We could have signed Fernandes at any point during the close-season but left it till the last minute practically, even though we new what a protracted transfer it would be, and now he's all but signed for Valencia. I can't remember the last time I've felt this gutted about anything to do with Everton icluding the stadium move. Either we've been very unlucky or someone on the board has used this as a way of generating positive PR for the club in view of the recent vote.

If and I do mean IF we are unable to sign 'The Yak' because of his work permit issues I feel someone has to be held accountable. I never had any doubts the Yak would get his permit but after this Fernandes fiasco I'm starting to get very worried. I wouldn't be suprised if someone on the board knows he wont get a permit and so was happy to bid for him to gain public support again for the stadium vote. We've gone from having a team easily capable of challenging for a top 4 spot to one which will probably finish mid table (if we dont get either signing). Its simply put not good enough!

If and I mean IF both transfers fail to materialise we must demonstrate against the board at the next home game (Man Utd 15/09/07) and call for Kenwright's head. I'm sick of having my hopes built up by the man only to be let down every time. If both transfers fall through, I will not beleive it is just bad luck or a coincidence, as these things only happen to our club and only have since kenwright has been in charge! Kenwright Out!

I can`t `stand the story up` but a journalist friend quite close to Everton tells me Moyes `was not that keen` on bringing Fernandes back to Goodison. Apparently, it was Chairman Kenwright who recognised the lad`s popularity with the fanbase and felt there could be some kudos to be gained from re-signing him.

The story goes that Fernandes was `greatly underwhelmed` by the vibes he was getting from the manager last week although the Chairman worked hard to re-assure him his future lay over here. I have no reason to doubt the above scenario and as the managers will always prevail; Manny`s decision to return to Spain may well have averted another Krøldrup situation developing...

I am not one to jump to conclusions until I have all the facts, but on this one I smell a rat and that smell is coming straight out of the board room at Goodison Park. If Manuel Fernandes betrayed his gentleman?s agreement with Kenwright and Moyes well fair enough who needs a greedy bastard like that. But my opinion is that our Board are a bunch of amateurs when it comes to the business end of transfers, they just don?t seem to be able to nail a deal down.

Okay, we all know about third-party ownership but come on, don?t insult our intelligence, to cover the deal you insert a sell on clauses into the deal and borrow the money to buy the third party out (if you haven?t got it). We don?t seem to have a hard-nailed business man to make these deals happen, ruthless and sharp business men don?t seem to be something Billy Liar can attract, same way he can?t attract big investment into the club.

Will the truth ever out on this collapsed transfer, is it dithering Davie or is it another conspiracy by the Board to sell the ?Yes? vote on the proposed ground move. I for one is getting a bit fed up with spin and lies coming out of this club, I think Manuel Fernandes decided to do a runner over money or the lack of it in his arse pocket; the deal we offered him was probably thirty bob a week and a zone ticket to get the bus every morning.

I'm fuming about the whole Fernandes saga but what makes it worse is the still ongoing deafening SILENCE from the club.

Despite what could be described as the most contentious transfer issue for some time, all we get from the official bullshit site is some ridiculous story about Jagielka being relieved that we equalised and didn't lose on Saturday.

HELLO!!! who wasn't fucking relived that we didn't lose??? What about the small matter of a transfer cock up? UNBELIEVABLE!!!

In trying to piece all the information from various websites and news sites it looks to me that the third party owners of Manny have gazumped Everton at the last minute, retaining 50% of the players ownership. Blame cannot be laid at BKs feet in this instance as it appears he had agreement to buy out the third party on Friday and Manny had agreed to sign.

This is the reason Britain does not agree to third-party ownership of players as the player is used as a pawn for the sake of higher profits. Benfica benefited also by getting £10M instead of £6M. Although greatly dismayed at the loss he is not worth £20M! [£10M to Benfica and £10M to the third party]. So, Blue fans, I do not think it is fair given the information available to blame BK and the Board yet.

no i wont give kenwright the benefit of the doubt.

3 months to prepare and with days left we havent got an adequately balanced squad.

moyes can stick neville and carsley as a centre midfeild pairing up his backside.neville is a right back and carsley is a back up player at best.we needed a quality midfeilder and the club have faled to get one.

i have no confidence left in the board that they are capable of running this club to the standard it should be run.

All you yes voters, while Billy Liar and his crooked mob were giving you 'spin' on the new stadium this new stadium that, they show once again how badly they actually run this club. "FERNANDES signs in 24 HOURS." How many times can they be left to get away with this? I'm sorry but its time to go!!! Back you bags and your blood brothers and go. Before we lose Davey Moyes.

Another Fine Mess? Yes, the Laurel and Hardy show continues, Everton embarrassed again, when will it end? It cannot be labelled as bad luck, these type of signings don't seem to be happening to anyone else half as much as it happens to us. Everton really need to start doing their homework before acquiring players. Let's forget about the Yak anyway, Benny Mc would be available for around £7M.

