Recent Reader Responses

Below are the most recent comments posted by readers to threads across the website. For context and to add your own reply, you can access the article in question by clicking the link appended to the item in question.

• Particularly for the money Sigurdsson has been the biggest transfer disaster in Evertons history. To also think Tosun cost the same as Lukaku and when Rooney came back he was earning 60k a week more than Salah who notched over 30 goals that season....
  Joe McMahon in Why having a DoF sitting on the Everton board has never been so important as now
• Jim Bennings - absolutely correct - we threw away money on players of dubious quality, ability or mental fortitude to the detriment of team building - in doing so paying some inflated wages along the way making the recovery process more difficult ...
  Ken Kneale in Why having a DoF sitting on the Everton board has never been so important as now
• Signing Sigurdsson is still a mystery, would love to know how we got conned into paying that much for him. it's like something from The Hangover, with Koeman and Walsh waking up amongst all the debris. Finding a signed contract for £45 million and asking what the hell happened here. Agree about Klassen, thought we had a decent player on our hands. He's a regular starter for Werder Bremmen at present, did we sell him or is it a loan ? ...
  James Hughes in Why having a DoF sitting on the Everton board has never been so important as now
• Important article, well written. And a good piece to read for those who want us to spend money on older players saying things like 'age doesn't matter' and 'its not our money'.We are a business and we must spend the resources we have wisely in order that we do not get into a mess, like we are in now!Spending £20-30m+ or more on older players with little or no re-sale value must not be done unless their significant impact on the team and its success is a sure fire thing or near enough. The transfers of Schneiderlin, Walcott, Sigurdsson, Bolasie etc have set us back considerably. People arguing we should spend £20m+ on Vecino don't seem to see this.Spurs have really shown the way and in this window alone they have secured Fernandes and Bergwijn, two young players with big reputations who will be worth alot of money if they come good and probably still trade at a small loss even if they don't. This is the way we should be going.I think Brands has been doing this for ...
  Sam Hoare in Why having a DoF sitting on the Everton board has never been so important as now
• It’s all about managers being unwilling to take a risk. Look how Gordon has been held back recently when we have been so short on players. If we get safe then hopefully Carlo will try a couple otherwise someone else will land themselves a potential first team player....
  Dave Williams in Bundesliga interest in Evans
• Mark 14 I don’t think it was the individual signings that were the problem. It was the fact we signed Sigurdsson, Klassen and Rooney all to play the same position. I couldn’t believe it when I first saw Sandro in an Everton shirt...he too seemed to fancy himself as a deep lying forward. Of course all of this was compounded by the fact that the manager had no clue how to use one number 10, never mind a hat full. ...
  Phil Sammon in Why having a DoF sitting on the Everton board has never been so important as now
• Great news....
  Dale Rose in Gomes back in first-team training
• Thanks Brian #15 for your comments. I agree Walsh would have been disastrous as a board member, but then he was totally the wrong person to be put into the role of DoF. In that case it was a combination of the person and the lack of understanding of the role within the club.I think the lack of understanding of the role within the club is still a major issue both at board and owner levels. Ancelotti clearly understands the relationship and how it should work, but the rest I am not sure.Whether Brands is the right person to fuse together our needs and Ancelotti's needs on the football front, work within our financial constraints, and also work with the peculiar corporate beast that is Everton with its factions and lack of structure I don't know.I do know that to move forward the DoF model is the right way to build a consistent and identifiable footballing strategy across the club and ultimately to provide Ancelotti with what he requires to weave his own undoubted magic.Brands...
  Paul [The Esk] in Why having a DoF sitting on the Everton board has never been so important as now
• Mark @14, I think what you say is fair. The only player I was unhappy to see was Rooney, though I had a couple of doubts about Bolasie and the price we paid for Sigurdsson....
  Tony Hill in Why having a DoF sitting on the Everton board has never been so important as now
• Jim@47, I think actually striker may be the one position we don't need strengthening. DCL is really looking the part at the moment and Kean will hopefully flourish too. I think CF will eventually be Richarlison's best position too and with Simms looking good in the U23s I think we are well stocked there.Drew@48, I agree with most of that. I think a mobile CM, a pacy CB and right winger will be our main target this summer. Possibly a RB too though depends on how Sidibe and Kenny do for rest of the season.I think if, for example, you were to put Zouma, Zakaria and Buendia into this team we'd be looking pretty strong. Maybe add Max Aarons or Youcef Atal and you're really cooking!...
  Sam Hoare in Rodriguez to Everton link persists
• Very pleased for him. ...
  Jack Convery in Gomes back in first-team training
• PaulAs always a well researched and well written piece, but I fundamentally disagree with your preface that it is important the DOF should be on the board. So in that case we should have appointed Steve Walsh to the board, which may have signaled the death knell for this club had he continued in his post. As for the value that Brands has brought to the club, I am yet to be convinced. I assume he was the prime mover in the sale of Gueye to PSG selling your best and most important player was grossly negligible. I am not overly impressed with some of his purchases either.Your main reason for arguing for the DOF to be part of the board, is it is vitally important with FFP that someone understands the implications. Well I think you may have forgotten that our owner is an accountant of a couple of multi billion pound companies. So he will understand the FFP rules far more than Brands. I question the role of how we use a DOF, he should deal only with players surplus to requirements a...
