Sky sports are reporting that Dan Gosling has finally moved to Newcastle for free. I’m finished with the anger, not hugely disappointed in losing him as a player anymore, but still apoplectic with rage about the money he took off us. If he recovers in time, he’ll be able to come to Goodison for a nice welcome, after that I fully expect him to sink without a trace.

If you have a gentleman’s agreement and then back out of it you are neither a gentleman nor worth having an agreement with in the first place. Good riddance.

Landon Donovan needs to leave the US to further the beautiful game in his country. This may sound counter intuitive but even as his country rides on a post-World Cup high, soccer still only attracts high numbers of fans through TV – and even then it is watching European Leagues – and especially the Premier League – rather than Major League Soccer.

Mike Teevee: Definitely American. Quite possibly a NASL fan.

Donovan then, could become more of a household name in the States by playing abroad rather than staying in Los Angeles. It’s obvious that we still pull at the little man’s heart strings – even his Twitter page still contains a profile picture of him in his #9 Everton shirt. Love child or not, he’s still left a little piece of him on Merseyside – and with Steven Pienaar procrastinating over his contract, and Dan Gosling running away from his – it is no wonder there are lots of longing glances across the pond towards Landon. With most sources dismissing yesterday’s transfer rumblings about Mancini being “interested” in Donovan, coupled with the Californian’s previous comments about not wanting to play for another English club aside from us – makes me think that we could see a Christmas arrival of Landon on Merseyside.

Landon Donovan's Twitter Profile: in our number 9 shirt.

 I’ve said it before: Landon Donovan is no Li Tie, a stooge brought in to simply sell shirts in a foreign land through his celebrity, but there is also no doubt that Donovan would raise awareness for Everton in America.

Preki - In his Everton days.

Aside from Donovan, there are a huge amount of US Links to Everton: – John Spencer, Mo Johnson (Colorado Rapids), Dixie Dean (reportedly turned down a hefty offer to play baseball for the New York Giants in 1928) , Steve Sergeant (Detroit Express in NASL) , Jimmy Gabriel (Seattle Sounders and others) , Terry Phelan (played for Charleston Battery) , Preki (and all star MLS player several times, now manager of Toronto FC), Robert Warzycha (played for and now managing Columbus Crew), Alan Ball (Vancouver Whitecaps and Philadelphia Fury) , Peter Beardsley (Vancouver Whitecaps). Also of note are Brian McBride and Joe-Max Moore - and I’m sure I’m forgetting others…

"Wazza" in salmon pink for Everton, before he became manager of Columbus Crew

With this kind of history we should be drawing American fans in droves, and with Landon Donovan still hinting that his flame still burns blue, we could be forging even more links…

Top Podcast! Followtonians

Followtonians - A damn fine podcast

Podcasts are a brilliant tool, especially for a club with a large, passionate fan base like us. There also very useful for the listener too, as you can fling a podcast onto your MP3 player with the same ease that previous generations put a kettle on.

This particular podcast – featuring an American, a Scouser, and an Australian (what other club could boast a wingspan of fans as wide as that?) covers a lot of information. My favourite podcasts are always the irreverent humourous kind, in general you want to steer clear of “official” podcasts; I stopped listening to the official Everton one after a particularly sycophantic interview with “Shandy” Andy van der Meyde (during a rare moment of lucidity from the Dutchman)…

The Followtonians crew, and especially Ped, seems to have his radar tuned on Goodison. From goalies getting kicked off planes, forensic analysis of transfers (and even examination of shirt numbers), to transfer gossip and occasional rants – this is a good one to listen to. I also love their motto – “Same club. Different accents.” – quality stuff.

Check out the podcast here: http://www.followtonians.com/

…or alternatively follow their tweets: twitter.com/followtonians

 He’s done well to come this far considering the state of his foot this time last year. Seamus Coleman’s blistered foot was such an infected mess that it was considered career threatening by Everton’s medical staff.

Having glistened in both his handful of appearances for Everton and his part in Blackpool’s promotion charge, he is now looking very lively in our pre-season tour of Australia.

