Louis

Even on Merseyside and even in what is officially now a recession, the rich get richer and the poor do the other thing. In the case of Liverpool and Everton, of course, poverty may be considered relative; ask Tranmere Rovers, the region's third club, about that. Yet it was particularly galling for Evertonians to wake up on Friday morning to headlines about another potential multi-million-pound takeover of their closest rivals in a week when their own plans for progress had been hampered again. The city council's refusal to grant planning permission for housing at the former training ground at Bellefield has led officials in the blue corner to hint at a conspiracy against their club, who want to develop the site to help fund a badly needed new stadium outside the city limits in Kirkby. The manager, David Moyes, who believes they cannot compete long-term with the acknowledged Big Four clubs from the cramped confines of Goodison Park, added to the row ahead of today's FA Cup tie at Anfield, saying: "That's a real disappointment for Everton. It's a blow and it sounds absolutely ridiculous. There's something not right." In six years at the club, Moyes has reluctantly accepted the financial constraints under which he is forced to work. On Friday he proudly insisted: "We're not a selling club". But he felt it necessary to add immediately: "We might not be a buying one either". Two loan signings is the very best that can be hoped for in this transfer window for a club who finished in the top six in three of the past four seasons and are back there again at present after losing only twice in 15 games. That run includes draws with Manchester United, Chelsea and, best of all, Liverpool in last Monday's first leg of the double-header that concludes today. The signs at present are that Everton are running a happier ship than the one on the other side of Stanley Park and, while leaving others to make direct comparisons with Rafa Benitez, Moyes was quick to point to an excellent relationship with his chairman, Bill Kenwright. "I have control of the club, with the chairman. I have a chairman who would never do anything without my say-so. It's important that managers have control. That's something you earn by how you work within the club and how you deal with people. Bill Kenwright gives me every penny he can and like me he's doing everything he can to make Everton better." Finding £15 million for the young midfielder Marouane Fellaini in the summer was only possible after selling Andy Johnson for more than two-thirds of that fee. The sort of sums Moyes is more used to handling were £2m for Mikel Arteta and £1.5m for Tim Cahill, which have proved to be two extraordinary pieces of business for players who give Everton followershope for any game. "Tim's been a great servant for us," Moyes said. "He comes up with impor-tant goals in big games. We missed him with injury and I think he's only just getting back to the form he'd been in. It's the third time he's done the same metatarsal, so it's been a long haul, and a slow rehabilitation. The goal the other night [against Liverpool] was a pure goalscorer's instinct," he added. "But whatever role you ask him to do he does to the best of his ability, which makes him a diamond." With Victor Anichebe their only fit striker, Everton have been fortunate to have a player of Cahill's ability adding a scoring threat as well as the sort of spirit that seems to come ingrained in all Australian sportsmen. At the other end of the pitch, keeping six successive clean sheets before Steven Gerrard muddied one on Monday has contributed to the feeling that if they can only come through this tie, Everton are quite capable of restoring their fading reputation as an FA Cup team; all the more so when so many other sides at the top and bottom of the Premier League haveother priorities – today's opponents included. "You saw Portsmouth and Cardiff have great runs to the final last year," Moyes said. "But the draw's always vital. It's the hurdles you have to jump before you get there, and the one we've got to jump is a big one."

Is the journalist just making things up? I didn't know he had been called up. http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport...icle2166863.ece

Celtic are in for him too according to newspapers.

It's back.

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns/story...mp;&cc=5739

Regardless of whether it is the truth (It possibly is). The inspector found all reasons bar increase in traffic valid enough to oppose the development. Maybe LCC were surprised on Tuesday when the result came in? My opinion is LCC have been supportive of Everton, the problem is Everton wanted land within Liverpool to build a retail park to allow them to skim some of the money off to build a stadium. It's not possible in Liverpool. The club's advisors at Tesco opted for Kikrby, a town where the borough loses money to surrounding authorities because it doesn't have a supermarket. Politics are at play, undoubtedly. Liverpool's economy would lose millions if Everton moved to Knowsley, LCC would naturally want to keep this money being spent in their area. Prestige would also be lost. The choice for LCC was possibly looked at something like this; receive Council tax for 74 new houses or retain a Premier League club that brings in millions each year. If it was a business decision, it was the right one. The council leader said their decision was "vindicated" by the government. I'm a Wirral resident so don't care about the Liverpool council but I can see what they had to gain or lose from it. Although I do think you're wide of the mark with 'they offered no help line'. Radio 4 did a special show on the ground move a while ago. It was said by the leader of the council that houses could go behind Bullens Road if Everton gave the nod so that Everton could expand. One example there, Council leader, on national radio saying he's willing to knock three streets down to help Everton stay at Goodison but this didn't even make the local news. They also offered 30 sites, none of which Everton wanted for the reason above, I think it was 55acres of land for retail use was demanded. The one site where a business was willing to help fund he stadium was described as too small by Everton as it couldn't accommodate 75,000. Kirkby capacity is 50,000 and according to the architect at the inquiry it won't go any higher than 60,000, ever. There's also Kings Dock but no one knows for sure what the deal was and why it ended. Two sides to every story

