Make do and mend

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I watched the 06-07 season review on DVD yesterday. It was nice to relive some of the good moments though not so good to be reminded of the annoying and infuriating ones. They left out some of the opposition's goals but crucially, also left out some equally entertaining moments such as Manny's showboating vs Arsenal and perhaps should have shown a bit more of the end of season parade after the Portsmouth match.

We had loads about Rocky and how often he rings BK to ask how we're doing. Why? Anyway, just my views:

One of the key elements of the DVD was speaking to David Moyes. No complaints about that, but at one point he did say how important it was to have assembled the team well before pre-season training started and how that had helped the lads gel and build up a good squad mentality (can't remember it word for word but that's the gist of it).

There is also a lot of footage from the Awards night and several players, when asked about the prospects for next season (07/08), said that we needed to buy a couple more quality players to add to the squad in order to build on this year's success. No doubts that they are aiming for greater things. Hmmmm, so what's happening this season? Training starts in a week or two at most and nothing seems to be happening on the transfer front. I've been trying hard not to worry too much about our seemingly laid back approach to the transfer window but the little voice in my head keeps teasing me and saying that we'll be presented with a fit again Cahill, AJ with his bionic ankle, BT ready to take on the world and a couple of the youngsters ready to 'step up to the plate'. Not to mention Howard who now REALLY becomes an Everton player. Any good PR company could make that sound like 5 new signings!

TW pages are full of 'panic, no don't panic' comments from all of us who love the Blues and I think many feel like I do, that we may well be presented with a dour 'we've got no money so we have to make do and mend'.

That translates to "Make do with what we've got" ? mid table to 5th every season, mend all the injured battlers and be grateful for that!

I'm not advocating a rush and buy everything that moves à la West Ham but no one can deny, can they that the squad needs a few additional quality players, not just 17 year olds who will be there for future years but not now? I read somewhere someone saying that we did really well last season with the squad we have. True but we will have more games and, importantly, don't we want to improve rather than stand still? To me that means seriously challenging for a CL place and having a decent Uefa cup run.

Is it me? Am I feeling cynical because I'm old or feeling old because I'm cynical? I understand that if the money isnt there it can't be spent but I'm still holding out for DM to surprise us all and do some serious business in the next few weeks. I want better football, I want to win something, I want to be proud of the way we play. I want EFC to strike fear into ANY team. I can but live in hope.
Lue Glover, Buckley     Posted 24/06/2007 at 08:08:35

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