Bernie the Bolt

I remember a game at Goodison, i think it was against Southampton, and Bally got the biggest ever welcome reception when lining up before the game, when his name was read out, then strangely he was very subdued for all of the first half, not like him at all......when asked about it by the press afterwards he said he was absolutely overwhelmed by the fans reaction, and just couldnt get his act together he was so taken aback. Thats the man you see, couldnt understand why we still loved him long after he left, his feet were still firmly on the ground despite all he had achieved. A lesson there for some of todays prima donnas.

Where do i start? i woke up this morning to the sad news that my hero had passed away, i dont mind admitting i cried my eyes out. For the Evertonians on here, who didnt have the honour of watching this man play, i would say this, he was a superstar in the true sense of the word, he had more passion and ability in his big toe than the vast majority of todays players. This man would run himself in to the ground in every game he played, losing wasnt in his scheme of things, he also demanded every other player in the team gave the same committment as himself, and if they didnt he would let them know in no uncertain terms. He would intimidate opposing players both vocally and with the ball, nobody could ever come near him in terms of his determination to win every game. Bally had a temper, not a bad thing in my book, and he got into trouble with referees because of it, often ending in a suspension. He never ever wanted to leave this club, he was told by Harry Catterick that it 'was good business' because the club doubled their money with the offer Arsenal had put on table. It was the saddest day of my life when he went, i couldnt believe my hero was going, the best player bar none as far as i was concerned. This man is the best player i have ever seen in the blue shirt, RIP Bally, you will never ever be forgotten.

I dont think he was good enough to make it into the first team, ive watched this lad since he was 8 years old, when he played for Ormskirk west end, ive watched his progress closely, the last time i saw him play was against Burscough pre season, and i thought his heading ability was good but his distribution was awful, i just dont think he had the ability to make that next step into the first team.

Billy Jones is a centre half by trade, my son played alongside him while at Crewe, very good player who has now been used in various positions by the manager. A good organiser, big strong lad, with the right attitude, i would take a chance on him.

Ive thought long and hard about the situation we are in now, many fans not being able to afford the vastly inflated ticket prices that are being charged, so, what are the options? I see that the mood at the moment about lowering prices is gathering pace......even a government minister has joined in! There must be many fans or ex fans maybe, who just cant afford to pay these prices, so do they just watch it on the telly? which to me will never ever be as good as watching it from the terraces, or do they maybe go to watch a non league game, or possibly pack in all together. I guess that the majority just watch the telly. Now then, going back a few years, there used to be something called the Lancashire league, all the big clubs used to put there A and B teams in it, they used to compete with the local non league teams, 'proper football' !! not like some of this academy purist football that i have watched regularly over the past years. These lads should be mixing it up with some of the blood and thunder that is the non league. Why couldnt there be a new league formed that included all the premiership clubs reserves, and existing non league teams? I dont think that one game a week or even less is enough for our reserves, and youth for that matter, maybe the Premier and league clubs could compete mid week in there existing leagues, and then on a Saturday play in what is now the Conference? I think the FA has a lot to answer for, that new Wembley is going to be the business but at what cost? unbelievable money, not enough is spent at grass roots. So, what i am saying is, the fans who struggle to pay inflated prices in the Premiership, might just be tempted to watch their team play in a league that is currently the Conference, i know i would watch it, especially if we went back to having players fighting for their places like it used to be, if your not playing well, your playing in the reserves, this squad system is all me arse, it is all very nice for these overpaid under performing individuals picking up vast sums of money come what may......Beattie is a prime example, god only knows how much he has cost this club, and for what?

After weighing up all the views from the fans about the ground move, i hit on an idea, i know a lot of fans myself included, want to stay at the old girl that is called Goodison, that might not be possible though, some want the Kirkby option, not sure about that one at all. What about this.... The new Training ground and Academy is nearing completion, the players will be using it from this next pre season, so we have a very large plot of land which is now the Academy at Netherton which will be surplus to requirements, its large enough to build a new ground and all that goes with it, its close to the Motorway, is on a main road with fairly easy access, in fact i dont think you could get a much better option traffic wise. What about it?

The way i understand this is that Peel Holdings will build this stadium from their own funds and lease it to EFC, i think Man City lease their new ground, and it seems to be working for them doesn't it? As some of you lot might already know, i have always wanted EFC to stay at Goodison, that is our spiritual home, it can be redeveloped, and i have the plans that show how it can be done. The problem we have is that as a club we are always skint, there would be little or no chance of this board putting any sort of plan together to fund such a redevelopment. So, our options are limited, do we stay in the old lady, or move? Peel Holdings could be just the outfit to come to the clubs rescue, i would love them to be able to strike some sort of a deal for rebuilding Goodison, i wonder if they could in fact build a new stadium on the existing footprint and then lease it back to us?? The city council seem to be in a state of panic at the prospect of losing the citys oldest and biggest club, tough, they have been the ones who have stood in the way of our club so many times in the past while seemingly giving the less well known club across the park whatever they want. In answer to the post above, regarding the site being green belt, thats not our problem is it? Peel Holdings are the ones doing all the spadework, so let them get on with it, wasn't the Trafford Centre built on greenbelt? they seem to have got over that one without to much bother.

