We are still in this

You must have left the ground feeling desperately deflated, but you're like a Chumbawamba song.

If we hadn't had the 10-point deduction, we would be 12th on 30 points and we could've served up the performance that many were demanding, but that deduction is hanging around our necks and you only have to hear the restlessness inside the ground to see that it transmits to the players as well as us fans.

Performance-wise, although Ashley Young had a shocker but his experience and positional play allowed Ben Godfrey the freedom to rove forward. Once Young was hooked (rightly so) Godfrey could not take the chance of going too far out of position as Jack Harrison is more forward intended.

Harrison put in some useful runs and a couple of good crosses and we looked sharper after his introduction. Onana proved what he is – a class above those around him, glad that he looks fit again.

We have to take it on the chin that, until the points situation is sorted one way or another, there will be more games like this. If we get a sizable amount back that steadies the ship and moves us upwards, and we can judge Sean Dyche then if this sort of performance is repeated.

Until then, we can only be grateful that at least we have someone in charge who gets the situation and cares deeply that he is not going to be the man that takes Everton down, not pretty but realistic.

Since we've barely played more than 2 or 3 seasons of decent football in the past 35 years, it's a bit much to expect us to play our way out of trouble with what might be the worst squad (relative to the opposition) since Oster. The most important thing is surely that we do stay out of trouble.

Dreadful though we were, we still created and missed chances. Heaven knows what people on here would have said if Calvert-Lewin had missed to only real sitter of the evening, when Doucoure missed that chance seconds before their goal.

Small picture says we were awful. The bigger picture says we'd be midtable based on results. 10 points ahead of the mighty Luton, who play with great purpose, but I'd argue their sieve-like defence will hurt them more than our inept finishing hurts us.

Dyche is responsible for picking Young and Godfrey, which meant nothing coming down one flank. When was the last time we had someone get round the back and delivering a good cross?

Struggled against a very poor side, long season ahead, points deduction or not.

I'm allowing for injuries and squad size, it's not just the results but the performance – the attitude, the set-up, the intent and intensity.

For more than two thirds of the game last night, almost no real attacking commitment. Then we concede. Ah, now we can attack – and look, we're capable of it, with our small squad of "poor" players.

So again, how did we win those four games? (And thank God we did, or we'd be in the shit now however the points thing pans out.) We won them by playing with an attacking and positive outlook.

Since then, we've looked negative, "safe" and frightened. A different team. We've shown the capability earlier to have torn that Palace side apart last night.

Dyche saved us and has shown flashes – but now I feel he's slipping back into the oft-seen mould of many English managers of struggling teams, whose dream season is 38 nil-nil draws.

Really enjoy your posts and your positivity it certainly helps, but I agree with the vast majority that we seem to have lost our mojo since those 4 wins on the trot.

McNeil is a shadow of the player he was earlier in the season and why he took Gana off is a mystery to many of us. Young should have been hooked after 30 minutes as it was obvious that he wasn't working out.

For a game where Sean Dyche said we should be on the front foot, we were on the back foot for most of it and the sooner Pickford is told he is not an outfield player, the better – as long hoofballs up the pitch are not the answer.

We need to give Dobbin and /or Chermiti a chance as they may not be the experience we want but at least they are potential goalscorers.

I'd venture those long kicks up field are on Dyche, not Pickford.

That game at Wolves really damaged us. Dyche made a mistake by going with a back five. Our midfield were over-run and we haven't really been the same since.

A confident midfield will come back to their defenders and take the responsibility whether they have a man up their arse or not.

I was screaming at Tarkowski last night. Nine times in the first half alone he hoofed it aimlessly to nobody. Then I realised nobody was coming short for him. Short of going on a charge himself, he had no options.

Our midfield isn't functioning. They are not coming short for the defenders and they are not getting up to support the attack. None of them has the confidence to break ranks.

