Cornish Steve

One key difference was the fielding. England dropped many chances, whereas NZ seemed to make even the most difficult of catches.

And CORNWALL won the county rugby championship!!!!! My cousin traveled on the bus, and I suspect it took a few days to get over the hangover!

If my understanding of this article is correct, they can play against their Spanish parent team. Here's the key paragraph: "While some countries, such as England, uniformly prohibit players on loan from playing against their parent clubs, European soccer’s governing body, UEFA, has no such blanket policy. It actually prohibits clubs from including such restrictions in loan contracts."

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/22/sports/soccer/when-loaning-a-soccer-player-can-be-self-defeating.html?_r=0

It wasn't so long ago that some were posting how Evans and Jones are among the worst defenders in the league. What changed? The fact that he might be available on the cheap?

The Echo have issued their report cards, with Phil Jagielka gaining the highest rating. Now it's our turn. Here are my player ratings.

Tim Howard: 4

Joel Robles: 6

Seamus Coleman: 5

Tony Hibbert: 6

Phil Jagielka: 8

John Stones: 7

Antolin Alcaraz: 5

Sylvain Distin: 4

Tyias Browning: 5

Leighton Baines: 6

Bryan Oviedo: 5

Luke Garbutt: 6

Brendan Galloway: 6

Muhamed Besic: 6

Darron Gibson: 5

Leon Osman: 6

James McCarthy: 7

Gareth Barry: 5

Ross Barkley: 4

Aiden McGeady: 5

Aaron Lennon: 7

Samuel Eto'o: 5

Kevin Mirallas: 5

Steven Pienaar: 4

Arouna Kone: 4

Steven Naismith: 7

Romelu Lukaku: 7

And here's the Echo's ratings: http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/everton-end-season-report-cards-9362947

Yes please. Price should have dropped after the Sevilla stint so go get him bill!

I hope he's this summer's big signing and suspect there's a real chance. As you say, his currency has dropped at Sevilla, there's less time left on his contract, and we're a known quantity for him. Of course, we can interpret things all ways, but, if we were looking to bring him in, the last thing we'd say in public is that it will happen - because that's undercutting your negotiation strength before even starting.

It took me three evenings to find the time, but now I've finished listening. An entertaining and revealing interview. You get a sense of how much effort he puts in behind the scenes.

On the radio, they claimed he was elected democratically. No, he wasn't. The nation of Montserrat, with a population of under 5,000 people, had the same number of votes (one) as India, with a population of over a billion. Win over officials from small and very poor countries and you're there. That's ridiculous.

A few months back, someone posted a message saying that their mate's neighbor's aunt's dog's vet's wife was into real estate and that Mirallas had put his house up for sale. Was looking for the post, but I can't find it now. Anyway, I believed it and have suspected ever since that he'll be off in the summer.

That's gold. Love the fact they sent the papers to mark without even speaking to you in person.

Don't know how you did it though. I don't seem to have enough time in the day with one job.

If I only I didn't need to sleep.

My first meaningful employed was in the local corner store, really terrible pay. Got given an out of date bag of pistachio nuts for a Xmas bonus.

Sorry of I'm boring you Danny

It's bore Danny day!

Looking back, it was hilarious. This was Britain's leading correspondence school at the time. I had no interview. They never saw a CV. They had no idea of my experience or proof of qualifications whatsoever. They received my letter and, la voila, I was their chief examiner. Still, it helped get me through a PhD program, so I'm not complaining.

As for time, you make time. I also ran a free programming class for local unemployed in the area. (The university kindly allowed me to use their lab free of charge.) I tutored physics and maths undergraduates and 'A' level students. Oh, to be young again.

And you know what? I would do that any day over being a greedy prima donna demanding 60K a week.

What happens if the winning team qualifies for the Champions League independently? Does the spot go to the team in second place - then third, then fourth, etc.?

They just had an article on the news about Chuck Blazer. Apparently, while working for FIFA, he put all expenses on his personal AmEx card and racked up over 25 million award points. That alone is enough for over 200 round-trip business tickets across the Atlantic. 25 million! Can you imagine how much these guys must be spending?

OK - someone is going to have to explain how county cricket works. Since I last took an interest (basically, when I left Britain), it seems all kinds of changes have taken place.

1) There are now two divisions

2) There are various ways to earn bonus points

3) There's a new team from Durham

Looking at the current tables, Durham have played one more game than everyone else in the first division, which means they must have played a team from the second division. How does this work?

Chuck Blazer, what a brilliant name! Only in America .

 

Thought that's what you did when you finished school .

And I thought Dick Advocaat was a viagra salesman.

 

You're just showing off your spelling .

 

(But the "edited by" spoils the effect a bit )

that's because he had "in their".

I want Rangers to get promoted so I'm pretty sad about this.

On this occasion, just one word comes to mind.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!!!

Can't stand the arrogance of Rangers or the way they've behaved over the last few years.

Half-time. 0-2

It begs the question why though?

 

Why are they supporting someone who is clearly rotten to the core.

Look at the nationalities of the accused.

The thing is though, Steve, is that it's all good and well bringing out through etc but as soon as those players show what they're capable of you get the richer clubs coming in and taking them from you. Sure, you get a fat fee for them but you're constantly having to rebuild so it'll be hard to sustain anything.

 

I'm not saying I'd rather we just had a billionaire owner or whatever, but it's not as simple as what you say and will lead to a lot of frustration along the way (if we ever did achieve anything at all with that method ).

Looking at this from the perspective of strategy, maybe that's what TV buys us more than anything: stability and the ability to hold on to our best players.

 

Proves that being taken over DOESN'T guarantee you a league position, let alone a trophy!

Spot on. You pay a high price when doing a deal with the devil to secure supposed investment from a billionaire. It's not investment: You become a play thing that's subject to the whims and changing attitudes of that billionaire. Far far better, in my book, is to run a business as a business and do it well. There's no reason why Everton can't become and remain a top four club with the current financial setup. It simply takes a different strategy: more focus on stability and homegrown players and less paying exorbitant fees for prima donnas. This is the right way to do it, and it makes everyone proud, does it not? Winning at all costs is not right. Building a lasting legacy is the way to go.

PS - if I could suggest one change, it would be to allow fans to become investors in some way. Other clubs have done this successfully, and it gives fans a greater say in some important decisions.

May have something to do with this...

Take a look at @BreatheSport's Tweet: https://twitter.com/BreatheSport/status/603853442818408448?s=09

Traveling around the world, I've seen the blatant disregard for human life on major construction works. No safety equipment. No ropes. Men working day and night. And, of course, it's 100 percent immigrant workers who sign contracts and don't really understand what they are committing themselves to.

I would hope all the major sponsors will pull out. In reality, that's the only way to change the host country.

If Galloway hoes out on loan it might be worth looking at whether MK Dons would like him. That way he'd be at a place he's comfortable, with a manager who holds him in high regard.

Of course! I'd forgotten they were promoted to the Championship. Good call.

Interesting that neither team won their group.

US Ministry of Justice document:

 

http://www.justice.gov/opa/file/450211/download

 

I've been wanting to catch up on this all day. I saw the photos this morning of officials being shrouded by duvets by hotel staff. It's like something out of a film. It's just a shame that the investigation only relates to those within the confines of U.S.A.

Absolutely. Why is it that the US had to be the country putting together a case against them? Why no drive to prosecute them in Europe?

 

And he'll do well there. Genuinely think a step down and a decent run, you'll see what a handy player he can be. Miles better than what they have.

Not sure that I agree he's "miles better than they have." After all, Bournemouth won the Championship because of their attacking style and number of goals scored, not because they win games 1-0.