lost and confused

In the Summer, I was darn proud to be an Evertonian, despite the shameful lowest points total in the premiership. Rooney’s performances at Euro 04 were breathtaking. He was one of us, a true blue, and he was ours, not in the sense that we owned him, but in the sense that he was of us, an Evertonian.

Last season, I warned many of you that Rooney is a time bomb waiting to go off in our TV Screens, the previous year I had warned everyone that we are witnessing the emergence of the greatest talent to appear. I felt last year that there was an inevitability about Rooney’s demise as an Everton icon. He had become bigger than the club (perhaps probably TOO BIG for himself to handle), in fact he is ill-equipped to deal with the interests his success generated. The exploitation by agents and the media was bound to take Rooney away from Everton sooner or later.

Where will this leave Everton? It is confirmation of what I have long accepted that Everton is now a third-rate power in the Premiership. A huge distance behind the top three, a reasonable gap behind the likes of Newcastle, Middlesbrough, Spurs, Villa clubs. (No, Liverpool is not in any of the above classes..That i'll NEVER SURRENDER TO!) I was thinking which ManU or Newcastle players could we have in exchange for Rooney and then i came to a conclusion that it would take an least half of their club's squad players to equal the value of Rooney!! (How i wish this could happen) Frankly, no player in their right mind would leave ManU or Newcastle for Everton. The transfer will have to be SOLELY CASH!!

The cash will never get us another Rooney, in reality £30M is cheap for such a 'phenomeneon' player. Paul Gregg will want his wife’s money out of Everton and Blue Bill’s rescue plan will only attract the Finnans and Traores of this world. We will be another team of “never mind the quality, feel the quantity”. If we underachieve this year, how will we even be able to attract players of quality? The out-of-contract players – many of whom we will be glad to see their departure somehow or another will be difficult to replace.. Ironic, isnt it?

What happens to all those Rooney 18 shirts? I personally have two and does that mean that i have to start tuning in to Man United and cheer them on in the Champions League when Rooney scores? Simply Sickening isnt it?

I feel betrayed. I have some sympathy for Rooney but it all STOPS right HERE. Whatever happened to loyalty? To commitment? Rooney’s refusal to sign another contract, to publicly declare his position at Everton, and most of all to align himself with agents hostile which are against Everton’s interests. Why dont he just stand up and announce his intentions PUBLICLY instead of putting fans like us thru such horrifying times. We are all in total darkness and have the slightest idea of what is installed for us in the near future. Fans like me have been glued to my handbook for the past few days trying to catch every breath of news regarding this transfer and this is certainly not something that anyone would fancy doing at all times. I feel bitterness towards the whole football industry, to the management and administration at Everton. If only YOU could stand up and clear it all up, regardless of your intentions of staying or leaving, just clear it up for the sake of the fans!!

There are other sports I can spend my loyalty and cash on.. Those which send out a better message about what is important in life. Friendship, honour, humility, trust, honesty, openness, fidelity, endeavour and most of all loyalty; I find all of these virtues corrupted by this whole sour affair. It will take me a long time to recover from this one.

I remain a loyal Evertonian and hope for better times but it is a very bleak outlook and I am very, very disillusioned..even after reading this site...
The situation as Evertonians understand