Reports: Deal agreed with Leicester for Walsh

Just imagine the dog's abuse he'll get on here if he moves on to 'a better job' within TWO month's of signing his contract here !!

Link

But when they inevitably do, save me an oar next to you in the next "Titanic Lifeboat", our aguments will keep us going.

You're a sodding misery Phil, I agree with almost nothing that you print. But, you never quit.

The only concern I have is that we have yet to sign any quality first team players. When will they start to arrive?

"A former PE teacher, Walsh also worked at Chelsea, rising to European scout under Jose Mourinho in his first period at the club. He is the brother of former Blackpool, Everton and Queens Park Rangers striker Mickey Walsh who scored that famous goal of the season against Sunderland in 1975. Now an agent, Mickey represents Pearson."

Take your time, blues, and do it right. Yes, I want to see you show us this money is real, but I don't want another Niasse either. Add quality, in the right places. Invest in the club — not the pockets of agents! coybb! 👍👊

If he is responsible for Niasse, good riddance!

I have faith the playing side will follow.

If he is responsible for Niasse, who does seem a strange signing, then fine. However, he must have also been involved in discovering other players. Perhaps Stones or Galloway...for which he could take some credit

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03tn5n9

Sound like a sensible and humble geezer, he refuses to take all the credit for the recruitment success. However he has a philosophy (is that allowed at Everton now???) – the key, he says, is to buy players that will do what you ask when they don't have the ball... something that never shows up on YouTube clips (and often not on TV at all even during live matches because the field of vision is too narrow). Barkley, Besic, Mirallas and Lukaku take note (to name just 4 serial offenders)!

As to Phil Walling's comments about loyalty – well the guy's title at Leicester was Assistant Manager – at Everton he is Director of Football. It's a major promotion.

Think it's a bit of luck: sometimes players pay off and sometimes they don't, no guarantee that we'll suddenly find players like Vardy, Mahrez etc.

No? Then learn how to wait quietly please and be grateful we're in the position we are now. Some people eh?

They were all magnificent last season and it would be great to see them up there again. I always think that, until you've had at least 2 top seasons, it is premature to get carried away. Think Roberto for us.

That said, I hope he's a roaring success and provides us with an array of great talent for years to come.

"Who nobody had heard of before"

Having read several articles since Everton's attempt to lure him away from Leicester, I would suggest he's VERY well known, and well thought of, throughout football circles. The fact that you, me and George the window cleaner have scant knowledge of his success in scouting and recruiting players does little to diminish his obvious talent.

Have play with your Google thingy and do a bit of research, most enlightening.

His four employers over the last decade were Leicester, Newcastle, Hull and then Leicester again. Sure, some of the players he played a part in 'spotting' had a storming season just gone, but each of the aforementioned clubs all acquired their fair share of shite as well.

Does having a hand in unearthing a few unheard-of players qualify one for the Director of Football role? I'm not even being flippant as I find it hard to get a handle on what the job actually involves. Duties seem to vary wildly, depending on club.

Walsh certainly never held that position at Leicester, who had, and still have, a different guy as DoF. (Yes, 'guy' being the dead giveaway that I haven't got time to look up his name. Err... Soz?)

Are we saying 'Director of Football' is little more than a fancy title for a glorified head scout? The same as the grandiose sounding 'Ayattolah of Rock 'N' Rolla' in Mad Max 2 is merely a glorified gimp with moobs, manky grots and a giant meatcleaver? If not, and there's going to be substantially more to the role, then what on his CV suggests Steve Welsh is a cracking fit for the task at hand?

Seems a step down from Monchi who had a longer track record at Sevilla of unearthing gems and good buys.

Difficult to know who will be pulling the strings and making the decisions in these cases but I guess having someone who helped assemble the team that just pulled off one of the greatest football fairytales can be no bad thing....

But I'm like those who are thinking did Leicester get a bit lucky, did their players just have one of those out of this world seasons they'll never ever repeat? Don't get me wrong, they're good players, Kante I think is top class but Mahrez & Vardy weren't exactly pulling up trees before last season.

