Brands joins Everton board

Personally, I'm not convinced on the need or the efficacy of appointing a very recently contracted employee exclusively concerned with the playing side of things to the corporate boardroom.

Presumably he'll have the major input into the hiring and firing of managers.

Steel from an Usmanov company?

Certainly, the balance of power between Brands and Silva will be changed dramatically – to say nothing of his influence at board level.

We have got relegation fodder centre-forwards... even Newcastle have Rondon and Brighton have Murray; who do we have?

We've got a left winger up top or a young lad who can't shoot!

Not good enough

On the flip side, football and business may not see eye to eye and I wonder if he'll soon have a falling out with other board members?

Maybe start by getting them properly fit would be nice. If the gaffer doesn't like museums, as he puts it, he should start by phasing out the biggest dinosaur: Bye-bye, Bill....

I like that Moshiri called Everton of the past a Museum, because that is what it actually was.

Silva needs to get his coaching right or else he won't last. They will be looking him to produce with what he has and you can be sure Brands and Moshiri will be singing of the same hymn sheet,

All the right noises seemed to come out of this AGM. I think we'd all like to see improvements in the squad this January but few can argue that there's high risk in pissing more money down the drain in the winter window.

I for one am looking at the long game. Again, I know. But, this time around, I have more faith in the foundations.

It's one thing talking a good game but we can't keep writing seasons off as works in progress like we are probably going to with this 18-19 campaign.

The 19-20 and 20-21 seasons MUST show real signs of progress on the pitch — and not just in a style of play but crucially results.

Bayern Munich always have "football" people on the board as do Utd (Charlton was a director when they hired Fergie). So it makes sense to have Brands there dealing with Ryazantsev the money man, Denise and Co.

The team and squad still has some big holes but the new regime aren’t in it for quick fixes so anyone hoping for Vardy and the ilk will be disappointed. Sensible transfer strategy buying rising stars with their best years ahead of them and good resale business.

Link

Look away now, those of you allergic to the 'T' word – transition.

Very confident noises made about the stadium getting built.

The prime goal Moshiri has set to achieve in the new stadium is... to win the Premier League title. Shoot for the moon, I say. Isn't that the fighting talk we want to hear from the club?

But, the CEO says, because the gap between us and the top six is so vast, we still have to 'spend more efficiently than them'. (Pity about the first two years on Moshiri's watch then!)

Currently, for every pound in, he sees just 41p of it.

Brands has formulated a five-year plan for the academy to see more homegrown players progress to the first team.

Keith Harris spoke on the stadium and the unknowns – Brexit, exchange rates, sourcing raw materials for the build from overseas.

On funding, the city council is still part of the deal seemingly. On design, both Silva and Brands have also been consulted. They are looking to get the proverbial 'spade in the ground' next year.

He also spoke of expanding the capacity by 10,000 should legislation in the future allow for standing again. (I wonder if that number is the club's idea of reaching the upper 60,000 capacity 'future expansion' they talked of recently..?)

Both Brands and Silva spoke, Brands very impressed by the 'true blue blood' that runs through the club. A little more worrying from Silva was in answer to January transfers:

“We don't have big plans. I am more focused on the summer than the January window but we don't know what will happen with our own players.” (Is that flagging up the possibility of further outgoings, which possibly need covering..?)

When Moshiri spoke, he was quite direct. “We look at the table and we know it's not good enough. We have had some terrific performances and the challenge in the second half of the season is to have more of those performances.”

You've been warned, Marco!

Thus, the responsibility of sacking Silva and finding a replacement will now be all Brands's doing. I don't see him letting things drift on for long unless the manager can get more out of his new boss'es signings than he has managed so far!

I said a few weeks ago that, after all the money he's ploughed into this club in the last three years, he can't be happy with the way the playing side of things are.

We keep hearing we shouldn't be beating the top six at this moment in time but let's have a look at these upcoming fixtures:

Bournemouth
Southampton
Millwall
Huddersfield
Wolves

If we can't put at least 4 wins together out of that lot, then I think we need to start looking closer at this “work in progress” and maybe take the word “progress” out of the equation for the moment in time.