Bravery comes in many guises on a football pitch. It takes a very brave man to keep demanding the ball in tight areas when it isn't going well. Especially when under the intense scrutiny of a crowd living on its nerves. You have to be prepared to risk the wrath of that crowd.

Oh for a Leon Osman. He drove the crowd crazy at times when he would be dispossessed, but he kept right on showing for that ball.

Confidence, eh?

But we were almost void of a midfield. No one showing or willing to receive the ball for large parts of the game.

Leon Osman. Possibly one of the most under-rated and under-appreciated Everton players in my lifetime.

I am not surprised at the quality last night's game. Two teams in relegation form, what did we expect?

I am not blaming Dyche. I don't agree with all of his decisions but he's got an almost impossible job on to try and make this team play fluid, passing football. It feels like death by a thousand cuts at the moment though, we need a result - or an outrageous piece of luck - to get us going again. Quickly.

I've nothing at all against Leon Osman but Christ-on-a-bike, him being so eulogised just shows how far we've plunged as a top club since Heysel.

A good player, when on form, certainly. But never in a million years even close to great.

And we used to field great players, folks, regularly, until a certain recently deceased mega-shyster bizarrely gained alleged control of our club, issuing the end of any vestige of "great" – obviously to most of us.

Tragically, Moshiri never was in the "most of us" camp and we suffer accordingly......... now and for seasons to come.

Forget the 80s or before, in the period he played for Everton, he was one of our most technically gifted players.

He took a lot of stick on many occasions. That's why I said under-rated and unappreciated by some. Not everyone.

As I have often said, had he moved to the continent, he would have been a star. But he stuck with Everton.

I'll keep repeating myself. Ditch the punditry, Leon, and get onto Finch Farm. I wish we could entice Pienaar to give up his current position as coach of the Ajax youth team to make a return.

I know I've been a critic of jobs for the old boys, but I don't mind ex-players if they are fit for the job.

Cahill was greeted with suspicion at the time. Coming in with alleged injury concerns (Andy Gray?!).

Well, he put any of those concerns to bed and was a fine servant to the club.

Passion, desire and commitment. He could teach a few of our players a thing or two! Especially about boxing the corner flag after scoring!!

Stop it, Mike. Osman, Pienaar and Cahill.

It's Wednesday and nearly Saturday.

I remember two headers, one clearer than the other, but certainly not “sitters”?

Talking about passion and desire, I think you could teach a lot of fans and three or four players all about that.

Cahill had as many faults as attributes but he certainly came up with a few goals and he had that will to win attitude that Dyche would have appreciated.

Onto Saturday and Brighton Danny as you would say when you and 3,000 Blues will be there cheering the team on. That's a whole lot of passion and desire that most teams haven't got backing them.

RE Leon Osman, yes a very technically gifted player. He wouldn't have looked out of place in a SAF Man United team.

As was common with some of Moyes' signings at the time, he didn't break into the first team immediately (see also Leighton Baines, Joleon Lescott) but once in, was a first choice (see also you get it!)

A few on these boards met him in Singapore in June, 2007, when the Aussies did a 10-day training camp prior to their first appearance in the ASEAN Cup. He was injured then - a metatarsal injury he'd picked up in the last 3rd of the season.

(And he did go on to score in their first game, becoming - I think - the first goalscorer in the ASEAN Cup finals, as well as the Oceanic Cup finals, and of course, the World Cup finals).

Then last season, ok, quite exciting, though the Bournemouth escape was just a huge relief and most of us felt more anger than happiness, anger at the board, at the club.

This season though, fuck this. Danny, like you I live in London, but I take my hat off to you - I've given away my ticket for half the games this season. I can't drag myself 200 miles each way to be bored witless and watch us get battered by the likes of Luton, let alone the Sky clubs. It's dull, it's painful, and it's all the fault of one complete idiot - Moshiri.

