Martinez expresses “immense satisfaction” at Loftus Road win

Give me strength. I know it was a good result but the performance was disgraceful.

They're just another example of the Bobby bullshit we have come to know and love.

As for more forays into Europe, surely not if he is at the helm!

Can he please be banned from post-match press conferences? Just so cringe-making.

This man has sucked all the passion and enjoyment out of the game for me...

He's fast becoming one of the most depressing managers we've had. False cheerfulness and its attendant optimism can be really quite depressing.

It was a lucky, and probably undeserved win. But we've had enough of the other sort that it's fair that we were in the fortunate column today. However, this is not a satisfactory situation.

About 6 months too late. A redundant comment from a man who will hopefully be made as equally redundant before the start of next season.

I'd sack the fucker for that comment alone...

That's something you'd get away with at Wigan, not at Everton.

I didn't want him here to start with. If we are in the top 20 richest clubs in the world then we should be able to attract one of top 20 managers. If Kenwright had an ounce of knowledge or ambition he would run that charlatan out the club today, but we have had ample evidence over the past 15 years of Kenwright lacking both knowledge and ambition.

#Martinezout and I hope our phoney chairman goes too.

Yes they spurned some good chances and hit the post twice - but then so did we on Thursday night. Had all those four shots gone in we'd still be in the Europa League, but nearer the relegation dogfight. I'm just about satisfied with the outcome as it is, What goes around comes around.

I was still a little unhappy with our defending but we coped so much better than we did on Thursday, Stones playing well, and Jags seemingly so much happier (he had a good game too).

We can sleep easier now. Perhaps with the pressure off the team can play more tho their true ability and build a platform for next season. It would be phenomenal if we could do that...

I'll get me coat.

As for the team performances for which he is ultimately responsible they remain utterly woeful. The incompetences of management, support staff and many of the players continues to leave one almost speechless and able to fully identify with Dave Lynch's predicament. We can only be grateful that it seems that only the presence of three or four other inadequate teams may save Everton from relegation because in the court of common justice Everton's collective efforts this season deserve nothing less that relegation from the top flight. Where we go from here I do not know. But I do feel that, although Mr Martinez presents as a considerate, thoughtful man, his increasingly nonsensical, vacuous utterances are alienating people to such an extent that I simply do not see how he can regain the confidence, trust, and respect of the support base.

If this was also the case with his playing staff then it would appear that he would seem to be incapable of the drastic action needed to purge the current squad of the deadwood or attract and nurture young talents to the club or already here,never mind be trusted with what appear to be very limited funding for bringing in players who would be willing to work under such a seemingly fragile figure. It is a great, great shame because even at 70 years of age I was initially impressed by his lack of belligerence, pomposity or egotism and wished him well. I still do, but feel that it may well have to be somewhere else.

Playing good football from this point on is not the issue, it's the fact that our season has probably been the most disappointing of any of the 20 clubs in the Premier League.

Roberto failed to arrest the slide until the fans and local media started to make noises, if I owned Everton I would help the little man to find another club and look to replace him asap - he's not a bad bloke he's just not a manager for a club the size of Everton.

He may learn and improve in time and a few clubs down the line may see him develop as a decent manager but I don't think he'll ever be a success at Goodison, besides which can BK and the board really gamble on him, he won 72 points last season and with 8 games to go we still haven't reached half of that total - that is an incredible fall from grace for any Premier League team in any year.

We have started to use two forwards as I think the penny has finally dropped with soft arse that we wonÂ’t keep a clean sheet. Give him another few games and he might even click onto why we canÂ’t keep a clean sheet.

Now we have pulled away from the dogfight a little more, IÂ’d seriously consider replacing him asap so as a new manager can work out who he wants to bring into the club and just as importantly work out who he wants out of it too.

Would that be the QPR who are sixth lowest scorers in the league Bob?

Stop with the BS. We've had enough, leave. Never come back.

His predecessor was a master at lowering expectations, and that's why the love in with BK went on until Man U came calling.

I think RM's on borrowed time, passed the point of no return. But in reality we will have a limited (compared to everyone else) budget for whoever comes in, and that in turn limits who will be attracted by the job of a once-big club.

