Important dates as the Blues return to action this month

When you write that The Toffees should have most of their signings done by the end of July, to make sure that a competitive squad is in place for the start of the new season, I want to tell you it very rarely works this way at Everton.

Fail to prepare – then prepare to fail, has unfortunately been the problem at our once great club for way too long now. So it's going to be intriguing to see if this changes now.

I would be encouraged by our summer tour and fixtures, Moyes taking the team to the US, with a few big games.

Unlike Dyche last season, when he brought the team to Ireland and played minnow teams, and it showed with our performance in the first month of the season.

We had a lot of games where Everton scored late goals in his time and carried on running above the 90-minute mark.

Prior to that we have seen some players blowing out of their backside after 65 minutes, I think with a full summer pre-season, Moyes will have the squad fit again and competing well after the 65 minute mark.

Get the right players in and we could be in for a very good season.

Delap went elsewhere. Fulham have offered Tete a new contract to fend off Everton's offer. So it now appears Moyes is going elsewhere.

What is 100% is Everton's transfer history dealings are woeful. Have been for decades. With the mess the club has been left in by the previous administration and a dreadful academy, the hunt for a dozen or so reasonable quality players on frees or low cost is just not likely to happen.

Other clubs are prepared to buy surplus to their needs, a tactic previously employed by Man City, Chelsea and Forest. Spurs target players Everton are almost set to sign, frequently barging in and usurping deals as the pen is just about to hit the paper. Others have done it too.

However, somehow we always seem to scrape through.
If we don't expect anything, you never know. For the first time in over half a century, we might just have a transfer window to talk positively about… Yeh, I know, flying pigs etc.

Whilst I appreciate it's only 1 July, we don't seem to be linked with any incomings. It would be nice to get some quality in prior to pre-season…

Or are we back to the last-minute desperation signings?

It just became apparent, and they were assumptions, that activity probably wouldn't happen into July.

As you say, it's 1July.

Rumours and links are just that. Who knows what is going on behind the scenes? Who knows how much we have to spend?

I don't. You don't. We don't. It's all guess work.

It was never going to be the case that when the clock struck midnight, several signings would turn up. Let's just hope we have a better approach than the majority of previous seasons and a few come in over the coming weeks.

For the last few years, we were waiting until the last minute, bringing in players that were left, trying to do deals with no money upfront, a total shambles.

Hopefully the new owners will give Moyes a transfer budget, and bring in the players he wants, as well as free and loan signings.

Getting the right people at the desks took time. Forming a list of potential targets and securing the ones we keep also takes some time. We have been visibly making inquiries and contact, but we are always second choice at best.

This will change but only with some time and some early rejections. Eventually, some players who want to play for a club on the up will realize the possibilities at Everton and will commit to the project.

Nothing clever here but it needed to be stated.

Get on board dammit!

I've always had this opinion of the All Blacks rugby team.

They are super fit and don't care what the score is after 60 minutes, but in the last 20 minutes when, the opposition are tiring from the relentless defending, they start sprinting and leave the opposition for dead.

Didn't always work that way for Moyes 1.0 though.

Well, thanks for those illuminating words, everything is now clear as to our transfer policy.

I shall now stand by with bated breath and bow to your superior knowledge.

What will be our first team on the opening day? Fuck all to do with me… but I am really looking forward to it.

Tranmere Rovers have already signed 4 players ready for the new season and currently in training.

Frank.

Go support Tranmere if it’s less stressful.

Patience - we’ll get there!

I’m really looking forward to the new season.

It’s a new age!

Still keeps me up at night...

Breige is pleased though...

Pickford.
Garner, O'Brien, Branthwaite, Mykolenko.
Armstrong, Iroegbunam.
McNeil, Alcaraz, Ndiaye.
Beto.

Subs: Tyrer, Dixon, Patterson, Armstrong, Chermitti, a packet of crisps, a packet of swizzles and a bottle of Rola Cola.

A good time should be had by all.

Remember only bringing in players late to avoid paying wages?

And who can forget the 11th-hour transfer requests that mean we sell a player and don't have time to buy a replacement?

Annika #6... "we don't seem to be linked with any incomings"???

Really?

Everton are in advanced talks to sign 22-year-old forward Thierno Barry from LaLiga side Villarreal, sources have told ESPN.

Is that not what is sometimes referred to as "linked"?

That's how it should be.

The ghost of Harry Catterick.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no!!!!!

I think it's a tad unfair to say our transfer strategy has always been awful.

