Everton (a) Premiership
| Date: Monday 23rd November 1998, 8pm Venue: Goodison Park Conditions: tbc Admission: £19 Programme: £tbc |
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Everton |
Newcastle |
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1 - 0 |
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| Half time: | 1 - 0 | |
| Score Sheet: | ||
(18) Ball
(pen)
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Teams |
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Myhre Short Ball Watson Unsworth Dunne Grant Collins Hutchison Cadamarteri Bakayoko |
Given Barton Serrant Batty Charvet Dabizas Lee Gillespie Andersson Dalglish Speed |
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| Substitutes: | ||
|
(87)
Milligan for Bakayoko |
Albert
for Serrant (46) Brady for Dalglish (61) Hamann for Barton (69) |
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| Subs not used: | ||
|
Simonsen Clelland Bilic |
Harper Solano |
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| Bookings: | ||
Dunne
Cadamarteri
|
Barton
Serrant Lee Charvet |
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| Dismissals: | ||
| None | None | |
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Referee: Neale
Barry (Scunthorpe) |
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Attendance:
30,257 |
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Goals |
18 mins: Carl Serrant
upended Don Hutchison in the box and Michael Ball scored the penalty 1-0
Half time: Everton 1 Newcastle 0
Full time: Everton 1 Newcastle 0
We Said |
Ruud Gullit said:
To
follow
They Said |
Walter
Smith:
To follow
Stats |
|
Smith was in the dark until he spoke to his club captain on the stairs at Goodison after the 1-0 win over Newcastle on Monday night; Gullit went into the deal eyes wide open but with Alan Shearer apparently showing him the way. Newcastle's manager tried not to put all his spending money on the table by offering to include several players in a part-exchange, notably Gary Speed and Keith Gillespie, but Everton's chairman Peter Johnson insisted on cash. Yesterday Smith admitted: "I knew nothing about this at all - it was done without my knowledge." However he has agreed to stay at Goodison despite being told at a board meeting yesterday that the fee would be used to help reduce the club's overdraft of around £20 million rather than to buy players. However the cut in the overdraft may be £1.5 million less than the reported fee because Ferguson's former club Rangers are due part of the profits under a sell-on clause and the player is owed a loyalty bonus. That will matter little to Everton fans whose furious backlash against the move may sweep Johnson from power after four years in control. Switchboards at Goodison and Johnson's hamper business, Park Foods on the Wirral, were jammed all day by protest calls and disgusted supporters began returning their season tickets. Johnson's position would now appear to be almost untenable and by the time Chelsea visit Goodison on Saturday week he may have offloaded his controlling interest. Although the multi-millionaire has insisted he would only consider offers of more than £90 million for his 68 per cent shareholding, he may have to revise that figure. It is believed that a business consortium, possibly fronted by the theatrical impresario and Everton director Bill Kenwright is ready to make a formal offer of around £50 million for the stake Johnson purchased for £19 million just over four years ago. While Everton are contemplating departures, at Newcastle the move is likely to result in Shearer staying. Indeed it seems the decision to invest all the money allocated to Gullit for buying players on just one was taken by the England captain, who missed the game at Goodison because of a hamstring injury. Shearer's sense of unease since the dismissal of his friend Dalglish has been almost tangible and in an attempt to keep him happy at St James' Park, despite his assertions that he is, Newcastle asked him who he wanted as his striking partner. It is believed that his first choice was Dion Dublin and Gullit tried to sign him. But despite offering Coventry City £5 million he missed out, Dublin preferring to join the Premiership leaders Aston Villa. Gullit then suggested Chelsea's Norwegian international Tore Andre Flo but Shearer asked for Ferguson instead. The former Scotland striker will collect £10 million over the course of his five-year contract which will make him the best-paid player in British football with a weekly salary of £40,000. Shearer is currently believed to earn around £32,000 a week. Although Shearer again reiterated his desire to remain on Tyneside, Gullit continued to indulge in teasing references