The appointment of Brands to the Board will enable the Board to receive direct assurance that future transfer dealings make sense from a financial as well as a football point of view.

Brands is focussed on the summer, not January. There will be no quick fixes.

So no chance of Chairman Bill trying to fill it will his own brand of Bullshit then – that source seems to have dried up with the appearance of Moshiri who is not likely to take any Bullshit from anyone!

As a business the club, is drowning in a sea of unnecessary, expensive, non productive overheads, who have walked in on two legs and who appear to be particularly adept at shrouding their own incompetence with fine words.

Above all, we need a competent manager with a proven track record who can choose his own players and work unencumbered by the shadow of a Director of Football whose own record leaves much to be desired.

The playing side under Silva has been hit and miss so far, but it looks like we have a plan and Moshri is sticking with it; it's not perfect yet and a long way from it. Only time will tell, on the playing side, and at least we have stopped signing the next best players who don't play.

With regard to the squad, Silva should not stick with playing players who are under-performing for the sake of tactics. If there are some under-performing, haul them off and give others squad players a chance to prove their worth.

I'm not knocking it, just trying to be realistic. We won't be expecting to start chipping away at the top six for another half a decade. Silva will probably be kept as long as he keeps the fans happy with some decent football and manages to avoid getting dragged into a relegation battle. A few cup runs would be the icing on the cake, and maybe a derby win (one day!).

Bob, Brands and Silva. Here all of 5 minutes and judged to be adept already. Evidence for the incompetence?

I want a DOC or DOF to be concerned solely with the football operations and development, not the stadium, ticket prices, merchandise deals, staff raises, etc. I want him to stand up and argue for everything he thinks he needs and wrangle with the Board in order to get them.

I don't want Brands worrying about where the money will come from. I want him to worry about getting in players, improving the teams, and getting (or keeping) a coach whom he trusts.

Putting Brands on the board in charge of football matters will only pile the pressure on Silva to get results or else. The second half of the season will be very interesting.

This a very clear sign Brands will hire and fire with input from Moshiri. A much more preferential situation rather than how the last two managers were hired and fired.

Brands gives a much more professional approach and was my signing of the summer. He's well known around Europe and does things without fanfare.

Silva has had his knuckles rapped in public. So for those who think he's doing okay, our majority shareholder thinks differently.

He's expecting far better in the 2nd half of the season and I hope the scrutiny remains. No open-ended project jargon, a tight rein to foster progress and if that isn't forthcoming then move on.

Encouraging noises about the stadium and playing side, but I'd actually like to see some action.

You asked for this, mate: Would that be the Johnson who won us our last trophy? I still feel miles away from there, mate, I'm afraid.

Yes, good point, maybe Brands is now on the board to keep his interest away from others sniffing round him.

I will be extremely surprised if we improve in the second half of the season unless we get a reliable centre-forward which doesn't sound likely. Not replacing Lukaku was gross incompetence.

My thoughts, exactly, when Denise announced it. I think it's a good move although it's never been in doubt he's senior to Marco, or any future manager.

On the immediate football side Kenwright and Moshiri gave a clear message to Marco not to mess about in the FA Cup and Moshiri said he expected the League position to improve in the second half of the season. No pressure there, then!

A questioner from the floor questioned Marco on zonal marking and got an assurance it wasn't set in stone!

Surely most will agree, a bloody centre-forward is what we need right now.

The known good strikers aren't available because their teams obviously don't want to sell. Only hope is for Brands to unearth a unknown gem... and even that will be a punt that could go either way.

We don't win many games. We rarely put in a 90 minute performance. We seem disorganised at times and lacking a leader on the pitch. We ship goals like that's the aim of the game and the manager clearly isn't interested in listening to anyone when it comes to zonal marking. We, the supporters, are being told 11th isn't good enough, whilst hearing how far away we are from sixth or above.

Yet we have to listen to the owner bemoaning our poor performance transfer wise, little of which he seems to accept the blame for? His was the judgement that brought in Koeman and Walsh. He agreed to sell Lukaku when apparently he knew all along we'd never replace him. In which case, why ship him out with two years left on his contract? Who knows the difference those 12 months may have made to Koeman?