RM is a symptom, but not the real problem which has infested us for nearly 2 decades.

So pathetic to say a win against the worst side in the league, losers of 9 of the last 10, was the most satisfying win. And it was a lucky win at that, being pegged back much of the match. I just don't know what to say anymore. But sadly it seems many of our supporters are happy with this level of just surviving.

So then again, maybe Martinez is just a symptom, a symptom of our apathetic fan base. Everton should be one of the giants. That doesn't mean they should be winning the league every season. But it does mean that actually having to talk about getting safe from relegation in the month of March should be automatic criteria to be sacked. Again, please name me one other Big club that would brand this as acceptable and let this manager continue into next season?

Fair enough to want to sound upbeat, but the guy has zero sense of relativity. Fact of the matter is, it was actually quite a sloppy performance against a very weak team, and even we had to ride lady luck at bit in the end.

All the cleaners who work at Goodson are going to have their titles upgraded to hygiene technicians in honor of the pronominal job they are doing.

My sentiments exactly

The one thing I really think is missing from his locker is the art of motivation. The players just never seem to be 'up for it' and ready to fight for every ball and to move fast to cut off opposing attacks. As others have said, this was not Chelsea or Man City we were playing, but possibly the worst team in the league at present.

He won't talk about keeping Lennon? Why not? He's the only bright spark in the pack at present and Martinez should be telling us that, and that he's going w all he can to make the move a permanent one. I for one think he has a lot to offer us. Kone still fails to impress me. He looks a bit like a headless chicken with the ball, not really aware of what's going on around him.

Thank God Leon Osman is back. To all who consistently deride him, it's plain to see what an influence his football brain has on the team. I dread to think what would have happened without him there today. I won't rest until we're mathematically safe, as three bad results for us, and good ones for those below us would drag us right into the mire.

Martinez has to go, as I don't think the fans will put up with similar performances for another season. It's time for home truths, not platitudes, Roberto, starting with your own position.

As someone has stated before, Martinez would make a great politician. Pity we can't vote the idiot out.

Good post, Brian. I think Lennon would be a good acquisition and what this squad needs is a 25-year-old Leon Osman. The way the game is now, players with a brain are protected more and more and we'd probably see the best of him.

OK, he's not as strong as the likes of Fellaini but his mind is a couple of yards ahead of many players, the simple lay off for the first goal was excellent. I also like the fact that he doesn't mind getting in the referees face and wagging a finger at him in protest. Jags could take note.

Looking at the fixtures coming up, I think that we will lose the next two, Southampton at home and Swansea away, and probably just about win against Burnley. What a rubbish scenario.

As mentioned above, all because Everton are such a badly run club with totally the wrong people running it.

Hope I'm wrong but we were just very fortunate that QPR are woeful because a much better team would have absolutely battered us yesterday.

I'm also still waiting for Boys Pen Bill to break his 4-month total silence and come out and say that not for one moment did he think about sacking him because he always knew that he'd turn it around because he's promised us Champions League football!

Brin, I'm not sure why a win over Southampton would change opinions; I'm still waking up in a cold sweat and having nightmares after attending the debacle at St Marys when he should've been sacked on the spot for one of the most shambolic displays I've ever witnessed – and don't even start me off about the no substitutions farce!

We gave them too many chances and better sides will make you suffer like we have already seen.

Lennon has been one if the few bright spots in recent weeks, clearly a good player and you can see why he once earned so many rave reviews.

The criticism has given him a kick up the arse. He didn't change voluntarily. The doubts placed on him by the media about his tactical awareness forced him to change.

If the fans and media weren't so vocal in questioning him, I reckon he would still be as stubborn as ever.

I think next season he'll just revert back to type probably thinking that this season was just some kind of blip and that everything is fine.

All that was broke is still broke, and even the rare good performances this season have had moments of pure and utter shit which forebode failure for as long as Martinez, and his stubborn dependence on contradictory tactics, remain. I wonder how long we will have to watch Martinez play short passing tactics with a traditional power centre-forward, a mix of wingers and attacking midfielders who take longer passing a ball than it takes Stevie G to get sent off, and two tackling midfielders?

