Some 25 years ago today, Fabrizio Ravanelli and his entourage formed perhaps the most iconic but infamous transfer delegation in Everton history when they turned up at Goodison Park to discuss what could have been a record switch at the time but left with the player having not signed for the Blues.
It was a tumultuous summer in 1997, Tony Blair's ‘new’ Labour had just swept to power, complete with their D:Ream Things can only get better anthem, ending 18 years of Tory rule but the nation was unaware of the shock that would lie in wait with Princess Diana’s untimely passing on the final day of August.
Evertonians had been riding an emotional rollercoaster too having ended the previous season with Dave Watson as caretaker manager following Joe Royle’s abrupt departure on March 27 but despite chairman Peter Johnson declaring that he’d deliver a “world-class” manager, he embarked on a three month wild goose chase trying to court Bobby Robson only for the former England boss to remain at Barcelona in an ‘upstairs’ role. The Blues were then snubbed by their former fans’ favourite Andy Gray who possessed no managerial experience and chose to sign a lucrative new deal to carry on broadcasting with Sky Sports instead so Johnson finally turned to Howard Kendall, offering the club’s most-successful boss an unprecedented third spell in the hot seat.
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Having already teed up a deal for West Ham United’s Slaven Bilic before the end of the previous season, the Christmas hamper magnate had also gone on record to proclaim that Everton supporters would be “pleasantly surprised” by the calibre of signings that the club would make that summer, a year later the Croatian international told the ECHO that Royle had said he would also sign Dino Baggio and Pierluigi Casiraghi with Johnson prepared to bankroll a £15million package for the duo but it would be another of their Italian compatriots who the Blues would ultimately come agonisingly close to snapping up. Even though he played in a Middlesbrough side that suffered relegation from the Premier League in 1997, Ravanelli had been a revelation in his first season in English football.
Plundering a hat-trick against Liverpool on his debut, he netted 31 goals in all competitions for the Teessiders that term, prompting Everton to make their approach after Bryan Robson’s expensively-assembled side, also featuring Brazilian pair Juninho and Emerson, went down despite reaching both domestic cup finals. Ravanelli was actually linked with a switch to Anfield during June following Stan Collymore’s exit to Aston Villa but by July 12, the ECHO reported that Ravanelli was planning to fly in to Merseyside from his home in Italy for discussions with Kendall.
Phil McNulty wrote: “It has been suggested he would say no to Everton, but his agent Alessandro Moggi said: ‘We will be talking to Everton. He’s flattered and honoured to receive this offer from such a club. He’s very excited and very keen.
“‘He wants to stay in the Premier League to prove what kind of player he is. He also wants to show just what sort of person he is after all that has been said about him in the last few months.’
“Everton boss Kendall said: ‘Ideally I would like him to come here and see for himself the facilities and the set-up that we have. I don’t think anyone can be anything other than impressed.
“‘We would have liked to have met the player, agreed the deal and had the medical and then paraded him. Unfortunately it is not that easy these days. It has come out that we have agreed a fee, but I must stress things are still at a very early stage.’”
Indeed, when ‘The White Feather’ – so called because of his prematurely grey hair – did turn up to meet Everton officials four days later, things didn’t go to plan. The ECHO pictured Ravanelli emerging from a car ahead of a tour of the Blues’ Bellefield training complex before heading off to Goodison Park to thrash out personal terms.
It was reported that the overall package could cost more than £15million and the agreed fee was £7.5million, at a time when £5.75million Nick Barmby was Everton’s record signing – also from Boro – but ultimately they would not end up splashing out such an amount until they landed Andrew Johnson from Crystal Palace some nine years’ later. By 4pm, the club issued the following statement: “Everton made an offer to him of a contract. He has rejected that and unless there is a change of heart from the player’s side there will be no deal.”
The following day, Kendall, who claimed to have “plenty of other irons in the fire,” told the ECHO: “The player informed me of how pleased he was with the set-up and ambitions of the club, and that was pleasing to hear. The ball was firmly in their court.”
However, the Blues boss had already turned his attentions to other targets with Newcastle United’s Les Ferdinand at the top of his shopping list. It had quickly became apparent that the player’s outrageous financial demands would be a stumbling block and a further 24 hours on, Kendall accused Middlesbrough of using Everton as a lever to push other clubs into signing Ravanelli, who would end up going to Olympique Marseille later in the summer, and said: “It is known we are looking for a striker and we could be being used to push other clubs into a decision.”
It was claimed that Ravanelli was seeking wages of around £50,000-a-week (for context, Bilic was understood to be on just over half that amount at the time), and McNulty, now chief football writer for BBC Sport, painted a colourful picture of the events that unfolded in his ECHO column, remarking: “Howard used the word ‘sensible’ when talking about Ravanelli’s demands.
“Everton Football Club did not have to prostitute itself to satisfy the financial lust of Fabrizio Ravanelli. Others might. Others will. Everton did not.
“And the more advisors that emerged from Ravanelli’s car in some Keystone Kops style routine, the more doubts emerged about the wisdom of playing financial Russian roulette for this undoubtedly talented but temperamental player. Everton’s fans may be disappointed that Ravanelli failed to materialise, but it is not the end of the world.
“Other white feathers can be plucked from elsewhere. Of course Everton knew what Ravanelli was demanding.
“Let’s face it, the world and his wife knew what he was on at Middlesbrough. We must presume from Everton’s stance he still wanted a bit more besides… it which case ‘arrivederci’ may be the only reasonable move.
“Kendall had done his job on the football side, but it sounded like a scenario for high farce at contract talks, with Ravanelli’s immaculately turned out corner appearing to outnumber the massed ranks of the Dagenham Girl Pipers.”
Memories of the collapse of the transfer still leave some Evertonians nervous today though whenever the Blues are in negotiations and in the end, Kendall was denied any big money signings that summer and instead brought in the likes of John Oster, Tony Thomas, John O’Kane, Carl Tiler, Danny Williamson and Mitch Ward as Johnson severely tightened the purse strings as Everton were forced to endure a second last day escape in four years to avoid relegation, staying up on goal difference ahead of Bolton Wanderers. Ravanelli would return for a second stint in England in 2001 at Derby County but again suffered relegation and due to the Rams’ financial problems, they had to defer his wage payments for several years.
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