And to compound it, the PL is incompetent, greedy and ridiculous. The lengths they go to to keep the rich clubs happy is beyond belief. FFP? Fuck off. It's a closed shop, it should be illegal. And as for Sky and their relentless, hysterical over-promotion of the "product", the "greatest show on earth", don't even get me started. The game has been ruined for the real fans in order to fleece the armchair viewers who treat each football season like another season of Celebrity Big Brother.

To be honest, I'll go to more games if we get relegated. No more VAR, nor more getting battered by clubs who think its fair to pull up the ladder now that they have the money to steal the European places every year, the expectation that we might win every game we play, maybe even see some decent football from our lot. The PL is no place for losers, and that's what we are right now. I'm not sure it's possible under the current system for us ever to be competitive at the "highest level" again, or at least not until the RS and the rest fuck off to a super league.

And, I might be wrong, but I bet you we get a full house at BMD for every game whichever division we're playing in in 2025/26.

UTFT, FTPL.

Yes,your first paragraph is exactly how it happened.

I thought Tim was a starter right away but didn't he score the goal that beat Man City 1-0 in his first game then got sent off for celebrating it by taking his shirt off, or was that a different season?

Then he was suspended but came right back into the side and was an ever-present when fit until the last two seasons he was here. Then he hardly played because of fitness, or he was past his best where Everton were concerned, but seemed to be revitalised when playing for Australia.

I'm not saying he didn't care about playing for Everton in those last two seasons – just that he wasn't the same player he had been.

Funnily enough, the question about his punching the corner flag celebration came up on that Singapore night – "Do you imagine it is Steve Bennett's head?"

Later that night as we took him back to the team hotel, he told me that he and Mikel Arteta had just signed new long-term contracts (it was officially announced a few days later).

I think early on he had a couple of injury-affected seasons where he played in around half of the league fixtures - he got booked a lot as well!

His final two seasons, when he was hitting 30 – he featured in 27 and 35 games respectively, but I think a lot of them were sub-appearances – he only scored 2 league goals in 2011-12.

He was fiercely proud to play for Australia – but it was a battle for him as he'd represented Samoa at youth level, and it was only when FIFA changed the rules in 2003 that he was able to make his belated appearance for the "Socceroos" just before he signed for us.

Interesting points. If my increasing ageing memory serves me, Moyes was reluctant to play Baines and I think we played Lescott as a left-back for a large part of the season?

Michael @26,

I'm just a lost cause beyond cure when it comes to Everton. Throwing a ticket to me is like throwing a bone to a dog!

Trips home also give me a chance to meet with family and friends.

We can all relate to a man who will stick his head among the flying boots. Put his body on the line. In that respect, he was without fear. Or peer.

It takes a different sort of bravery to come back and take responsibility knowing the opposition press is breathing down your neck and your team mates are terrified to show for you in case they make a mistake.

Kenwright, Moshiri, Usmanov, Brands and Walsh etc, haven't just taken away expectation. They have reduced everyone connected to the club to nervous wrecks. Few grounds can get close to generating our special atmosphere, but for several years now, we have needed a 2/3 goal lead before the anxiety levels in the stands start to come down. The nightmare of our beloved club disappearing without trace haunts us all. That anxiety transfers to the pitch.

We used to applaud people who wanted to play. Not anymore. The entire club is in the grip of doubt and fear. Anyone making a mistake whilst trying to play football is slaughtered. It's been that way since the gruesome twosome created the glass ceiling. Ask Stones, Barkley, Osman. It's going to take years to repair the damage done to this club.

For now, it's all about living to fight another day.

Brands had a vision; he was the only intelligent knowledgeable football man at the club. This is proven with PSV's revival and current success.

There lay the problem with the club, its refusal to change and move forward.

It was run by an old boys network that refused to take on new ways of operating and working, headed by Billy Bullshit and his cronies. They brought in people with a vision and up-to-date ways of improving the club, but it didn't suit the rhetoric of the old boys brigade, so was doomed to failure.

