Cornish Steve

Rumours are back that Everton want to sign Sinclair from City.

If I hadn't chosen to leave the country, I would have been asked to leave over this issue! While one or two of the royals seem decent and hard-working folks, the majority are simply an embarrassing drain on the taxpayer. As for the title "Duchess of Cornwall", none of us Celts want her, thank you very much. Personally, I would never wish anyone ill; however, I get sick to the teeth of listening to all the drivel on the news about this royal baby.

- Jelavic gets upset when Kone is brought in - Jelavic wants to see RM to understand where he fits - Agent smells money and tells the media "Jelavic demands to know why he's not #1" - Agent calls one of two clubs previously interested - Hamburg duly oblige by returning his call and expressing interest - Agent tells Hamburg team that Everton is shopping around for buyers (whether true or not is immaterial) - Hamburg team repeat this story to the media, hoping to unsettle Jelavic and improve their chances of a good deal - Agent laughs all the way to the bank until Everton either do business or stomp on the suggestion

It's like our education system, right? We do a good job educating students until they are 18. We even do a good job educating them until they are 21. But does that mean we've prepared them to be productive workers? Not at all! We have to start with the end goal (productive workers) and then make sure the 'system' is consistent with that goal. In this case, we're educating players until they are 18, maybe until they are 21, but do we have the end goal in mind? Is there a well-defined and effective process for converting top-class youngsters into regular first-team players? Since Everton has lost so many over the years, it would seem not - although I don't think other clubs do much better. It's clear that one of RM's primary goals is to get more out of our investment in youth development.

The Daily Mail claims the deal is worth £6 million. That would mean we've effectively swapped Jelavic for Kone.

There's been plenty of discussion about players potentially joining this summer but less about players leaving. Given the financial constraints within which the team must operate, considerable funds could be freed up by getting rid of 'dead wood'. Putting emotion aside, which players does it make most sense to transfer out during the current window - and how much could we get for each player?

Wow. I've really enjoyed listening to the selections posted here - thank you. Quite a mix of styles and musical periods. For almost 40 years, I've listened to one piece of music over and over again - hundreds of times - and I'm still learning new things from it. The work was written by a dying man and lay incomplete for decades. Only in recent years have others picked up the unfinished manuscript to produce completed versions. Some parts are difficult to listen to at first, whereas others are sublimely beautiful from the first hearing. Forgive the death mask image on , but I would recommend listening to this final movement from 14:45 to 16:50.

Arbitrary. Thought it would be easier to listen to 2-minute snippets than wading through Der Ring des Niebelungen.

It's to ensure everyone pronounces his name correctly: Kone-A - not Cone.

Jelavic out, Moses in. I'd be a happy camper.

I like this a lot. My only variation on this theme might be, over time, to introduce Bryan Oviedo somewhere on the left.

Thanks dad. ~George

First I buy a paper shop, and it blows away. Now I buy an ice cream van and this happens.

If you had to choose the most beautiful two minutes of music ever written, what would it be? Maybe you can post a YouTube link with the start and stop times of your two minutes.

My oldest son played in this tournament years back and had a great time. What he enjoyed most, though, was having his picture taken with one of the Swedish girls' teams playing in a parallel tournament!

So no one can tell the players from the referees? Seriously, though, this colour would look great.

Everton win the Gothia Cup. Way to go!

You really think that if Moyes was at Everton and made the same kind of pitch and financial commitment then Deuofeu would be on loan at Everton? No. IMO, there were two prerequisites: the coaching philosophy of Martinez and the stability of Everton FC. The fact that RM speaks Catalan surely helped, too. Incidentally, as long as Deulofeu plays in at least 50% of games, there is no financial commitment - which is quite amazing really.

This move baffles me, I have to say. Why a loan?

If at ManU.

Interesting how everyone is starting Robles over Howard. It didn't take long to display in our minds a top-class keeper like Howard.

Connor Grant could be someone we see sooner rather than later. Maybe RM sees him the way he saw McCarthy when he brought him to Wigan from Hamilton as an 18-year-old.

[Note: from a year ago] In the 2012/2013 season, Everton scored 33 goals at home while allowing 17 at home. In away games, they scored 22 and conceded 23. Overall, the team scored 55 and conceded 40. In practice, this means the average score at home was 2-1 whereas the average score away was 1-1. How might this change in the coming season? I'd be interested in your predictions and explanations. Here are mine: - For the 19 games at home, 40 goals scored and 20 conceded. - For the 19 games away, 30 goals scored and 25 conceded. The big difference that I see is a more attacking strategy - no longer sitting back on small leads but really going for the kill throughout the game. I can see a sizable increase in the number of goals scored per game. The concern, of course, will be defense. Will the increasing age of our backs affect their speed at all? In practice, I would anticipate stats for the first half of the season tracking more closely the stats from last year, whereas things could really start to change around Christmas.

It would be nice, though, if passing accuracy increased to 80% and cross accuracy increased to 40%. There's always room for improvement.

Doesn't the thought of this really get you excited? It does me. The average number of goals per game could be double that of last season.