Here we go again..
Everton have made great strides in recent years, the obvious improvement is on the pitch as David Moyes patient re-building is starting to bear fruit. Off the pitch our media relations have got better, resulting in a increased media profile. Commercial business has also taken an upturn with the opening of the Everton One and Everton megastores evidence of that.
But every year without fail there is some sort of transfer drama that drags on over the summer months, driving us to despair and making us curse the transfer window. Even if the player eventually signs the saga had been going on for so long the new player has lost all of his new signing 'novelty' value - Kanchelskis was one of the first ones I remember.
In the past I feel it has been down to slapdash negotiations on behalf of Everton (remember Nigel Martyn being left in Park Foods reception before shooting up the motorway to sign for Leeds?) but on this occasion I feel its Sheff Utd who have done the dirty on us with regards to Kyle Naughton.
It was revealed last week that a deal had been agreed for Naughton, a player who if rumours were to be believed, has been on Moyes' radar for months now. That wouldn't surprise me as the ginger one always gives any prospective transfer target the full once over to ensure he is good enough for the Blues.
Naughton has allegedly agreed terms and was due for a medical before Spurs decided to gazump Everton with a £8 million double bid for Nuaghton and fellow full back Kyle Walker. United have now refused Everton to talk further to Naughton, whose representatives are now heading to London.
This is from a club who kicked up such a fuss and played the victim in the Carlos Tevez affair, where is their upstanding morals now? And Spurs, why not be pro-active in the transfer market rather than pinching other club's targets!!
I can appreciate the need for the Blades to get as much money as possible but an agreement is an agreement. I applaud Moyes for sticking to his guns and not entering a bidding war (which I imagine a club like Spurs would be more than willing to do, besides we couldn't afford it anyway) but he must fear the worst, especially as Spurs will no doubt offer more wages.
I can only hope Naughton rejects the move and the lure of Goodison proves too much to resist, after all he only has to look at Jags, Lescott and Baines to see how a career can take off with the Blues.
Spurs, while a big club that can offer big money and the bright lights of London, is a grave yard of over paid over rated players who had potential but whose careers stall and splutter to a halt at White Hart Lane.
Your honor I give you:
Gareth Bale
Alan Hutton
Pascal Chimbonda
All talented full backs, costing a combined £23 million, all have done nothing.
Reports also suggest Naughton prefers a move to Goodison. I hope he pushes for move as I rate him and feel he is the perfect replacement for the committed but limited Tony Hibbert. But if he can't even talk to us he may not have a choice.
Some people will argue that Everton should have flown to Malta, where Naughton was training with United, there and then to complete the deal, but I guess we don't know the vagaries of the transfer system and from the outside it looks like we played it by the book. It's a pity Sheff United won't do the same.
Newcastle United raised a few eyebrows this week when they released their new away shirt. The er… two tone yellow striped effort has been widely panned by media and fans alike, with some naming it the worst kit ever. It comes on the back of a tough few months for the Magpies who are still reeling from relegation to the Championship and are yet to appoint a manager or find a new owner. An embarrassing kit bringing them more ridicule is the last thing they need.