A letter from Bill to the fans...

Whether JH delivers or not is another matter, but he's not even a fan and he's tuned in to what LFC fans want.

Although I have to admit I wonder if Evertonians match kopites in their ambition these days.

Barry, I think Evertonian ambitions are as high as ever, we just hide them a little more nowdays !

Would Bill's state of the union speech included the bit that goes like this that was edited from Mr Henry's effort

'the club is healthier today than when I took over.

Except that someone tells me that 50 million of your English pounds went missiing somewhere. What happened? Oh, I was involved in a deep and meaningful relationship with my secretary at the time? OK, we'll leave that part out.

Spending is not merely about buying talent ....'

It makes me laugh that the Shite aren't happy about Carroll going. They wanna try to losing 5 first team players like we did in 2011!

And what the RS do with their £50 millions plus is entirely up to them. Pissed it against the wall as far as I can tell.

Bill might have sold out to the Arabs. They took the City of Manchester Stadium instead. More fool them, eh?

Now "people that understand football" will say that the owners don't get it. They need a striker and to fail to get one will write off this season. Now that may be true but blowing GBP7m, particularly is not the way to build a long term sustainagle challenge. They can get more bang for their buck elsewhere. Once the money is gone it really is gone. The chance to spend it elsewhere is also gone gone gone.

The evidence produced by firms like Deloitte shows a correlation between wages and success on the pitch. It does not show such a strong correlation between success and payment of transfer fees.

The proven formula is get good players in young. Get in a few mature players for minimal transfer fees. Keep the ones that perform up to standard by paying them well. Sell off the second stringers when you have better youngsters to replace them. If a player with a big ego wants to leave despite being paid market wages then let him go and take the money. Do not impair your ability to pay wages by blowing money on transfers for players over 28.

This is what Arsenal have done for years. OK they have not won anything, but they have been in the top 4 the whole time whilst competing against far richer clubs like the two down the East Lancs and Chelsea. They will be in the top 4 long after the Sheik and the Russian have grown bored of losing millions of pounds a year. Man U is a different story because they, the club, actually makes lots of money. In this they are unique.

I am now worried that Liverpool is being run by people that understand the finances of football - this will make Liverpool stronger. No chance that they will blow GBP30m on a player like Carroll again. Hopefully the delusions of grandeur in their fans DNA will still be their undoing. I am hopeful that after 22 years of reduced financial circumstances that Everton fans have lost their own delusions (although sometimes I wonder!).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jne9t8sHpUc

The new RS regime may be more prudent in spending but it may be that the expectations of their fan base will be their undoing. Let's hope so.

Barry ~632 - The original post did jar when taken from an Everton perspective as it does raise questions about the expectations of Evertonians, something I wrote about a couple of years ago in a mailbag article. However, expectations can change with a couple of good results - at least for me. I still think we're on for a good season - top 4 or 5.

Away from the expectations of the fans, the main thing that jarred for me was the phrase "long term vision".

After we've won and they've lost, there is nothing better than...

Know-nothing chatty host: "..ok thanks for that Tom, next we've got..Ron on the line from Ormskirk, Ron is a red - imagine you're not happy Ron?"

Old bloke: "No I...erm...HELLO...Yes I am very much NOT happy, this feller Benitez doesn't have a clue!"

Host: "You mean Rodgers"

Old bloke: "Eh?...Oh yes sorry, Rodger Houlier, he hasn't a bloody clue"

Host: "So what does he need to do Ron?"

Old bloke: "Well..um...he needs to play Stevie G in his proper position for a start like, which is..ahh....in the hole..um...just behind the diamond....er on the left...or the right....through the channels like..type-a-thing"

Host: "You don't just think it could be that Stevie is starting to slow up?"

Old bloke: "Yeah but...um....that's kind of me point like, drop him back a bit. Don't get me wrong, Daggleesh has been a great servant for the club but he HAS to go"

Host: "Dalglish has gone Ron"

Old bloke: "Eh?...Oh yeah I don't mean him, I mean....the other feller...Rafa...No Shankley....no not Shanks the OTHER feller.....We need to get back to the boot room....Big Ron, the Kop..er...Paisley...red shirts......Paisley shirts!!"

Etc blah (continue for one hour).

(I remember one fan coming on a few years ago threatening to break Houllier's legs if he didn't leave the club. He put it in sharper terms than that but was cut off pronto. Then we had the death threat chants against Hicks and Gillette. Contrast that with the media perception of those lovable kopites).

"... not on some slightly humorous parody that some people are either too stupid or ill-informed to distinguish from the letter that our beloved neighbours had to suffer."

I'm just bemused that there are Everton fans who have this level of interest in what goes on with the neigbours to even give a shit.

Yes, the lad had seen an opportunity for irony... but I wasn't convinced it would work — these things rarely do on t'internet. But this 'Knowledge is Power' trip so many get a kick from is fundamental to such exchanges.

Perhaps some note like: "For those who may be puzzled by this uncharacteristic epistle, please see this recent letter from J Henry addressed to our kopite neighbours..." Kinda kills it stone dead though, don't ya think?

For me, it just reaffirms what should be our position re posts that are anything to do with LFC. Just Say No.

I'm really confused now. What's the point!!!!

I became aware of the extra funds some weeks back but it went over my head until this week when, on SPN, a newsreader said the new deal between Sky and BT will put so much cash into every club in the 2013-14 season the team that finished bottom of league (Wolves in 2011-12 ) will receive as much as Citeh did for winning the league.

To save every one the trouble, Wolves were paid £39m, City were paid £60m so in effect in the space of 3 seasons the money will go up 40-50% depending on the final European TV rights deal that the PL do. If your not aware, the PL did 81 separate deals to screen PL games which will bring in roughly £2bn alone.

So we got £48.9m for season 2011-12 off the PL, in 2013 we will get £70m roughly — that's a massive increase. Due to our Bill being a poor salesman he and his 2 cronies are about to hit the jackpot. The question remains: Where we really for sale?" NOPE! and his comment that we will buy again in January, too bloody right he will or there will be hell to pay.

By the way, the PL are boxing clever these days... We used to do 5-year deals for the TV rights, now it is down to 3 and it is just an auction where whoever bids the highest gets the deal. There are hints that the 2013-16 TV deal could net £5-6 billion — that's a lot of cash.

Pretty soon the debt will be gone and Finch Farm will be bought back by EFC.