The said Louis forgot all about it!

http://dynamic.rte.ie/av/2393521.smil

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/question_o...ort/3412973.stm 7:30pm tonight BBC 1

We are talking about Bellefield, Elstone's comments: A simple "We are disappointed with the government's decision but we have funding options available to cover the shortfall for the new stadium" would have sufficed. His comments have caused a few headlines in both local and national papers and it reflects badly when the CEO is pointing the finger at the local council. It only makes those who believe that "the red council" are anti Everton feel vindicated and also causes a divide should the Kirkby stadium not be granted planning permission. The collective heads at Everton and the City Council need banging together.

Keith Wyness left because the of Philip Green's involvement. Wyness actually said he'd reveal why he left (according to some he was selling his story to a paper, don't know how true that is!) and then Philip Green (with Robert Earl on board) sailed over to Majorca where Wyness was to confront him. http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/aug/03/everton http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/au...llorca.business DM, The reduced price of shirts is not because of any kit manufacturer change, it's because JJB needed to increase their cashflow to survive (they're predicted to go bust this year by some experts). They have two deals where they bought the retail merchandise rights, one with us and one with Rangers, both prices have been slashed to entice more people into buying them (shows you how much profit they make when they usually go for £40!). Rangers - http://www.rangersmegastore.com/new-0809-r...at_0001098.aspx

I have mixed feelings about this. He come across as a amicable person and it brings some stability to the club. The question mark over his future has been lifted when he was offered the contract. Obviously I can't say whether he's doing a good job or not because I don't know what he's doing behind the scenes (there are rumours he's signed Le Coq Sportif to be kit manufacturers). I wasn't impressed with his comments earlier in the week.

One of the resident Belgians will translate if we ask them nicely, I'm sure!

Just looked into this and I think I've fixed it.

I'll get back to you!

Get a new pc? 256mb RAM is not a lot anymore Try this one: http://www.safer-networking.org/en/spybotsd/index.html http://fileforum.betanews.com/detail/Spybo...oy/1043809773/1 is direct download link

This is an extract from a recently released document from Tesco/Everton: This is a picture used by the stadium transport person Joe Ellis to display how queuing could be handled by police and stewards:

I've heard that Peter Johnson wanted to build a car park opposite the cemetery on Stanley Park but was told no, informally. It may just be chinese whispers and we'll never know until Peter Johnson/David Henshaw says one way or the other. I'm not going to disagree - I think it was a political move too, Liverpool City Council protecting their interests (more to do with retail possibly). It was a very brave tactic and could come back to haunt the council in the local elections. Elstone always knew this was a possibility (a likely one - even David Wilson homes pulled out) when he took over from Wyness and I don't think it's wise of him to lambaste the council for a decision an independent planning officer made in the local media. Pin the tail on the scapegoat. The rejection has closed one door, but it has opened the possibility of a land swap. LCC may be convinced to provide some land near the city centre in exchange for Bellefield to do with as they please. If Elstone was shrewd enough he could stitch up the council so they couldn't develop houses on Bellefield.

Planning Inspector Karen Ridge rejected Everton's appeal against Liverpool City Council's rejection of the club's application to build 74 homes on the site of Bellefield. This means that the club will need to find £8million from somewhere else to put towards the stadium development.

Bill... try this free software.. It might speed the pc up a bit: http://www.download.com/Ad-Aware-Anniversa...cdlPid=10998841

Should be working now...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/ja...-kirkby-inquiry

According to Radio Merseyside.. he could be joining us on loan from Man City!

One of the pluses is that Nuno Valente and Manny Fernandes will have good things to say about the club should he ask.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=89...93ODA&hl=en