Rutashubanyuma
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Tim Howard remains positive despite season of 'what ifs' for Everton
Everton's goalkeeper has no fears the squad will break up and says the players and manager are focused on a strong finish
Everton's goalkeeper has no fears the squad will break up and says the players and manager are focused on a strong finish
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- Andy Hunter
- The Guardian, Saturday 9 April 2011 <li class="history">Article history
Tim Howard is confident Everton can hold on to their best players despite a lack of investment at the club. Photograph: Alex Livesey/Getty Images
It needed a double-take around the dressing room at Goodison Park last Saturday for Tim Howard to appreciate how bare Everton's bones had become. Seven substitutes were available to face Aston Villa and not one had ever appeared in the Premier League before kick-off. The USA player can only hope that the shortage of senior talent is not made permanent this summer.
"It was weird," the Everton goalkeeper says. "Obviously we know the lads from training and having so many guys missing helped create the sense that we have nothing to lose, that we can scrap and fight and make it ugly, but you looked around and wondered where all the cowboys had gone?"
The cowboys, as the American refers to the seven first-team players who were out injured against Villa, were replaced by the interns as the substitutes Magaye Gueye and Apostolos Vellios helped a siege mentality prosper in the 2-2 draw. David Moyes has been here before, of course, and the positive from Everton's slender resources is the opportunity for young players. But, and the manager has been here too, it leaves them vulnerable when the bigger names are offered European football or more money elsewhere. After an underwhelming campaign and with the club's chief executive, Robert Elstone, already stating funds will again be tight this summer, Everton may have to sanction a high-profile departure for Moyes to reinvest.
Leighton Baines, now replicating his outstanding club form for country, Phil Jagielka, Marouane Fellaini, Jack Rodwell and John Heitinga are this season's coveted, although the English trio have all committed to new long-term contracts in the past 12 months. Everton are in the most delicate position with Fellaini, who has two years remaining but has been approached over an extended deal amid reported interest from Chelsea, among others. Howard, however, is not preparing for a mass farewell come season's end.
"That is always a concern," he says of a possible break-up. "Football is a business. No one likes to talk about that, but it is always a concern. We lost Steven Pienaar [to Spurs] in January, one of our best players, to what he felt were greener pastures. I certainly don't think the team is going to break up. I know we would like to keep all the guys together and there is a collective belief among the core players at the club. You would hope that would ultimately trump the business side of football, but that is easier said than done."
Uncertainty this year surrounds the future of the Everton manager, too. Moyes has been forced to deny constant rumours that he is on the verge of quitting in despair at the lack of investment in Everton, and insists he wants to remain long-term, albeit with the proviso that he will be seeking assurances about the club's direction from the board at the end of the season.
"I've not seen any change in the manager this season," Howard says. "He is still giving it to us straight every day. He is out on the training pitch every day and he never changes. That is a testament to his character. He is a fantastic coach and we all owe a lot to him as players."
Everton's players arguably owe Moyes even more after this season. Outsiders for Champions League qualification in August, with Sir Alex Ferguson among the tipsters, they have interspersed the occasional high with frequent lows. Rising to seventh on the back of a five-game unbeaten run before Saturday's trip to Molineux, despite the inconsistencies and the injuries, has merely increased the irritation for their goalkeeper.
"We have a feeling of total frustration," Howard says. "We could have been in the reckoning and it is a shame we are talking about 'What if?' We have enough quality in the squad although, because of our circumstances, we don't have it in abundance. We are not Man City who can field two top Premier League teams and when we take a few injuries that can set us back. That is no excuse though. We have quality front to back in our squad and we all need to do better. We need to push ourselves forward not only next season but between now and the end of this season."
A top-seven finish would be a credible return for a team that went six games at the start of the season without a win. The question, however, is whether that would mask the underlying problems of a club in desperate need of new investment and with no plans for a new stadium on the horizon.
"It might do, but the bottom line is if we finish sixth or seventh we will have deserved it on merit," the 32-year-old says. "I think every football club has its problems, I really do. I look at the club down the road who have spent a boatload of money and they [Liverpool] have got their own problems, too. Money is not always the answer. For the most part, in my time here, Everton have always done things right. It may not always be perfect but no one does everything perfectly. As best as they can, the chairman and the manager usually seem to get things right and I can only put my faith in that because I don't have any say in any other decisions."
Tim Howard was speaking at the launch of Everton Ladies' involvement in the Football Association's new Women's Super League, which starts next week following a £3m investment from the FA
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