We've had an abysmal 8 years being overseen by buffoons managing us and setting the off really good signing aside from the masses I agree it's been slipshod and scattergun.

Moyes took much criticism in his first spell here for being overly diligent on players' characters but when you look at some of the bullets we dodged when at the time we thought they were massive losses, perhaps the due diligence paid off.

I recall everyone slagging the club off when we made a supposed ghost bid for Alan Smith then of Leeds, his career hardly took off after that.

We dodged a bullet with Moyes pulling out of the move for Sean Davis in 2003, good player but a knee injury pretty much wrote off the rest of his career.

Many others we pulled out of late on made you think we got lucky rather than unlucky.

We nailed it in the summer of 2007 with some of the most canny signings this club has made in the last 30 years, such as Baines, Pienaar, Jagielka coming in.

As I said, I'll reserve my judgement of the new owners until this summer window closes, we may be disappointed but then again we may be content and pleased with the business.

Let's wait and see how it all unfolds.

Seems it's based on NASA "mission control" principles rather than military "command and control".

Basically, everyone talks to each other rather than having to go up and down a chain of command.

Hopefully it's easier to put Everton on top of the league than it is to put a man on the moon.

Eric, I was used to a similar concept, called Mission Command. Similar principle. The committee meets, agrees on what activities need to happen next, dish out tasks to individuals in their own areas. Then go off and work on them. Reconvene, weekly with progress updates.All done collaboratively and you knew where to go for assistance or advice.

There's always someone at the top to ensure strategy is being followed. In this case, it would be the CEO.

Our strategy has been adhoc for years, but somehow we've built the core of a decent team. Pickford, O'Brien, Branthwaite, Tarkowski, Mykolenko, Gana (hopefully) Garner, Ndiaye, Alcaraz and okay, I'll throw the marmite that is Beto in there.

Now fill in the gaps.

ToffeeWebbers have been complaining about the lack of information on potential transfers for as long as I can remember and as you say that's how it should be.

But it's a bit silly to try and now paint this as a virtue for TFG.

There is a big difference between sources say and concrete evidence. I, personally, don't believe a word that comes out of ESPN.

From a more reliable source like Romano, then I might have a little more belief. Just for once, it would make a nice change to have some new faces brought in before the players report back for pre-season training.

I am not holding my breath on that happening. But will be very pleasantly surprised if it does.

We seem to have done everything far too slowly at the ‘higher' levels of the club, with four new people put in place only a week or so ago. There are fans on ToffeeWeb who were better prepared than the club for this transfer window.

Here we are still needing around 10-11 players in the next month or so, knowing that the later they're signed the more likely we are to be told “they're not ready, they missed the full pre-season training programme”.

Here's to hoping I'm completely wrong about this, but if Michael Keane, the man we've been waiting 3-4 years to get off the wage bill, signs a new contract then my last bit of optimism will fizzle and die.

Mike has named his source.

I posted on another thread. Difficult to follow, as there are a few on a similar topic, namely transfer speculation.

I don't tend to listen to speculation too much, but I watch certain journalists, who are reputable.

Fabrizio Romano yesterday posted on his X profile that Everton were closing in on the Barry signing after agreeing personal terms. As I said there, no source is 100% reliable, but he, and the Bobble, are usually close.

Not guaranteed until if and when he signs though.

A move seems imminent or he's off to Benidorm.

They might even put paper in the fax machine and find the missing Manny Fernandes pen this time round.

For me the additions at RW, RB and CM are more crucial and urgent. I still think Beto is likely to start the season up top whereas we currently have zero players in the squad whose preference is RW.

Having pre-season makes a significant difference so it would be nice if we could have one or two more in this week but more important to get the right players than the wrong players quickly.

I think it's imperative we sign another centre-forward for obvious reasons, but I also think I'm stating the obvious when I say we need to sign players for nearly every position on the park.

Peter Reid hosting Charles "Peanut" Tillman from the Chicago Bears.

Reid shows him around Goodison, before taking him to the new stadium. The American footballer also draws comparisons to Soldier Field, where we will play later this month. Apparently the oldest stadium in the NFL – over to the US contingent.

He also presents him with an Everton shirt, explains the Toffee Girl and gets him to shout "Up the Toffees".

Looks like we have a bond. Everton getting their marketing right for once? I hope we use this tour to get the Everton name out there.

But if he gets a bad injury, we have no replacement.

There's no reason to believe he would get one.