After years of waiting for a good right back, it appears that we may have got even more than we asked for; this boy is  ruthlessly direct – like a mouthy child that spouts awkward home truths – and he has the fearless effervescence of youth. Coleman, an explosive and skillful player, is a full back itching to roam higher up the pitch.

 Attacking full-backs can be very effective when everything clicks. Baines was the perfect example of this as his relationship with Steven Pienaar ripened, but I’d love to see Coleman cutting even deeper into the opposition than Baines has on the other side.

 When Phil Scolari first came to Chelsea people were falling over themselves to praise his attacking full backs – and just before this summer’s World Cup one famous journo was openly declaring that only a team with truly accomplished full backs would win the tournament.

Although it may sound stupid – and premature – to compare Coleman with some of the best that international football can offer – that’s exactly what I want to do. 

Right backs can be very hard to find, especially at Goodison – where Hottiger, Burroughs, Jackson, Barrett, and even Hibbert have all auditioned and ultimately failed to get the right back position. After Inter Milan (stupidly) sold Roberto Carlos to Real Madrid they went through twenty-eight left backs while the Brazilian was starring at the Bernabeu.

Roberto Carlos was also used in a very attacking manner at Real Madrid, especially when Capello took charge there. The Brazilian was part of an ingenious routine which flummoxed the opposition continually. Hierro would pass the ball out of defence to a charging Roberto Carlos, who – through a number of clever movements and screens from his teammates - proved virtually unstoppable. The purists at Madrid looked down their noses at this tactic but it was hugely successful.

Interestingly, Capello also employed a very attacking full back when he won the title with Roma, using Cafu so high up the field that he was often level with Batistuta.  Another important factor to note, in both these examples, is that Capello used well drilled and stamina laden players like Redondo and Delvecchio to close down any open spaces. Everton, a team brimming with hard workers, and also a unit that closes down space, could be perfect for a really attacking full back.

Moyes is blessed with a squad that is enormously hard working and also very versatile. As Coleman attacks – players like Jagielka, Heitinga, and Neville could easily cover for him. This could be an excellent option for Everton, especially if Moyes really gives him license to attack – the last time we had a player who scared the opposition on the right it was Andrei Kanchelskis – if Coleman can get anywhere near that level of performance I’ll be ecstatic.

Spain: El Doctor Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Ball

Ghostbusters: Bustin' makes me feel good

When Fabio Capello first left Milan and went to manage Real Madrid well over a decade ago he was derided by many as a dour disciplinarian and the killer of tiki-taka. As the great Sid Lowe once wrote: “No side provokes such distaste in Spain as Italy, whose football is derided as cynical, dirty and boring, somehow illegitimate.”

I’m sure Capello, seen as an anti-footballer by many in Iberia, would have loved to have had the chance to play Spain in this tournament.

For me this World Cup has been tinged with a little bit of a disappointment, simply because as the teams progressed to the Round of 16 I saw the potential for so many grudges to be settled. In many cases though, instead of an exorcism – this tournament reminded countries of their initial failures.

First up was England. Their pitiful Group C display actually paved the way for a glorious Ghostbusting run. Not only could they have put their fixation with Germany to bed but they could have also had a pop at Argentina too. Instead, they were handed a cruel defeat by Germany. Cruel because the German’s mastery of the counter-attacking thrust meant that when they started chasing the game, the Germans plundered two more goals.

 4-1 was harsh and embarrassing in equal measure. Harsh because had Lampard’s goalline crossing shot been given, Germany wouldn’t have been able to counterattack so ruthlessly. Embarrassing, because 4-1 is close to (better than) a reversal of ’66 – and it even came gift-wrapped with a goal line controversy – which this time fell in Germany’s favour. With all the media chest thumping, defeat was painful. How could it not be when England were so over hyped?

Another team that could have put some ghosts to rest in South Africa were the Netherlands. Defeat at the final hurdle in ’74 and ’78 must have been excruciating – and instead of easing the pain with a win in South Africa, the self-flaggelation will continue. I really hoped that they’d win – whoever compared the Dutch winning this World Cup to Scorsese finally winning an Oscar was spot on. That’s three World Cup Finals the Dutch have made it to, and no wins – which really puts 1966 into perspective.

