rubecula

Thats a great first post, welcome to the madhouse. It is great you are a Toffee supporter. Make sure you have loads of tissues to wipe away the tears. That is a must for Everton supporters. Hopefully they will be tears of joy this year. Don't worry if some folks are 'down' about a player. Some would be down if we had signed Pele in the 1960's. Now that the deal is done over Donovan, lets see how he does. Afterwards we will either praise him or wnat to hang him by a flag from the roof of Lime Street Station, but until then he is welcome by most of us.

Well after Benfica we at least know where to go to I suppose. Just be careful to go to the right stadium eh? LOL The same goes to Sporting I think. Ours is the football stadium, not the footballing shed across the park.

I am more concerned that he is a fan of Spurs.

When was the last time Chelsea conceeded three at home? Must be years ago?

Watched on motd and the coverage was not brilliant. Listening to comments by Moyes I went with Saha, but overall it was a great performance by the entire team.

Never missed a game in the 80's, but to be honest I simply don't remember "Away In A Manger" being sung. I may be wrong.

Bookies seldom make mistakes. But they have cocked up big time on this I think. Hope the Reds get someone who takes no prisoners such as Villareal. Mind you it would be nice for us to get Villareal too, we have a score to settle with them from a few years back. Personally I can not see Liverpool as favourites, as I really don't think they can cut the mustard in Europe this season.

Umm When did graeme Sharp retire?

Agreed, and to be totally honest I am not a fan of Beckham anyway. Besides the USA football scene has come on a lot over recent years. I always said that when the powers that be in USA get their act together, there will be a hell of an improvement over there. They have the facilities and the ability to become a great footballing nation if they have the desire to do so. Lets face it, USA has over 300 million people in it. England has about 35 million almost a ten to one ratio. If USA puts their mind to it there is no doubt a lot of future greats can appear from there. So saying, it is still not a big sport there, so who knows what will happen. For now though, Donovan could be the tip of the iceberg, or then he may not be. Lets just give the lad a chance, he has surely earned that much at least.

I have to agree with Trev on this one. That back four looks GOOD. But it is only going to happen when we have everyone fit. And how often in the past few seasons has that happened?

I have to ask because I honestly don't know. can Trams run on railway tracks? If so, wouldn't they be the ideal match day transport?

As has been said, he is mostly famous here for his moaning about Beckham. But then again that is not really a great problem to many of us. We know he has good pace and is one of the best in the USA right now. At Everton we have some experience of USA players. Brian McBride was one we had here for a time and he did very well indeed. he made the effort to be good enough, and indeed we tried to sign him permanently at the time. Apparently, there were soom legalities that prevented that. We have Tim Howard who is one of the best Goalkeepers in the league in many people's opinions. So really we are voicing out opinions and the concerns we have for somebody we simply are not sure of. Personally I think he will be a great addition to our squad, and if things go well maybe a permanent deal could occur at the end of the season. Who knows? On the other hand he could flop badly, many players from many countries (even Brazil) have flopped in the EPL. Yet sometimes a real gem can be unearthed. I think we should give him the chance. A couple of months is not a long time and if he cuts the mustard it will be great forus and for him, and also for the USA squad. If he flops, no real harm done.

I am full of confidence for the future after that performance. When we get a full strength side out, we will do very well. Not scared of anyone now, pity the result did not reflect just how dominant we were really. But that is football, doesn't matter how good you are, it is the goals that count.

Thanks for that Bill. I didn't know a single one of them ROFL It has been fun though. Thanks again.

