Kone doesn't intend to play in 2nd Divison

Not saying that it is easy to stumble on top players like Benteke by accident but if Martinez is so good in the transfer market (and you can't argue with his record) then he should be able to leave the Wigan players where they are.

Kone carries more of a goal threat than Jelavic but then that wouldn't take much! There are better options out there.

You don't actually know Guidetti is a tosser. All anyone has read is that he is a bit self-important and arrogant. We don't know how true this is; all we do know though is that Guidetti scored 21 goals in 23 starts for Feyenoord last season and will probably be in our price range.

Just being a bit fed up (again) at the activity of other clubs and we (again) do nowt!!

We need players bedded in prior to the seasons start... not wait for the left overs.

I have said before that every time any other club shows interest in one of our targets, we drop out of the bidding!

It's Pound Shops again I fear.

In the last 2 seasons Jelle Van Vossen has score 41 goals in 69 games, that is pretty prolific in my book, that's with minor injuries plaguing is season as well.

Guidetti might be better on a 1 year loan with the option to buy, then we can all see what he's made of and then have the option to buy. The same kind of deal we had for that Belgian lad, remember? The deal that we didn't complete in time.

Jelle Vossen banging them in in Belgium, also Carlos Bacca both worth a punt
i would say..

I'd take Altidore, Bacca or Billy McKay before I'd take a punt on Van Vossen, and I don't think any of them are good enough either.

The same crap Belguim league that Benteke and Lakaku came from? Every player has to start somewhere. Don't forget Van Vossen is part of a outstanding Belguim international side.

We can't afford a top proven striker, so this is the way we are going to have to go.

He looks like a decent striker, but no more than £5-6m tops at his age.

If we're going to spend £10m on a striker it should be on an up-and-coming young one.

Personally I couldn't agree more, however it seems the fear of losing games or relegation or missing out on 6th and only getting 7th (or whatever) makes a lot of managers decide "fuck that, no time to nurture, I want the finished article right this minute".

Apparently the guy has a £6m release clause, Wigan will accept less though to get him off their wage bill and I'd be surprised if they achieve more than £5m, although I've been quite impressed when he's played against us.

As an aside, I would be actively looking to shift Fellaini in to a european club, tout suite, any top four EPL club planning to activate his release clause will leave it til the last knockins to make sure we aren't able to reinvest and challenge them for the CL spots.

Honda would be great, but that won't happen

Definitely not a Bendtner... Bendtner is shite and has always been shite. On the contrary, Guidetti will be long-term quality.

"fuck that, no time to nurture, I want the finished article right this minute".

Our now departed DM (to his much craved heaven of OT ("Theatre of dreams" and all that crap)), became a leading proponent of the above mindset, leaving us with a "Last of the summer wine" team.

We as blues (knowledgeable supporters), I believe have to be patient with RM and give him time to bring through our kids and some in.

I wouldn't be to disappointed if we finish out of the top 6 providing I can see progress (in a football sense).

I just hope BK's CL top 4 pressure gaffe/slip (Fuck me, BK can spout with the best of them when he wants to) doesn't stress RM too much.

Give him time Boys Pen Billy Boy!

I don't agree with your point regarding Moyes being a leading Proponent though at all. I had barely heard (some never) of Mirallas, Fellaini, Cahill, Pienaar, Coleman, Baines, Lescott, Jagielka before they had been signed.

I think its fair to say only Distin, Johnson and Beattie were established top flight players off the top of my head.

Hello Dan,

I can't argue with that Miralles, Fellaini etc list, DM had his good points.

What I should have made clear was that the "Last of the summer wine" team mindset was towards the end of his stay, I thought he became a bit selfish about his own appearance to the rest of the world (ie placing EFC as high up the table a possible), rather than developing a younger team that would probably place even higher given the time to develop.

And on the subject of RM and giving him time, I've seen people on here say we'll know what kind of manager he is after his first 10 games! Can you believe that? A fair few have said give to the new year and if he doesn't look like he's up to much, off him before he relegates us. There's more than a few around here with itchy trigger fingers.

This modern game demands a different type of player to the ones we have grown accustomed to. Top managers like Mourinho and Guardiola appear to want players who are as busy off the ball as they are with it. Martinez will be the same.

AVB at Spurs is filling his squad with these non-stop, mobile athletes. Holtby and Paulinho being the latest. The brilliant Brazilian isn't there yet but his bags are packed.