Please Bill, get rid of him, so I don't have to watch Stones, Lukaku, Coleman and McCarthy win stuff elsewhere, and our best financial position in years sustained by a dour but dependable Scot go down the fucking toilet with all our hopes and ambitions with it.

Please Martinez, take that grin elsewhere. Let's just have a manager who plays to the obvious strengths of those at the club, who gets us fit, who buys players who suits the tactics he wants to play, and who won't bring on heart palpitations with a style of football which is somehow both impotent, but leaves us open defensively.

I would like Martinez to go even if Everton win all the remaining games. I can't see him changing his style and he will focus on winning a cup next season again to the detriment of the league form.

Benitez will be out of contract and his family are still in the North West. I think the team did well to win the last game as they must have been gutted with the Thursday shambles.

It is a gross discourtesy to the fans that BK and the Board have said absolutely nothing about our dreadful season, instead expecting us to lap up their North Korean PR and pay for season tickets. It is treating us all with contempt because it flies in the face of the truth we can all see.

Even if Kenwright came out and said that the manager and Board are aware of how disappointing the season has been but that they consider it to be a one-off and are planning for next season with Martinez as the manager, it would at least be something to get rid of the fog and confusion now hanging over the club.

As I say, we're in Bill's hands and God help us.

Let's just enjoy a rare win for now.

I'm growing to hate him with each week that passes, which is a shame because I'd warmed to him last season, after being a big fat NO voter when he was appointed. Now I'm back to wishing he'd scuttle off to Real Sociedad or somewhere more suited to stupidity week on week.

He's really grating now, to the point Mike Walker did. Sadly I feel we'll be stuck with him as there's no way we'll get relegated and Uncle Bill will see it as a season of transition or some other such shite. I'd love to be proven wrong, and him to turn it round and sort the team out but none of us can see it... Watching yesterday's game felt weird, no pressure almost as I was resigned to us being shit. And we were shit. God knows how we won.

So do the winners of the Johnstone's Paint Trophy now enter some kind of European Dulux Paint trophy?

Moyes, Ferguson, Clough et al.

He'll be our manager next year, no question, and BK will say nothing which I'm glad about because most of the stuff that falls out of his mouth is bullshit I'd rather not hear.

Even if, heaven forbid, we offered him the job, I could see him taking great delight in naming his reason's for turning us down, to leave us open to even more ridicule from those lovable Redshites!

The small club comment was a press soundbite, managers do it all the time now it's just a sad part of the game.

But seriously, he is a good manager. He is a winner in Spain, England and Italy. He is the calibre of manager we should be looking at rather than relegated managers or a cheap option from the Championship.

In case you haven't noticed Roberto there's absolutely no need to adapt to being in Europe because: 1. We've just be knocked out of Europe and 2. Under you the chances of is getting back in to Europe are zilch!

It may well be his most satisfying win - he hasn't got that many to choose from!

I've for a great deal of sympathy for those who can no longer be arsed talking about Martinez. I felt the same way and then I read his latest inane post-match comment and I think I can't let that lie!

Is it not possible, between now and the end of the season, to him just say some thing perfectly reasonable and logical after a game? On top of the abysmal way he's managed the season from pre-season to the present, he's simply confirming his detachment from reality and his unsuitability to carry on.

Forget about the compensation package and ask yourself one question:– What are the expectations and ambition of our owners? Top half finish? Maybe a Cup Final once every 10 or 15 years?

European football is a bonus, but not a prerequisite as with some bigger clubs. Just because they have splashed out on a striker, that doesn't mean Martinez's job is any more on the line this season. Hull & West Ham have a higher net spend.

We need to align our ambition with the owners. Mid-table finishes are fine. Then we can all stop fretting.

If he is to be given a chance to prove this season was a one off, and Kenwright WILL give him that opportunity, then we should get behind the team in the final games and hope for as strong a finish as possible then reset for next season. I just hope the pre-season is handled much better this time with no World Cup to worry about.

I think the time has come for Bobby to make some brave decisions. Howard needs to be pensioned off to New York Red Bulls and a young keeper brought in to vie with Robles for the jersey.

