Goodison Glory

No arguments that the board are culpable, but seeing as you started your sentence with NO I have to asusme you feel that the players and manager have no responsibility in any of the matches pre-Arsenal?

The reality is we will stay in this league based on our performances against similar teams not the elite teams. So the fact that we created a shit load of chances against those “similar” teams can’t be dismissed. That said, we did not pick up many points or score many goals….so players and manager need to accept responsibility for that.

Yet again another excellent “education” piece. Fucking Jim White….constantly trying to needle a story that just isn’t there and Simon Jordan having to school him on the realities. For example, trying to make a big deal that 777 gave us 20M or so - who cares. It’s just a loan from someone else that nobody knows the intricate details of. Trying to say we are in trouble if the 777 deal doesn’t go through. Moshri will just become more desperate and we may end up with a better owner because the terms are better. I also liked the first video where he challenged the authenticity of stuff in the press (hidden agendas) I said months ago that we were in financial trouble (no free cash flow) and Moshri did not want to (or could not) put money into the club. That was met with misunderstanding. Yes he had money (not sure how liquid it is) but he was clearly not wanting to put money in. That’s another reason why our transfer deals have had to be on very specific terms (not just FFP). I for one could not care who buys the club because we won’t be in a worse position that we are now - no cash flow, negative operating margins, an owner who won’t put more in (and probably shouldn’t to be honest). Let’s wipe the slate clean, get rid of Moshri and Blue Bill…and see where it takes us. I don’t see how we can be worse off.

The more I listen to Simon Jordan (on the commercial aspects of football) the more I like him. Personally, I don't care whether 777 are just in this to flip it. At the end of the day, to flip the club, they will need to have ensured 3 things: 1. The stadium is finished 2. We maintain prem status 3. Our FFP outlook has improved (which it likely will by start of next season anyway) As I side note, 20 seconds of listening to Martin O'neill is enough to have you banging your head on the table..speak faster, speak louder ffs.

I say let's reassess after the next 4 games. It might sound like I am making excuses for him but in the first few games we created lots of chances (so positive evolution vs. last year) but we couldn't score as we still had no strikers. It's unfortunate that after the international break we had a challenging fixture...but that's the way it goes. He almost has his full squad to choose from, especially in attacking areas and a run of decent fixtures. If we are still not scoring/picking up points after the next 4 games then serious questions need to be asked.

My assessment 1. It was our worst performance of the season by a mile. I am not talking about the result. I expected us to have little to no possession and unlike other matches create very few chances, but against those low expectations I thought we stunk the place out. As others have said, the inability to pass to another blue shirt on the deck was horrific. 2. Beto looked gassed earlier on. That long run he had first half when he couldn't get the better of Saliba....I thought he was gassed then, possibly because he seemed to be closing down on his own. Not a team press. Not sure why the a disconnect there. 3. McNeil was bad. I thought he was worse when he switched to the right flank. I hadn't actually thought that it might be because he wasn't fit (as Romey said), so fair point. 4. We aren't often unanimous on a subject but I think we are when it comes to Ashely Young taking set pieces. Please STOP now. Just stop. 5. Arsenal weren't "Pep era Barcelona" but they still were very good I thought. Very slick. Not as much end product as say a Man City but they can murder you with the ball and movement....which was evident,

There's only one question we want answered (besides where's the Arteta money!)......what's happening with Teflon Bill?

We could've done with this announcement last week when there was fuck all to talk about other than demari!

Stained? It's on the ceiling isn't it...if he's got that good a long shot let's get him in mid for the Arsenal game

Cmon at least let's give some credit for us getting a penny. I'm pretty sure the vast majority thought he'd go on loan and then leave on free, like so many others before him. just further reinforces what a solid window we've had in terms of adding more quality and optimising balance sheet.

Seems like some "hold my beer" moments going on here...annual losses at their current clubs are £200M+.

To make it worse, we've had a "do-over" or "clean slate" whatever term you want to use and we've screwed it up again...bill being the constant in overseeing/making decisions. I think we all agree, we just pray for the day we can move on.

