MikeO

I guess an hour and twenty minutes of hope is better than nothing .

I have to Bill.....spent a decent portion of my life telling people that there's no such thing as a hopeless case, be hypocritical for me to make exceptions .

I realise I'm in an ever diminishing minority (down to about one now), but I really, really hope this latest report comes to something. http://www.evertonfc.com/news/archive/van-...eyde-s-aim.html

From the Echo... Moyes confirmed that he hoped to sign his new contract before the Blues’ next match at Arsenal. A deal has been agreed on, but a couple of minor details are being reworded by lawyers. Moyes hopes to put pen to paper either by the end of this week or early next week.

Uefa president Michel Platini says clubs like Everton can succeed without foreign investment. A number of high profile takeovers of Premier League sides have led to concerns about the level of money coming into the English game. Speaking at Liverpool's Echo Arena ahead of Wednesday night's National Football Hall of Fame awards evening, Platini expressed his concerns about the number of top flight foreign owners, admitting rival clubs must now find alternative ways to succeed. Toffees chairman Bill Kenwright recently revealed he has long been searching a 'billionaire' investor. Asked whether Everton should take that route Platini said: "There is two ways. One is if Everton become more rich and richer than the other [clubs], the other is that they are Everton. "I don't think [money] is the only thing that will decide the future of their football. The education of youth players that can play at Everton? I think so. I believe in that."

As long as we avoid whoever it was that designed this years Stade Français Rugby team's kit (and it's an Adidas). This (honestly), is their third shirt.....makes our hi-viz vest design look extremely appealing...

Only as long as JD stays in another time zone Bill .

Gotcha Louis....a touch of irony completely wasted on me . The Bristol end I know a bit about, my wife was brought up in Clifton....huge, huge impressive houses built almost entirely on the slave trade. Not Britannia's greatest moment....and we've had a fair few dodgy one over the centuries .

After extensive and exhaustive research (30 secs on Wikipedia) I can confirm that Fowler's was the fastest in the Premier League, but the fastest ever was by Tommy Ross, playing for Ross County against Nairn County F.C. in Victoria Park in 1964. Took him 90 seconds. Football League record is James Hayter after coming on as an 84th minute substitute for A.F.C. Bournemouth against Wrexham scored three goals in less than 140 seconds (in 2004).

Not quite sure what the connection is there Louis .

Might look ace but it'd be completely inaccurate....birthplace is difficult to tie down, Alan Freed in Cleveland, Ohio in the early fifties is often credited with inventing the phrase but it'd been around a while before then. Liverpool can claim a huge influence in the progression of Rock 'n Roll for sure, but to call it the birth-place would be frankly laughable .

It's about Arteta 21 months ago. This thread is about an article published yesterday. It's irrelevant....(though incidentally I have it on good authority that James Beattie is very happy at Everton and has no intention of leaving in last years transfer window ).

....so that's an article from February 2007 then . Very useful addition to the debate .

Not for me. 2005 by the end of October we were out of the Champs league, out of UEFA, out of the Carling Cup (beaten by 'Boro at home), had four points from nine games in the league having lost at home to Pompey and Wigan (when they were both big relegation candidates). We were bloody lucky to pick up a 1-0 win at home to Bolton when we were second best for the whole game, otherwise it would have been even worse. That was a crisis (even though we finished comfortably mid-table with fifty points by the end of the season). We're going through a rough patch for sure but it happens to everyone, we'll get through it.....and we've all known we've been over-performing for years so it shouldn't come as a big surprise to anyone if we drop from that level for a bit. 2005 turned round with a draw against Chelski at the end of October (they had a 100% record to that point) when we played really well. Maybe it'll be Arse or ManU that changes it for us this time.

Thanks for doing this Bill. Has to be Baines for me for the simple reason that, however he played for the rest of the game he made both our goals and stopped two certainties for them.