We know the club has been terribly run, but I'm just thinking about Brighton on Saturday and getting over the line this season right now.

Onto Bramley-Moore Dock before they lock those gates for the last time and break our hearts.

"If my increasing ageing memory serves me, Moyes was reluctant to play Baines and I think we played Lescott as a left back for a large part of the season?"

Sorry, your memory doesn't serve you. When we signed Baines from Wigan, he was injured so couldn't play. So Lescott was played as left-]back, a position that he hated.

When Baines was fit enough to start, Moyes put him in as left centre-back to get him up to speed and then switched him to left back and Lescott to his preferred left centre-back position.

Good luck with finding anything to substantiate that claim.

Brands was Unsworth's boss. He told him what to do, not the other way around. Brands was DoF. He had the authority to send any junior coach packing.

You do know it was he who changed Unsworth's job?

Brands was given carte blanche to sign who he wanted. He boasted about the signings of Gbamin, Mina, Gomes, (£150M if you include wages). He signed Iwobi and Moise Kean. He boasted about his role in those recruitments too.

This is the guy who paid £12M for Fabien Delph on the same day he let Antonee Robinson go for £2M … What a good day at the office that was!

You may think Brands should escape criticism. That's your prerogative. I on the other hand think he is the single biggest reason for our current plight. the guy spent around £250M on sick notes, slackers and piss-takers.

No Marcel, no points deduction.

Delph cost £8m and, in an Ashley Young kind of way, made sense at the time. I don't think Brands anticipated him being injured so much. Likewise Mina and, of course, Gbamin. We made a profit on Kean and Iwobi was Moshiri and Joorabchian.

In my opinion, if Brands had been allowed to see through the bulk of what he wanted to do, and had been given complete control of recruitment (players and managers), we'd be far better off than we are now.

Brands came to us with a reputation for a bargain, working on a budget.

With us, he was like a kid in a sweet shop.

He is the biggest single culprit for the mess we are in now – closely followed by Moshiri.

So, either using that to 'force' some decent football nous on Kenwright et al, or happy to take the £££. Easy Street.

For the record, Baines is the best Everton left-back I've watched. Van den Hauwe included.

Baines was quality. Just a shame he didn't play in a better team.

I can accept that Unsworth was kept in a job because he was Uncle Bill's mate, but allowed to over-rule the DoF? He was a junior coach.

I think there is also clear evidence that there was a period when even Kenwright could not reel Brands in. You only have to look at the direct quotes from the players and Brands himself after the signings. They were all signed as a result of the DoF's endeavours.

If there was a power struggle, Brands was going to stand or fall on the quality of his signings. Unfortunately, he fell. His spree was disastrous.

We have to remember that Rafa was only brought in after Brands had squandered the fortune. By then, Moshiri's bank balance was looking an awful lot lighter and the team had regressed alarmingly. Even Farhad must have realised he had backed a lame horse.

Keeping Kenwright on. Hiring Walsh. Chasing after lower clubs' managers against their wishes. Hiring Benitez…

Moshiri has made some unfathomable howlers, but I personally don't think we should allow any of that to mask the monumental part Brands has played in our current crisis.

Moyes played Lescott ahead of Baines at left-back many times. Check it out. I wrote to the mailbag (as it was then known) lamenting the fact.

Arsenal signed 11; Liverpool, 14; Man Utd, 17; Man City, 18 and Chelsea, 21 - Moshiri signed 1 (Sigurdsson).

It wasn't Brands's fault.

I think, now that Kenwright and Moshiri are not meddling, we can see that Thelwell is having some decent success in the market without having a pot to piss in.

Onana, Garner, McNeil just three who I'd say we would get substantially more in than we paid for them. Tarkowski and Young for nothing!

We will see about Beto and Chermiti but the issues Brands had to deal with are hopefully no longer an issue for the DoF… until 777 Partners come along, and then, who knows???

But I don't think the board got the DoF model right and he got sucked into the board.