As for Manny I'm not surprised he's gone to Valencia, all the hassle trying to sign for Everton, plus he will be signing for a far superior football side, not the hoofball style of Moyes, not to mention Champs League football. I'm sure Everton have done their homework with possible replacements though.

James, absolutely blob on.

I was gonna post last week to say that the whole Fernandez affair had dragged on for too long and that it was starting to stink of Shearer, Owen, Smith and Barry Ferguson. However I thought I’d give the benfit of the doubt.

Whether or not it was propaganda, there can be no argument that it is undoubtedly further indictment as to our incompetence all things transfer related.

No plan ’b’? Yeah, sure there is - Carsley and Neville ’bossing’ things in the middle as they did against Blackburn on Saturday.

So this brings us on to Yakubu, another ’signing’ that has been in the public domain for far too long now and is protracted in the extreme. What price this not happening as a consequence of work permit ’complications’?

I really do fucking despair.

Don’t agree at all with the opinion on the Fernandes transfer. £6M for half a player?

Would you rather we matched the £10M offered by Valencia for half a player?

Load of bollocks. Although I can’t say that I’m not disappointed by the news that he won’t be coming to GP, it may well not be such a bad thing. I personally don’t think he’s worth £12M, never mind £20M.

I still think that Yakubu will be here. There are extenuating circumstances for work permits. I don’t think that the government can seriously doubt Everton’s intent and Yakubu’s quality in this transfer.

And can this conspiracy theory bollocks please stop? If anyone changed their vote on Kirby on the back of 2 unsigned players, then they want to get themselves checked over by a professional.

Manny decided to run off to Valencia after watching the Blackburn "performance". Just wondering if he thought "Oh my god, I'm gonna spend the season getting a crick in my neck watching the ball sail over my head all season, let's look elsewhere". You never know...

another thing is that fernandes abviosly wanted to come to us as he had signed all the paperwork.

the club cannot blame the fa as surely they knew about the rules reagarding third party ownership.

the club must have known that the deal wouldnt go through till we owned 100 % of the player.

the club strung this deal out aslong as possible on purpose imo.

then after giving the fa and the player the run around since before the reading game , how can they put the blame onto the fa or the player for the collapse of the deal ?

the blame rest firmly at the clubs feet.everton board = bunch of cretins !

Right,

We agree a fee for a player, agree terms for a player, are only waiting for the FA to register the paperwork to complete the deal, but the player then goes and TURNS HIS BACK ON THE AGREEMENT FOR MORE MONEY SOMEWHERE ELSE and it’s our fault and a major conspiracy to get a yes vote. How old are you people, seriously? The guy turned his back on us, be pissed off at him. By the way, what he just did is the exact same thing he did to Benfica just before a Champions League game. Benfica supporters have been yelling about him for weeks, and now he has done it to us. But instead some of you want to ignore that and blame the Board.

If Fernandes spent an hour with Kenwright, why didn't someone like Wyness produce a pen and contract and say sign here? Or are they so concerned with spin that they needed a Press Conference on Wednesday? What a shambles and who could blame Moyes if he decided enough was enough and looked for a club with efficient administration.

The fact is if we never dithered all summer( probably not wanting to pay his wages) he would and should of been in the bag weeks ago.
That prick bragged after the Jagielka signing about how they did it the Everton way !
Well Mr bullshit cannot wait for your latest spin.
Its one of so many ballsups ,the training ground fiasco another one.
Can you imagine what lies ahead with this ground move?
This is one of the main reasons I voted no,how can these be trusted with such a decision when they cannot even conduct the basic things of running a football club without it being done with total incompetence and lies.

Bring back Marsh now!

erm that's it basically, I'd love to read his views on Mannygate.

So, if I am reading this correctly, what has happened is this: Everton agreed a fee with Benfica for 50% share of the player they then tried to get a suitable contract past the Premier League with Everton owning 50% and the Global Sports Agency owning 50%. The Premier League blocked this so Everton went back to buy out the other 50%. By this time it was late on Friday and his registration could not be lodged with the premier league. In the meantime, Valencia came in and offered £8-£10M to Benfica for their 50% share. The lure of Champions LKeague football did the rest.

If all of the above is correct then the question must be asked: Why didn't the club just secure 100% ownership straight away? We had Fernandes for the best part of 10 days and failed to tie this up leaving the way open for Valencia to step in? The latest in a long line of cock-ups, see Lee Carsley's comments about his one-year deal if you need more proof. David Moyes must be tearing his hair out. I know I am!

also there is no point in getting yakubu if we dont get a player to provide the amunition for him and aj to get goals.

this was the problem with beatie.yes he could score but he didnt becouse we are a bloody mess in midfeild.theres no killer passer or crosser in the team apart from arteta .nev + cars = defencive , cahill osman + goal poachers . none posses vision or craft .

wheres the playmaker ?

i think we are left with no choice but to move arteta in the middle with jags , neville to right back and either peinaar or mcfadden on the wing.
ie
...........howard
neville yobo lescott baines
...........jags
....osman arteta pienaar
.......aj.....mcfadden

1 last comment...

last week ... " vote yes " " vote no ".

this week ... "the boards fault " " no its fernandes’s fault ".

the clubs fans are at each others throuts and being pulled apart.
surely thats a sign of a poor leader at the helm ?