But this is Everton.

I hope someone, with a bit of sense, hid that pen because those two goals he scored didn't make him as good as some fans think he was when he was on loan here.

I remember the goal against Man Utd. But very little else about him.

But my point was that it's not as big a priority as RW where we have no-one! (Bar left wingers playing out of position)

No he hasn't named any sources. 'Sources have told ESPN' is what Mike's post says.

Nowhere does it say who those sources are.

Branthwaite signing a new 5-year contract is massive, and when Gana signs his extension, then that might not be new signings but for me every bit as important.

Yes, Delap would have been a terrific signing but, come on, he was never going to pick us over Chelsea. Players these days all want European football and at present we can't offer them that.

But that is the first challenge for our new owners and David Moyes, getting into Europe must be our target for next season, then that gives us a better chance of getting the players we want.

My point is more that, with the exception of Goalkeeper, nowhere is more a specialist position as central striker. As you say we have players who can, to varying degrees of success, fill in at RW, only the unproven Chermiti can play up front.

I am struggling to think of non-strikers who have filled in there and can't think of many. Off the top of my head the best I can come up with is maybe Tim Cahill. Steven Naismith, I remember, was used as a shadow striker in a famous Martinez win over Arsenal, but was a forward anyway. Steve Watson may have played there (he played everywhere else). Ian Marshall played both upfront and central defense, although he was that poor at the latter (I imagine he still has nightmares of his 1st half against Liverpool where Rush and Dalgleish took him to the cleaners) I don't think he could be described as a defender.

We must have had central defenders who have filled in upfront (Lyons?). When chasing a game, Keane has finished games there.

In reverse, I remember Andy Gray finishing a home Derby win at full back.

ESPN was Mike's source. They probably use various other sources for their reporting and are usually quite good. I've given mine.

Until we see it happen, we can't believe everything we read, but this one seems to have traction.

I think we have a few players who could do possibly fill in there and I think Ndiaye did a good job there for a few matches for Sheffield United. Though I agree we need to have two frontline strikers.

I'll be excited to see Barry come in as I think he's a talent for the future. But I think he may take a while to dislodge Beto and that next season's success will depend more on who we bring in on the non-existent right flank.

Im sorry to have to disagree. If we were a yoyo team or say an occasional visitor to the top flight I would agree with you.

Pre the dead one and post our 80's glory years, signings of quality have been below par. Sometimes only just, but sufficient enough for us to not merit as contenders.

It's 30 years since we last won a trophy. Okay 29 if you count the Charity Shield.

From being arguably the best team not to win the European Cup, we have slid down a dirty greasy path to this particular hell. Many more than Dante could conjure.

Why? Well, it's really obvious: players. Peanuts monkeys hasn't been a reason either. We paid caviar for sloths.

One or two gems dropped in but by and large those who have had any responsibility regarding our transfer have managed to steadfastly recruit some of the worst dross unfitting of a motto the dead one et al long ago abandoned.

It's only July. But how many many many times has that been said? How many managers haven't had players in for preseason training? If bad choices and over payments were a standard, we'd be top.

If failing to have a squad in situ for preseason, we'd be top. If obtaining non-scoring players in goalscoring positions were a must, we'd be top. The list goes on.

We are in the worst position ever. I do fear the worst, but am hoping for a sign. A glimmer of hope. As stated we have got a nucleus of a winning team. An unbeatable one.

Now, Moyes and TFG, fill in those gaps.

Allegedly Everton have agreed personal terms and are completing final negotiations with Villarreal but, unless he has already had a medical, it looks like we will be sweating on this one too.

It seems more important in modern football to have a range of versatile players who can play across the front 3 - rather than specialist strikers.

Personally I think that is the better way for us to go - because I can't see us getting a major upgrade on Beto (straightaway at least) whereas I think the First XI could be transformed with a quality RW and RB - and versatile cover in attack.

There are only a few really good number 9s in the Premier League - Haaland, Isak, Watkins - and then a mixed bag - many of whom have taken years to develop (Wissa) or who hit a purple patch out of nowhere (Wood) or still have much to prove (Delap).

Other regular goalscorers are really wing forwards (like Salah) or second strikers (like Cunha).

Only Beto and Ndiaye scored more than 4 goals last year, if the new RW is the new Kanchelskis, that'll do for me.

Blackburn purchased, the digital ticket will be sent out next week.

And I got one for the AS Roma match. Capacity capped at 50,000.

So we're back off on the road as of next week.