to play once a month, and we can move on, bring in some talent and try and get this season back on track. Please.

The only problem we are left with is what will happen in the future. If what is happening at City is only the beginning, what will happen to those teams who, like Everton, have no money. If transfers are going to continuously rise to extortionate levels, how can those who have no funds compete? What's more, if teams like City continue to throw money at anyone who has a good season, all those poor teams who try to build and develop a squad of top quality players on the cheap will be fucked. One can only wonder what would have happened had Jagielka, arguably our best player last year, not got injured? Or Arteta, or Yakubu? It seems if we want to realistically compete with the big boys, we need investment. Fast.

The future's bleak, the future's money.