Alcaraz needs to be released on a free along with Distin if he isn't going to get games and we need to bring in a warrior-leader at centre-back to compliment Stones. Someone in the John Terry or James Collins mould who will battle for every ball coming into the box. They don't necessarily need to be quick or good on the ball. They just need to have a unshakeable determination to win every battle.

In midfield we need another player who can consistently pass the ball forward with creativity and precision as we cannot rely on Gibson to play every game.

Finally we need a goalscorer to play alongside Lukaku. I'm thinking of a Javier Hernandez type 'goal poacher' who can play off Lukaku and make runs in behind the defence.

Hopefully Martinez and his philosophy are well and truly packed off ASAP and someone normal can come in. Whoever it is it will be the absolute cheapest option whether you like it or not. Stubbs or the lad at Bournemouth are probably the far more likely to grace Finch Farm than – God forbid – Benitez.

Besides, as mentioned it'll never happen. We'll stick with Bobby for a while, see what happens then get in someone cheap & cheerful. Which sums us up in truth.

Hopefully the trials off this season may persuade him to really pull his finger out and give the squad the overhaul it needed last Summer whilst he was off doing his pundit thing.

By my reckoning we need:

A new 1st team GK
A reserve CB to fill in for Stones and Jagielka and compete with Galloway/Browning
A 1st team midfield playmaker (our version of Silva, Cazorla, Mata, Coutinho, Eriksen)
A 1st team winger
A reserve striker as Kone is unlikely to stay fit/offer enough

That's at least 5 new players and does not include replacing the likes of Mirallas and Coleman who could well be off. I expect a Summer of change and given Martinez's past records in the transfer market i'm a bit worried.

He argues that those who want to see the back of our current manager should "be careful what they wish for". The single most annoying phrase of modern times – what most Evertonians wish for is a team which takes to the pitch 100% fit, organised, ready to put their bodies on the line and able to pass to each other without giving the ball away with annoying regularity. If the team could achieve that and win the odd game now again there would be fewer Blues moaning and groaning at the team and its manager.

When I see other teams, with lesser quality players and less experience of the Premier League, able to do most of the things that fans want, you have to wonder just what our players do between games. Any team can have one or maybe two players out of form for a period of the season, but Everton seem to have had over half the team under performing for the entire campaign. There has to be an underlying reason for that and even Roberto has alluded to it but hasn't told us why that has been the case.

We were all hoping for an improvement on last season, but we also realised that this would be a big ask; what none of us expected was the dire and directionless method of playing compounded by the players' inability to get stuck in, make simple passes and a Keystone Cops approach to defending.

As somebody pointed out, if the form shown since mid-December had've taken place for the same duration at the start of the season, Martinez's position would have been untenable. Why then do so many people find it acceptable just because it happened in the middle of the season?

Where is the evidence to support the theory that things will improve at the beginning of the next campaign? There will be no huge overhaul of the squad – the club can't afford it – so exactly what do people think will alter to allow the manager to enforce his philosophy next time around?

We should be careful what we wish for, because if Everton and the board get it wrong by standing by their man, it could cost the club many supporters and many millions of pounds in prize money. Unlike previous occasions, those supporters won't be in a hurry to return to the fold because the owners will have proven that they only care about themselves and have no intention of seeking gradual or (god forbid) rapid improvement.

They have always taken the cheap and easy option – don't forget, if Moyes hadn't've been tapped up by Man Utd, he would have remained in charge at Goodison and would still be here which really highlights the ambition of those who lead the club.

There are bigger questions here about the PL model and the dominance of the top 4 but one thing is certain, people won't easily pay ticket prices etc. to watch continuing mediocrity or, as with this season for us, worse than mediocrity.

That's a phenomenal idea! We could cal it 'Roberto's Phenomenasaurus'.

"It wasn't a day for a technical performance on the ball, it was about being a strong group and showing we have a strong will"
came out as...
"We're shit and we rode our luck and kept on being shit right till the end."

It works a treat!

