Premier League: 14th
FA Cup: 5th round
League cup: 4th round
Top Goalscorer: Ndiaye
Player of season: Pickford

We don't need to copy Manchester City or even worse Southampton under their first manager last season. But on the other hand, I don't want to see Pickford or Tarkowski launch high balls to Beto all the time.

We have bought well and ambitiously with Grealish and Dewsbury-Hall and need to add a few of that quality.

Finishing 10th and a more attractive playing style would be excellent.

Rightt now, above anything else, I'd take 17th if it meant we won a trophy.🤞

Newcastle and Palace showed last season it can be done. Target both cup competitions and see if we can win either.

If we can take 5 points minimum from our first 3 games, we will be looking at a platform.

Doucoure leaves for free, replaced by Dewsbury-Hall at £25M. Ditto Ashley Young, ditto Calvert-Lewin. So just getting to par is bloody expensive before we even think about improving the squad.

And then we have the fact our finish flattered us a bit last season, getting all those away wins at Palace, Brighton, Newcastle, Fulham.

Also, expect a slow start, for obvious reasons.

I also think our success depends more on the promoted teams and the other teams we finished above, inasmuch as, in recent seasons, we have been largely reduced to wondering how many teams were worse than us.

I'd hope we are better than the three promoted teams, probably Brentford, hopefully West Ham and Wolves… and will Man Utd remain a basket case? I expect Spurs will be better than us, so can we compete with Fulham and Palace?

Realistically, I'd expect 11th to 13th, but the pre-season optimist in me has at 8th, with 12-goal Grealish tearing it up, Beto to get 20 and Dewsbury-Hall to be Player of the Season because he just got on with it and was ever-present.

With regard to Everton, if we play as robustly as we did against Newcastle in the last game of last season and, with our new recruits, become more creative and finish our chances, I would like to think Top 10 to Top 6 barring massive injuries and suspensions.

A decent season is Europa League qualification.

What is realistically achievable this season will be down to how our squad compares with others in an extremely competitive Premier League, by the end of the window. Hard to tell right now.

However, as part of our journey towards being successful again I hope we finish in the Top 10 and go really serious in the cup competitions. Also getting us playing more like the style of a big club again. I wouldn't treat that as success but it's a start.

As we are we are looking at 13th to 16th

So why not?

The reality is probably a bit different. I was trying to think back to the expectations when Moyes arrived. I reckon most people said he'd have done well if he stabilised things last year and then got us to midtable this year with progress on a rebuild of the squad.

With some young players signed it at least feels like we're on the right track.

I have a nagging sense that the next couple of years might be pretty underwhelming. Midtable is generally a pretty dull place to be.

Forest only score 1 goal all pre-season – and then got 3 in the first half… difficult to predict what will happen.

I think – as amazing the new stadium is – lots of teams will up their game coming to our place; first season can be tricky. A good start there for us will be important.
Lots of other teams in Europe though who will be playing twice a week, when we can put all our focus on the Premier League and the cups.

Top 10 would be a good improvement, but I feel we will finish 12th-13th again.
If we can show the football is getting better, can see a few young lads making a difference, like Barry and Dewsbury-Hall and other incoming, the 3 places from 10 to 13 won't really matter, it's about improving.

With our defence when all fit and a new right-back, we always have a chance in one-off matches, maybe this could be a good cup-run year.

A secondary level is to win more than you lose and score more than you concede: this should be the minimum.

Take the cups very seriously. An away defeat at one of the very best teams should be the only way we get knocked out.

It's hard to make judgements when we still clearly need 2-3 players. If we get the right ones, then I'll be unhappy if we're not thinking about Europe in April.

We need to have a season that makes players want to come and play for us.

Hopefully next season we can build on the squad and hopefully challenge for a Top 8 finish.

Rather than "what would be success?", it's more about what should be expected from existing personnel and level of investment.

On that basis, it can't really be anything more than to retain Premier League status. If our squad is not improved in the next couple of weeks then I think we will struggle to achieve 13th again.

Let me see if I can insert a table here from 2013-14 to 2024-25

PL Season Points Position Goal Difference Manager(s)
2013-14 72 5 22 Martinez
2014-15 47 11 -2 Martinez
2015-16 47 11 4 Martinez
2016-17 61 7 18 Koeman
2017-18 49 8 -14 Koeman/ Allardyce
2018-19 54 8 8 Silva
2019-20 49 12 -12 Silva/Ancelloti
2020-21 59 10 -1 Ancelloti
2021-22 39 16 -23 Benitez/Lampard
2022-23 36 17 -23 Lampard/Dyche
2023-24 48 12 -11 Dyche
2024-25 48 13 -2 Dyche/Moyes

I believe that the key to achieving a high league finish is the goal difference. I can hear some people saying "Duh!", but look at the table.

The lowest league finish we had with a positive GD was 11th, in the 2015-16 season. The inference being that from last season, when we finished 13th with a -2 GD, if we add more goals, we could easily get into the Top 10.

For that reason, I hope that our recruitment team is prioritising a proven Premier League goal-scorer. I think Rasmus Højlund from Man Utd would be a good option if he is willing to move to Everton. He would cost £30M, which seems a lot for a guy who scored only 10 goals in about 50 games for Man United last season.

But I think there is an intelligent striker in there, and playing for a team like Everton would be less pressure than Man Utd, and he could easily add about 10 goals next season playing for us.

We have a new board, and a new manager, who has shown he can improve a squad with the right backing, plus what we hope will make a big difference, A New Ground.

We seem to be behind on players for the first game of the season, but I believe it is better waiting for the type of player you want, rather than just bring in anyone who is available.

United and Spurs and Forest have strengthened significantly and I would expect them to finish above us this season. Brentford will struggle along with Wolves and West Ham will be average again. I think at least one of the promoted sides will stay up but cant see any of them finishing above us.

If we get a decent RB RW and goalscorer in I would hope for a top half finish but with the new stadium and lack of signings that may be too optimistic.

The sides we have to compete with are Villa, Palace, Fulham, Bournemouth and Brighton. If we better them it will be a good season.

Keep it tight at the back, add more goals.
You don't need to be PEP to see that, it's about being more creative and attacking, while not losing that solid defensive Base.

KDH & BARRY will score more this season than DCL & dacoure did last year, Grealish & KDH should provide more for beto,Ndiaye & Barry, so I'm optimistic for more goals.

Get that GD a bit better !!

Success for this club is what most of us now know it.

Finished 12th and that's it.