At Everton we had one or two Prima Donnas who didn't want to over exert themselves and Moyes had to put his foot down. Publically. in one case. Let's hope Martinez does the same. Apparently, away from the camera, he's quite a tough cookie.

I would like a Mirallis with the heart of Jelavic and a Gibson with the legs of Coleman. Wouldn't that be something.

Sorry mate, in the modern league you have to put your best team out as often as possible to get as high up the league as possible. Blooding youngsters is a risk that just isn't worth taking unless you are secure in your position.

Hello Jim,

There's a team a few hundred yards away across the park that blooded its youngsters all last season.

I think this coming season they will see the benefit.

There's also another team (who's name I can mention!), Aston Villa struggled with relegation all last season because Lambert refused to do a QPR and play all the old farts. He played the Kids gave them hope, encouraged them by giving them a chance and I think they will benefit from the games they've played next season.

I'm not saying play all the kids at once, but we now should start regularly feeding them into the team.

I personally don't mind if our league place dips, providing he's building a team.

As Jon Ferguson stated @ 162 it is possible it has been done many times before and I think RM is the kind of manager who given time would want to do it.

Jim, to truly go forward in the long term we have to be brave.

Liverpool's youngsters were mostly played out of necessity and all went back to the bench one first team regulars became fit/ Rodgers realised they weren't that good. Rodgers rescued his league position in the second half of the seaosn by playing Carragher, defending deep and playing the same kick and rush counter attacking football that every Liverpool team since Gerrard got into the team has played. He did not build anything, all he did was revive the carcass of Rafa and Kenny's teams and got them playing how they used to.

His big challenge will come this season and I'll be surprised in any way if his new look Liverpool side features any of the kids he supposedly blooded last season. Everton do alright for blooding youngters in comparison with the rest of the premier league. Between Rooney Rodwell and Barkley we've had three players that have been/could be sold for massive fees on the transfer market. Which other club has done that recently? We regularly used to plug our holes with kids such as Rodwell Vaughan Anichebe Gosling Coleman in premier league games and European games. One now plays for City, two were in our first team at the end of the season and two have proven not to be good enough. Why is it bad that for one season our injuries were clear enough to allow the seniors to play the majority of games. If Rodwell was here he'd probably have been in the first 11 and that would have been 3 of our youth players in the first 11 week in week out, the difference is instead of being 17 they've progressed to maturity and are supplemeting the squad in a proper way rather than the way some fans see Barkley as a hero incarnate waiting to come off the bench and win any game singlehandedly. Barkley will be in the team soon and will be all the better player for the not being cast in the role of messiah and that will be 6 out of the first 11 who at some point in their careers were in the Everton academy. Not a bad return for a club that apparently doesn't promote any youth players.

Shelvey is 21.
Apart from that I agree with the rest of the young players at our neighbours.

If you look at the post I've written above, you'll see I said:

"I'm not saying play all the kids at once, but we now should start regularly feeding them into the team."

I didn't say drop all the old pro's and play the reserve team.

Barkley is the kind of example I'm talking about, We have to give kids like him a chance. As I said before, I personally don't mind a lower league position for the next few seasons if it does us good in the long run.

James, you said: "Robert its fine blooding youngsters if they're good enough".

How do they get to become good enough? They can only gain a certain amount of experience loaned out to Leeds. You have to play them and accept their mistakes. Moyes refused to play Barkley after he made a couple of mistakes, but did play him later on in the season when all was lost at Arsenal and to me he looked good. If he'd have been forgiven his mistakes and played instead of the blond haired jock early on, he may have been making a real contribution in the second half of the season.

I hope Kenwright shows the same patience with RM as he did with DM, if he does, I think we'll have a decent squad with a bigger price tag than the one we have now.

My earlier post about managers wanting players who are as busy off the ball as they are with it appears to have fallen on deaf ears. Regaining possession quickly is a big thing in the modern game and we don't want guys who hang around with their hands in their pockets while somebody else wins the ball for them. We already have one or two but a new manager might shake them up a bit.

The down side is that some of the full-shift, workhorses receive little credit because many fans hardly notice what they do. I've seen Osman cover every corner of the pitch, run himself into the ground and end up being abused by fans who only notice the fancy stuff. Believe me. There are plenty on Toffee Web.