Oh dear... I can feel that FM feeling growing ever stronger...

Brian,

David has already decided on his new left midfileder, and it is Joe Ledley from your neck of the woods.

Fits the bill perfectly, he?s 19 so won?t mind playing second fiddle if Pienaar is the obvious first choice. He will only get better with each passingd him int year, and crucially he is at an age where David can moulo exactly the player he wants him to be.

The Ledley deal is already done, £6m and signs in June........

Hunt definitely has lots of ability and is a hard worker. Would Moyes take him? I think not, he is nearly 28, has a new contract so he wont be cheap. If he was a Bosman, then different story, as the lad can have moments of "flash". But I think there are better options where resources can be better spent.

No doubt Hunt will be off to somewhere in the Prem, expect bids from your Wigan, Stoke types, then we can sit back and watch and hope that we dont say "only if!"

Personally I am excited about he coming weeks with the FA Cup win, and the possible links to players.

I know there have been stories that Moyes is concerned about what's in Bill's wallet other than old theatre stubbs, for transfer funds, but I find it hard to believe having made such impetous this season that some money will not be found. After all, Moyes stated that he had sat down with the Board sometime ago, mentioning who/what Everton needed, so I am sure things are going on behind the scenes.

Place your bets, and let the transfer wheel spin... Happy Days

Perhaps you guys could add your middle initials? ? The Editor.

Sky Sports have reported that Steve Coppel has resigned as Reading manager and, with Reading failing to get promoted, I can see a few of their players wanting out. The right wing has been singled out as the position that most needs strengthening with all kinds of names being put forward, from Joe Ledley to Dalmat, but apparently David Moyes actually made an approach for steve Hunt in the January transfer window but was put was put off by the £5 million price tag Coppel put on his head.

With Coppel now out the way, perhaps Moyes will swoop in again, and with Jo looking likely to return to City and the injury problems of the strikers, a double swoop of Hunt and Kevin Doyle could be on the cards. It all comes down to how much money Moyes has to spend, but Moyes has a good record with Championship players and could probably get the pair for less than £8 million. The squad definitely needs bulking up with the extra games in Europe and with players still returning from injury.

I believe injuries and poor form of players due to lack of competition within a small squad has cost us 4th place in previous seasons which has caused us to have poor starts or poor finishes in the league. Moyes is only likely to be able to afford cheap Championship players but if they can step it up and have half the impact of Cahill, Jags and Lescott, I honestly believe 4th place is a possibility. I imagine there will be one major signing between £10-£15 million, one or two cheap signings of £3-£6 million and a loan deal to replace AvdM, Castilio and other departures ? perhaps Victor will even get his loan deal to Hull.

A resounding No; he is the new Lily Savage.

"The wheels on his house go round, round, round... round, round, round... round, round, round
The wheels on his house go round, round, round... round, round, round... round, round, round all the way back to the Gypo camp"

John Meredith - how do you know that the Ledley deal is already done? Where did you get that information from?

As for S Hunt, he is a typical player Moyes likes to sign, possibly similar to Killer, only a bit better... but I think if it?s £5 million, then it?s too much!

I hope he doesn?t go for Hunt. I like him and his attitude but don?t think he should be in our plans for the "next step forward." And as for you Gavin... well I guess I?m not the editor of this site so what?s the point?

@Mark Hill....

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/everton-fc/everton-fc-news/2009/05/12/everton-fc-set-to-swoop-for-cardiff-city-s-joe-ledley-100252-23601119/

....I?ve been watching Reading's results and forums this year as I?m a fan of his brother Noel Hunt (who only cost Reading £500,000 last year, he?s identical to Andy Johnson in terms of abilites and size but jumps almost as high as Cahill can). Stephen hasn?t always got a game this year as he?s not been playing well. The fans on the forum have been vilifying him for his terrible play this year like we have been Leon Osman.

Maybe it?s just because his head has been turned my the transfer speculation though...

Why not, and while we?re at it, why don?t we just sign Sam Gamgee and the rest of the fucking Hobbits. Every time I see Hunt I can?t help thinking of "Master Frodo" ... Gets away with Mordor every game.

I?ll get my coat!

Mark Hill, I agree with you ? John Meredith says Joe Ledley is a done deal... Well, if he knows so much, why is he saying he is aged 19 when he is actually 22?

Steven Hunt? NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The man is the new Kevin Kilbane! The OP summed it up perfectly, the guy is a hard working left midfielder who is a decent crosser and chips in with the odd goal. Apart from that, he is terrible!

We need players out wide who have pace, can beat a man and (most importantly) allow us to play on the counter attack which we currently cannot do because we don?t have the pace or ball carrying / dribbling ability through midfield to transition quickly from back to front. This is our biggest problem, bar none.