James, absolutely blob on.

I was gonna post last week to say that the whole Fernandez affair had dragged on for too long and that it was starting to stink of Shearer, Owen, Smith and Barry Ferguson. However I thought I’d give the benfit of the doubt.

Whether or not it was propaganda, there can be no argument that it is undoubtedly further indictment as to our incompetence all things transfer related.

No plan ’b’? Yeah, sure there is - Carsley and Neville ’bossing’ things in the middle as they did against Blackburn on Saturday.

So this brings us on to Yakubu, another ’signing’ that has been in the public domain for far too long now and is protracted in the extreme. What price this not happening as a consequence of work permit ’complications’?

I really do fucking despair.

Correct me but wasn’t it the case that the first anyone knew that Everton were now rolling in cash was on Thursday 9th August - via the piece in the Mirror which told us that we were after Manny "in a shock deal" after David Moyes was told to "go global"? It was a piece that was just so out of the Blue that TW made a pointed reference to it. Within 24 hours of that, on Wigan eve, we heard the first Yakubu rumours. Prior to August 9th we were just grateful that we’d secured Baines and we generally but reluctantly appreciated that we’d spent every last penny available.

So the timeline was: August 6th - first ballot forms sent; August 9th - Everton suddenly awash with cash; August 11th - beat Wigan, everyone talking about the new cash windfall, Terry Leahy letter released, vote swings irreversibly to "yes"; Aug 14th - beat Spurs go top, feel-good factor in full flow; Aug 17th - Manny to "sign within 24 hours", Yakubu left out of Boro squad; Aug 18th - lose to Reading but feel-good factor still clingin-on’; Aug 19th-23rd - no news whatsoever about Manny or Yakubu; Aug 24th - "Yes" vote announced; Aug 25th - Blackburn worry fest; Aug 26th Manny jets off, potential show-stopper regarding Yak emerges; Aug 27th - just four days left for Everton to spend the cash that wasn’t even there until August 9th.
You know, I’m a bit like Columbo trying to figure out what to make of all that; "I just know, maam, that there’s something staring me in the face, just can’t figure out what it is yet. Do you mind if I have another chat with your chauffeur?" [Chews end of pen and scratches head]

Or, how about this scenario.
Fernandes leaves Benfica before their first round qualifying tie for the champions league. He knows he will be going to a new club in the next two weeks, preferably a team playing Champions League football, but the agent hasn’t quite sorted it out yet. The Agent plays Everton along for a couple of weeks - allowing Fernandes to train during this time - and even pushing up the price of the eventual deal in the meantime.

I would guess creative thinking and people manipulation is a large part of the agents job - Everton have just been an easy target here.

I know there has been a lot written and said today about the Manny transfer and my personal opinion is that if he shook hands with Bill and said he wanted to come and then ran off to Spain and signed for Valencia then he is not the sort of player I want in the Royal blue.

What the real question now is who do we all think is going to come in and replace Manny, I think £10M for Riquelme is over the odds as the lad is 29 and been doing very little for the past couple of seasons, as well as unproven in the hustle and bustle of the premiership. I would be far more interested in Pederson from Blackburn or even Taylor from Portsmouth. Just wondered if any other blues out there had any opinions on who they think would be a good replacement.

You have got to admire the pace with which Valencia moved though. Fernandez was in Goodison Park Saturday evening and first thing Monday morning he appears Holding a Valencia Jersey aloft. We simply are unable to do that - ever.

On the subject of a replacement Riquelme would be fantastic but i just dont think we can afford to pay £10M for a 29 year old who will have zero sell on value. I cant even think of anyone off the top of my head who is in the same league as Fernandes or Riquelme who is available.
Any suggestions anyone?

Come on Moysie - pull one out of the bag for the fans???

Andy G you may be quite close there mate. If Manny’s agents were looking to ’use’ someone then they came to the right place. They realised that EFC is run by incompetents and played them like a good ’un. Very easy target mate, too fucking easy.

To those who want to sack the board - You can’t. Don’t talk such sheer tripe.

Those who say Kenwright must go - Good, you go and find the £50m to buy him out. Otherwise, Shut up you are talking tripe.

Do you decide who runs Asda? BT? British Gas? No you don’t. You are just customers. And it is the same for Everton.

And think on this - if Tevez had not happened. If Mascareno had not happened. If the FA were like the Spanish FA and accepted dual ownership, we would have been able to sign Fernandes last week.

Gor goodness sake, can we all grow up and understand that not everything is a conspiracy. Somethings are cock-up and somethings just happen.