There's no evidence that Ross Barkley is a major loss, despite his slight improvement at a much better Chelsea squad. Stones ? Well ok, tho for a long time he wasn't at the races at city but yes, he's a big miss on current form of course he is.

Mr Moshiri's financial arguments about transfers don't make sense to me. We sold Lukaku for £75m yet he claims we needed £120m to replace him. Well, now perhaps but at the time? I'm not so sure. We simply didn't buy any quality at all, actually no striker for the first window at all post Lukaku sale. The owner, Koeman his man and Walsh, all contrived to waste huge amounts of money and I'd add that I don't see £250m “net” on fees as you cannot ignore the £200m raised in sales from the time Mr Moshiri arrived.

It's now being said that we got it right in the summer. Did we ? Where's even some minimal evidence of that ? We were desperate for a No 9 then, and are even more desperate now. Who agreed to £27m for Tosun? Didn't we have Mr Moshiri implying he pretty much scouted the guy himself whilst speaking at the AGM last year ?

Okay, all of the above is in part a product of frustration. But seriously, I'm not impressed with writing off another season. I honestly think we can sink a lot lower than 11th in the next few months. It can go either way but the worrying thing for me is all the evidence, and I mean all, is pointing towards a huge problem in the second half of the season unless we re enforce a failing squad.

It's not a short-term fix. It's a long term view as no player of quality is coming to a club going backwards on the pitch. The squad should be good enough to turn it round, but each week is another false dawn and all I, and thousands of others are waiting for is a few signs of this mythical “going in the right direction” but at present its as if saying 11th isn't good enough will change it all. Words won't do it, action will make the difference and the vision to see that yes five year plans are super if the foundations are there in the first place. Right now, they are not, and the focus has to be on the pitch.

Brands seems like an impressive guy. Denise seems like the person we suspected she was when appointed, ie, pragmatic but passionate and accomplished. Great stuff. But losing game after game will undermine progress elsewhere so quickly it can destroy a club no matter how good the intentions, how bright the vision.

The season's a washout unless we can stop this dismal and let's be honest, really negative and hopeless run of results. An FA Cup run, unlikely as it seems as we struggled to beat a league two side, well that could be part of it.

Brands must see it, mustn't he? He must surely see that we are desperate for momentum and some upturn. He must see that we need to finish the season on a clear, impressive run that will lay the foundation for his transfer strategy to have a chance in the summer. He must, mustn't he?

In defence of the 'T'-allergists (like myself). It's just that this word has been used on several occasions to somehow explain away the abject garbage we've been suffering lately. The comments such as 'Patience is a virtue', 'He hasn't a magic wand' etc etc, crop up frequently and are somewhat patronising.

Transition means changing from one state to another. We've gone from shite, to... err... shite. Spending a fair bit along the way. Not signing a forward in this window would be a big mistake.

So, which is it?

People talk about Everton needing to be run like a business. Well, football is our main product. Any strategy needs to include some element of footballing performance.

And Brands on the board means he can be held to account for that performance, and hold others to account in the footballing department.

He doesn't need to accept the blame for anything. He's the one with his money invested.

He brought in a DoF and a manager... which I'm sure he had advice on. The thing is, no-one is accountable for that advice being any good until you pay someone to provide it. Walsh and Koeman were awful... who's head rolled?

I think this is a full acknowledgement that he wants expertise and accountability for transfer performance and team performance.

That's what we want, isn't it?

That's a great line, Mr Moshiri.

Michael Lynch, if that is the scenario, which it most likely is, I'd take a few years of 7th-9th if the club is definitely paying off the stadium as well as developing youth to either bring into the senior side or sell off. The real test is, after that 4- to 7- (I know you said 5-)year period, if we are still just treading water or making real progress up the table.

Putting Brands on the board makes perfect sense as he is responsible a large part of the assets and liabilities the club reports in its accounts, ie, the value of the players and their compensation packages.

On the playing side, of course Moshiri isn't satisfied with our current position – no-one is. He has total support for Silva because he recognises so far he has brought 3 permanent signings into a first team squad where Brands and the manager will need to move 10-15 players out (under-performers, loanees etc).

