Hafnia

It's an outrage, if someone did that to you on a sunday morning or 7 a side, there would be severe consequences, not to mention a riot. To appeal against the ban is disgraceful may as well say "yes, what i did was wrong, the victim may never play again, will lose a potential fortune, but do you know what, a ten game ban is a bit harsh?!" For defour to state that it wouldn't have happened if the ref had blown up earlier deserves the outrage it has caused, maybe if someone gave him a good smack in the mouth they could use the excuse "if you chose your words carefully that wouldn't have happened!" - see how that sits with the club captain. They should play that clip to all professional footballers as a reminder of the responsibilty that they have to eachother.

Ban him as long as the other player is out for, that will stop this. Only a matter of time before this happened, at 29 the other chap is probably finished and will miss a world cup campaign also. Sickening tackle.

If I was Moyes I would be loathe to admit defeat to Spurs on yet another player (Naughton & Walker). Let' s face facts - we don't know the facts - the fact is the club let us only know the facts they want us to know, All we can do us to air frustrations out on forums and at the moment it appears that fans are split. Some are happy with 5th place and a runners up whilst spending £0 net money, enjoying the "genuine" praise from the press and other sets of fans for doing it the right way, whilst pittying Moyes and continually stating that he is nailed on for Old Trafford when his apprenticeship days at goodison, shining Sir Alex's shoes are up. Other fans are sick of reading news sites (sometimes using google translator to understand portuguese or belgian) awaiting the news that our solid season would be rewarded with signings of the ilk of Moutinho, Defour etc which may see us break into the top 4, earn millions and challenge the best - only to have to take part in rows with Man City fans over the true worth of Lescott, fully knowing that he will be sold. Kenwright will always be brought into question whilst being the chairman of the top club with the lowest net spend yet with the highest press contact with transcripts such as this being released: QUESTION FROM A SHAREHOLDER… “Looking at the record turnover…most of it from TV rights…the core business, the commercial side, stayed the same, slightly backwards; you say we’re punching above our weight how long can we go on without investment…I hear every week…I read the paper and there’s club’s being bought…if you’re looking 24/7 why haven’t we found someone……… Is one of the reasons no on has come in for Everton is that the board are asking for too much money? Bill Kenwright… “No” SAME SHAREHOLDER… “Some clubs have consortiums bidding for these clubs… Peter Trembling former commercial director, recently left the club, we’ll never find out why, within three or four months of leaving he found investors…middle east based…to buy Notts County………if Everton are for sale how much are you asking for the club? Bill Kenwright: “Here we go…oh please………come on” SHAREHOLDER: “You’re not answering the question…” Bill Kenwright: “I’m not answering your question…I’m bored with your question…you’re not getting an answer to the question.” Telling a SkySports reporter that he was working on a signing (over the phone) with 20 minutes to go was just lunacy - what chairman of a club does that - when the chance is it will fail?! When being continually questioned over his status as chairman he doesn't do himself many favours, having a fan at the helm isn't enough - we have more than 40,000 who will sing the clubs praises. Fact is he doesan't help himself, so when people question him, can they be blamed?

In order of quality our centre midfield is 1. Arteta 2. Rodwell 3. Cahill (not in 2 man centre) 4. Neville 5. Fellaini Hate to say it but the £15m spent on Fellaini may never be realised - has no pace combined with work rate which means he needs to be part of a hard working central 3 (same as Cahill) Personally I would go this: Saha Yak Billy Pienaar Rodwell Arteta Baines Distin Jags Heitinga I would give Baines and Heitinga wing back roles and allow pienaar and Billy to cut in centrally when wing backs join attack - this would give us so much creativity and attacking options. If away from home, the usual 5 man midfield formation.

Unfortunately I don't view a successful midfield signing at £15m as one is joint top scorer at the club when the fact is we had no recognisable striker. With his height comes the advantage of getting up for headers, however with his height comes a price as he is the least mobile midfielder I have seen in a blueshirt, he makes Barry Horne look lightning. Physical presence is great but when combined with lack of mobility you tend to find clumsiness. However the jury is still out, for £15m I expect a world beater in next 2 years. If we were more pro active in the transfer markets we wouldn't be over paying for players of Felli's ability. Allegedlly we went for Krancjar - why not a month ago for £2.5m that represents the best business done that I have seen. Maybe we wouldn't have got him, but it's always a last minute rush.

I think the issue many of the people frustrated with Bill is that he is not as straight talking as he would like to make out. Yes, we sold Lescott fot a good price and replaced him adequately with 2 centre halves and a left winger. But that is all. On the balance of things we are one player off better than last year (including Jags injury which has no guarantee of success - fingers crossed) The squad size we had last year was no way near big enough, and you cannot blame injuries for that, other teams get them, it's just that we show them more because we have no cover - simple as that, and Anichebe is not a premier league striker - in effect we had Yak and Vaughan for the majority of the campaign after signing Fellaini for an inflated price with very little research done (we are almost relieved when he has an ok game and doesn't get booked - £15m?!) The problem is that we have been so mistreated in terms of how money has been spent for so long that we are almost expected to be grateful when we actually sign a few players. The level of expectation has gotten so low that any photo of a player holding a shirt aloft is treated with a major buzz, when in fact the last proven exciting premiership player we signed (Distin aside) was Yak. The troubling fact remains that we are no longer able to compete when the likes of Spurs open their cheque book. The manager deserves full backing in securing the players he identifies, in my mind he will be looking forward to the day when Sir Alex retires and he has an opportunity to get the players he wants. Are we as Everton fans wrong to have ambitions that exceed the spending power of our owners?

