Quinn31

like an oracle. The deduction is exactly between 1 and 3 points. I'm less fussed about 2 points being deducted this go around than I am the process in general. It's just been one giant circus.

It's like we just don't want to pull away from the bottom 3. Leaving all the pressure on the FFP cases.

Just criminal to let them put all the pressure on us with a man advantage

Cmon boys! Go for it!

We're going down unless we get some points back and get off with minimal-no points punishment if guilty of a 2nd breach. Simple, as is.

Think we've got to stick with McNeil unless we change shape - Young just hasn't done anything positive bar the clearance off the goalline and would happily see him come off.

RIP and a big thank you to Bill for his thoughtful contributions and being a staple of ToffeeTalk. I'm sorry for the loss, though if he is indeed 96 year old Billy Ingham, no doubt a long life fully lived. My condolences, Patto. As a general note, this is an opportunity to thank all of you for contributing to this community - as someone who came to this forum as a new football fan and new Evertonian, I have learned so much from being a member here and thank all of you for increasing my knowledge, football, Everton, and many things else and I preemptively forgive all of you for the brain damage you've caused me on Brexit and Romelu Lukaku.

I just don't get how we can be punished twice for the same bad spending spree when we've been on the right track for almost three years now... So the PL's solution towards making clubs sustainable is to threaten them with relegation to the Championship and to put them in even more perilous financial positions without PL revenue? Could've seen this coming a mile away with Forest. I believe Leicester and Wolves were also pushing the limits.

Just a shocking result. Really wanted 4 points across this match and Bournemouth before our run in gets difficult. 3 points from the next one is huge, but absolutely criminal that we've lost to Wolves, Fulham, and Luton at home.

I don't know what my response would've been if you told me Ashley Young would be our first summer signing... Just really bizarre. Almost feels as weird as when we signed Samuel Eto'o under Martinez. At least our expectations are low on this one. No long term contract or big transfer fee means the financial downside to this one is next to nothing as well. I have no idea how this signing will go, but props to him for maintaining such a high level playing career for so long and into his late 30s. Surely it at least speaks to his work ethic and professionalism.

Feel like he belongs in the Championship for some midtable side that wants to play on the front foot.

It's a tough one because I think we'd like to keep him but it'd be contingent on us staying up. Don't want another big wage + long term deal to be saddled with if we're going down.

I don't think we'd be covered in glory, but certainly we'd have another 5-7+ points and be on the lower end of midtable nowhere near the drop. What a season it could've been!

At this rate, we'll be debating the merits of Mick McCarthy vs Alex Neill in 12 months...

It's easy: Billionaires rarely fancy themselves engineers, architects, or construction foremen unless they are. However, it does seem that a large number of billionaires who buy sports teams then fancy themselves as talent scouts, coaches, etc...

Certainly there's not a chance that Thelwell's first choice is Bielsa? This screams of getting another big name manager but not having a coherent footballing strategy for the club.

We should stamp this next to 1878 as the club motto. Much more accurate than Nil Satis Nisi Optimum

Things are so bad Moshiri's ready to come clean that he's just a front man

Not the problem, but not the solution. Don't see how he can improve us, at least with this group of players.

Really think Brands + Silva could've been a good long-term partnership. Think they saw eye to eye on a lot and SIlva is a good manager, but it was a lot of pressure to be under when we were sat near relegation in December (Plus sounds like Ancelotti must've been willing to come, satisfying Moshiri's desire for a "Hollywood manager". Once Carlo came in, it was always going to be overspending on brand name players from Champions League clubs (Allan, James Rodriguez, etc) -- no room for Brands to control player acquistion or keep a disciplined wage structure in place My thoughts on all the combos: Koeman + Walsh: Was never going to lead to great things, but Koeman was the worst panic sacking of them all (sacked in October, right?). HIm and Walsh had different ideas + Moshiri was meddling about (Rooney), it was a big vacuum to fill with Lukaku's departure. Again, feel bad for Koeman as he was the first panic sacking of the Moshiri era and it set us down this road (five years ago now), but don't have a ton of faith in Walsh and not sure Koeman really has "vision" to build a team (nor the charisma/personal skills to manage a dressing room over the long term - probably the definition of a "coach" rather than "manager") Silva + Brands: This one had potential. Young, progressive coach with more of a continental mindset that would've let Brands focus on acquiring younger players, "value" in the market, and building a coherent team philosophy Ancelotti + Brands: I have fondness for Carlo but this is what put us on the road to FFP difficulties... We tried to hard to bat beyond our financial firepower, bring in a hollywood manager and all his brand name signings... Now we're suffering and have one hand tied behind our back Benitez + Brands: I feel bad Rafa was stuck with practically zero transfer budget, however he took a squad that was midtable the prior year (albeit finishing on a low note) into a relegation battle whilst seemingly feuding with everyone at the club. Was never going to work. Lampard + Thelwell: Both Lampard and Thelwell have at least one hand tied behind their back with the mess of a roster they have and without the financial power of Ancelotti and earlier's reign. I'm starting to have serious doubts about Lampard as a coach, but again he's stepped into an incredibly tough situation. Time will tell with Thelwell, I hope he's given a chance and can sort this out with our Premier League status in tact, but I'm starting to give up hope on tha as well.

To spend half a billion and to go down... We somehow managed to become a worse run club than Sunderland

Funny, I feel like a large section of this message board (probably myself included) thought ourselves too good for Howe. Now Howe is flying high and we're the ones who are desperate.

I just think we're going to have to disagree on this one.

I get your point but still think that rule is generally applied to "last man" tackles and not situations like this? I've just never seen that rule applied to anything but like deliberate hand ball and last man tackles.

Per the rules or per your emotions? You never had the lead so nothing to drop but maybe I'm being pedantic