Sam wrote earlier about the need for new additions and I think he had it about right; I'd go for two playmakers because Gibson (injuries) and Ossie are not getting any younger. Creative players with a combative streak are always the most difficult to find and are most in demand.

Whatever happens, we will probably remain at best a mid-table outfit and at worst another flirtation with relegation is entirely possible because Roberto is not equipped to mentally to take us to the top and keep us there.

The only way he could is if he gets LUCKY and unearths a Super Star just like the RS did when they signed Rat Boy who carried the team single-handedly to the top. Otherwise, it's another season of mediocrity or worse i'm afraid.

I have little or no faith that, whatever team Roberto assembles next season, he will perform any better than he has done this season. To those of the 'give him a chance to finish the job' persuasion, I would say that there is little evidence he has the capability, But good luck with that anyway!

The fact is, those of us who want to see the back of him know that it's not going to happen. We have little choice but hope for confirmation of our survival and then to sit back and await next season with a huge feeling of emptiness and much trepidation.

A major problem for Martinez next season will be holding on to those players who have been performing reasonably well since teams will be watching out situation with interest in the hope of picking up disillusioned players fairly easily. As for his ability to bring in anyone worthwhile... well, personally, I wouldn't hold my breath.

I would imagine that many of those who gave the club a huge bounce in season ticket numbers after last season will be reluctant to do the same next season. Those of us who are hardcore season ticket buyers will no doubt renew as usual. I personally will wait until the last possible day before renewing so as to give the club some cause for thought.

As many others have said on here, I've had experienced many emotions over the years but rarely have I had such a feeling of disinterest in our performances. This is the legacy of Martinez.

It has always been a treat to watch games I've recorded even when I've been at the match. I've enjoyed watching in a more dispassionate and often more relaxing way. This is the first season I can ever recall when I couldn't even be bothered to do that.

Who will be our saviour and where is he?

My 15-year-old actually said they were not fashionable and he would not be seen dead wearing them.....I hate these fashionistas!!!

Now where is my Sergio T 80's jumper....

There aren't that many big jobs available for top class managers. We appear to pay top wages for our coach so I think many would be interested by the money alone.

However, we have a chairman who wants a very specific type of manager. Keeping the club in the Premier League is all that is required as far as ambition goes. He must, though, keep the party line, talk Pollyanna nonsense, pay lip service to the club's history and never, ever rock the boat.

So, Bill already has his man.

Nothing wrong with brown shoes, Steve. I've worn them all my life and the Italian leather Caramel were a real bird puller. Sheer class.

Dumped the boring "blacks" when I left the forces but kept one pair for funerals.

I often ask people who like Kenwright to name me one good thing that he has done for Everton, other than keep us out of the clutches of a really, really, really, really bad owner.

How could we "not be careful what we wish for" when we have the most passionate Evertonian in charge? A man who will always have the club's best interests at heart. Especially when he ring-fences the money, to safe guard our future, and tells us if we had a new ground, then Shiek Mansour would now be our owner?

On Kenwright's contribution to Everton? I have two suggestions.

1. Converting Jenny Seagrove to become an Evertonian, and;

2. His brilliant intuitive creation: The Everton Timeline pasted around the whole of Goodison Park without a clear thought of it's purpose. By its very existence publicising to anyone who didn't already know that our glorious history ended in 1995.

And then with every passing year he remains as Chairman reaffirming that it's highly unlikely to to progress beyond that date. Quite simply the plain truth is while BK's here his ludicrously romantic timeline demonstrates – to anyone who bothers to take notice – that our future is all in the past and, until we get a Chairman who isn't an indulgent self-confessed nostalgic romantic, it always will be!

BK has always said he does not have the money to put into the club to make it a Man City or Chelsea or even they who cannot be named over the park. He is an Evertonian and this must be good as it's not just financial, he wants us to win – the winning (in case we forget) will always help more in getting a buyer... so, no matter what we think of Bill, it's in his interest to have a successful team, both as a supporter and in the selling of the club.

I did like RM when he came and do not now rate him; like many, I changed my mind... but Bill will almost certainly give him next season to see if he is the real deal, Everton do not get rid of managers easy; do not think it's the payoff as this would be insignificant if the club drop down a division or even drop 10-12 places down the league.