Rights Media issue was that they didn't feel the investment from MSP was equivalent to the equity stake they'd be given. Rights Media don't have the ability to veto investment, but they do have the right to call in their loan so essentially if MSP wanted to go ahead the money they were investing would have been used to pay off existing debt instead of the stadium...so they changed their approach. So for future investment, one of three things would need to happen: 1. The investment terms would have to be something Rights Media was ok with so that they didn't call in their loan. 2. A full buy out 3. The investment, while not a full buy out is sufficient to repay the outstanding Rights Media debt AND invest in the club

Pure speculation and lazy journalism.

£100M was just the next instalment needed. There was still additional funding needed and they were talking to two global banks for the balance...more debt. regardless, I think Wall Writers point was even if the stadium is paid for, the new owners could asset strip and sell it - then lease it back (shudder the thought).

Sorry but I need to call bullshit. First of all 777 only own less than 20% of Sevilla. They finished 4th in La Liga last season. Standard Liege finished 14th the year before 777 took over. They finished 6th under 777 ownership. As for Genoa, yes they got relegated but then promoted immediately. They are mid table right now with more points than Roma and 1 point behind Lazio....but cmon we are taking 3 games into the season so it's pointless referencing current league positions. For Hertha, they only took over in March so not sure we can pin relegation on them.....more likely a stupid decision to sell at such a stage in the season. That said they've started woefully in the 2nd tier so 777 fingerprints are all over that one. I am as nervous as you all about this but the "everything they touch turns to shit" narrative is a bit much.

That would mean you don't voice an opinion about any manager (incl Rafa) until they've actually taken over the team. I've not checked posts but if you've managed to refrain from commenting on prospective managers then you're more controlled than I am.

It's a fair call out about the AFCON but another window will open before then and it is widely known that we would've have brought more players in had we sold iwobi and Gray earlier. So I'm not worried about that. You think we are weaker in full back?

we were 3-4 injuries away from disaster last season also. I don't think anything has changed there - our squad is still paper thin its Just better quality this year. of 6 position groups we are way better in quality and NO worse off in numbers in 3 of them (FB, WIDE and FWD). I'd say it's a push on 2 (GK and MID)....we can debate CB. Most of the folks who left didn't even make the bench last year and those that did have generally been replaced by better talent.

I was just adding to Palfy's comment about the spine (Beto).

I'm surprised at the comments in other threads (demari etc) about us being weaker vs last season. I agree we might be lesser in number but not quality. GK - No material difference here. FB - essentially we replaced bench fodder (Vinagre) with a starter (Young) CB - Granted, def fewer in numbers but arguably stronger (Branthwaite vs Coady/Mina/Holgate) Mid - Kept the core and essentially replaced Davies with Gomes. I'll call that net-neutral. Not counting the return of Dele. Wide - Replaced Iwobi / Gray (likely), & Townsend (who never played) with Harrison/Danjuma and Dobbin for depth. Hands down stronger. Forward - here's the big change. We all agreed that Simms and Maupay were not up to scratch. We've gone and replaced them with Beto and Chermiti. Again, hands down better. We also sold Niles, Samuels and Cannon who didn't contribute last season. so def fewer in number particularly in CB but I think the squad is stronger and we finally got what we asked for up front.

On an admittedly, very small sample size, I'd say that when fit, it should not be automatic that Dom gets the lone striker role. Obviously, Beto needs to sustain his form and DCL needs to get fit - neither of which is a given

Agree with this entirely. I would add that it is not just FFP that has constrained us/him, it is cash flow. Moshri does not appear willing to put more money in (or can't). This is why we took out more debt last year and also most of the income we received went to servicing the costs of the stadium. We lost some of our targets in January because we could not find the right player where the club was willing to take our buy now pay later type of deal structure.

Great post, sounds like both groups in this debate are admitting they don't actually know very much and the majority is speculation. Gray - posted an unprofessional comment in the public domain, as he did at Leicester. Club - gave his number to someone else and blocked a transfer move outside of that, I'm not sure we know much else with certainty, other than it's yet another distracting side show that we could do without.

MSP only broke down because they wanted equity based loans and Rights Media thought they were getting too much equity in return. if the 777 deal is different, could be a complete takeover or just partial investments that would include a pay down of Rights Media Debt then that would be different.