Once he was in that club, who all failed, he was gone.

If we adopt the DoF Model and employ them, let them do their job rather than have interference from those in the cushioned seats. Or as it was, absent from the cushioned seats.

I believe he was made Director of the Academy or certainly promoted. But he still preferred standing in the dugout managing the U23s rather than managing the Academy from a strategic view.

He used to live across the road in Gateacre where my son's child carer lived. Great bloke and always had time to talk.

He's at Charlton Athletic now…

Why oh why do we always seem to have bloody Arsenal away on the last day of the season? Might be a piss poor memory but we do seem to have that fixture a lot... and get smashed everytime.

It's just a waste of a player when you could have another defender who would get more involved.

I have never seen a quote, a statement, or the slightest hint of evidence that he wasn't allowed to sign who he wanted. On the contrary.

Brands on signing Iwobi:– "His signing wasn't an easy one. A young boy who had played already in the Champions League, Premier League and Europa League. We didn't have much competition for Gylfi. I think we managed it now.".

Brands on signing Gomes:– "There was interest from other clubs. The biggest help was our fans. That helped me a lot in negotiations with Barcelona."

Brands on signing Mina:– "I could have got him earlier, but they wanted €5 million more. I didn't want to spend more money, a gamble, it made it a little more tricky, a little more difficult."

Delph tells us that he was amazed when Brands came around to his house and gave a "full presentation".

Gbamin tells us "… it was Marcel who brought me here".

Brands was front and center, taking credit for these signings (most of whom had previous for being sick notes). He mentions nobody else, but he soon went quiet as, one by one, his signings started to go tits up. Forget their transfer fees, these handful of players cost £100M in wages alone.

Quite why so many Evertonians ignore all this evidence in order to defend poor old Marcel is beyond me. He actually boasted about his signings.

From the outside looking in, our boardroom had begun to resemble a meeting place for back-stabbers. Kenwright, Moshiri and Benitez all seemed to be involved in the bun fight which lead to Brands's departure. Bizarrely, that seems to have afforded him some sort of victim status. A get-out-of-jail card. It would appear we had enough culprits. We don't need any more.

I've seen plenty of evidence to demonstrate Brands was given the freedom to do his job (mostly from the man himself) and unless somebody shows me something to the contrary, something real, he will continue to be, at the very least, as responsible for this crisis as the others in my eyes.

It's been a shit show at board level.

To coin something I've said before. That summer (before Brands) when three wise men went out shopping, seemingly not having spoken to each other, and came back with different sweets. "Look what I found"!

A simple supporter looking in from the outside, it just smacks of incoherence and has done for years. No strategy, just a scattergun approach without a plan.

On Brands. I don't have insider knowledge. I just get the impression he may have got sucked into the Board Room inner circle. Even at managerial level, Lampard got hypnotised by our masonic Board Room and couldn't wait to get up there as the supporters were celebrating on the pitch.

To date, I'm impressed with Thelwell. He's done a decent job with hands tied behind his back and seems closer to the manager than perhaps our previous DoFs have been.

That's where the role should be.

Let me help you with that.

Here are some direct quotes from Brands that clearly imply the owner was heavily involved in pushing players on him. Of course how he spoke about it at the time (whilst under contract with Everton) is different to how he speaks about it afterwards.

I'm not saying he is blameless of course but it seems clear he was not always the one calling the shots; quite who were his signings and who were pushed on him by Moshiri, we'll probably never know.

“I was fighting to make a player contract of £50,000 a week £45,000 a week because that fit better in the wage structure and matched the quality of the player,” Brands added.

“And then the owner called, saying that he had been sitting with another player and that he could come for £175,000 a week. Then you say: ‘What's that going to do in the dressing room? He earns three times as much as the others.'

“The owners are very involved, which makes them easy to influence (by external agents). That makes it very difficult sometimes. I think more English clubs suffer from that.”

Your DoF is planning for seasons ahead, transfer windows ahead, while the board are throwing out mangers and pushing players.

