Cake

He has admitted he couldn't adapt to the physical side of the English game and was homesick for Italy. Simple as that. His only league appearance was in a 4-0 defeat to Villa, at Villa (Boxing Day 2005). Toffeeweb likely getting confused as we bought him from Udinese, who we then played in a friendly at Goodison (I was at both games and Kroldrup looked "magnificent" in the tippy-tappy friendly when he got 5 minutes to think about who to give the ball away to. Don't know about couldn't head it... he couldn't kick it, either). He got injured in training after the Udinese friendly in the August and wasn't fit again until the Villa game. He was worse than Glenn Keeley, when we played Villa, and that's saying something as Keeley's Everton career lasted about half an hour - against Liverpool, at Goodison in THAT 0-5 while on loan from Blackburn - he was on his way back to Blackburn before full time!

No he won't. Apart from 4 goals for the Dutch U21's he's scored 12 goals in 8 years (118 games)

He's needed 850 chances to score those 85 goals, though. He's like Robbie Keane in that respect - needs ten to a dozen chances for every one he bags. Besiktas would be the best place for him... it's further away from Goodison Park than Frankfurt or Moenchengladbach.

This.... mostly the latter. He's a screw up. After screwing up (literally) at Everton and then not having his contract renewed at Real Madrid he 'worked' with his old fellow smackhead buddy and mentor Andy Nearly Meydit to find him a club where there would be no temptation. Van der Meyde went to the Russian city of Vladikavkaz and, after reporting back that the women were ugly and there was nothing to do there, Drenthe eventually signed for FC Alania Vladikavkaz joining them in February 2013 in an attempt to fool himself and everybody else that he isn't a screw up. He's scored 3 goals, all in one match, firing blanks on his other 20 outings, before their relegation from the RPL at the end of this season. He's got a great attitude, though....... as long as it's all about him!

We can no longer call ourselves The People's Club (3 seasons ago?) following some idiot market trader, who sells scarves and other paraphernalia from a stall in Williamson Square, who bought the right to use the name on his merchandise and banned Everton from using it. Rumours are he is an Everton Season ticket holder but most claim he is a red and after visiting his stall a couple of years ago to see what he is about there was more red than blue for sale amongst his tat. When he bought the rights to the name the banner across the back of The Park Stand was change from 'The People's Club' to 'Nil Satis Nisi Optimum'.

The last time I can remember Everton buying someone because they scored against us in a cup game was when we bought Paul Wilkinson who scored against us at Goodison while playing for Grimsby Town, resulting in them knocking us out of The League Cup, 0-1. Howard Kendall bought him. Wilkinson was 'prolific' in The League Cup, for us, scoring 7 goals in 4 games. The rest of his Everton career of 30-odd games in total brought about half a dozen goals and a lot of bench warming. So, as far as McManaman is concerned he's not for me as scoring a goal in a cup tie against us and having one good game on an wider/bigger than usual pitch does not, in my opinion, make him a viable option........ unless we just buy him for the FA Cup...... There is always THAT tackle to consider, too (on a QPR player the game after their 0-3 at Goodison?). Not for me, ta.

As long as we don't pay too much and we get a couple of seasons out of him, then why not.

Gothika Not up to much and Halle Berry has definitely improved with age.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/44435674@N00/5098976727/ http://streetsofliverpool.co.uk/everton-toffee-shop/browside/ 1753 for the first shop in the one immediately below but that's unlikely as Molly would have been 7 years old - still no date for Browside; http://www.evertonthevillageonthehill.co.uk/page18.html http://www.fotolore.com/everton-toffee-shop-c1875 http://www.liverpoolmonuments.co.uk/buildings/everton01.html Have seen a passage on one site where some reds fans are even trying to get in on the act by saying they're sure it's Liverpool FC Directors who own Barker & Dobson! Wankers!

Shane Long it is then!

You're welcome mate... interesting stuff! Keep us posted on progress with this and if Old Mersey Times get back to you.