Ossie has been a solid player for us in the past, a good squad player and I for one have always backed him. However, at this moment he is looking somewhat less than what we have and what we are looking for to take us forward. I think Moyes likes everything about him and wants to give him the chance to kick on with the club, in other words, shape up Leon and be the England international we thought you could be or you will be replaced.

Just sent my top scout out to see him on Football Manager 2009, good stats in terms of heading and anticipation, aggression, little bit slow though. Apparently has the potential to be as good as Yobo. Let's pull the plug on this one then eh!

Rumour has it that Anderson could be on his way here along with Gary Neville, how tiring this all is! Anderson would be a great buy, he needs a steady spot in a team to see his quality.

So we got £22m for Lescott which is approx £19m in the coffers. We had a £5m offer for Kyle Naughton before we considered selling Lescott. That takes our budget to £24m at least. Bily = £9m Distin = £5m Leaves us with £10m remaining of what we as fans should expect to be available. If after finishing 5th with a cup final we are only given £5m to spend then it's a disgrace, Moyes has operated on a ridiculous net transfer budget for too long now, and the board really do need to get their fingers out, there are some wealthy people in their who are just waiting for a payday and are not prepared to back the manager, it's a case of put up or get out. I feel we have been more than patient enough. It would be interesting to see our finance reports. We have been in a great position not to gamble, but to have a calculated risk in strengthening our squad with players like Moutinho etc who would have taken us close to that 4th spot, alas now I feel even the likes of Liverpool will struggle to do that given the resurgence of Arsenal, Spurs and Man City along with the perenial contenders of Chelsea and Man Ure. Unless we are lucky with injuries and the likes of Distin and Bily settle and improve the squad we will struggle to make the top 6 and we will continue to shop at Aldi whilst the rest of the aforementioned teams take their pick of the elite. Just watching the goal we conceeded against Wigan made me realise just how weak our right side is, and unless that is rectified, it will be a focal point of attack by other teams in the prem and we will concede goal after goal.

The date is 2008 on the article

Just been in sports soccer in Liverpool and seen Moutinho! He was buying some Lonsdale boxer shorts for his medical, he also picked up an Everton key ring and a pair of Kangol Jeans for £8, expect to hear something soon.....

strangely enough, thinking to when I played FM 2009, when a russian player is out of contract you still end up paying a fair bit of compensation as in millions, so I don't think the transfer system is the same when it involves their players... regardless, hopefully this is a player who can give us something different, on the scale of thigs £10m isn't that much any more, to sell the likes of pienaar would take £12m so it's a risk worth taking, if Hiddink rates him, that's good enough for me.

Football hapiness = Best league + best team available + (best support and wages) Why holland?

being an Everton fan ain't easy, it's one thing wondering how far we could go if we had a few pound more to support the manager with - especially when we get 5th spot and a place in the final. However it's another thing when we have to wonder what bargain basement player we hope can emerge as a player who can take us forward. We have gone as far as possible by shopping in the lower leagues, we need proven players or players who can change games in an instant. Never has that been proven more than against Arsenal, a free flowing instinctive footballing team who took our 'disciplined' players apart at will. There is something going on that isn't right, whether it is getting kirby approved before selling or whether we don't want to pay the going rate, the fans are being insulted by lies and false promises. From being told our transfer targets are exciting to we should see signings in the next 48 hours, something is seriously wrong and the fans are kept in the dark.

That is what they want, £25m and that's it.

If ever the club needs some positive things to happen it is now, we are contending with that horrible sod hughes who now says "he understands David's annoyance, it is annoying when a big club comes in for one of your players?" In other words, "Man city are bigger than Everton" not getting into that one.....they won the league twice, nuff said. We need freshening up big time, however we do it I don't care, we need a midfield general, could we swap fellaini for defour and throw £5m in there? Fellaini is not good enough, he made Fabregas look like Usain Bolt for his goal. Yobo is scary, poor defender . I would throw in Rodwell than have Yobo playing. Need Jags back asap. Really poor start, Arsenal were good and we were extremely poor.

This is the type of signing we need, similar to mascherano with more skill. Awesome for me on footy manager 2008. Loan then buy is perfect, with mascherano living in the city hopefully he can settle which has been his problem at valencia.

