Hafnia

I discussed this with someone yesterday, unless we go back to the days when players share buses with the fans, have mortgages, need to take up physiotherapy after their careers then ultimately player power will rule. Look at Birmingham, those players are fighting for new contracts and their performances have been great because of it. We will never know what goes on behind the scenes, but I guess the question I need to ask myself is 'do I believe the chairman and the board are honest with the fans' - the answer I am afraid is no. The sale of Rooney will always be one of the great unanswered questions.

I don't have an issue with ability, he is far more accomplished than Kevin Kilbane, Simon Davies ever could have dreamed to be. His left foot is awesome and he can go past a man when needed. It's the fact that he is hiding, it is not on, when we get the ball he does not show for a pass, blimey Tony Hibbert for all his technical failings shows the bottle and desire to help his team mates out. I think we have a player who needs a rocket or arm round the shoulder, one of them at least. We do not have team where someone can hide, we need 11 committed to helping each other. I have always been respectful of players who when things aren't going well will still demand the ball, we will forget the 10 bad passes etc for the one beauty that creates a goal.

You don't need to have an inquisitive mind to realise that the club had an extremely strong motive 1. To sell Rooney - given the dire financial position we we in and 2. To ensure it is covered up as best as possible to avoid what would have been a revolt ala Fiorentine re Batistuta sale and what would potentially happen in Athletico if Aguero is sold. Sure some could have been orchestrated by Rooney, but to hold Rooney solely accountable is very short sighted. We had borrowed £10m to keep administrators away from Kaupthing Singer & Friedlander, which was paid back with the Rooney money. Was the sale of Rooney needed? Well put it this way look at Victor Moses at Crystal Palace now, a player worth at least £5m plus is going to be sold by the administrators for £1.25m in what is classed as a fire sale - what would Rooney have gone for £8m, £10m? with a 10 point reduction? Rooney had 2 years on his contract, would never turn up to a game and give less than 100%, we knew he was world class and was going to get better, why did we sell? He couldn't force the sale? He was contracted to us, was he going to sit and rot in the reserves and play in front of 500 fans a week? Hardly work for a conspiracy theorist.

dunc, it seems you take as fact what you choose to believe. Look at the minutes from the 2004 agm. We paid stretford 1.5m when rooney was sold. Interesting transcript showing the verbal beating that kenwright got from someone clued up on what happened. Stretford claimed he was told 4 months prior to rooney being sold that he was instructed to find a buyer. Bill was challenged to sue him if this was incorrect, did this happen? That's not opinion. You can find it on scribed. Did rooney want to leave? Whatever. Would it have made any difference? No. We are fans of a football club that happens to have been a very badly run business, rooney being sold was the only option at the time. In years gone by since, we have no real assets. I admire your passion, unfortunately that does not make you right.

Strangely enough Pienaar was told by Saha of the rumoured Bayern interest...

Against Pienaar in training, so he understands what an impact a player who has determination, work ethic and consistency can have over his opponent. At the moment his attitude is not good enough at all, no show for the ball, marks his opponent when we have the ball???!!!

I certainly wouldn't say he was a victim, but an easily manipulated pawn most definately, if we never sold Rooney what would have happened? It was clear that we were on the brink of administration and our one major asset was Rooney. Along with the Gary Speed saga this is something we would never get to the bottom of. To know that a staunch blue like Alan Stubbs remains to this day a close friend tells you all you need to know, would you remian a close friend to a team mate who displayed such lack of loyalty? The anger and hurt I felt at the time was very much directed at Rooney, when you stand back and look at the money we got which effectively kept us afloat, was it realy Rooney wanting to go that did it? In the end I think he wanted to go, bit I believe it was initially started because the club needed him to go. Again this is a subject that will divide many fans, the sale of Rooney in my opinion was not an option, it had to happen. Just think if we got Kings Dock we would have likely been in a position to build a team around the lad. One day he will be back, I think he has probably had plenty of time to reflect and I feel that if he won something with the club he would enjoy that more than anything he has won before... maybe it's wishful thinking.

I've read an awful lot into the whole Rooney saga, the bottomline is that we needed to sell him to stay afloat, end of matter. Sure the lad has reacted badly at times which you would expect given the initial outpouring of anger over the deal, and the hatred he faced. I do feel that the club could have made it alot smoother by stating that he was going to be sold no matter what. The lad was a pawn, he wanted to play football and it was worked at a high level to cash in on him. Do not be under any illusions about that, he had just come back from almost single handedly running the show at the Euro's and we had no media plans to use him for the next season! As if at the age of 18 he was greedy enough to demand a move for money, the lad had all he ever needed, a bit of dosh, a nice girlfriend, playing for his club. The club should have stated that he was sold because the money was the reason. He no doubt wants to play for the club again, he has almost satisfied his domestic need for medals. I know someone who works for the club at a decent level, at the time of the transfer he stated he thought Rooney would play for us again... I am starting to sense that. End of the day, we were not in the right place to keep a talent like his, now?.... maybe, let's see what happpens with Rodwell.

