What Do We Want?

McCarthy's engine, Reid's strength and drive, Steven's ability to beat a man, Sheedy's passing range, Watson's heart, Ratcliffe's pace and the bravery of Andy Grey!

Seen some shite down the years, but also seen some great too. I think this is the best squad since 1986, and alls we need now is for them to develop into WINNERS!

Going to top teams and believing we can win.

Roberto gives us both.

Agree with you Patrick on Bainsey, a stalwart who just gets on with the job quietly and reliably and who is blue through and through.

So yes, I think Mick Lyons was a wonderful servant to the club – a decent player, a big heart, a one-club man. But greatness requires something more... sublime skill over a decent period of time, and playing in a team that wins things. The 1985 team was referred to by the press, at least initially, as a team without stars – but they were a team of real winners and comfortably the best in the country that year; a pity they never got the chance to prove they were the best in Europe.

Bracewell remains my favourite all-time Everton player. Skill, workrate, consistency and bite. Robbed of greatness by an injury in 1986 and he was never the same again. I am sure England would have owned the World Cup in 86 had he been fit (and Everton the double).

We want our 'skillful' players to be a bit harder, our 'hard' players to be a bit more skillful, our forwards to score more, our defenders to concede less, and a Southall Mk II in goal.

Oh, and a non-Mickey Mouse trophy per season.

Sorted.

Patrick's article is an outstanding piece of work and I concur with all his nominations for 'greatness'. And I find it hard to fall out with many of the subsequent suggestions.

As far as today's players are concerned, Baines is certainly as good a left-back as I have seen here in 50 years and I have a sneaky feeling that Stones may have a more distinguished future than Barkley. Oh.... and I just wish, just wish, the best of the lot hadn't buggered off to Man Utd!

Phil, I won't argue with you about Big Joe and Lukaku at the same age but Rom will be 3¾ the player that Royle was. Mark my words.

Let's hope the fates treat Rom more kindly.

Joe did have bad luck in his career but I loved him when he was at Everton.

My hero was Alex Young – absolute different class. A flair player without doubt but in that early team we had Gabriel and Harris who could sort it out! Stevens, the box-to-box workhorse.

In the '80s Van den Hauwe and Reid could sort it out with Bracewell box-to-box and Stevens the flair. Different eras have different players but more or less the various teams have a combination of types of players. Where things come to fruition is the managers ability to get the best out of his team.

I expect any Everton team to go out every game and be completely knackered come full-time, to give 100% for the shirt. I do not want particularly silky football – just a good mix.

What I do not want is a manager more focused on stats rather than results. I'd sooner get a late winner at Anfield after getting battered for 89 minutes rather than losing but having more possession!

Young overall wasn’t as good as he should have been. He had a god-given talent but never used it as much as he should have done. He needed to be motivated and on lots of days he could really disappoint you – especially away from home. That’s the main reason lots of fans preferred Roy Vernon.

Having said that, when Alex was good, he made you drool and was special to watch.

One of my earliest and most enduring memories of Everton is a picture of Alan Ball in the newspaper, carrying his boots over his shoulder and on his way to Arsenal.

Whatever we want, I would suggest a team full of similar players would achieve it for us.

But that first touch and his movement was unsurpassable! And Roy Vernon...........

I was reading an article recently where Ricky Hatton said he missed the old Man City and preferred the club before the Arab investment. I can understand this to a certain degree.

There has been the suggestion we might have been bought rather than City if we had the green light to move to Kirby. And if I'm totally honest, I'm glad this rumour never became a reality. Of course I'd have welcomed investment but I wouldn't have wanted us to effectively buy a Championship and be playing in a soulless stadium, which is what would have happened if this rumour had come to pass.

So it makes me ask myself: What I do want from our current squad? And it would just be to win a trophy, under our modest financial constraints. It would be the validation that was missing under the previous regime. While we had some good players like Arteta and Cahill, I don't think they'll go down in the club's history as legends, because they never won anything.

Out of the current crop, the full backs would get into any Everton team I've been watching since I was an 8-year-old who started supporting us in the 85-86 season. I also think Lukaku, Barkley and Stones could become some of the very best not just in the EPL, but the World if they fulfil their huge potential. I think we have the best team – and sorry, Martinez detractors, the best manager since those cup-winning teams.

Southall at Sheffield Wednesday in the '85 season, but I wasn't actually at the game and had to make do with the MotD highlights.

Whilst Peter Reid, will always be my favourite, the performance I remember most is Rooney, against Bolton at Goodison. I remember seeing his parents after the game and being very tempted in telling them to go home and get to bed!!!

A good response to Patrick’s question and I agree with all that you write, especially the part of us buying trophies – there is no way I would like Everton to be part of that.