  Brian Harrison in Why having a DoF sitting on the Everton board has never been so important as now
• Hind sights easy but when we signed Klassen, Bolasie, Walcott, Keane and evening Schneiderlin I personally was very happy and I remember lots of positivity at the time - especially around Klassen. I was annoyed in the past when we bought Neville, Barry and Gomes but they did ok. I don’t blame the DOF, more the club for the lack of stability in changing meh managers for so-so managers who can’t get the best out of what they have to work with. Hopefully Carlo will be the missing cog if we can persevere for longer than 2 seasons without winning the league or CL....
  Mark Murphy in Why having a DoF sitting on the Everton board has never been so important as now
• If we had used our heads starting back in 2016 we should have simply targeted signing four absolute top class players with the millions we had to spend back then.Four top class players would have sorted the spine of the team and we should also have told Lukaku he was staying put for one final season until we bought a suitable replacement for him.We bought players for too much money that were questionable even at the time.Why sign Klaassen £24 million, Michael Keane £22 million, Schneiderlin at £24 million was never needed when we already had Gana Gueye.£27 million on Tosun mental, a player not suited to our play.Last summer we paid a ridiculous amount for Iwobi after the failure to bring in Zaha.The money we have had to spend since 2016 and we are still sitting here now in 12th place, haven’t had a meaningful Cup run.We should have been where the likes of Leicester are now, a club upwardly moving in the right direction on a yearly basis.This summer is a mo...
  Jim Bennings in Why having a DoF sitting on the Everton board has never been so important as now
• There's two issues for me with Brands. One is the type of player he hasn't bought yet; the strong centre-mid, the scorer, the commanding centre half. The other is now that we've swapped the 'young' manager 'fed' players by the DoF for a well-established manager who I'm sure will want good players now, never mind good in a couple of years time, where does Brands fit now? Has his brief changed? Has the set up changed significantly?...
  Paul Tran in Why having a DoF sitting on the Everton board has never been so important as now
• I’d guess Dave hearing little Chinese whispers, would be about DCL, because he doesn’t seem to rate Richarlison, as much as others, so I’m not sure he’d be that disappointed to see him go?DCL, Davies, Holgate, and Jonjoe Kenny, are players I would be trying to incorporate into the team going forward. 4 English kids, 2 of them scousers, and although people might think that these lads are not good enough, I’d like to see them play alongside better footballers, before such a decision was made.Holgate, still lacks concentration at times, Davies, is possibly having his worst spell at the club, Kenny, must be made-up to be away from the mad-house, and DCL, is improving rapidly, although he still has a fair-way to go.Put good players with heart, next to these kids, who all possess this vital ingredient, and I’m sure they will help push Everton on, because the only “real leaders” I see at Everton, are actually in this group. (Richarlison aside possibly?) ...
  Tony Abrahams in Why having a DoF sitting on the Everton board has never been so important as now
• Darren#9 - your final point, the evidence is still thin on the ground as to his effectiveness I agree. Yet his reputation among those in the game is outstanding.I wonder how restricted has been to date by the changes in management, the board itself and the involvement of Moshiri in some transfers?...
  Paul [The Esk] in Why having a DoF sitting on the Everton board has never been so important as now
• Jim B, you could have a supermodel, naked, begging for it, but you’d be too scared to pull your kecks down, just in-case Purple Ackie, was hiding in the wardrobe!...
  Tony Abrahams in Ancelotti on forming relationships and setting expectations
• As you know Steve, I also rate him highly. I wondered why he wasn't in the squad the other day and thought it might be due to a loan chance. I hope that's what it is. We should defo keep him and loan him out. He is class. Still hope for him and Dowell that they'll make it, although looks increasingly likely it won't be with us. Shame....
  Phil Smith in Bundesliga interest in Evans
• Why is it that German sides can see something in our juniors that Everton don't seem to see or is it that previous Managers have just been too frightened to give them a run. Having said that, didn't Germany decide a few years ago to give younger players a chance at national level which Southgate now seems to have adopted with England which only shows that some clubs are showing trust in their juniors rather than just loaning them out to see if somebody else can improve them. ...
  Alan J Thompson in Bundesliga interest in Evans
• Echo reporting CA wants to bring Allan over from Napoli. The guy was immense against the RS at Anfield. One of the best central mids in Europe. Great news if true, now or in off season. ...
  Dan Murphy in Ancelotti on forming relationships and setting expectations
• A couple things, with "No harm, No foul" in mind:Maybe double-check spelling, grammar, and punctuation.When the survey is completed and submitted, one can click back in and take the survey again. Don't know if that's your intention.Looks interesting. Perhaps when it's done and dusted and you get your grade, you can send it to Lyndon to post here.Best of luck. ...
  James Flynn in Everton Questionnaire
• Amputation David, sorry. ...
  Brian Cleveland in Gomes back in first-team training
• Done and good luck with your project. Would love to see a summary of your findings and, if you submit it to the club, what their response is....
  Tom Fazal in Everton Questionnaire
• Any tips on how to recover from a vicious paper cut I suffered in the office this morning?...
  David Ellis in Gomes back in first-team training