Imagine Dyche and Woan taking training and Moshiri coming and saying "No, we're not doing that, we're doing this." Would you blame Dyche if we lost the next match??

Gomes was already here on loan, played well, lots of fans wanted him. Hardly like Brands went and found him!

Mina, Delph and Gbamin, well, yes, they turned out to be injury prone but how would you foresee the issues with these players who were performing fine before we signed them? Bad luck I'd say.

Iwobi was over-priced, but we still got a decent fee when sold, to Marko Silva – the guy who pushed for him to come here!!

I'm not saying he was a success at Everton, I'm saying he was never allowed to work in the way he had success in his previous roles, so It's no wonder it never worked.

It's like signing Haaland and playing him at left-back!!!

I've done a fair bit of digging about Brands in the past couple of days and I have not come across that quote. Good work.

Perhaps the quotes about the players we did sign we just easier to find.

That quote clearly suggests that the owner was talking to a big name. We know he would go after "name" managers, so it's not a massive leap to think that he would do it with "name" players.

Your post and the point Lyndon made about Benitez is enough to make me reconsider. I think if two examples of interference can be supplied so readily, it is fair to assume there will be more. perhaps many more.

The fact still remains. We did not get into this mess due to the players we didn't sign, nor those we intended to sign. We are where we are because we squandered so much on fees and wages on the lame ducks who did come.

Something else just occurred to me, Sam; Don't you think it's a little disingenuous of Brands to claim the rest of the players were on 1/3rd of £175k (roughly £60k)? Especially when we have clear evidence of him coughing up twice that amount in order to make the signings he boasted about?

I accept your point, but I don't think it exonerates Marcel in any way.

David,

These players did have previous for being sick notes.

As with Sam, I accept your point, but you have to admit, Brands was given an awful lot of rope before he was reeled in.

I agree to a large extent it does not exonerate Brands. He was a key part of a regime that made some terrible decisions and was the face of some ill advised transfer and manager moves. The difficulty is in knowing exactly what went on behind closed doors and to what extent he was able to genuinely make decisions and control outcomes.

It's worth noting perhaps that outside of Everton pretty much every club he has been at has flourished. AZ won their first title under him. PSV built a great squad under him in his first spell and look like winning the league for the first time this season after he returned. Maybe co-incidence but given what I've heard and read about Moshiri and Kenwright, personally I'm inclined to think that Brands may have been significantly restricted.

Moshiri did deals with agents that suited the agents but far from suited Everton. El Ghazi came on loan from Villa and it was soon apparent that the manager didn't fancy him so he spent most of his time here on the bench at best.

Moshiri installed for the first time in our history the role of DoF, for me all that does is cause more indecision as they and the manager will both have differing ideas of what type of player they like and how they will fit into the team.

So we have moved on from Steve Walsh bringing in Sandro and paying him £100,000 per week only for him to spend most of his time on the bench. Now we have Thelwell; Danny in his post 52 said he thinks Thelwell is doing a good job and seems to have a closer relationship with our manager than previous DOFs.

So let's examine our signings since Dyche and Thelwell teamed up:

Beto, Chermetti and Danjuma have had very few minutes between them and Young now 38 and Harrison on loan and both have figured in many games they have been fit to start.

Now I can't believe seeing we paid money for Beto and Chermetti that Thelwell didn't have conversations with Dyche before signing them, so whose responsibility is it that we have hardly seen either much?

I know Thelwell wrote a piece soon after we signed Danjuma on loan saying we shouldn't hold anything against the lad that he chose to go to Spurs before us the previous season.

Seeing we're a club with very little money flying about, I don't see any advantage from any of the players we have signed so far. If had we kept Cannon or Simms and given Dobbin more game time, would we have been any worse?

Don't get me wrong. I accept Brands made mistakes, he was party to all the bad decisions being taken during that time. I don't believe all the good signings were his, and likewise with the bad signings.