This is a bit like expecting to be taken for a nice 3 course meal and ending up in the queue at mcdonalds. Whilst i'm doing that analogy - why not go for a big slap up fancy meal, impress the mrs, and then later on if there is a gap in the belly, grab a cheeseburger just to finish things off. You can bet your bottom dollar if you buy a few cheeseburgers, you don't have the space for a fillet steak. We do not need these types of players, Gosling could develop instead of having this lad take up space. We need players who will take us forward, not to increase the number of players who can do a job. Any money we have in the regoin of 2-3m should be used to pay a premium to get a top class player.

That raises a good point, when was the last time we seen a player slalom through challenges and leather one in ala Robben, Ronaldo. I'm thinking Rooney vs Leeds was the closest, would be nice to see.

I think one of the key facts is that he is english, and if platini get's his way, then city are one of those teams that will suffer with the new additions especially. Hence Johnson at £18m. Problem is now with city and their millions, footballers in some cases (excluding kaka and almost JT) are being shown for their greed. It may well be the case that the type of footballer city are attracting are the ones that look at their bank balance rather than their prozone stats. If that is evident on the field, you may end up with disharmony. I just wish the whole thing never started, if we had £25m to plan to spend amonth ago we would be ok, this is all too late in the day and disrupting.

Yep - we hear that you have bid £19 million, maybe £22m would be an acceptable offer in normal circumstances - however to put it this way (quote from wikipedia) "When a footballer is under contract with a club, he can only leave if the club agrees to terminate this contract. As a way of compensation, the club to whom the player is transferring will usually pay a capital sum. This is known as the 'transfer fee'." Compensation being the key word. If we keep Lescott, who will you buy? Evidently someone less capable than he is, otherwise you wouldn't be still trying to buy him 4 days from start of season. Now in a way of compensation, Liverpool paid £18m for a similarly capped full back. We have a international left back/centre half who in my opion is the 4th best English centre half behind ferdinand, Jagielka, and Terry. Terry you were prepared to pay £35m for, Rio would be off the scale and Jags is difficult to price. £22m at this stage is not compensating us for losing a player that we would need to replace in two positions - which is why Hughes wants him as back up for Bridge (he is better than bridge defensively and is a threat from corners) £25m+ would potentially give us the resource to replace him at centre half and leave some money to strengthen elsewhere. It does get my back up when people say lescott is not worth more than £x million, if we don't want to sell at £x million then he obviously is worth more to us than that sum of money. He is better than Toure, Kompany is a defensive midfielder for you so he is not comparable, and onuha would be in the England squad not under 21's if Lescott was no better.

let's face facts, lescott is not the only centre half capable about doing a good job for us, there are plenty out there who may be cheaper and have more poential, the fact that we are on page 70 of this 'rumour' means that the club will have known about city's interest for quite some time. The fact is - the club do not have the excuse of saying "Joleon's request was untimely" - to have any confidence in the people running this club I would like to think that the contingency plan is all there ready to be rolled out. Look at Liverpool, lose Alonso, replace with aquilaini straight away. fact is £25m will be good business if we have planned for his exit and put all other deals in place. If we haven't then i'm afraid it's open season on those ath the helm.

The only way we should sell is: 1. We get £30m - no less. (£22m plus Onuha or Richards) 2. We have a replacement (not senderos) international quality lined up who can command back line till Jags comes back. 3. We utilise all money to strengthen other areas of the squad (right back, left winger) The whole summer saga routine is starting to really annoy me now. Moyes has worked miracles in ensuring the board are not targetted by the fans in getting us to 5th place, a cup final etc. I am lucky enough to have seen us win the league and the only thing that really irritates is that the whole future of the club is lying in the hands of the man who hasn't got any money to put into the club. Healthy respect for how we do things isn't enough for me, we need to be able to challenge for the league, and for players. If Lescott was at Liverpool or Man Utd, City would offer £30m+ because they know they can't financially bully them. City's money men are trying to get Lescott on the cheap because they know we are financially vulnerable. To sell for less than £30m would be madness. Look at what Liverpool were quoted for the lad from Hull (all because they had £30m in their pocket) Any excessive money gained for lescott will disappear into the hands of a canny club who will make us pay over the odds.

people have always said they prefer city to Man Utd, that's understandable because of the success Utd have had, it's natural to go for the underdog. However in chatting to a Man U fan the other day and discussing their growth it became clear that united owe their wealth down to the solid business model they built over the years whilst enjoying the success that came along after discovering the likes of scholes, beckhams etc. With the titles they won etc, they ensured their brand was worldwide, extended the stadium and yes to apoint converted and inherited some glory seeking fans. They have never bowed to player power, they stuck behind ferguson, bought well, sold when the player wasn't good enough and as a result reaped the rewards. Yes I do not like to see united win, especially with rooney there, however, to think that city deserve their time by some fortune of inheriting a vast some of money is madness. Maybe as Evertonians we should hope that doing things the way united have done is the right way to success and will therefore get us what we are due. We know how much we have detested the likes of the barcodes, and Spurs for trying to buy their way through. The way we do things is the right way, and when the reward comes along it will be sweeter, and we will find that other fans and neutrals will be happy for us. And no, I do not like united at all!!!