And to people who say John MooresÂ’s money bought us trophies, IÂ’d say he gave us interest free loans but never gave us the millions that have been poured into Chelsea and Man City.

The new reign brings in a new philosophy and that is to play real football and win matches. Winning in Germany shows how far we have come in so short a time.

If we are going to have great players then they need to be able to play great football and Martinez has unshackled his players and suddenly we recognise Coleman as a superstar.

I want a manager who 'bigs up' the club (we have him), like Catterick used to do. Whatever you want to use to measure how big a club is, Everton are a very big club. This will be evident when the next trophy arrives.

Above all, I want a top class side recognised by all.

I can smell a cup coming this season.

Someone said Baines was our best-ever left-back; I have to disagree... Ray Wilson was supreme, voted the best left-back in the World after the 1966 World cup. Young was an absolute dream to watch he had a wonderful first touch could shoot with either foot and was brilliant in the air. His partner Vernon was sharp and a great finisher both getting over 20 goals when they won the league.

Another player who impressed was Tony Kay, he could do everything. He ran the game from midfield and, despite all the hard men that played the game around that time, Kay was the hardest of them all. I don't think I ever saw him lose a 50-50 tackle and he was frightened of nobody, although I think many were very wary about tackling Tony.

Then before him was the brilliant Bobby Collins, four-foot nothing but was absolutely sublime, his passing was a joy to watch and how one so small could run the game was a mystery. Sadly we sold Bobby to Leeds and the following year he was voted PFA Player of the Year... Sorry for rambling on.

Going back a bit further, add in Ray Wilson and controversially perhaps one of the most complete players of all, Tony Kay – we were robbed of one of the true greats there! Alex Young? Fabulous talent to watch but so frustrating too. Alan Ball? The all-round perfect player and a true blue too. He also had the elusive ingredient: a certain edge and bite.

So most of the great team of the mid eighties qualify and someone very perceptively mentioned Paul Bracewell. Do we have another Peter Reid or Andy Gray somewhere in our locker?

Who are the couple of players missing to light the blue touch paper? A little bit of luck is not a bad thing to have as well.

Oh, and the manager! I'm warming to Roberto slowly but can he be the Brian Clough we never had?Rambling and dreaming a bit now so COYB — Give us what we want!

Couldn't agree more with you about Tony Kay. In fact I think he is the best footballer I have seen pull on a blue shirt – he just gets the nod from me in front of Alan Ball.

If you want to talk about first touch, the footballer that comes to mind to me is Johnny Morrisey.

Greatness – I reckon John Stones is a very special footballer; apart from his natural talent, his temperament is what will take him to the captaincy of Everton and then England.

Last but not least – what do I want, Patrick? From the players, to leave nothing on the park after each game. Plus, for Christmas, I would like the whole squad fit and available. If we can get that, we will run riot in the New Year.

I think we might even get 3 points at White Heart Lane tomorrow. Confidence is high.

Up the Blues.

Fuckin' hopeless this Martinez fella.

Royle was brilliant... while his body held up, but effectively a spent force at 24. It won't have done Rom any harm to have played his way in as a sub for WBA.

Colin, I didn't realise that Martinez had such a record, however, both he and Catterick took over teams with a nucleus of excellent players. Catterick took over Carey's side full of brilliance and potential and Martinez took over Moyes's team with Barkley, Stones, Jagielka, Coleman, Baines, Mirallas etc. True, he has added Lukaku and McCarthy to the mix but he had a head start, don't you think?

It's true that he inherited some cracking players from Carey, and that was regularly commented on at the time, but he added steel and organisation to the skill and flair and created a great team. He then created another team, transitional between the early and late 60s, that got to two FA Cup Finals, winning one and being kicked off the park in the other. Then the Champions full of young players that should have been dominant for 5 years at least. Sadly it was not to be. But it was great to be an Evertonian then. Heady times indeed.

My own top players are still-
Roy Vernon
Colin Harvey
Alan Ball
Alex Young
Tony Kay
Neville Southall
Brian Labone
Andre Kanchelskis
Bobby Collins
Ray Wilson

On Tony Kay, for me he was a class above Howard Kendall even, he was really that good, and would have been a World Cup winner as he was just breaking into the England team when he was locked up.

As an old fart now, I see reminders of him in James McCarthy. I don't think it's just the red hair.

Just as now, Everton never received the credit they deserved from the media, so Catterick, the players, the club were all relatively unsung.

These days, the media attempt to sell off our finest – a sort of praise I suppose, but I hope to see Everton back up there again under Roberto, who seems to get Everton, and wants to build a legacy. I'd love to see my new grandson watching something like I watched, and being able to write something like this in 70 years time.