JohnDTraynor

Midnight. That's it then. Gardner replaces Stubbs. De Silva and McFadden also gone. Fewer players at the end of January than at the start of the month.

Joey Barton has been seen in Liverpool. He was wearing a nice suit. Must be going somewhere.

That's annoying

They are hardly ever, (or never), in first team squads, almost always out on loan, and yet been around a while. Have they not progressed as expected? Were they not good signings? Is the lack of an assistant manager an issue here? Perhaps all will become top-class players and I'm being impatient?

According to the Daily Mail: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/arti...in_page_id=1779 Didn't Everton take an interest in him previously?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkw-Gq2_op0...feature=related Seems to have great composure in the penalty area

The Olympics starts a few weeks after the Europen Championships. So, if England qualify and do quite well (a big if) at the Europen Championships then, surely, none of the leading England players can take part in the Olympics. So, no Scottish, Northern Irish or Welsh players, no players from England's first-choice squad, and only a few players allowed who are over 23. Result: Definitely no chance of a medal, so what is the point of taking part?

There are many to choose from. Often, it seems that becoming a sports journalist or broadcaster is what you do if you can't do anything else in journalism. My least favourite, of those who are reasonably well-know, are: Alan Green - Loudmouth, opinionated, unthinking, etc. Being opinionated might be a good thing except Green's opinions are almost always negative and unhelpful. He seems happiest just having a go at someone: Players, administrators, referrees, supporters. He casts himself as a "voice of the people" but whenever a journalist casts himself in that way it is certain that he views the public as midless gobshites and that is the audience he is pandering to. Also, he is a very, very poor commentator. Radio commentary requires description of action, it's a difficult skill, a skill that is absent from Green. Mihir Bose - What an oxygen thief. He should be working as a columnist in Heat magazine discussing Big Brother or following Britney Spears around. He is the antithesis of being a journalist. Investigation, acquiring facts and compiling a report are not in Bose's skills list. He merely trawls the websites of the world picking up unsubstantiated gossip and then regurgitating it in newspapaers and on the BBC website. (Have people seen his "article's" on the BBC website? They are bedecked with phrases like "my source said", "I have been told by someone", etc.) And, his gossip-filled articles are so vacuous that I fall asleep reading them. Garth Crooks - What is Garth Crooks? What is he? Why is he? Is it a joke that I don't get? Will he reveal all one day saying "aha, I fooled you"? He is vacant, a blank canvas, a lack, an absence...there's nothing there, no-one is at home, Captain Kirk has a five-year mission to discover life, in Garth Crook's brain.

It shows his commitment to Everton. Also, South Africa's journalists are notoriously more interested in gossip than in journalism.

Phew, a defeat is better than a replay. The defeat emphasised the need for signings, soon. Unfortunately, Aston Villa and Blackburn, two of Everton's challengers for a UEFA cup place, are also out; but, Manchester City have a replay. Watching Match Of The Day, and all the empty stands at every ground - not just premier League - shows that the only people who are keen on the FA Cup are chairmen of smaller clubs (money) and, for no explicable reason, the BBC.

As I understood the Fernandes saga, though admittedly I don't claim to understand it fully at all, he did want to sign for Everton but the Premier League's interpretation of its own (vague) rules delayed the transfer so much that Fernandes became worried that he wouldn't be able to move anywhere, and so he made a snap decision to go elsewhere. The Premier League's usual lack of clarity and abject inablity to make a decision caused the transfer to break down. I think, if he does return, Everton fans should welcome Fernandes gleefully.