I'm guessing there would be conversations between the DoF and managers before any players signed.

‘He (Brands) wanted players which we felt weren’t the right fit for Everton, in the end we came to an agreement on the players we would pursue but this was a long and difficult process.

The Chairman (Bill Kenwright who passed away in October 2023) would often sit in at these meetings giving advice which we found strange as this was something I had not seen at other football clubs.’

Moshiri and Kenwright were far too interested in playing football manager, while Brands was bought off by getting a board seat until even he found the dysfunctionality intolerable.

Give players time to settle in, especially given where we are now.

This is early 80s stuff. We have a relatively young team trying to work it's way out of trouble with all kind going on in the background

Brighton on Saturday and a final decision on the the appeal. Then we move on and forward.

Beto has a similar profile to Calvert-Lewin, good in the air, athletic and pretty hard working. In Italy and Portugal he had a record of scoring about once every 200 minutes which isn't too shabby. He's obviously not been helped by a lack of a run of games here. Dyche prefers Calvert-Lewin who has a stronger all round game.

Chermitti is very young and will probably only cost us a few million unless he does well and activates the clauses. Again he is tall and strong and if he develops well could be a similar player to Calvert-Lewin, Toney, Solanke etc. He needs minutes and should probably have gone on loan in January were our squad not so tight.

Both players fitted the profile we need for a manager who likes to play direct and neither were likely to hit the ground running with limited minutes. Time will tell whether it is money well spent but I haven't given up hope yet.

That is why we have Beto (cost nothing in year one), Chermiti (cost £1.8M), Young (free), Danjuma (loan) and Harrison (loan). No-one identified these players as cracking signings who would bring back something resembling the good times. But that is absolutely out of the question given the financial situation that threatens our very existence.

That is why, player for for player, Palace's injury hit side was still every bit as good as our First XI on Monday. Indeed they've only just spent £25m on Wharton and Munoz.

Before anyone says it, Brighton do pick up cheap "hidden" (or actually not that hidden) gems. However, these players often play 2 or even 3 seasons on loan before being deemed ready for the Brighton first team.

If you have no money but an absolutely dire immediate need for players capable of playing between 20 to 38 games of Premier League football – then the pickings are very slim.

We would be "well out of this" but for the sins of the past.

I am self-employed, sitting at my desk, working from 8:00 am to 5:30 pm, Monday to Friday. I top it up with a few hours on Saturday and Sunday morning.

Since Monday last I have been in and out of the sports news site at least once an hour. Whatever impact the waiting for the appeal result is having on the players, it's killing me!

This is why I asked recently how come Palace get away with this and not us? If we're minus £70M investing in the playing squad, how are we gaining an advantage on the pitch versus even Palace who have spent their profits and plus??

You just do not leave out Baines, Lescott, Yobo or Jagielka from any side, which is why we saw some horrendous performances from Jagielka in midfield when he couldn't get in the back four.

Baines was injured when he signed for Everton and because we had Yobo and Jagielka as centre-backs Lescott was played as left-back, as I said, a positon he went on record as stating he hated.

So when Baines was fit, he was played in the centre so as not to disrupt a successful formation at the back. And he did well there. It was when Yobo was injured that Lescott took his place and Baines was moved to left-back.

Baines was never not played at left-back because Moyes didn't trust him in that position.

Danny #41, I never saw Van den Hauwe play with me working in the pre-satellite sandpits of Saudi during the '80s, but I did see Raymon Wilson, and Baines was as good, but I'd still give Raymon my vote as best.

Now, Eric, I am saying this because I kicked off on here at the time. However, back in the days of the MOB and when I was not the wise old sage I am now, I did kick-off at the drop of a hat, to denounce Moyes.

So, if you challenged me to a bet, I would bow to your superior knowledge.

If Pep had Baines when he was in his mid to late 20s, he would have a similar role to the one being carried by Stones at present.

