Louis

It wasn't what was said, it was how it was delivered - "one of the first things he said to me was I can get you in the Champions League". Even Martinez was making light of the comment after he had explained his position and the process behind it.

Is your glass half full already Mike? Martinez's positivity is rubbing off on you already.

I'm looking forward to seeing him in action but I can't help but feel Kenwright threw him under the bus with the Champions League comment. That's going to be a stick to beat Martinez with every year he's at Everton and it doesn't happen. I'm also looking forward to seeing who he brings in, I liked what the scout found for Wigan in Valencia and Rodellaga. I find the whole situation interesting, a traditional British club being led by a Catalonian with a penchant for South Americans and the "global market". It's also encouraging that he's said he wants to bring through players from the academy, at Wigan he was largely dealing with 'rejects' from the larger North West clubs. Although I do wonder if Martinez is as statistic-driven as Moyes. There was a report somewhere showing Wigan's passing statistics versus Everton's of the season just gone and Wigan had actually made around 2,000 more passes than Everton and had a better pass rate percentage.

http://www.sweeti.co.uk/news.php?id=3

The Metro are linking him after Martinez became manager: http://metro.co.uk/2013/06/04/wigan-chairman-dave-whelan-powerless-to-stop-callum-mcmanaman-and-james-mccarthy-joining-roberto-martinez-at-everton-3827649/

If an attacker out-paces him, is that considered to be an 'Escape from Alcaraz' ?

I took some stick this morning on Twitter. I took Kenwright's comments on EvertonTV as Heitinga can leave as he isn't on a "good contract" (i.e. lengthy one where the sale value holds up) and that the player can leave. People have responded that he was referring to Fellaini and that "good contract" meant one without the minimum fee release clause. I'm still not so sure that he was referring to Fellaini in the EvertonTV interview. In the press conference, this is what Kenwright said: "I said, David [Moyes], we all know the situation at Everton, we know there is a player at Everton whose got an escape clause but the others are not for sale".

Dave Prentice of Liverpool Echo says he left around the West Ham game - before the dossier was leaked. Strange situation.

The head of communications wasn't in attendance yesterday at the press conference - apparently he's left the club. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/everton/10101583/Everton-manager-Roberto-Martinez-targets-Champions-League-qualification-following-move-from-Wigan-Athletic.html This is supposedly why: http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/leaked-list-compared-liverpool-fc-4025956

I've put up the press conference from SKY for those who missed it: I'll try and get the full 25mins. Here it is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dekEzn0OXpQ

That's how they negotiate. If there's a fee clause, they'll match it, negotiate with the player, withdraw the bid and submit a lower one with the player's offer unaffected knowing that the player has agreed terms.

Bill Kenwright confirmed that Alan Stubbs, Phil Neville and David Weir were interviewed for the position. I'm not sure how they feel about him publicly announcing they were interviewed and didn't get the job.

The club have confirmed it.

Has a Scotsman ever been worth £8m?

What it was, is that when the EFC kits are put into the system they briefly appear on the website until they're unpublished. Those who were quick enough were able to take a screenshot. It would have only been viewable for a small amount of time. I like the kits personally, just disappointed with the badge - that said, with hindsight I think the kit should have launched the new badge, not the official site. It looks better on the kit than it does on the site.

The press conference is scheduled for 4pm.

Good spot, I was still converting it as PDT, not realising that Miami was in EDT.

He was making a film near me a few months ago, it's called Blood. It's out now apparently.

All kick-off times given are British Summer Time. FK Austria Wien - 14 July Generali Arena, Vienna (formerly known as Franz Horr Stadium) Kick-off: 4pm Accrington Stanley - 17 July Storefirst Stadium, Accrington Kick-off: 7.45pm Blackburn Rovers - 27 July Ewood Park, Blackburn Kick-off: 2pm ---- Guiness International Champions Cup Juventus - 1 August AT&T Stadium, San Francisco (be sure to wear some flowers in your hair - Scott Mckenzie) Kick-off: 4am (8pm PDT) Real Madrid - 4 August Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles Kick-off: 1am (5pm PDT) Valencia, AC Milan, Chelsea or Inter Milan - 6 to 7 August Sunlife Stadium, Miami (the city that keeps the roof blazin' - Will Smith) Kick-off: 11:30pm on 6 August or 2am on 7 August (6:30pm or 9pm EDT) depending on results ---- Real Betis - 11 August Goodison Park, Liverpool Kick-off: 3pm

I doubt that Neville will reach the lofty heights that people expect him to, just last week he told the press that he'd been asking Moyes for advice on how to punish players and opinion on curfews - he's played under him since 2005 so he should know by now. It's one thing to be an England U21 coach and quite another to be a first team manager.

How good was that tonight!? I really didn't see that coming.. I mean Rickon speaking..

Which one did you opt for ?

Bit of interesting info here, he's an LLP member (a partner in the business) of a company that was founded in April called 'Proctor House Newcastle LLP' along with 32 others, including Mucha, Fellaini, Osman, Hibbert, Distin, Jelavic, Sam Allardyce and Joe Calzaghe.

NDAs don't apply to Dave Whelan. He's such a big mouth, isn't he?

Sky Bet and BetVictor are still accepting bets if anyone's interested.