The only way we ever turn defence into attack quickly is with long balls, which because of their very nature are not as effective as they are often not accurate enough.

This man is not the answer and nor is Ledley. We have to get pace and dribbling skills out wide. We have to get someone who can beat a man on the outside. There is no point in signing another cart horse.

Hunt is rubbish ? do not sign him Moyesie!

John Meredith

Sorry but Ledley is 22 not 19!

It makes your prediction of him signing for Everton in june seem a bit silly.

Kilbane was one of the worst players I have ever seen at the club, so no thanks! We need a winger with skill and pace, not just a "worker"

And I thought we were being linked with the right kind of players for a second there... Tevez for example ? not Hunt!!!

Hunt... I think not, a poor man's Mickey Thomas, we?ve moved on since then and so has football.

No, No, No, No ? and another Nooo!! He?s a decent player but not good enough for us.... maybe good for a mid-lower Premier League team.

We need quality wingers with pace who can help take us to that level... McGeady?s a better player and I?d like to see him... though he?d cost a bit more. I?m not sure who I want there but Moyes must have his ideas... I wouldn?t mind us going back in for Obinna.

I remember the other season someone posting on here about signing amongst others Baines and Jags to cries of ?not good enough? blah blah... Look what happened with them two!! I'd have Hunt, even just to boost the squad, if we could get him very cheap.

Hunt does not have enough quality to improve our team. You say he tracked back after 89 minutes but he was only on the pitch for 19 mins at that time having come on as sub.

Also, as an Irishman, I have seen Hunt play for the national team several times and the work rate for which he is so famed goes out the window at times. He is a very very average player who has made his name on his effort and workrate, which is not always there. I would be very disappointed in Everton signed such an average player!

Hunt is so overrated its unreal. He is useless... what does he bring? Nothing, runs around like a headless chicken for 90 mins... no thanks! Can't beat a player, his crosses are terrible, they usually cannon off the full back! The most frustrating player to watch and I have seen a lot in an Irish shirt! Truely is a Championship Player...

Joe Ledley ? the next Simon Davies, I think; so average, not a bit of pace. In the Premier League you need that if your even thinking of playing out wide!! What's with these average players Moyes likes...? He would want to get the Football Manager boys out and get looking because its embarrassing getting linked with these players!!!!!!

Tommy Gourlay / John Meredith ? on the link you provided, Tommy, it states we are interested and have checkecd him out, it also states he nearly joined Stoke in Jan. So I stand by what I said, how do you know?? I am just curious, not trying to argue anything..!!?

Killer was useful when he was here, in that he was a body, and ran a lot.. but end product and out-and-out wing play I would suggest were not his strong points. He was moved on when we had signed better players, in fact if memory serves, Peanut cost just a little bit more than Killer!? but is ultimately a better player.

I would be very happy if we signed Ledley having said all that, though I still question the figures @ £5 Million. Do we have that much to spend this summer? Are we going to put all our eggs in a basket a la Yakubu like previously? ? that is if we have money to spend... Or are we going to buy a couple or 3 players to fill the squad out, ones where they will be labelled as potentials for the future?

I hope they get it right if they do, because arguably players they have signed like this before haven?t worked out ? McFadden for example?

I would have had Hunt or Ledley this time last year. However, our needs have changed by virtue of the progress we?ve made. All either of these would do is complement what we already have. Everton are brutally hampered by lack of pace out wide. Any significant purchase has to be getting in a genuinely quick flank man.

Mr Meredith, I think there would be a lot of discontent if Everton signed Joe Ledley this Summer and especially if your sources are correct to sign him for £6million. Jog on, son, jog on...

Let's be realistic and say maybe we will have similar funds to last year and to spend half of our budget on an overrated Welsh winger who makes SImon Davies look good, no way is that happening.

Interesting sources you have there John particularly as they knocked 3 years off his age ? don't tell me, your sources are from Nigeria, no doubt.

Gavin Ramejkis - You know that song you know that funny song you put down about ’all the way back to the Gypo ’ camp? Is that old Everton one! Who was it sung for?

£6 million for a player with 1 year left on his contract???

We may or may not be in for Ledley but even if he does sign it will not be for £6 million; I seen a bit of gossip crap this morning quoting around £3.5 million. For that price, I think we would be doing a good bit of business...

As for Hunt, unlees it's a free then no, no, no, no!

@Mark Hill

Sorry Mark, I don’t think I made myself clear, John Meredith was talking about the deal he had heard about and I just figured he’d got that info by looking at that particular story. I thought I’d point you to where I presumed John had got some of his info from in case John never replied on this thread again and left you in the dark.