Thanks all, very nice week-end, weather was remarkably hot, eating al-fresco and even popped down over the border into Spain this morning to stock up on a supply of smokables for the wife (saving minimally £500 on a years worth). Fucking love Easyjet (and having family at the end of two of their Bristol routes ), they even let me take two hand baggage items onto the flight this afternoon.....which I thought was a huge no-no now. Funny as fuck on the way out though, I'd watched the episode of Father Ted the other night where they're all on a plane full of priests and Dougal ditches half the fuel and they're all going to die, and my flight was full of a party of pilgrims on their way to Lourdes with half dozen catholic priests, one of whom sat next to me. Luckily he didn't have an Irish accent or I'd not have been able to stop collapsing in the aisle laughing. Just stuck the ipod on and kept my head down .

Just off for the week-end lads. If you see on the news that the lunchtime Easyjet flight from Bristol to Toulouse has flown into the sea/a mountain/the Bermuda Triangle then bye all....it's been a blast . Hopefully a bit more positive feeling around when I get back .

Didn't see that Mark...turned the TV off after that laughable last minute corner. Got it on the Sky+ though....I'll have a look.

The Goodison chief was frustrated by the referee and the fact his side couldn't turn their possession into clear-cut openings against a well-organised Liege side. But he has pledged to put the Blues back on track - and has reassured fans his future remains with Everton despite speculation over his new contract. He said: "(The targets now are) to try and kick on and do as well as we have done in the previous seasons. "They (the fans) have known for a long time (that I'm staying). I've had some bad ones (starts to the season) and this one hasn't been great but this is football and it's my job. You can't expect to have a good year, you have to earn the right and play well. "The players played very well tonight, we did very well up to 25 yards out and then it was hard to get through them and that would be the only bit I could fault them for." Doesn't sound like he's on his way to me .

Current Player of the Year standings.... Osman 46 Arteta 30 Cahill 24 Jagielka 23 Saha 21 Neville 19 Castillo 18 Anichebe 12 Baines 11 Yakubu 9 Vaughan 7 Baxter 4 Yobo 4 Fellaini 3 Baadhi 3 Valente 2 Howard 1 Rodwell 1 MOTM winners.... Blackburn (H)...Mikel Arteta West Brom (A)...Leon Osman Portsmouth (H)...Leighton Baines Stoke City (A)...Tim Cahill Standard Liege (H)...Segundo Castillo Hull City (A)...Leon Osman Blackburn (A)...Louis Saha Liverpool (H)...Phil Jagielka

NO CLOSING DOWN AGAIN FFS!!! When will they learn ! 21mins in, funny enough the same time as when we conceded in Kharkiv....same result is a long shot though .

David Moyes has handed Louis Saha a starting berth for tonight's Uefa Cup clash with Standard Liege. The French international striker will partner Yakubu in attack as the manager makes two changes from the side that started against Liverpool at the weekend. Marouane Fellaini is unavailable after playing for Liege in the Champions League qualifier, whilst Joseph Yobo drops out of the starting line-up in order to accomodate the return to the starting line-up of Leighton Baines. Joleon Lescott will switch over from left back to the centre of defence alongside Phil Jagielka. Leon Osman, Tim Cahill, Mikel Arteta and Phil Neville will fill the midfield positions. Yobo has to settle for a place on the bench alongside Segundo Castillo, Nuno Valente, the fit-again Steven Pienaar, Jack Rodwell and Victor Anichebe. It is Pienaar's first inclusion in an Everton squad this term after recovering from the broken toe he sustained against PSV Eindhoven in pre-season. Everton: Howard; Hibbert, Jagielka, Lescott, Baines; Arteta, Neville, Cahill, Osman; Saha, Yakubu. Subs: Nash, Yobo, Valente, Rodwell, Castillo, Pienaar, Anichebe. Didn't see Yobo's omission coming . Reserve judgment for now .

That was a smart move!! My wife's a pretty good cook but curries are always my department....love 'em!

Thinking outside the box...maybe that's what we need, a little experimentation. I suggest Carlo Nash at Centre Back and VDM in goal.....and maybe the Toffee Lady could have a go at DM's job against Newcastle on Sunday ?

Best act ever? Britney Spears (wtf!), Christine Aguilera (wtf!), Green Day (good band but the best act ever..wtf!), Rick Astley (wtf!), Tokio Hotel (who?), U2 (great band but the best act ever..wtf!?) Someone's on some very powerful drugs here and I don't think it's me. Either that or this is actually an entry into the "best use of irony ever in the whole universe" category at some complete other awards ceremony!