How has the season been shaping up so far? For myself I think things have taken a real downward turn for the worst. However it is mostly due to the awful injury list we have had to carry. Especially to key players. Our squad is small compared to some So it is understandable that it is difficult to cover such losses over a season. Things should start to improve now with a bit of luck. What are your expectations for this season? Have they changed from day one? My expectations are a good charge up the table when the aforesaid injuries ease. It may be a bit late in the day but I would expect at least a top 7 finish. Who do you think is your most important player(s)? Playing it changes from match to match a lot. Tim Howard is a good keeper and King Louis is a good striker. Of course you know the ones who YOU consider to be dangerous. Any of them are important. Mikel Arteta is possibly the most important player, except that he is not fit to play just yet. Your worst player(s)? Another one that splits opinion depending on the match being played. I think overall, Tony Hibbert has had more criticism than most. What sort of line-up will be put out against us? The best one we can put out. Which may not mean much just now, but it is guaranteed that the boys will be up for it and give 100% for the cause. Are you surprised by Liverpool's poor start to the season which also included going out of the Champions League and joining you in the Europa League? No, certainly not. I know a lot of your fans were thinking of winning the league earlier in the season. So were some 'experts' but personally I always had the impression the wheels were going to come off. I think it is the way you rely so much on Gerrard and Torres to keep the team afloat in the difficult games. I suspect that for one of the 'big four' your squad lacks some quality. Besides I have never really though Benitez was the best choice of manager for your team. Where do you expect Everton and Liverpool to finish in the Premier League? Both will finish lower than last year, perhaps only a place or maybe two. But almost certainly lower. (Of course I hope otherwise for Everton) Which Liverpool player will you fear the most? Don't really fear any of them in the sense you mean. I suspect Torres will be dangerous if he plays. However even if he does I don't think he will be all that fit. The game may be more important to Liverpool than Everton this time around, so he may be pushed onto the pitch a week or so too soon. As for Gerrard, he is dangerous in a different way. He does seem to get free kicks without anything wrong being done to him a lot of the time, and he excells in doing this in Derby games, so that in itself makes him very dangerous indeed. Care to predict the score? No. Not a hope in hell I would wish you the best of luck, but I am sure you will not think it sincere, lets just say I would like to see a good game without red cards flowing.

The redevelopement of Goodison is a strong possibility now I think. But if it were to happen, where would we play during the rebuild? There are two obvious choices. Goodison and build around the playing or Anfield, and ground share on a temporary basis. I cant think of anything else we could do to be honest.

Great thread this, Thanks for starting it Phil. And some nice posts folks. I feel better about the Derby Game each time I read it.

They mentioned both as 'options' along with the ground share idea. Although the ground share got most of the news.

Thanks for that. I was watching SSN tonight and they mentioned possible sites in Speke and Gillmoss. I assume the Gillmoss site is the same one I mentioned some time back on the old English Electric John Napier works? Apparently though it has a drawback of no rail link. How big a drawback is this? There are plenty of buses and easy road access from just about everywhere. I don't know where about in Speke they meant though. Besides Speke (even inside the city boundary) is possibly further away than Kirkby.

So here is a little something to make you smile. http://www.lfc-endofseasonparty.com/

Bill Kenwright was I believe in favour of the Kirkby move, which has now died a death. Previous owner Peter Johnson was keen on the Widnes move, which also died a death. Knowsley council wanted Everton to have a stadium in their backyard. I am not sure about Widnes. But what councils would like to see Everton with a stadium in their areas? Are there any? Is Liverpool one of them? Are we likely to still leave the city in someway? Anybody know any little snippets?

Relegation is always 'possible' to ANY team. It is just unlikely for some. It is more unlikely for Chelsea or Man Utd than it is for us, and more likely for Wolves or Portsmouth than us. I remain confident we are safe in that respect. But it is not going to be a very comfortable season in the league this time around.

This last bit has me worried. Totally committed to finding a new home for the club sounds ominous in the way it is phrased. No indication of WHERE they are looking. Groundshare with another team building a new stadium? OMG we are moving to White Hart Lane!!!!! Here is a link you may like to browse through: http://www.scribd.com/doc/23184426/09-11-25-IR-Everton-FC-and-Tesco-1203375

Ok we now have a deal with Kitbag, and the kit is made by Le Coq. Personally I can't stand the new kits. (My own impression though and I won't argue with anyone who likes them) But how have sales of the new kit gone? Are sales better or worse than in previous seasons? I suppose basically I am just wondering if revenue in sales is down now that we have the kit with the white v neck home shirt and the awful pink horizontal strips over black for the away shirt. (I have tried to like them, but frankly I just can't bring myself to buy either.)

Not sure about anyone else, but that performance by Spurs was truly frightening. AND we play them in a couple of weeks. Can anybody spare a roll of Andrex?