Love him or loath him, he will be here next season. Time will tell if it works, and if you think this is just a load of rubbish well I have taken the plunge and got a season ticket for next season so am breathing a bit easier that I will not be watching Championship football.

Perhaps the club could lay on a special event – an empty bus around the City – and the Echo a special insert in which all BK's mistakes and lost opportunities can be chronicled.

The scope for publicity is endless and for once even the 'dark side' supporters would join in!

Get it on, I say!

Kenwright told us the money was there for the Kings Dock, but it wasn't. He sold Bellefield, but instead of paying off the new training ground, it was sold for under ٥ million. This enabled us to rent it back for 㿼 Million, I say rent it back for 㿼 Million, over a 50-year period?

The council stepped in, with a deal which was described as innovative by Elstone??? Why, because it will now only cost us 㿨 Million over the same period??

Not much wrong though because "he's one of us", and he's only got the club's (his own) best interest at heart!

Moyes became one of the highest paid managers in world football, just to keep us in the top half of the league, and it's these actions more than any, which show you the ambition of Everton Football Club, under the present regime.

If he's learnt anything about us, he will keep it short and sweet, try not to gloss over anything, and not look to shift the blame elsewhere.

If he's to be given another chance, I would like to think the crowd would be right behind him, but sadly I don't think that this will be the case.

I honestly think we will lose at least 7,000 season tickets this summer, and this could be the deciding factor as to whether he is given another chance.

I'm only speaking for myself, but I think the international break has come at the right time for everyone, because I'm sure I'm not alone, again, thinking that a lot of us need a little break from Everton, the way things have gone this year.

Of course why anyone would bother listening to Martinez's interviews or read a red top is also beyond me.

As a teenager (because all my mates did) I had my hair shaved down to the wood, wore a (fake) crombie, flemmos (up to my knees) and monkey boots.

In the words of Alexie Sayle (talking about himself wearing an Afghan coat) ’I felt like a million dollars, looked like a cunt.’

As I got older and fashion meant less and less, I was able to stand back and see trends with much more clarity.

There are two things I now know.

Despite the millions who, by their choice of shoe, would beg to differ, wearing brown shoes with black or dark grey kecks is... wrong.

Despite what the fashion magazines, TV presenters, footballers and Mr Martinez think, the only shoe for black kecks is a black shoe and the only thing worse than wearing brown shoes with a black suit is doing that Phil Collins/Paul McCartney thing of wearing battered basies/trainees with a suit. (It’s supposed to say ’Hey I’m in a suit but still a rebel’, but actually says ’I’m a big softie bell-whiff who was never a rebel’.)

Still there is a trend which is much worse, a shocking trend which I first noticed a few years ago while living in Gothenburg – fellers wearing red kecks.

Whenever I see this, I tut, shake my head and think "You’d pour maple syrup all over your ball bag if GQ said it was ’in’."

Fortunately, this trend is not something most Evertonians would be guilty of as we rarely own anything red (and tend not to be called Toby... or have floppy hair... or spend our evenings braying shite in bars in Chelsea).

Phil Walling (#86) – I genuinely think your suggestion has merit. BK has shown he is beyond being embarrassed, but a city tour in a ’2O YEARS OF NOTHING’ bus containing supporters and plastered with the list of fuck-ups is something I’d like to see. Certainly if nothing happens then... nothing happens.

Phil and Sid, very funny but very sad.

Keep these gems coming. We all need a bit of humour given our current plight, sad past 20 years and the prospect of nothing different in the foreseeable future.

The joys of being an Evertonian.

I did quite like one supporter's comments though: "Two seasons, 7 goals, 1 new Lamborghini Aventador."

I am very seriously considering fucking the whole thing off. Just need to find something to a) Give me an excuse to go on the ale most weekends, and b) To get plastered after another loss.

Any suggestions?

I wonder how significant was his statement at the start of the season that we needed seven new players? He later ammended that. Was his card marked by the chairman or the board? Or both? I can't believe the deafening silence from the chairman or the board.