Moshiri could have said that he spent two years getting it badly wrong on the playing side and threw £100 million net plus down the drain. That would have impressed me given he and only he thought that bringing Allardyce in was a good idea after Fat Sam's autobiography.

He's got rid of players who we all know weren't good enough or past their best, so no brilliance there. He's brought in players but the jury is still out on all of them, no brilliance shown there either then.

We didn't buy a striker even though we are crying out for one: ditto. We persist with youth players in the first team who simply aren't of the highest quality required to compete in the Premier League: ditto.

Nice job if you can get it though Marcel.

As for the manager's position. I see us having a very interesting summer on the transfer front; however, if the results are poor, Silva will be gone.

As for the stadium, no-one seems to be saying it won't happen anymore on this forum, its just a matter of when.

Great time to be an Evertonian: despite the recent form, we are going places!

Another Moyes gem was the signing of Brian McBride in 2003, experiences short term fix but it worked a charm.

Aaron Lennon was another on loan that transformed things for a fading squad in 2014-15. Why do we no longer seem capable of pulling off these little coups nowadays?

I'm all for signing players that will be great over a 5-year period but sometimes you need to spot what's wrong right in front of you and right now.

"Bournemouth
Southampton
Millwall
Huddersfield
Wolves

If we can't put at least 4 wins together out of that lot..."

I think this is part of the problem currently: Expectations. Seems evident to me at the moment that bar the top 3 teams anyone can beat anyone (Huddersfield beat Wolves away, Wolves beat Spurs away etc). Yet you expect us to win almost every match, including against teams above or on the same points as us in the league. Why? We're not that good. We haven't been for a very long time.

It's good to have dreams and we all want to move upwards but day to day having unrealistic expectations just creates impatience and resentment. Which we have enough of.

Personally I think if we can beat Millwall in the cup and get 2 wins and 2 draws from the 4 league games (8 points from 12) that would be pretty ace. Yet that wouldn't be enough for you (and possibly others too). Setting yourself up to be disappointed and I'm not sure who that serves.

Because Moshiri wants us to think big. I think outside the top six we are the club that is striving and spending the most to finish the best of the rest.

Wolves are newly promoted and Moshiri has budgeted to be finishing above teams like that, likewise Bournemouth; maybe Leicester and West Ham are serious contenders to us but unless we start registering wins against teams around us, how can we ever really take this new dawn at Everton seriously?

We have basically written off this season as one in transition if you listen to most fans. Next season and the one after, we simply must improve our league position and not make excuses.

If we can't start registering wins in these types of matches to greatly improve that ratio, then – once the top 5 clubs start rocking up at Goodison – you can bet anything that Moshiri won't be sitting comfortably with what's happening.

Start winning these games against the mid-table sides and give ourselves something to build on – that's imperative.

Brands himself sounds like he has found a spiritual home to flex his talents, and a project that he is motivated to meet the challenge. Everton now is his chosen path and his destiny; as a result he will give his all to succeed.

I think it is a great appointment and not premature at all. If anything, it is well timed.

As you know, Jelavic was a Rangers goal machine and at £5m his fee was a pittance. If we went after a striker with the same performance level now, we'd need to hand over £30 - 40m possibly more.

As for Pienaar, today Spurs would need to pay us in the region of what we want for Gueye.

If the RS can get £19m for a no-mark who can't even get into their U23s and as good as failed a medical to go on loan to Palace surely we can be asking them for a lot more for Niasse, I mean Benteke cost them an initial £27m and his goal return for that lot over the park was no different.

I think you'll find Farhad worded the statement about the £100m badly (don't meant that nastily). I believe what he meant was that the ground preparation cost is going be an additional £100m from what was first envisaged.

Just a wee case of semantics I'm sure.

Whatever the semantics, I always feel that the cost of new football stadiums is way in excess of the norm for large building schemes.

As for the appointment of Brands, we certainly needed someone on the Board with some knowledge of football.

It's sad how football has gone now really isn't it? I think I much preferred the days when we put a really good team together on a shoestring.

