2011/12 Season Review

After a fantastic Premier League Campaign that went to the wire and we won our first League Title for 25 years and first Trophy since 1995.

Even though there were only 2 league games in May, the Premier League felt it is necessary to announce the Awards for May.

Manager of the Month

I think I got it because we faced Liverpool and Newcastle United which we won.

Young Player of the Month

Magaye Gueye was fantastic against both Liverpool and Newcastle. I expect great things from him next season has he goes from back up to first choice.

The player’s stats for the Premier League

Tim Howard is the only to play all 38 games and only conceded 23 goals with 20 clean sheets proving he is a top class keeper behind a solid defence.

The defence contributed 14 goals and 13 assists to the team effort. Phil Jagielka is our joint 3rd top goal scorer and Distin is joint 4th.  Leighton Baines and Jagielka were fantastic all season providing excellent protection at the back and a goal threat at the other end of the pitch. Baines was a threat down the left all season and from set pieces.

Maroune Fellaini and Jack Rodwell provided excellent protection to the back four and setting up the attacks has they formed a fantastic partnership in midfield. Leon Osman with 11 assists and Tim Cahill with 14 assists provided great opportunities for their teammates to score.

Nikica Jelavic played 37 games scoring 26 goals and providing 8assists had a brilliant debut season. Victor Anichebe and Apostolos Vellios provided excellent support towards the end of the season.

I am slightly disappointed with Drenthe, Pienaar and Stracqualursi has they had reputations of being good players but did not make the impact I was expecting from them. James McFadden started the season in fine form but he tailed off over Christmas and afterwards which is the reason he was not offered a new contract.

The player’s Cup stats.

It was in the Cup games which provided evidence that Barkley, Anichebe and Vellios should be in the Senior Squad. Shane Duffy showed he could be a decent central defender and gave players like David Weir, Hibbert etc. some game time.

Board Confidence.

I could not ask for more from the Board, players, staff and the fans. I think there would have been riots if the new Board got rid of me in April has we were having the best League season in a long time.

The Board are delighted with the season despite our exit in the 4th Round of the Carling Cup. Premier League: A; FA Cup: B-; Carling Cup: D – Could do much better.

Financial Review.

From the start of the Season in July 2011 to April 2012 we made a loss in every month this was due to repaying various loans, transfer clauses and a fairly high wage bill. In April 2012 the Board led by new owner Simon Blitz injected some cash which put us into the black.

Income for 2011/12 season

Next season will see an increase in TV money, gate receipts, merchandising sales, prize money and match day income thanks to having Champions League games for the first half of the season with the possibility of Europa League or Champions League in the second half of the season. It would great to get a big club or 2 in our group. I am planning on selling Junior, Joao Silva, HIbbert and Yobo will see a short term increase in our finances.

Expenses.

The wage bill be reduced by not having Drenthe (£55k), Pienaar (£55k), Mucha (£20k), Mahnemann (£13k), Distin (£45k), Hibbert (£25k) and McFadden (£18k) on the club’s pay roll next season. The total saved is £231k per week, just over £1m per month and just over £12m per season this is before any new players come in.

Non-footballing costs, ground maintenance and loans were biggest expenses for the season after player wages. There is a reason for ground maintenance increasing which will be revealed later in the post.

Fan’s Player of the Year.

It must have been a hard decision after the season we had so Leighton Baines deserves it but it could easily been Jelavic, Jagielka, Cahill and Howard.

Football Writer’s Association (PWA) Player of the Year

Golden Glove

Golden Boot

Professional Footballer’s Association (PFA) Player of the Year

PFA Young Player of the Year

Manager of the Year

Team of the Year

THERE IS CLEAR “BIG CLUB” BIAS WHEN AWARDING THE PLAYER OF THE YEAR, YOUNG PLAYER OF THE YEAR AND PICKING THE TEAM OF THE YEAR. THE PFA AND PWA ARE CLEARLY BIASED TOWARDS MANCHESTER CITY, MANCHESTER UNITED, CHELSEA AND ARSENAL. THE PFA AND PWA AWARDS A ****ING JOKE HAS IT DOES NOT REPRESENT THE TRUE PICTURE OF THE SEASON; Jelavic, Cahill, Baines had better seasons than Rooney, Arteta and Mata for the PFA POTY

So next season it would be fantastic to win every trophy possible has it would stick 2 fingers to the “big clubs”, PFA and PWA.

Euro 2012 selections

At least Suart Pearce has common sense when he selected Rodwell, Baines and Jagielka but since they play for Everton they would be on the bench for every game.

First Cap

Rodwell gets his first cap and I hope it is first of many has he could form a fearsome partnership with Wilshere in years to come.

The Team GB Olympic U23 post became available.

The FA offered the job and I accepted. We have Brazil, Egypt and Iran in our group. This post is only for the Olympics and luckily enough the games are after preseason friendlies for Everton. The squad will be revealed in the next post.

I have added 3 more players to the sqaud.

Jamaal Lascelles, Central Defender, released by Nottingham Forest

Jamaal is natural born leader and could be a good defender providing excellent cover Duffy and Perybernes. The great thing is he has time to improve before he breaks into the Senior Squad.

Robbie Cotton, Central Midfielder/Central Defender/Defensive Midfielder, released b y Blackburn Rovers.

He is highly rated by our scouts and have given him 4 stars for his potential. He could be a very good player in a few years and play to a similar level to Maroune Fellaini and the media labelled him to be the next Scott Parker and is the same type of player to Osman.

The provisional budget set by the Board.

I will be keeping the budget when I select the season expectations when the 2012/13 season starts.

So with some money to spend at last. I have been looking for a keeper to come in since Mucha agreed to move to Real Madrid in March/April.

Loros Karius, £725k from Mainz.

He is very highly rated with 4 star potential and can match Tim Howard’s playing level. He will be No1. in 2014 when Tim Howard’s contract is up for renewal. I agree the media labelling him the next Oliver Kahn. Manchester City were stupid to release him back in 2011.

Goodison Park gets bigger.

I stated earlier the ground maintenance had increased this was due to the Board has put £8m from the club’s finances to fund the expansion of the ground from 40,157 to 46407 and should be completed in October. The extra capacity will see an increase in the clubs finances.

David Weir and Phil Neville retire.

David Weir will be part of the club’s coaching staff full time. He has ended his playing career on a very high note, 4 straight League titles; Rangers (2009, 2010, 2011) and Everton (2012).  He has been a great servant to every club he has played for. Him and Hendry are the standard bearers for Scottish Central Defenders and it is up to the young Scottish players to match their standards.

Phil Neville will be concentrating on the club for the coming season and his contract is for renewal in 2013 but I might release him at the end of the season to allow younger players to come through.

So far I am liking the work of the Simon Blitz and the new Board have done and they have increased the staff limits.

The next post will be on our preseason, new staff, Team GB and anything else that comes long in the crazy world of FM.

Until next time………