Sunderland have sacked one man and brought in another who seems to be a decent manager from his record. If they, Sunderland can do it, surely Everton, a far more attractive club with a far greater history and potential, can match and or do better? Being in a sticky situation is obviously not a deterrent to managers. The Premier League is a great attraction.

People mention Eddie Howe. His teams, like all the other top six in the Championship, have wingers, forwards and a midfield. They all play at a fast pace, move the ball quickly and in a direct manner, and the eleven men play as a team. Unfortunately that's something we seem incapable of doing. Is this the fault of the players through limited ability, age or fitness? Is it the way the team is set up? The manager?

As many people have pointed out, the next few months are pivotal for the future of the club. We should be preparing for next season now. We have many young players out on loan. If and when we we are definitely safe, or even now, I think they should be recalled to see just how great their potential is and if they will possibly cut the mustard. Garbutt et al should have their chance.

As it is now, lots of the current first team squad needs to be moved on; they might wear an Everton shirt but they're not Everton players. Burnley have shown that there are players in the lower divisions that can play: Danny Ings, etc. Is our scouting system up to it? There appears to have been lots of unrest at the club with lots of backroom people leaving. Everton have always been known as a good stable club to be with – What has happened?

I've been a Blue for sixty years .I don't say that as though I have some special insight or greater knowledge – I don't. This is just my club. I've seen far more intelligent posts here on a regular basis, and some not so. However, over that period of time I've felt that the vast majority of players, once they've put the shirt on and stepped on to the turf at Goodison, give it a go. Quite a few of this bunch seem as if a Ben Sherman would be just as good.

I think our present manager seems to be unable to set up a balanced team, get them moving at a faster pace, and get them motivated as a unit. He's not ruthlesss enough for the job. I just couldn't see The Cat putting up with this. Or the dog either.

There is no problem with players earning decent sums of money and top players earning fantastic money – but the whole thing has gotten out of hand and the vast majority of players in the PL probably think that 'minimum wage' means 㿀k a week and find it difficult to understand why fans moan at the ticket prices. It's nobody's fault but the clubs' themselves – you can't blame the players for taking what's on offer.

It's just got me thinking though, do I really want to contribute (no matter how little) so bang average players can live like lottery winners? Do they deserve our unwavering support? Or should we all say "Fuck you, we'll come back when you buck your ideas up, you useless pricks."

Really not sure.

The points you both make have, I suspect, been exercising supporters' minds for a while now.

What's equally bad, of course, is the whole Sky-/BT-related media circus. The introduction of super pundit Thierry Henri was one of the most cringeworthy episodes I've seen in a long time... but so representative of the shite that football supporters have inflicted on them.

And to see the way Souness and Rednapp had to swallow their egos and go along with this was the only limited pleasure in an otherwise aggravating bullshit process.

Don't get me started!!! But it looks like I already have!

But be that as it may, I do believe that he – or, indeed, any of the lower-tier managers, could have got our squad into a mid-table position this season, Europa or no Europa.

Not asking much, is it? But good enough for Blue Bill.

Well the sane, sensible, logical answer is "Fuck you, we'll come back when you buck your ideas up, you useless pricks."

However this is where football is like few other things in life. Virtually nothing else has a pull that can make us dismiss what what we know is a sensible choice and embrace what we know is insane. If we applied the 'logic' we do with Everton, to other things in life, whatever those things were would be doomed to failure.

Imagine your response if you were buying a flat and a mate told you "I know an estate agent, he's completely fucking useless and a total lying bastard – he'll try and screw as much money out of you as he can and give you absolutely fuck all in return. He's guaranteed to fuck you up."

In normal life, it'd be "Fuck HIM!" but with Everton, it's "Yeah I'll renew me season ticket" (and, like an insane person, I will).

The only other situations I see where logic goes out of the window in the same way, involve family and religion.

Evidence might show that a feller was caught standing over the bloodied victim with an axe in his hand but his deluded mam will say "No, he's a good lad, he's been framed, he couldn't have done it."

Then there's religion:– "My man in the sky, even though there's not one shred of proof of his existence, is better than your man in the sky."

"No MY man in the sky...." etc.