Everton: loyal to the lucre?

Whilst summer rolls into action many Blue websites have been indulging in Evertonians' favourite warm-weather pastime: Kenwright kvetching. Some anticipate a summer of scraping around for money, missing out on signings, and seeing our chairman fail - once more - to sell the club. I'm actually glad Kenwright has failed to flog our beloved Toffees, and because of that, in my eyes he is the perfect chairman.

If Kenwright is unqualified to run our club, then why is a rich Sheikh more acceptable? Would a moneybags owner shed blue tears when we lost to Chelsea? Would he be able to wax lyrical about  Mikel Arteta, comparing him to Alex Young like Kenwright did? The sad truth is a chairman's success is totally dependent on his money and his ability to attract investment if he has no money himself. I see it in a different way. Yes, Kenwright's theatrical tendencies make for ridiculous sound bites: watch this space, I'm working 24/7 to sell this club, are both embarrassing public belches but the fact that Kenwright hasn't been able to find a buyer is a bonus.

I do not want a billionaire at Everton. For all those people moaning about a move to Kirkby, selling to a Sheikh would be the ultimate sell out - he would own our soul. The last few years have seen several filthy rich oil-igarchs waddle over the horizon, and the problem is their ridiculous appetite and their crazed shotgun approach to transfers, spraying bids everywhere. It's strange to think that we may look upon our fifth-placed finishes as "the good old days". Days where we fielded a team of honest, well drilled pros, players who we love and who love us, rather than multi-millionaire drones. When we ask for our billionaire saviour - do we really want to enter that world, of Glazers, Gilletts and Kenyons? A world of shelling out and selling out, of many rubles, no scruples, and gluttonous gloating. I would rather watch a snuff movie starring my parents.

If a white knight with wads of cash did come to Goodison, Moyes would undoubtedly face a different climate - no more late night pillow talk with Kenwright and - ironically - just as many stipulations and restrictions on spending. We are potless, but if we became Mersey Millionaires again, would Moyes have full control over signings? And the funniest thing? We might not even finish fifth! Worth selling our souls for that? Some quarters of Goodison fight so hard against Kirkby and demand we stay at Goodison. And yet they have no problem praying at night for a billionaire who will suck away the essence of our club, even though wed have a roulette wheel of playing staff, unnatural pressures on Moyes, and a team as nebulous, unbalanced, and unwieldy as a pet shop run by Dr Moreau.

To me, Mark Hughes has always been likeable, and Man City always harmless enough. That was until the money started flowing like wine at a Roman orgy. Mark Hughes, the "centurion with salt and pepper hair", is going to find it hard not to turn into a debauched Nero. When you can have almost any player you want, when you can make Eto'o and Kaka think twice, you are bound to go a little crazed. But City's team are still ersatz Galacticos, they haven't earned their Top four stripes yet.

Some Blues are bemused by the idea of Lescott going to City, calling this a step down. But City's bank balance is monumentally huge, meaning that - in a league where everyone is loyal to the lucre above all else - they are bigger than us. Lets not prattle on about history making a big club, the Premier League is like 1980s Wall Street. Money is everything. Gordon Gekko said it best: "The point is, ladies and gentleman, that greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right, greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit."

If Lescott can double his wages by moving to City - a team that will soon be dining from English football's top table - why are some fans asking for him to loyally kneel at the Goodison trough? Was he loyal to Wolves? No, he moved to us, a club with more potential. Again, he is doing the same if he leaves us for City. As much as I want the Peoples' Club to be poster boys for potless Premier League success - we all have to admit that City's bank balance makes them far more upwardly mobile than us.

Moyes has made it clear that he doesn't want Lescott to leave, apparently not even for £20 million (could he really turn that down though), and Lescott's few words on the matter sound like an "I'll do as I'm told, gub'nah." The press though, have been sitting and watching, breathing heavily like a parking lot dogger -  and are squirming with glee; claiming that Lescott just has to "agitate" to get his dream move. And who can blame them, transfer tripe sells papers.

Thanks to the press frotteurs, rubbing their words against Lescott, almost daring him to ask for a move, this is a matter beyond Moyes. Lescott may not be loyal to the City lucre, but our board may be and the money, whatever portion of it that Moyes sees, could help us get a right back ("the Scouse Cafu" is more Clark Kent than Superman) and an upgrade on doe-eyed Leon Osman.

To twist and mangle a famous quote: "In the next week or two this house, the nation and the Rt Hon Lescott himself will learn of what metal he is made."

Let's continue the fight without a sugar daddy. We are Sensible Soccer - they are FIFA '09...We are a local independent record store - they are a faceless music franchise... and with any luck we'll be Godzilla and they'll be Tokyo.

Ed Bottomley
http://www.missingalbion.blogspot.com/