Cornish Steve

They are as important to me as the King and Queen of any country, including King Obama of America

Could you take him, please? Are there any spare rooms in Kensington Palace? Perhaps Liz might be prepared to let him stay in return for an updated iPod preloaded with his latest speeches.

All has been quiet for a few days, but I can't help but think ManU will be back with an offer soon. Given his failure (again) to sign Fabregas, you can sense the pressure building on DM to bring in someone - anyone.

About ManU from the BBC website: But none of those moves have materialised as yet and when asked if he appreciated why some United fans were becoming anxious, Moyes replied: "I can understand that feeling. But there have been quite a few changes. Other managers have changed their clubs, too, and everybody thought this might be the summer when transfers are done later in the month. That was always the thought I had when I came into the club. You have to remember I only started on 1 July, so in truth I have only been in the job three weeks at this present time."

But RM started on 1 July as well, and Everton have already signed four players. It may not be fair to blame DM for ManU's lack of transfers to date, but he's beginning to take the flak. Matching Fellaini's release clause might do some way to reduce fan pressure.

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

why only 2 mins out of curiosity?

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

He had Koné A. on his back in Wigan as well.

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

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

.....................Robles.................

...........Jags...Alcaraz...Distin....

Coleman...........................Baines

................Felli.....Gibson..........

Deulofeu.......Kone..........Mirralas

 

have Coleman and Baines as wingbacks, allows the front 3 to have the freedom to play through the centre or wings

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

My first time on here, hello to you all, I know George well, and see him most weeks, and just to let you all know that he is progressing well. He is small but so is Messi, he is getting much stronger and I would hope to see him progress well under Martinez.

Is he Gazza or Rooney ? no he is George Green, and the hype put around him when joined from Bradford is justified, he has a lot of talent, very quick feet, great balance and a left foot to die for, and if he was in a lower division I think he would have made the first team by now.

Been in the prem is always going to be much harder to break through, and at the moment Everton have a much stronger squad than when Rooney broke through.

The one thing I will say is he does have the ability to be a world beater, go to finch farm and watch him to make your own minds up, he is not the run of the mill 17 year old.

I think we may see him at some point this season maybe a cup game, and when you do, sing his name loud and proud to spur him on.

 

I will do my best to keep all you TOFFEES up to date with how he is doing, he is a great young lad with a great talent, keep faith in him, he is a star of the future.

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!

As we all wait in anticpation on the release of our 13/14 away kit, just wanted to see what you guys think it gonna be this season.

 

I think were overdue a bright yellow shirt.

 

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 Martinez was at Wigan and made the same kind of pitch and financial commitment then Deulofeu would be on loan at Wigan?

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.

Reina looks to be going to Napoli on loan - Shite supporters aren't happy.

 

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

Which of your players do you expect to have a disappointing season?

 

Marouane Fellaini.

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.

I think Grant is a central midfielder, not a winger though. That's certainly where he played these past two games. I don't expect him to have an impact yet this season either. He still played most of his games for the U18 team last season apparently, if he can make the step up to the U21s this season and continue to excell he'll have done fine.

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.