The January transfer window for us was once more productive than the summer window, certainly for instant injections of life into ailing squads. Arteta, McBride, Manny Fernandes, Pienaar, Donovan, Jelavic, Lennon – just some names that really breathed life into the teams when needed.

Denise Barrett Baxendale the CEO started by highlighting the massive difference between what we generate per year which is about £171 million and what the Sky 6 generate which on average is £419 million. Which whatever way you look at is massive, she went on to say a lot of the difference is generated from European football. She also highlighted that, in the last 15 years teams outside the top 6 qualifying for the Champions league is 3% us and Leicester being the exceptions.

Keith Harris then said he expected a spade in the ground at Bramley Moore starting next year, and Moshiri confirmed that the money would be provided, whatever the cost. This was positive and allayed any fears that this would become another red herring like the previous ground moves.

Everybody who spoke all welcomed the appointment of Marcel Brands to the board.

But for me the most interesting comments came from Farhad Moshiri, he said that "Looking at what he had spent 11th in the table was not good" which is understandable enough. But he then said "We need to utilize the fans impatience to drive the club on". So what does that mean how do fans show their impatience, some already boo the team off at halftime. He obviously doesn't read T/W otherwise he would know some fans wanted Marco sacked 8 weeks into the job.

He also said they took a massive gamble on Marco, well hate to remind him but he hired the man as he did with the 2 other managers he has already dispensed with.

He then went on to say that the problem was they didn't replace Stones, Lukaku or Barkley and to do so it would have cost us huge amounts of money not to mention the £200,000 a week we would have to pay the replacements in wages.

His template for the future is to buy younger players who are not on such high salaries. Now I have been watching football for over 60 years and I have only twice seen a group of young home grown players win anything. That was the Busby babes, and Sir Alex Fergusons class of 92. So if Moshiri thinks thats they way to get back to winning trophies good luck with that one.

What is more likely to happen, I suggest, is that if these talented youngsters prove to be top players then the top clubs will come and take them away. Sad but true, I am afraid; not many players turn down the chance to play for one of the established top clubs. We know from Rooney and Stones and latterly Barkley.

>I agree with your overall point but surely a little harsh to omit the 1968-70 side? Hurst, Husband, Wright, Royle, Harvey, Whittle and of course Labone all came through the ranks or the youth side.

Yes that team had a lot of home grown players, you are quite right. But seems it gets harder and harder for local lads to break into the first team. But I still think, if this is the route Moshiri wants to go down, then I think, whoever the manager is, it will be a tough ask.

We didn't qualify for the Champions League though, did we? We got through to the qualifiers and were beaten. Yet there's some who seem to think we mysteriously made it through to the last 8 or went further...

I doubt if any fan of other clubs can even remember us finishing 4th. I wish Evertonians would stop mentioning this like it was some sort of achievement. Leicester winning the Premier League was an achievement... finishing 4th that season wasn't.

Moshiri, who has been a saviour to our Club, has made a lot of ill-advised appointments both of managers and players alike, I say ill-advised not from a retrospective point, but rather, if it was from his own initiative, he has goofed big style and wasted a shed-load of money, or if it was from fellow members of the Board it proves the same.

Having Brands on board, pardon the pun, makes s lot of sense as he is not only respected throughout Europe and World Football, he has a knowledge of the game and the way forward that none of the others have.

I am curious too, as to whether Marco Silva's 'performance' thus far has influenced the decision too. In some ways, I sympathise with Marco as he inherited a mis-matched squad, which was a compilation of Martinez, Koeman and Allardyce signings, but he has not exactly covered himself in glory either, with his persistence to basically play with a group of players who were inconsistent, and expecting to get a different result.

I don't know how many posts I have read regarding Walcott and his poor performances on the right, equally with not having a recognised and efficient striker; why he has never tried Walcott up front?

We are a project at the moment and have some good players, but I feel that Silva does not utilise them or motivate them to their full potential. It will be interesting to see what happens, not only in the Transfer Window, but decisions made at Board level, in the next few weeks.

As for no signings in January, probably true but you always take these comments with a pinch of salt as they don't want to show their hand. Wait until the 1st February before kicking-off about the lack of signings.