Take away Cahills goals and you are left with a very average midfield player, his first touch ain't great and he gives the ball away far too frequently. Regardless he has been a great signing. Cahill plays best when Arteta plays, when was the last time cahill played great? Arteta's composure and ability on the ball allows Tim the freedom to bomb forward. Fellaini has gone some way to proving me wrong, however if we are talking any where above £15m then we have got to look at that, he has played well recently and if he continues to improve then great. My primary concern is getting Pienaar signed up on a 4 year deal. If someone wants to pay over the odds for Fellaini let them.

If Stretford is still his agent then a move could well be on the cards!!!

We aren't in the market to afford him, however with Man Utd's debt being released on news, there has been talk of Barca or Real weighing up a £80m bid to take him in the summer, especially if he stars in the world cup. I am aware that there is a sell on clause (I think it's 25% of anything over £20m - need clarifying if poss) If he was to go for £80m - that would mean a £15m pay day for us....nice. That would take the overall pay day for the club to approx £40m. This is something we need to happen...

Cahill was at fault for their goal. Ball cleared out, he waited for pass rather than move towards the ball and protect it. They moved forward and scored. Tim's lack of basics at times is annoying.

No, No, No, No. Finding money for a £2.5m player that has 2 years left and who is on the decline? Tell you what, get the extra dosh and get Victor Moses then I will be happy.

Dixie Dean, Tommy Lawton, Alex Young, Joe Royle, Bob Latchford, Graeme Sharp etc - back in the day of team numbers 1-11 these players made the shirt famous, we now have options to give a player any 2 digit number. Whilst I am happy we have Donovan we have also discredited the value of the shirt by giving it to a player on loan for just 10 weeks. With squad numbers we should be looking to reward players with that number, in the way alot of the south American teams use the number 10 shirt. It may seem picky, put don't we have merchandising based on the prestigous Everton number 9?

Felli has made me eat my words to an extent, which I am made up about. He has come on leaps and bounds which does make you question why was he being played out of position to the one he played at Liege? His lack of pace may be less of an issue when playing deeper as he isn't reliant on needing to chase back and just sit and mop up, and his passing has been excellent. Now we know his benchmark let's hope he doesn't slip back.

Brett Angel Alex Nyarko Mikel Madar Tony Thomas Richard Wright OK really.... (ones I have seen) 1. Trevor Steven 2. Andy Gray 3. Peter Reid 4. Wayne Rooney 5. Duncan Ferguson Interms of ability Rooney is 1st followed by Steven, Arteta, Sheedy, Saha

1-1 guttede

Just the tonic for the lad. made up for him

go on vaughan - get in there 1-0

I have given it to Baxter, amybe his game wasn't as steady as Coleman or Duffy, however highly impressed with his technique and composure - seems to have a bit of scholes about him, I get the feeling that something will click with him soon and you will see him edge into an attacking midfielder role, good quick feet, nice touch and will take ownership. Overall you have got to be pleased with how the lads looked, a credit to the academy to be honest. Coleman and Duffy look pipelined to replace Hibbert and Yobo. Good signs, pretty pleased.

Bill will be watching pen and notepad in hand ready to see who we can secure our next loans against "hhhmmmm that Bidwell looks good - Coleman looks class, yep that's me sorted for another few loans in 5 years time" In all seriousness, players like Colin Harvey, most recently Rodwell all had their debuts in european games, we may see young Agard tear their back 4 apart tonight and have another option up front. Have Billy on the bench, point towards Agard and let him know that that is the work rate we expect from an Everton player - not one who decides he doesn't fancy it when the ball goes like pinball and you need to graft a little. Yep - seen Billy's interview, the message I got wasn't a good one.

We seen the best English raised player since Gazza come through the ranks whilst the club was being run like an elephants graveyard. He was one of our own, gritty, narky and would to an extent run the show, we had no one to do that. We watch him go and take the European championships by storm and hope that the £50k a week contract waiting for him was true and was waiting to be signed................... Then we bought Lescott who was good at £4m (Brum born and raised), not the best defender (Jags is)and we sold him for a similar price to the player that England will focus our World cup hopes on..... The Rooney sale will always stick in my throat for all the reasons that I now know we aren't a major player anymore. This situation can not happen again, Rodwell may not have Rooney's match winning explosiveness, however he is what all the other clubs want, why sell him??? Lescott, I can deal with, no problem at all. Reasons they left? Will we ever know?

You can say he lost us two goals today. The way I look at it he is PURE CLASS. Never before have I seen a striker play for us so composed and silky on the ball, he may lose the ball at times, but you can't change the player and in his case why would you. There is Drogba, Rooney, Torres, Defoe, Adebuyor, all mega money players - Saha is up there. Best striker I have seen at this club in terms of all round technical ability.

intersting point, would be difficult to compare but if you look at Pienaars consistency and work rate versus Mikels it makes him very close as an overall player. He hasn't got the same technical ability when striking a ball, dribbling and close control very similar. His versatility is better, Mikel can go missing when played on the right. Put it this way, there isn't many teams he wouldn't get in...

Don Hutchison anyone....... That was 2000, we are now 2009, player of the year wanted 25% pay rise (20k - 25k) we offered an extra £925 a week, our current top earners are approx 50k, simple, give Pienaar parity, we know he's worth it. If I was him, I would expect a £50k a week 3 year deal, no less. If we offer less, then expect him to walk. And expect to replace with far less.