If I remember rightly, Mahrez was signed when Leicester were in the championship and was in and out of the side and Knockaert was the main man there, then he got injured and Marhez got his chance. And Vardy would be at Sheff Wed now IF Pearson had kept his job. He'd agreed to sell him last summer but then got sack and Ranieri stuck with him, so it could of all been different.

I've seen people say he was responsible for Zola going to Chelsea but that's rubbish. All you see in press is stuff about Walsh finding these 3 at Leicester and don't mention much about his time at Chelsea, and they don't say a thing about his times at both Newcastle or Hull either!

Now I'll admit, I knew nothing about Walsh till last season yet there's Evertonians all over raving about him has if he's some scouting god they've known of for years, yet fans other than Leicester supporters only knew of him cos of these Leicester players!

He may well be respected in the footballing world and he may do a good job, but I don't get the hype by most who knew nothing about him till last season.

This would be he same guy whose club just won the Premier League and they going for Troy Deeney for over 㿀m?

I haven't been impressed with Leicester business so far this summer... Does he have the ability to buy top talent – not just hope to find a cheap one and get lucky?

I do hope that this is a forward step and that he brings something to the table.

Imagine next year if he brings in a St Mirren reject, a 5ft-4in centre-mid from a sub standard 2nd division side, the striker from Fleetwood Town, and we go on and win the league... We can only dream.

I like the way Moshiri is methodically working through the appointments to take us back to the top. Yes, the players are the most important part of the jigsaw but having the necessary building blocks in place to allow the players to flourish is very important.

I don't think Moshiri is looking for a quick fix, but so far for me hasn't put a foot wrong.

You would think the fact he took his coaching badges in the early '70s, was a PE teacher for thirty years and looks like the fucking Equalizer's elder brother might give the game away but apparently not:

"Everton are closing in on the 51-year-old after agreeing a compensation package with Leicester and are hopeful of tying up the deal in the next 24 hours."

Good to hear Big Sam has got the England job. Steve Bruce doesn't measure up in my opinion.

Also I cannot believe the league is harping on about referee protection again and very little about controlling the ever constant clutching and grabbing going on in the penalty area by defenders. Mike Riley stupidly says it's hard to detect even though referees are staring right at it when corner kicks are being taken. I guess we are just going to see more and more of it go unpunished.

Brilliant, nearly choked on me tea.

I know I'm gonna get shot down on here but football scouting etc isn't as simple as "pick a player and sign him". Also he isn't gonna remember every player or what his reports said. Players may well have been on his radar at Leicester but we play a different style and have different needs. Therefore we have (or at least should have) a different "short list". If not, we are purely buying on media reputation.

It's my opinion that this deal, much like the Moshiri one would have, will take upwards of a year to bear fruit. So we need to be patient and not expect the likes of Kante, Drogba etc rolling through our doors immediately.

Koeman goes to him and says for example, "I want a striker who plays with his back to goal, makes intelligent honest runs into the channels, is determined, and has good decision-making skills at tempo."

Then he runs off and scours his database and finds 4 suitable candidates for Koeman to assess and make the final decision on.

In my opinion, it HAS to work this way. I've heard horror stories (from a ex-Premier League manager's family) that a DoF / transfer committee made signings for him (without his consultation) and expected him to fit them into his plans / system instead of him asking for a particular type that fits how he wants to play. (If that makes sense.)

I'm really going to have to start making these posts from a PC mate. Ranting from a iPhone leads to too many autocorrect errors!

Funny thing is, when I read other people's posts, incorrect spelling of players names (especially our own players) winds me up! Then I've been guilty of at least 5 similar errors in the last fortnight. Either time for a new phone or limit myself to PC-only submissions.

In the meantime...Carvalho on his way? Hope so!

Plus, he looks to have the work ethic Leicester built their success on last season, so would probably fit very well with them.