Everyone is clamouring for a "proven striker" as a must, which I agree we need, but where is this player? Outside of Vardy, can anyone name someone outside of the big players (Rooney, Van Persie, Aguero, Kane etc.) who has scored more than 20 goals in any of the last 10 seasons and came from nowhere? Once again, some people need a reality check.

It seems to me that Moshiri has been persuaded to take a steady path to the top by developing youth while maintaining our status quo. The trouble with that is twofold.

We will not attract the top players, youth or otherwise, while we are a midtable Premier League outfit; and secondly, there is a high fallout of promising youth players who do not reach their suggested potential.

I am happy at the confirmation of the ground move but still feel that Goodison being developed was a much more cost-effective plan.

It seems the board are good at dreaming but the execution leaves a lot to be desired. No change on the philosophy of the last 20 years then.

Maybe so but I’m mainly speaking about the recent modern era.

We have rarely succeeded when our managers have been given big financial backing.

Even when Walter Smith got the job in 1998 he was initially given money to spend on players (regardless of where the money came from) there was considerable funds for back in the day, and we failed dismally to put a good team on the pitch.

Joe Royle was the only one who signed wisely given some good backing, the signings of Kanchelskis, Barmby, Speed and Short were pretty good pieces of business.

In the modern era, Martinez initially did well with the captures of Lukaku, McCarthy and Barry but it went downhill fast after that.

Moyes always worked best with limited funds available and managed to consistently turn water into wine.

Koeman, Allardyce and Silva have had mixed fortunes so far with maybe one or two real success stories but in the main the jury being out on most.

We are spending a lot more money these days than we ever have but it’s difficult to establish whether throwing loads of cash on players is really working.

The summer needs to see an introduction of “better players than we currently have” if we are serious to move up a new level.

As for getting a striker, it’s not so important to get 20 goals every season (obviously a bonus) but it’s vital that we sign forward for what he offers to the team.

We need someone who physically gets involved more than what we have at present and someone who can offer a different dimension to the attack that we clearly don’t have at this minute.

The impatience of the fans is to be used to drive the whole “project” forward. But younger players who have lower salaries will be used (paraphrasing his words). This will require patience from the fans (my words).

I hope everyone is clear!

This man would surely be poached to another Club eventually. How do you stop that?

I would assume (uh-oh. . . ) that a board appointment entails a percentage of the privately held Everton stock.

How do you stop an asset from leaving your organization?

Give them equity.

Well played by Everton. Shrewd.

A lot are saying Silva can't be judged after 6 months so why is Brands being judged a success after the same period?

I'm playing Devil's Advocate a bit but you know what I mean... Let's see where the team is in 12 months before we hail Brands as an unbridled success.

"impatience" "drive." I think you can read those remarks two different ways. It could be as Brian suggests that fans are impatient and mad, e.g. booing the team to show their displeasure and lighting a fire under the arses of the team. It could also mean, (more cynically) since the fans are so impatient they won't mind prices being jacked up to increase revenue and get the new stadium/better team here sooner. I am inclined towards the latter being the true meaning unfortunately.

If this is true what benefit is that to us?

I could understand flogging him for a good few because he’s clearly got no future here but loaning him out?

They have had people like Brands before with new managers and talk of a new stadium but we are still way behind the eight-ball compared to the top-six etc. Talk is cheap and we are sick to death of it.

Applauding the new signings last Summer by Silva and Co does nothing except underline the standard that Everton Football Club has seemingly become used to.

Brands has already indicated that it is unlikely money will be spent on new players this month and so we have to be resigned to the fact that the season will end much like previous ones under Moyes, Martinez and Koeman: a mid-table team with a mid-table attitude.

Catterick and Kendall must be turning in their graves.

Jim, I can only presume that Brands has a forward lined up but wants the proceeds from Tosun and Niasse to help pay for some of it. We should be able to get around £20M for those two donkeys.

"They have had people like Brands before..."

No, they haven't. Brands is completely different to anyone we've had before. The guy is ruthless and completely focused on what needs to be done.

Any comparison to Walsh is like comparing night to day.

