Ebbrell joins Everton coaching staff

I somehow get the feeling these ex-players are employed because of the links with club, rather than because of their expertise. I couldnÂ’t tell you if they are any good or not, but shouldnÂ’t we be looking outside the club if we want to progress?

From what I can tell heÂ’s been a scout, an agent and a coach so his knowledge of the game, what to look for in a player and what their needs are should all be covered.

And we did look outside the club for our current manager and look where thatÂ’s got us!

As for old boys coming on the payroll, IÂ’m all for it if they meet the criteria required.

I donÂ’t have anything bad to say about him though...

As already mentioned though, good players donÂ’t necessarily make good coaches.

Oh, and welcome home, John.

Being one of our longest serving players, he then got dropped for the Cup Final and no space could be found on the bench for him (with smaller selections Royle went with more attacking options) so he didn't get a medal.

Then over the next couple of seasons he, Hinchcliffe and Parkinson all got injuries which forced them to retire somewhat earlier than you would have expected.

I find the negative comments quite pathetic to be honest. Totally unnecessary.

Our club should be giving his like a chance. He was a worker as a player and came across as a pretty intelligent man off the pitch so I wouldn't be at all surprised if he is a success. Welcome back indeed.

I'm really sorry for bringing RM into a thread that has little to do with him, but the only reason I check the news these days is in the hope that by some miracle he is sacked.

'It maybe one thing coming from the FA's School of Excellence, but they didn't teach him to shoot with his left foot'.

It was like that at most clubs then. The squads were smaller and most players played in every game. A 23-year-old was classed as a young player in those days. Now players have played 100 odd games by that stage in their careers.

I still maintain, young players had a better chance of breaking through back then because teams didn't shop abroad as much as they do now. The England squad today, is full of players that can't even get into their own clubs first team. Nowadays, it's all about buying foreign imports and bollocks to the academy.

It's as if an alien spaceship lands with a view to conquering the planet so the first thing their Commander does is kidnap the locals and then replace their workings with alien machinery.

They can then use the re-wired locals to gain the trust of the masses before start their move to total domination!

But then for 2 or 3 seasons we were garbage and Ebbrell never progressed or found his best position. He played in an era where wages weren't silly, when we paid him (!) and then he retired early at his next club. So if he can coach well then I welcome him to the club. It's not like we're just bringing in former players who were sitting at home or running a pub!

He was a decent enough player but it's what he is like as a coach that counts and unless I am mistaken no-one posting on here has a clue about that so give the man a chance in his new job rather than trying to sack him before he starts.

Priceless!!

I just hope we have some attacking coaches to balance it out! But I've got no problem with players who have broken through at Everton coming back to coach the next generation of youngsters looking to break through...

Stubbs has a long career in football, knows the game, doing well at the moment with Hibernian and I don't think he is finished with Everton regarding the future, but we will see.

Alan Stubbs gave him a shoulder to lean on, he listened to Wayne and told him to do what, he Rooney, thought was best for himself.

Let's be honest here: Kenwright wanted to sell Rooney and, if he hadn't have been sold, Everton were on the verge of bankruptcy, so it was to Everton's advantage that Rooney was sold.

Having the same agent wouldn't have benefitted Stubbs in any way. It's not as if every player under that agent gets a cut. So what vested interest are you talking about exactly? Stubbs was a damn solid player for us, end of story.

Personally I don't think Stubbs is a great blue. He had the chance to captain Everton in the Champions League after he was offered a one-year deal, but followed the money to Sunderland, not leaving on the best or terms, and then came back admitting he shouldn't have gobbed off.

I can think of other instances where he's opened his gob. The last time I can think of was the Baines – will he, or won't he go to United – saga. He came out and said something that undermined what Martinez had said in the press.

I will become what Phil Walling is to Roberto Martinez if Stubbs ever gets the Everton job.

They shared agents, just as all players do. There is no conspiracy, Elvis isn't alive, the moon landing was real, and Rooney went to United because it was a lot more money and to win trophies and BK wanted the transfer money.

Stretford was sacked from Proactive and set up a new agency (TripleS) with, amongst others, the son of Freddy Shepherd - the former Newcastle part-owner.

No dots being created here, most of this is publicly available (including the information relating to Stretford's court case against Proactive when he was found by the judge overseeing it to not be a credible witness).

I don't think there's a huge conspiracy. I just think Stubbs wasn't a helpful influence over Rooney. And the other points in my post help me reach my opinion which differs to yours on Stubbs being the epitome of a blue.

It's not just the Rooney Saga with Stubbs. Look at what he said when Moyes was trying to take Baines to Manchester United. Baines behaved with pure class, didn't open his mouth, respected the club enough to not even come out with coded messages, such as "I'm flattered by their interest", etc...

Then Stubbs opens his mouth and undoes all that by saying publicly he wanted to go. Why, to what ends?

Our U-21 manger effectively saw us as a feeder team. Good Riddance.

Decent player. Hope he enjoys his return to the club.

However, maybe his appointment (and so far I can't find mention of it in the comments above) is also based on the fact that he came through the famous Lilleshall Academy? Let's hope the Everton Academy lasts a little longer...

I would like to see a coach who can produce attacking players. We seem to just produce defenders in recent years.