The shop in Everton Brow was the second shop - can't find an exact/approximate date (for the moment) as this was done in Molly's old age..... Then, in their old age, Molly Bushell and cousin, Sarah Cooper, parted company, for Sarah joined her new daughter-in-law, MARY COOPER, in setting up a similar toffee business at No.1 BROWSIDE..........

The first shop was established in 1759, according to 'Old Mersey Times' (see below) - there is also a drawing(?) from The Liverpool Records Office about the location of the shop, on Everton Cross, to Rupert's cottage http://www.old-merseytimes.co.uk/mollybushell.html

Just been on local tv news (Midlands) that Villa made the biggest loss in the premier league last season - £33m! Get your money on them to go down (thank God!) next season. West Brom, Stoke (yes, Stoke is in The Midlands when they're in the premier league) and Wolves all made a profit (how did Wolves manage that?). Nothing about Birmingham City but Carson Yeung (sp) is probably still counting it.

Claudio Pizarro http://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/en/claudio-pizarro/transfers/spieler_532.html and the rest from the German Bundesliga http://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/en/spieler/vertragsende/basics_L1_2013.html

These are out of contract from the Belgian pro league so maybe Steve E knows a bit more about them (if he's the guy living in Belgium, that is?) http://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/en/spieler/vertragsende/basics_BE1_2013.html

Victor Rodriguez http://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/en/victor-rodriguez/transfers/spieler_129753.html

(fortunately it was only a copy/paste)

Martinez is a class act. This quote is his response to a question about Fellaini & Baines possibly leaving. That last sentence is class. "When you are successful, and Everton were clearly very successful last season, you will always get interest in players from other football clubs. It happens here, and in every football club in the land. We are not worried about that. We want the players to feel really appreciated." (as opposed to the shite throwing their toys and dummy when anyone shows an interest in Vincent van Gopher (first view about 10 seconds in) ) ... and self-belief and drive (about some fans questioning his appointment as manager); "It is healthy that there are people questioning the appointment. It keeps me desperate to show them what I can do and one day turn them around." He'll do for me!