Where's that "breaking", Jim?

But if it were true I guess the logic would be that (currently) Palace are not direct rivals and if he gets games there and scores some goals then we either get back a player who has proved he can perform in this league or we can sell him more easily.

Also if his wages get off the books more chances of loaning someone else in.

By my reckoning we're a mere three or four youngsters short then, as well as a similar number of stellar signings.

And some of us ask why we need a football brain in the boardroom? Give me strength.

This is going to take £100 million a year for years to close the gap with top 4.

It's from a twitter account that makes up transfer rumours.

"Crystal Palace are deep into negotiations with Everton over the possibility of loaning out of favour #EFC striker Cenk Tosun. Roy Hodgson is said to be a huge admirer and is desperate for a natural goal scorer. #CPFC"

Here's their latest tweet:

"DIMITRI PAYET - £26 million move to China has been outbidded by a shock £32 million bid from EVERTON. More news to follow SOON. #EFC #EvertonFC #Toffees"

...Enough said.

Haven't you listened to some people on here? It is all about having high standards like the good arl days. That's what attracts the best coaches and players.

Anyone know what toothpaste he uses? - gotta get me some.

(Pic on main page)

By he way, anyone see those three spectacular goals on Sky today from three Everton players. Beckford against Chelski, Barkley against the Barcodes and Walcott for Arsenal.

Hard to see what happened to the confidence of Barkley and Walcott since those days.

Want a third team of youngsters to win something.

Try Howard Kendall's Everton in 1985 who were one knackered game and a boozy celebration away from doing the double and picking up a European Trophy.

Average age that season 24 years 4 months.

Andy Gray 29½ Peter Reid 29
Big Nev 26¾
Sheeds 25½
Psycho Pat, Inchy, Sharpy and Ratters all 24½
Degsy, Brace and Gary Stevens 22
Tricky 21

These are the ages at the end of the season.

And the whole team cost less than Bryan Robson at Man Utd. So youngsters and picked up for small amounts of money even for those days.

We, it seems, must tread water in midtable for the next five years to fund our new home.

That certainly puts paid to my sincere hopes of Silva being sacked then...

Moshiri said most would come from the private market, some from naming rights, and he would fund any shortfall.

Sasha said more or less the same thing but added that the council option is still on the table.

I was in the third row.

'Cancer' is too strong a word but let's just say his business acumen or transfer dealings plus merchandise are well in the last century. Everything about him spells "nearly".

Big Nev has never been ¾ of anything!

Kenwright has his faults but when his consortium took over Everton, they didn't exactly have to fight anyone off.

He also brought Moshiri to the table.

Okay, so he's quids in for his trouble but that's purely down to the way TV money has added value to Premier League clubs.

You could argue that it took 20 years and a lot of supporter pressure to bring Moshiri to the table and in the meantime Sheik Mansour was told to do one and ended up at Man City.

In the meantime we had to make do with Earle and Green (enough said).

Most supporters problem with Bill is his deceit, incompetence and the mediocrity he has brought to the club.

Thanks for clarifying. I figured at least one ToffeeWeber would be there to give us an accurate report. Cheers!

I'm no cheerleader for Kenwright... and yes, his aspiration was to keep us in the Premier League with maybe the odd cup run.

I understand Sheik Monsour's team did due diligence on Everton but the deciding factor was the prospect of a modern, free, stadium at Man City. There is no evidence that Kenwright told them to 'do one'. Why would he?

Has anyone else noticed lately, the quality of postings, debate and discussion on ToffeeWeb. Great stuff. Improving faster than the club!

The feedback I had at the time when I knew someone with great clout at Everton, who unfortunately is no longer with us, was that Kenwright put very onerous demands on the conditions of sale which was enough to encourage the Arab consortium to look elsewhere. They had initially set their sights on Everton as their number one target.

I would think with their wealth, a stadium, albeit important, was not the prime motivator.

I know you feel we go overboard with criticism of Bill and he does have some qualities but personally I can't stand liars and he has been very deceitful from the outset with an ego the size of the Mersey.

I am sure he won't be concerned with either of our opinions on him.