It was sad to see Johnny Heitinga sent off but there is always a whiff of desperation about him when he is at centre half. I love Heitinga when he plays defensive midfield and he’s certainly preferable to the two droogs, van Bommel and de Jong who played there in the final ( and De Jong shouldn’t have been on the pitch after his horrific Hammer horror tackle).

There was one team though that DID manage to bust some Ghosts…Spain. Spain don’t tie you up and beat goals out of you. They charm you at the bar and slip goals into your drink when you’re not looking. The elbows and studs aimed at Spain seemed quite effective for a long while, especially given their history of being beaten, physically, out of games. Spaniards still vividly remember a blood drenched Luis Enrique, elbowed in the face by Mauro Tassotti (in the penalty area no less) toward the end of the 1994 World Cup quarter-final. Journo Sid Lowe writes that Spanish newspaper Marca said “If there is an image that sums up Italy v Spain meetings it’s the bloody face of a crying Luis Enrique after getting an elbow that referee Sándor Puhl didn’t see – or didn’t want to see,”.

The velvet locomotive that is Spain got smashed again on Sunday, but they won despite the ultra-violence, and that should make it all the more sweet. Spain, World Cup Winners 2010 – and Ghostbusters to boot. Dixie’s Sixty salutes you!

ESPN reported yesterday that Dan Gosling was ready to join Newcastle United for free. It looks like he’ll be getting £25,000 a week, but the article also mentions that Everton will appeal the move and look to recoup something. If we get anywhere near the £4 million we are apparently appealing for – it will come in very handy for both us and Plymouth Argyle – who are entitled to any proceeds of a Gosling transfer.

Again, I’m sad to see him go, and a little angry too.

The third-fourth World Cup playoff between Uruguay and Germany was a good game with both teams bouncing from one end of the field to the other – the only thing that marred the game was the consistent booing of Luis Suarez.

Luis Suarez

The Uruguayan forward has been accused in some quarters of being a cheat for handling Ghanaian Adiyiah’s shot when it was destined for the back of the net in the last minute of injury time. Suarez didn’t cheat. He handballed – a barefaced handball in front of the world. He didn’t take performance enhancing drugs, or get paid to lose a game – he did what happens hundreds of times every year. A deliberate handball, not a big deal. It became a big deal because it was in the last minute of injury time, and the resulting penalty (which would have won the game for Ghana) was missed by Gyan. If Gyan had scored, no one would have directed opprobrium towards Suarez. In fact if Suarez had headbutted Adiyiah no one would have minded. Note that Holland’s Mark van Bommel, decried for being a filthy fouler who has somehow escaped with only one booking to his name despite a scandalous back catalogue of “tackles” is only given the epithet ‘dirty’ rather than ‘cheater’. Former teammate Landon Donovan said of van Bommel “Oh my God, that guy’s psycho, man.” But Suarez, who handballs on the line, gets sent off, concedes a penalty, AND then misses the following game is a cheat.

Cheats try and subvert the game outside the rules, they try and hide their discretions – Suarez didn’t cheat, and part of me thinks he is being called that because he is South American…

World Cup 2010: USA

https://twitter.com/TimHoward2010

“Detroit has a nice smile, it’s just that some of her teeth are missing.”
 
Detroit’s slump comes in more varieties than Heinz Ketchup. She’s an ugly one industry town. Her ex-Mayor is in jail for stealing from her, and worse still a documentary ran recently that gave her that final kicking, a beating in the face from the buckle of the rust-belt. The infamous, can’t pull your eyes away from the screen  – watch through a crack in your hands – moment came when a hapless Detroiter showed the camera how he catches and sells raccoons as food.
 
One of Detroit’s strengths is her sport – Pistons, Redwings, Tigers & Lions – but no football team. In the 1920′s soccer in Detroit was a boom sport but after those initial halcyon years football flickered like a faulty light bulb through the decades. In the 70s came NASL and the Detroit Express – with Jimmy Hill  as the owner and Trevor Francis as the star in the cavernous Pontiac Silverdome. That stadium again brushed cheeks with the beautiful game in 1994. with the World Cup. Romario even scored there. The Silverdome now lies fallow, only to be graced by occasional Monster Truck rallies and even more seldom football exhibition games. It deserves to be rammed full, not pockmarked with the faithful few.
 