I know it doesn’t mean anything and I’m always sceptical about such rumours (which is why I dismissed the "Peterlin" rumour to myself as it didn’t sound close to be ture, although it is now looking like it might be true! :) ), I just thought I’d pass one of the speculation sources along (but not "The Sun" URL as that would just be meaningless! :) ) but personally I don’t believe the deal is done I think you can only sign a contract outside the transfer window when you’re current contract is about to run out.

Do we need terms like ?Gypo? on here??? I think not. If we do, shall we include all the other derogotory and racist terms????

For a blissful second of delusion, I thought I was going to be reading about our prospects of signing Aaron Hunt from Werder Bremen, not that clogger from Reading.

@ Sean McCarthy: Please, spare us the PC claptrap.

Sorry, Hunt is not bad for Reading but not one to take us on. Maybe Eagles or the young lad from Middlesbrough (NOT Downing)...

I watched that game last night and Patterson is worth looking at for a forward place. Glen Johnson is the player I?d most like to sign and he can play r/b or r/m. Krancjar or Petrov are also worth a punt. These I believe are realistic targets who would take us forward. Ledley... not sure? Sadly not into the top 4 that would be £100+.

Jay Woods: Read the Mail a little bit too much?

It is not PC to be offended by racist terms. The only people who ever say that are racists i.e. The Mail, The Sun, Roy Chubby Brown, Bernard Manning (well until the horrible bastard died) etc

Political Correctness is something that prevented things such as ?Brainstorms? in case of offence to people with epilepsy, ?Blackboards? in case of offending black people etc i.e. everyday words, that are part of everyday life being changed to prevent offence.

Paki, Nigger, Gypo are not everday words used in everday language. They are words created by racist people, to describe, in a derogative manner, a person of certain race or nationality.

Being that Sean McCarthy was offended by the term 'Gypo', and guessing from his name he is Irish, or of Irish heritage, I imagine he has every right to be offended by such language. Especially considering the amount of racism directed towards the Irish over the last few hundreds of years.

It is not a PC Brigade, leave those terms for scum like the Sun and the Mail.

In terms of S Hunt, if he's £2-4mil then he?d be a good reliable hard working squad bulker, someone to add competition for places (we need this type of player), but he ain't gonna be a world class signing, and we need a extra winger with more pace and creative spark.

Apologies for those gentle souls whose seats are in the cotton wool stand at Goodison Park, for those able to accept light hearted banter that football and other sports have brought for years then glad I brought a smile. To those inclined against, I suggest you do yourself a service and read this defence made by Michael Richards (Kramer from Seinfeld)

Michael Richards makes his point...

Michael Richards better known as Kramer from TV?s Seinfeld, does make a good point. This was his defence speech in court after making racial comments in his comedy act. He makes some very interesting points.

Proud To Be White

Someone finally said it.
How many are actually paying attention to this?

There are African Americans, Mexican Americans, Asian Americans, Arab Americans, etc. And then there are just Americans.

You pass me on the street and sneer in my direction. You call me ?White boy,? ?Cracker,? ?Honkey,? ?Whitey,? ?Caveman? ... and that?s OK.

But when I call you, Nigger, Kike, Towel head, Sand-nigger, Camel Jockey, Beaner, Gook, or Chink ... You call me a racist.

You say that whites commit a lot of violence against you, so why are the ghettos the most dangerous places to live?

You have the United Negro College Fund.
You have Martin Luther King Day.
You have Black History Month.
You have Cesar Chavez Day.
You have Yom Hashoah.
You have Ma?uled Al-Nabi.
You have the NAACP.
You have BET.
If we had WET (White Entertainment Television) we?d be racists.
If we had a White Pride Day, you would call us racists.
If we had White History Month, we?d be racists.
If we had any organization for only whites to ?advance? OUR lives we?d be racists.

We have a Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, a Black Chamber of Commerce, and then we just have the plain Chamber of Commerce. Wonder who pays for that?

A white woman could not be in the Miss Black American pageant, but any color can be in the Miss America pageant.

If we had a college fund that only gave white students scholarships you know we?d be racists. There are over 60 openly proclaimed Black Colleges in the US. Yet if there were ?White colleges? THAT would be a racist college.

In the Million Man March, you believed that you were marching for your race and rights. If we marched for our race and rights, you would call us racists.

You are proud to be black, brown, yellow and orange, and you?re not afraid to announce it. But when we announce our white pride, you call us racists.

You rob us, carjack us, and shoot at us. But, when a white police officer shoots a black gang member or beats up a black drug-dealer running from the law and posing a threat to society, you call him a racist.

I am proud. But you call me a racist.

Why is it that only whites can be racists?