MOLLY BUSHELL OF EVERTON (1746 - 1818) Molly was born in Everon, in 1746, daughter of John Johnson and Anne Cooper and was baptized in April of that year in Walton Parish Church. She married James Bushell in 1761 when she was only fifteen or sixteen years of age, and they made their home in the cottage in which she had been born. Despite her youth, her diligence and care of her family was noticed with admiration by a local doctor. When he was attending her family professionally, he was further struck with her industry and her way of making slender means go a long way in the rearing of her family and that she was barely rewarded with a sufficiency. He gave her a recipe for a soothing toffee for the children and suggested that she make larger quantities which she could sell. The kindly doctor recommended the toffee to his patients as a cure for sore throats but the public soon found it out and voted it a very good sweet for those well in health! Molly then, at the open air oven behind the cottage (which was discovered when the cottage was demolished), alone, and in secret, commenced to practice the Art of Toffee Making. Residents from bordering villages began to arrive and take back with them a packet of Everton Toffee and Molly's business flourished. As time went on there was not sufficient space in her premises and she moved across the road to a larger place and there continued the manufacture and sale of her toffee. The fame of Molly Busshell's Everton Toffee spread and it became fashionable for people from greater distances to drive to Everton in their carriages to sample and take home this sweetmeat. Everton, in the late 1700's was a beautiful and picturesque district, as we can imagine it could be from its situation on the slope of a steep hill with the River Mersey at its base and with the extensive views of the Welsh mountains. So the tourists not only took back the confectionaery but also the memory of a very pleasand district that they had never heard of before, and EVERTON was 'Put on the Map'. After twenty years hard work, first alone, then with the help of her daughter, Esther Bushell, Molly enlisted the extra help of a cousin, Mrs. Sarah Cooper, in the 1780's, and they worked happily together for a further thirty years. In the time Molly Bushell's daughter, Esther, had married but had returned to continue helping her mother. In fact, she took over the business legally, though being a married woman, it had to be in the name of her husband, ROBERT SANDIFORD. Likewise, Sarah Cooper's son had married Mary Atherton in 1811. * * * * * * * * * * Molly Bushell's Original Toffee Shop, Everton A.D. 1758. Then, in their old age, Molly Bushell and cousin, Sarah Cooper, parted company, for Sarah joined her new daughter-in-law, MARY COOPER, in setting up a similar toffee business at No.1 BROWSIDE, a charming little shop which was much admired by artists. MARY COOPER ran it until her death in 1867. In 1884 it was demolished by the Improvement Committee. In the 1830's Mary Cooper's daughter, (Sarah's granddaughter) CHARLOTTE COOPER, had married a Robert Sampson and she opened a third toffee shop in Everton at NETHERFIELD ROAD. * * * * * The Toffee Shop Still worn onThe Shirt Today The Brownside shop established by Molly's cousin, Mrs Cooper & Mrs. Mary Cooper. Meanwhile when ESTER BUSHELL/SANDIFORD took charge of the Village Street shop from MOLLY she appears to have taken in her young niece, AGNES BUSHELL (Molly's granddaughter) and begun to teach her the business. Agnes remained under the wing of the Sandiford family, even after Esther's death, until her marriage. In 1830 AGNES BUSHELL married Henry Wignall and she officially inherited the business on the death of Robert Sandiford in 1853. She passed it on to her son, ROBERT WIGNALL, the GREAT-grandson of Molly Bushell, and this enterprising young man extended it to Liverpool city centre by opening two shops in London Road (original wall artwork was discovered here in 1997 - featured in the Echo) and Renshaw Street. After ROBERT WIGNALL'S untimely death in 1867, at the age of 34 years the Everton Toffe business begun by Molly Bushell 150 years previously, did not go out of the family, for the next owner was a distant cousin, CHARLOTTE COOPER/SAMPSON who already had a toffee shop in Netherfield Road, Everton. Charlotte passed the premises on to her son, ROBERT SAMPSON, and thence to his daughter, Mrs. NORRIS, who sold it to the large firm of NOBLETTS in 1894. The building in Village Street was still standing in 1930 looking very much as Molly Bushell had left it in 1818. It was a commercial artist at Nobletts who designed the Trademark depicting Molly Bushell, based on descriptions gathered from the older people of Everton who remembered Molly. At first it was always referred to as 'MOLLY BUSHELL' but the name subsequently became 'MOTHER NOBLETT' as being more appropriate to the Noblett firm. Toffee Lady Cries when we loose Toffee Lady Jigs when we win The original toffee is now enclosed in a mint - "Everton Mints" and manufactured by Barker & Dobson. Today, more than two centuries after Molly Bushell started her business, her memory lives on, for the Everton Football Team are known as "The Toffees" and 'Molly Bushell' walks around at matchs scattering her Mints to the fans and willing the Team to keep "Everton on the Map". Her caricature may be seem in the heading of the 'Football Echo' each time that Everton Football Team plays a match. If Everton lose Molly weeps for them, but after a win she dances a jig

Bit too close to jail-bait for my liking.......

As said above, I agree with the fee thing for Maloney & Kone. I wouldn't pay above £2-3m for either. If your valuation of Kone is £6.5m how much are the 22 year old McCarthy & McManaman going to be? We could all get a surprise and end up with Boyce, Scharner and Figueroa

Dead right about the transfer fees for Maloney and Kone but the same applies to the two Mc's. I wouldn't want to have my pants pulled down just because they are only 22 when neither, but possibly McCarthy may do more so than McManaman who we've let go once, will justify their price.

I think two of them will be more concerned whether or not they've got a job next season as Martinez has said he's bringing a lot of his backroom staff with him.....

If we had two from Wigan I would prefer Maloney & Kone