Nationwide, World Cup success is craved, but in Detroit – this sport is largely ignored by the media – leaving it stillborn. In a prominent local paper football vies with, and loses out to, girls high school soccer and hunting. Detroit news is slick, and populated with a bevy of beauties (see pics), but any mention of football is clunky in the extreme – goalscorers are mispronounced (or just plain wrong), and all reportage is done with a barely concealed smirk.

Exhibit A - Gorgeous Detroit Newsreader

Exhibit B - Another gorgeous Detroit newsreader (on left, clearly)

 
Soccer and the World Cup may be a buzzword in some locales but as far as Detroit is concerned it is all quiet on the Midwestern Front. American detractors see football as a hoary old sport, but Detroit media are the real troglodytes. There are many people out there, fighting to bring this sport to Detroit, but without the media, there is a little corner of the Midwest that will remain forever North Korea.

Now is the summer of our discontent.

Summer is an atrocious time to be an Evertonian. Nails are bitten to the quick, nights are sleepless, and the fevered clamour amongst the gutter press for a full-scale Everton exodus reaches unbearable levels. With Pienaar still flirting with our offer, Arteta a possibility to leave, and Johnny Heitinga sending a volley of mixed messages our way we could be forgiven for forgetting about Dan Gosling.

If you’d have asked me my opinion of Gosling last week I would have told you that he is a solid young player, and a promising prospect for the future. All that is now in tatters. As word first spread my initial ire was focused on Everton. Let’s face facts, we are noted in society for our cock ups – from Muller to Ravanelli, from Rooney to Lescott and from Kroldrup to Manny Fernandes - we know how to botch a deal and sell a player.

However, as more noises have emanated from Goodison it now looks like Gosling deliberately intimated that he would sign a contract extension whilst behind the scenes he was planning to leave Everton for nothing by using a loophole (the loophole being that the contract extension offer was verbal not written). He dragged Bill Kenwright and David Moyes through a tribunal (and they must have been spitting bullets) to secure his “freedom”.

Still more rumours claim that the £15,000 a week offered  by Everton wasn’t quite enough for young Gosling, and that he wanted guarantees about first team football (madness for someone as young as him) and to play in central midfield (even more idiotic considering the wealth of talent we have there).

The pain comes from a combination of factors. His move to Sunderland/West Ham/Newcastle is an illogical move down. His move has weakened us financially (we could have got at least £4 million for him) – and in terms of our squad. The betrayal also hurts – and it was a betrayal that showed barefaced cheek.

One word of warning to young Gosling: Players tend to sink without the Moyes buoyancy aid. Players far far better than you (Lescott, Pienaar, Andy Johnson, Saha) have proven what a man manager Moyes is; he squeezes players’ talents to the pips…I hope you sink like a stone you cheeky bastard. You reneged on gentleman’s agreement, you don’t deserve one iota of respect.

PS. I cannot wait until you return to Goodison, and long for your red face to be replaced by one of our blue shirts.

World Cup 2010: England

http://twitter.com/dixiessixty
Germany 4-1 England. It was an escape from victory not Escape To Victory, a bust rather than Dambusters.
 
And soon after a stampede of familiar moans charged across the horizon:
 

•   “It was because we have a foreign manager” (forgetting how the last English manager performed)
• “They are overpaid” (forgetting how well the players did for their clubs)
• “We need a manager like Maradona” (I thought Capello’s appointment was needed to add discipline; to tame the wild English style)

It is interesting that we compare England to Italy, Germany and France (“they would never employ a foreign manager”) when in reality there is no comparison. England are miles behind.
 
 Of them all, Rooney confused me the most. I’ve never seen him play that poorly. He was a Bruce Banner who couldn’t turn green, a Clark Kent so glum and listless that he couldn’t even be bothered to look for a phone box. For a player so used to harrying and dazzling opponents, he was unbelievably off form. He wasn’t himself. Rooney was so incognito, so unrecognizable,  he could have held up a South African bank in broad daylight and still not have been picked out of an identity parade.
 
In the end, it was just like watching Brazil. The dystopian film, not the fantastic team.