Everton Fan View: It's not my money - but I still care

“It’s not my money” I’ve heard this quote from a fair few Everton fans recently in regards to the fee that Everton may, or may not, pay for Gylfi Sigurdsson. It’s very much a change of attitude from years gone by when most Evertonians were very precious about what the club was spending.

When we received £24m for Lescott, the funds were scrutinised as we bought Heitinga, Distin and Bilyaletdinov. When the Arteta money wasn’t spent Everton fans were fuming, and it’s still a running joke to this day. And when the Fellaini money was spent on a £28m fee for Lukaku, we winced at the high price. How times have changed.

It’s true that if £50m is spent on Sigurdsson that it won’t be coming out of my pocket. I may put my fair share of money into the club, and what they do with that money is up to them. By a very rough calculation, I contribute about 0.00025% to the club’s annual revenue stream.

I can hardly shout from the rooftops about how I think a player might be overpriced. But that tiny percentage spread over a large number of fans becomes a large percentage, the fans are all stakeholders in the decisions that the club makes. To a certain extent, it is our money, or was.

Not an endless pot

At the moment there seems to be a belief that there is an endless pot of funds for the club to dip their hands into, that’s obviously not true. Man City just spent £52m on Mendy and I doubt their fans were too bothered. But that’s Man City, we don’t come close to having those sorts of funds.

There is a limit to our spending and using all that money on just one player is a huge risk. We employed a man in Steve Walsh and are paying him very well in order to source the world for the best footballing talent.

To fixate our eyes on a good Premier League player for such an astronomical fee almost feels lazy. I don’t get paid to find such players, but surely there is better value for the money out there.

If we had a Man City sized treasure chest, I wouldn’t be bothered. We simply don’t. It’s not my money, but it’s my beloved clubs and I’m fairly certain we can find better for the money. Or spread it to improve the squad. Or keep it and wait for the right player.

A player is only worth what his club are willing to sell him for. I don’t begrudge Swansea at all for holding out for a huge fee, we do it all the time. If there is a price on an item in a shop, you have every right to walk away if you think that price is too high. I think it is, and I hope Everton walk away.