I?m Irish but you?ll get no bias here! Hunt is a grafter nothing more, nothing less. Now don't get me wrong ? I?ve no problem with grafters ? our own team is packed with guys who are of average ability but compensate for what they are lacking with a huge appetite to compete and work hard for the team.

However, now is the time, I feel, for us to start adding players with that extra bit of class and guile, to help us push on and break the disgusting Sky monopoly once and for all. These guys are a dime a dozen and don't come cheap but it is essential that we pick up a truly world class player this summer. I will refrain however from playing Fantasy Football Manager as silly season is close enough!

Gavin,

Although I should probably put a little bit more thought into my response I would say this...

If we had a white proud day, what would we be celebrating?

The colour of our skin??

Our history??

I?m sure you wouldn?t want to celebrate Slavery and the massacering of indigenous people from all over the world that "our" white ancestors so famously inflicted in the name of the british empire... or would you?

Oh please..

Stephen Hunt is one of the worst players I have had the misfortune of having to support. Every time he pulls on a green shirt I cringe with fear.

Why don’t we go the whole hog and get Kilbane back...after all he had that whole ’head down and bolt for the corner flag’ routine down to a tee.

Away an shíte. Stephen fuckin Hunt.

Gavin - you protest too much and backing yourself into a corner.

Michael Richards’ arguments have merit in logic and in ironic comedy. And a hell of a lot of anti-white rhetoric is nonsensical cant. However there is also a history and it was only a generation ago that non-whites were treated like shit in the land of the free, and half that time in southern Africa.

Some people are ridiculously PC and overly sensitive. But two wrongs don’t make a right. Racism still exists and, speaking personally, I have no time for it wherever it comes from. Clever words & post modernist irony from someone famous is just that & no more.

Personally I prefer to see nothing of that nature anywhere, including TW.

Gavin,

Your second name suggests you really shouldn?t be finding justification for your actions in the ignorant rant of a self-confessed racist.

We need to be signing players that are capable of playing (at least) for a top 6 club, if even potentially. So No, he?s nowehere near good enough.

Gavin:
Ghettos are most dangerous place to live because of the economic marginalisation forced upon people who live there.

It's the the system that forces people into poverty, and it is near impossible to get away from poverty within the system. Poverty leads to desperation, and with this desperation a minority of people enter the world of gangs/violence/drugs but the goverment are to fussed about this as it only affects those within the ?ghetto? and the affluent middle class are not affected.

The invention of celebrations of black culture like above are for a few reasons, one, to pretend we no longer live in a racist society we most certainly do live in a very racist society (don't let the appointment of Obama mean anything, his biggest problem in the election was when Rev Wright, his former pastor, said America was a racist society, he had to come out and deny any relations with his sentiments, Obama had to distance himself from black politics to become president, he?s a black- white politician), it's about appeasement. Like the dole, to stop the unemployed or low paid revolting, give them enough benefits to suppress them. These holidays are developed on the same principle, not to liberate them, but otherwise.

Also, because every university in the US is pretty much a white university, teaching white subjects to enter a white world with a vast majortiy of white students, there is not a necessity for a white university because white people are not marginalised, unless you consider your right to call someone a nigger being marginalised.

There is no histroy of ?white boy? being a term of oppression, what white people must realise is that 50 years of so-called equality and changes of law does not in any way shape or form discount 700 years of oppression, slavery and imperialism, especially when it still happens!

I am pretty sure there are other websites available for race debates.

No time for racism. On to the topic: Steven Hunt is the sort of player that will ? if things go well ? help keep us in 5th or 6th. If things don?t go well, he will help us descend into mediocrity.

What Everton needs is players who can make a difference to the team and help push us into the top 4, not more of the same (unless it?s our quality players), or more of yesteryear.

Dear God, did I see the same match last night? Hunt is mid-table championship material AT BEST! A headless chicken who admittedly will run non stop for 90 mins but then so would a rabbit! No end product and certainly not fit to add to a top 6 team. Being Irish, I've seen a lot of him and that other headless chicken McGeady, neither are good enough to add anything to our team.

Gavin and Jay: you sound pretty racist to me.

Michael Richards was defending his right to use an offensive term in his show and the points he makes are about reverse racism. His argument is actually pretty crap cos he points out that people call him racist names, so he should be able to do the same. WRONG. In both cases the people are being racist.

I don’t know how many Irish people have directed racist comments at you recently, but could you not rise above retaliating with words like Gypo.

There probably are Graham Nolan, and we wanted to talk about Stephen Hunt until somebody started being a bit racist on this site. That’s why people are talking about race.

Stephen Hunt is useless and I was amazed that people were talking £5million for him last year.

I’m not sure what I find more unpleasant: a debate about racists or a debate about Stephen Hunt. Thank you for providing good reason to terminate this thread.