concerning the striker. "I want to keep Alan Shearer and now it is all up to him," he said. "As far as I am concerned Alan Shearer is not for sale but if a player wants to leave . . . " However, he added: "I want Alan Shearer to play with Duncan Ferguson, but what this signing means is that we don't have to rely on one man any more. That's not good." Newcastle's chairman Freddie Shepherd said: "There is no ulterior motive in signing Duncan Ferguson. Don't forget we are all Geordies and we want Alan Shearer to play for Newcastle." Ferguson will bring two qualities Newcastle's attack lacked at Everton - power and passion. If he can establish a rapport with Shearer Newcastle will have solved one of their major problems. Shearer has wanted a partner to share the responsibility of scoring and holding the ball up. At Blackburn he had Chris Sutton and initially at Newcastle Les Ferdinand until he was sold the day before Shearer ruptured his ankle at Goodison Park in August last season. With Faustino Asprilla also allowed to leave, Shearer found himself alone up front on his return in January. Ferguson's arrival means Shearer is closer to getting a forward line-up in which he feels he can prosper. Two weeks ago it was pressure from him and other senior players that saw Gillespie restored to the side. On Saturday Shearer, Ferguson and Gillespie may all play against Wimbledon at St James' Park. Ferguson's purchase, it seems, is aiding Shearer's powers of recovery.
|
Waffle |
The Guardian match report:
Michael Ball's well-taken penalty midway through the first half, only the
second Premiership goal scored by Everton at Goodison all season, allowed
Walter Smith's side temporary respite from a possible descent into a relegation
battle and left Ruud Gullit's Newcastle United looking nervously over their
shoulders this morning.
They will still see Everton and a few others there, but that is small
consolation. This was as bad a Newcastle display as there has been under Gullit
and he clearly requires that transfer money more urgently than at any time in
his three months in charge.
The too-good-to-go-down cliche was trotted out about Blackburn in several quarters yesterday, funnily enough a sentiment rarely used in the Everton context over the past few seasons. Having won only two of their previous 13 league matches, the Blues are bad enough to be relegated, though Newcastle, only four points higher at the start of play, have little to be smug about.
Those neutrals already pessimistic about seeing a glut of goals received dreaded reassurance when the two sides appeared. Nikos Dabizas, Newcastle's Greek centre-half, was the leading scorer on show with just three to his credit this season.
Unsurprisingly, given the under-confidence in both camps, the early stages were scrappy with no one in either midfield capable of directing play and both defences looking edgy. It seemed certain that any breakthrough would come as the result of a defender's mistake.
Sure enough, Newcastle's left-back Carl Serrant supplied it, lunging at Don Hutchison inside the area near the byline when all that was needed was cautious shepherding. Hutchison went to ground, Serrant was booked and Ball drilled in the penalty kick in the 18th minute with calm assurance.
Newcastle's reaction was tame intellectually and emotionally, Everton's meagre but the lifting of their spirits was sufficient for them to assume territorial superiority.
Just past the half-hour Ibrahima Bakayoko went close twice. First he turned Laurent Charvet easily and forced an impressive block from Shay Given, then he flicked a Hutchison chip deftly but narrowly wide of Given's right-hand post.
At half-time Serrant paid for his earlier error as Philippe Albert, told last week that he is surplus to requirements at St James' Park, came on in a formation rejigged to 3-5-2 by Gullit.
But the effect of the switch was not immediate and instead it was Everton, via two left-footed strikes from John Collins, who looked the more attack conscious.
Not until the 56th minute did Newcastle mount anything to resemble a similar threat, then Keith Gillespie skinned Ball and delivered a tempting cross, only for Richard Dunne to clear it without the goalkeeper Thomas Myhre being needed.
Sixteen minutes from the end Myhre at last made a save. It came from Dietmar Hamann's free-kick, the German having belatedly replaced Warren Barton, but Myhre was able to smother the deflected shot. At the other end, after finally relieving Newcastle's low-quality siege, Everton almost scored a second when Dave Watson applied the best touch in a goalmouth scramble from a corner by Collins. But his shot from six yards hit a black-and-white shirt and the ball was cleared to safety.
Biffa