Certainly the best footballer, and along with Seamus, the most loyal, perhaps to a fault. He was good enough to play in a team challenging for Championships.

Les #67, maybe it was because Wilson played in a much better, and more successful, side than Baines was able to that we have such fond memories of him?

That brace at West Ham was my favourite away day since we won the title at Norwich with a Van den Hauwe goal!

Illness deprived him of success but his memory lives on. Dugdale fell foul of Ted Sagar when he scored an own goal!

He put the question of Bainsey's first season to David Moyes:

"Moyes recalled his initial reluctance to start the youngster – he looked like a small immature boy. For that first season, Joleon Lescott played more games at left-back. Yet he soon grew up. In the last few seasons for me at Everton, he became the biggest assist-maker in the Premier League from full-back".

When asked about the time he tried to prize Baines away from Everton to Old Trafford, he simply replied, "He showed great loyalty to Everton".

Class act – Baines, that is.

Never thought I would look back on that as a golden era…But the state we are in now makes me hark back to the halcyon days of Walter Smith!

It was a bit before my time, so I never saw him play, but my dad certainly rates him as one of the few truly world class players that have turned out in a blue shirt.

Amazing to think in that era, players like Ray could be almost indentured to a club like Huddersfield for nearly their whole career. A lot of it in the Second Division.

Imagine going from playing Port Vale one week to marking Garincha the next. My dad has a beautiful picture of him slide-tackling the Brazilian wizard at the 1962 World Cup which he signed for me.

Like a lot of his peers, he suffered from dementia in his later years. When shown photos of himself playing, he was known to ask 'Was I any good?' Terrible illness which I'm sure everyone has experienced in some form.

It's difficult to compare players across eras as the demands are different. I loved both Pat van den Hauwe and Bainsey but reckon both would have struggled playing in the other's time. Pat wouldn't have got to half-time nowadays!

However, I have it on the authority of my Dad that Ray Wilson would have fitted in seamlessly to today's game. A true Everton legend and World Cup Winner.

That is the memory I've got of Moyes and his version of Leighton being too small not long after he had signed him and I thought that Moyes often went to see he player he was interested quite a few times before he agreed to bring him to Everton, then why did he sign him.

My memory is he, Moyes, took some time before he put his trust in Leighton before he played him regularly and I also thought that Lescott was a bag of nerves in his first game for Everton v Watford (?) and quite a few more games after that playing at left-back.

Uncanny foresight...

Ramon was such a cultured full-back, which was an extreme rarity for defenders of his era, which set him on another level, and Alex made an art form of the slide tackle, being able to slide in & take the ball off a winger whilst leaving him standing.

Very different full backs (one right, the other left) but both beautiful to watch!

Lahm had been a top-class left-back for most of his career. Pep Guardiola converted him into a very accomplished midfield anchor man in his latter years.

Martinez wanted to try the same trick with Baines but, for one reason or another, the opportunity did not present itself.

Of course it was Lahm.

Pirlo...bit of a stretch even for Bobby to consider.

On Everton left backs, I was too young to witness Ray Wilson, being born in 1971.

I watched Pat Van Den Hauwe for many years and loved his combative attitude.

But to date, Baines is the best I've seen in that position.

I like Mykolenko. An honest player and good defender. I guarantee on Saturday at Brighton regardless of the result, he will be straight over to the travelling supporters

Finally, on Baines - great player. One of our few in the Premier League era with genuine Champions League level quality and technique (who wasn't a broken has-been).

Anyone seen the recent Rooney interview. Put's a very different spin on his Everton departure.

Sorry Michael/Lyndon but don't have laptop and can't do the link thing without it

He said they were the finest, in his time watching Everton, total footballers, who could have played in any team.

For me there was also Mike Pejic, Stevens, P V D H, and Bainsey.

A pleasure to have watched them, grace the Everton shirt.

UTFTs!

The next game, is the most important, and to beat Brighton.

UTFTs!