As for betraying Everton, well we were happy enough to entice him away from Wolves for the chance to earn more and play for a higher profile club, so who are we to knock him for continuing in the same vein? I have a different opinion of others like Rooney and Jeffers who come through the youth team and make a show of their blue heritage and then turn their back on the club at the first opportunity.

Lescott did well while he was here and we made a fortune off him and frankly, if City offered him at a knock down $8million or so, I'd happily bring him back.

If he's not wanted then he has two options: either stay at City for the remainder of his 4-year contract; or move on.

You may see a makeweight deal with Villa for Milner, however, again it comes down to wages; I can't see Villa paying £90k+ per week....

What a dilemma, Joleon!!

As regards signing Lescott ? could we afford his salary?

But surely the atmosphere on the training ground would be shit (in the unlikely event he did return). It was such a massive shame to loose him though, A very decent centre half or left back who you are guaranteed goals from. He would complete our defensive squad in my opinion (as we need back-up for Baines).

But I don't think I would have him back at any price. The whole manner of the way he left was unacceptable.

Sadly, Lescott's head got too big and he thought he was that star player. I can hear his comments that he was going to City to win things and money was not a factor... what a load of shit. He was greedy and medals had nothing to do with his leaving. I imagine that every Everton fan must be thrilled and Moyes over the moon by getting £24 mil for a piece of shit.

I wonder how much City will get for such a talented and sucessful player like him? Bids starting at £250,000

If I were to have my choice of the Citteh rejects, it would be: Craig Bellamy, SWP, Ireland, Onuoha, Richards/Zabaleta. I think they all would add to the squad and possibly sort out our right hand side completely.

On a slightly different point, what are people's thoughts on a possible reuniting of Jags, Lescott and Baines for England? With a possible right back of Richards or Johnson (provided Richards can sort his head)? I would like to hear people's opinions on that.

Although you are right in your assertion that City are in no-way as successful as us (or Villa or Spurs), you have to put modern-day football into perspective. Indeed we are the fourth 'biggest' club in the country in terms of overall success; however, in monetary terms (and this is what helps when looking for success nowadays) we are relative minnows in the top flight.

"WE ARE EVERTON".... it feels great saying it doesn't it? However, you cannot always expect an employee to 'get' the history or nostalgia of an institution just because they receive wages to do a job, it just doesn't work like that. In truth, all we can do is hope that our players do (and we do get them from time to time) but it's success and achievement that will cause a player to go from an employee to a supporter and in this area we haven't supplied the goods for too long a time.

Truth is, Manchester City will more than likely win the title before us (despite what my blue tinted specs tell me about this coming season) and it's because they can buy it. This is a bitter pill to swallow but one we should do all the same, and instead of moaning about we should hold our heads high and declare...."WE ARE EVERTON"... "NOW FUCK OFF AND TRY BUY A HISTORY LIKE OURS!"
COYB

What I can't understand is how the likes of Wolves are now outspending us. If we hadn't blown £9.5 million on the slowest footballer in history (Bily), Donovan would be here. I am a Moyes fan, but he doesn't get it right all the time.

Secondly, Everton had a nightmare summer last year and Manchester City were in all the papers; many, including me, thought they'd finish far higher than they finished. Should Lescott have acted in a better manner? Yes... but it's no different to the frustration Evertonians felt when LA Galaxy prevented Donovan from leaving. He naturally was less than happy so did what most footballers do: sulk.

I'd take him back anyday for the progression of Everton Football Club overides any thoughts of bitterness I may have.

Obviously, Everton can't afford much but Michael Johnson didn't even start a Premier League game last season and will be even further down the pecking order now. Johnson was probably their best player a couple of seasons ago under Eriksson before injury and then their latest fad, Stephen Ireland who could also be out of the door. Ireland is likely to be out of our price range (not a lot!) but possibly Johnson could be added.

On the subject of Lescott, if he wanted to come back to us and agreed to the kind of wages that Everton could pay, then I would have him back. I would sell Distin and Yobo and have Lescott, Heitinga, Jagielka and Duffy battling it out for the centre-back positions with Hibbert as back-up.

I don't understand why a lot of us Blues have any kind of bad feeling towards Lescott. When he played for us, he gave his all, had a good rapport with the fans and, let's be honest, most of us would have done the same given the opportunity. Double your wages and play for a club that want silverware now and have the means to buy the best players to get it... or a club that has to sell players to buy new ones and will increase your wages to half of what you could earn.

Some might say he is greedy and maybe he is but is that not what we all do in life? Strive for better pay with more rewards and, if we get the chance, take it. If I felt that he shafted us, I would be the first to say he should never come back... but I don't and I felt at the time that Everton wanted the money.The words from the club were 'Lescott is not for sale' and I'm pretty sure that's what Moyes wanted and would've happened if Moyes had had his way.

Whenever anyone asked me at the time if Lescott was going to be sold, I would reply, "Yes... but at the last minute so we can't buy anyone else." This wasn't because I thought Man City didn't want us to buy any players but, believe it or not, I actually thought Kenwright wanted to keep back most of it, if not all.

It turns out that I was wrong about spending the money but I don't trust the chairman and anything that comes out of his mouth. I'm only interested in what makes Everton stronger; getting rid of the weak links in Yobo and Distin and having Lescott in the squad would be just that... and you have to admit, Lescott and Jagielka were a formidable partnership.

Do you really believe Jagielka is any more loyal? If Arsenal keep increasing the fee, we will snap their hand off and I doubt it will get to £24M before we relent.

As committed as he appears to be, he is a professional and will take the money. Plus I don?t think he is as good as many Evertonians claim. True, 100% effort in every game but in my opinion a limited footballer. Too many Blues appear to get endeavour confused with ability.

With the rumour of them sniffing round Arteta, do you think that this is something that would cross his mind? I know that many players today are only bothered about their bank accounts, but there are still many that have a love for the game. I can't see many players that would be to happy to not have a chance to be part of the first team as they didn't make the squad of 25.

Luckily for us with our small squad we won't have an issue with this, but I read somewhere that the R's had over 50 players on their books. Goodluck Roy in trimming that down.

For instance, how much money did they pay for Jo? I would doubt if he had played 20 games for them. It's one thing to have a massive transfer budget ? it's another thing to spend it wisely.

Manchester City are a higher profile than Everton and I think it's stupid to give the age old trophy cabinet argument. Chelsea have won far less than Liverpool have in the past yet if you had a choice between the club's you'd chose Chelsea.

So are you really saying that if a player who plays for let's say Southampton get's the offer to play for Wigan becuase of past glories because they have a more illustrious history? No, of course not.