Neville: Keep Calm and Carry On

Injuries though happen.. a fair amount too. Gibson wont last every game.. But him and Barkley might have to hurdle the midfield brilliance of Heitinga and Neville to get a look in.

In fact, when something like this comes up - who should be playing where? transfers? squad strength? - the usual 'professional' response goes like 'Oh you'd better ask the boss about that one'.

There's a lot of 'oddness' about the whole Rodwell thing, and to me this adds a bit more.

What is strange is that you have a player making such a statement in the first place - unless it happens all the time and I'm not keeping up.

I take his statement at face value. He mentioned Rodwell's lengthy absence without saying that he was missed, and he used the words "unbelievable" and "disappointing" deliberately. No holding back there.

Unbridled Bollocks... he's a 'yes man' for the club... from Kirkby to any other shite that needs to be spun.

My point all along has been that it is odd for a player (in any club) to be, what?, allowed to say so much about about a decision made by the manager and/or owner. Players get fined for less - not by us, because they don't step out of line. What I'm saying is that we have an unusual situation in football here - in any 'business' come to think of it.

And it must suit Moyes for Neville to go public in this way (or it wouldn't happen). I wonder why?

I wouldn't be too worried about the list of released players you've quoted. The Arteta case is a strange one as we know. Cahill is quite straightforward. To be honest, I'm still puzzled as to why MC came for Jack. Mancini made the right noises, but he didn't sound at all convincing to me.

I'll be back in Fallowfield in a few days and some of my mates are City insiders. I'll be interested to find out what they make of it all.

Losing Rodwell may hurt... or not. It'll depend on who Moyes brings in to replace him before we know. And I didn't see Junior or Barkley this preseason, but Moyes did, and he appears to have both of them in the midfield mix. One thing is for sure... they could both play with their shoes tied together and be better than Bily, Forshaw, Baxter, Wallace or McFadden.

Going back further, Arteta did the same. These's no doubt in my mind these words have been put into their mouths from people upstairs at Everton.

I'm fucking sick of the Goodison PR machine, and the same fans falling for the shit they spin.

From him anything less than a positive spin on things at this stage would be suicidal.

You only wish that to be true I think, players don't need to say anything about their previous clubs, It's not a contractual obligation to be fawning about your former employers and I can't see any reason for them to say anything positive or otherwise, unless they wanted to.

If we do sign anyone, I'm sure we will see pics of the new player and Bill shaking hands and cuddling plus the usual "Bill worked till 23:59 on deadline day to pull this off for YOU Blues!"

No-one will step out of line and Pip fully realises that his playing days are nearly over, he probably wants a shot at the top job so these articles will all help.

And, if we do end up in the bottom 3 after 3 games you can bet Bluey will still get a massive hand clap and cheer when he is pictured on the Big screen. He's a Blue and one of us after all.......

Rodders said the Chairman didn't want to sell him, so why did we? We all know the answer to that question.

Our chairman never wants to sell anyone according to him, but he always manages to fight that urge every season.

Although I'm not 100% sure Chang are an island of probilty in a sea of Thai corruption - who knows?

I don't understand why the Captain cannot speak on behalf of the club. Has Moyes been offended? Undermind?

it puts the suggestion out there so its less of a shock when we sign Know one, its clever and if there was a league for spin we would be top.

In one section, we are having a poor run in the league (it may been the season we had gone out of the champions league and uefa) and it was an away game in London.

As described in Rathbones book, the word was after one of the team meals the chairman wanted to have a word. Things were pretty tense as they expecting a bollocking as form had been very poor.

Anyway, as told Kenwright gave a fantastic speech passionately outlining his love for the club, how he had faith in the players and the staff, that they were the best he could wish for and how he knew they would turn it round. It was a tonic, not the grilling they expected and the players appreciated it.

I make no real comment on it, other than I would take the players comments at face value.

I was at a game very early last season when Kenwright arrived, no not THAT one, and Kenwright arrived, Rodwell was there and they walked in together chatting away. I think Evertons a bit of a bubble, its close, tight knit and the players seem well looked after. Many players have referred to the homely, family nature and the team spirit.

There are many things wrong at Everton. But I actually think its one of the best things about the club and one of our biggest strengths.