Fancy 'tales from the dugout' ? ha ha

just been on Peel Holdings website, they own John Lennon airport, the Trafford centre, mersey docks and harbour co, the boss man is a man who always gets what he wants apparently, wonder if he fancies owning the greatest football club in the world?

We are the greatest football club in the world, NIL SATIS NISI OPTIMUM, nothing but the best, thats our motto, Kenwright, get your arse into gear.

Hows it goin Patrick ??

sorry lads but one of the neccessary ingredients of being a true Evertonian is that you are always pessimistic !!!!

Those three in midfield were not blessed with huge amounts of skill, but they made up for it with their unbelievable workrate, remember Joe 'sorting' Ince out in the Final? Some of the prima donna's of today could learn a thing or two from these three.

he did buy Nick Barmby, wasnt it a record at the time? Joe was quoted as saying that from then on there was to be no more second rate signings, it was either the quality players or young players with potential, and then he went and bought Claus Thomson!!!!!! that was Joes biggest boo boo i reckon, cant for the life of me think why he was bought, could it have been a n agent Johnson signing??!!!

to be fair licker, that was the Johnson regime, and im not convinced about the Joe Royle resignation, i think Johnson was a dictator who would have picked the team given half a chance, i thought big joe was unlucky, i still think he could have been one of our finest managers, in fact, i mentioned the other day about managers being either successful or not, well big joe was certainly that when he took over wasn't he? he made an immediate impact, we were dead and buried when he took over from Walker, we ended up FA Cup holders against all the odds, joe is a brilliant man manager, i wish he was still here to be honest.

goldfish, mediocrity is in my book is being content to survive and not having ambition, where is the ambition in our boardroom? thats long gone, for too long our club has taken one step foreward and two back, although at the moment its more a case of one step foreward and one back! As long as our fans accept shite this club will give it to you, ok, we dont have the funds of some of the others, but, that is because we have been run like a corner shop for too long. You say that the days of signing an Alan Ball for £300,000 have long gone, well in fact we signed him for £110,000 actually, an British transfer record no less, we were setting the standards for others to follow, those days are well and truly gone, due to the no marks in the boardroom. We are now in the unfortunate position of not having any real money in the bank, we cant compete with the likes of Chelsea we know that, so what do we do? we make it our policy to develop the youth, Crewe have the best youth set up in the country, they started a long term youth policy years ago, and it has certainly paid off for them, why is it that they can produce so many good players while others look on and scratch their heads in amazement? because they have quality coaches who know what it takes to nurture young players and develop them into some of the country's best prospects. Until we have people in the boardroom who can finance this club as it should be, we should strive to make our youth set up the best in the country, look at us now, portacabins in Netherton!! we have no facilitys for our kids at the moment, an absolute disgrace, i for one will continue to give this board all the abuse they deserve, Kenwright and Co YOU ARE A JOKE.

After reading all these posts, i repeat my question from last week, WHY DO EVERTONIANS ACCEPT MEDIOCRITY? you have all been hoodwinked into believing we are a half decent team, we used to taunt Arsenal about being boring because of the amount of 1 0 wins, and thats why we finished fourth last season, for christ sake lets have some entertainment! and lets start by giving some of the kids a chance.

I stand by what i say, if Moyes got handed the Man U job i would be surprised if they ever won a trophy, the thing is, Moyes can only produce hard working, one dimensional teams, europe found him out big style, didnt it? Rob, did i hear you say he was careful with the clubs money?!! Richard friggin Wright!! and the dane, how much did we lose on him? sorry mate i dont think he can handle spending huge sums, hes a bargain basement buyer, probably just as well with this lot in the boardroom eh? Trev, do you think our set up is comparable to the likes of Boro, City, Villa, and the like? look at their grounds! look at some of the players they have! while we continue to sgn the likes of Kilbane Naysmith, Carsley, and Richard Wright, we are way below them lot.

Yet another season of mediocrity eh? what else can we really expect when the club is led from the top by a man who can only offer us dreams and memories from bygone times? Kenwright is kidding himself and the fans, why is this club not being run by someone with the ability and knowhow that will take us foreward? Moyes, the nearly man, he will never win anything, his managerial record is there for everyone to see, when at Preston he took them to the play off's only to fall at the final fence. Moyes is an honest hard working manager, but, not a successful one unfortunately. Sorry to be spreading doom and gloom, but why is this club still going backwards? yet again no more signings, we just have to put up with watching second rate under achievers, who seem to go through the motions, while picking up their kings ransome every week, its makes me sick.

Could David Moyes bring success to this club? I honestly have my doubts, although he has undoubtedly helped to keep us in the premiership these past few seasons. I think he is one of those managers who always seem to fail at the final hurdle, it happened while he was Preston manager as well, they always just seemed to miss out at the death. Our performances in europe were nothing short of abyssmal. I think he is really working flat out, to get what limited success we have had, while other managers seem to be cruising in overdrive while success seems second nature to them. I believe there are successful managers and unsuccessful managers, Moyes should lighten up a bit, he is always deadly serious, could you ever imagine him telling his players to go out and play within his instuctions but to enjoy themselves? i couldnt. Take Chelsea, we know they have endless amounts of dosh, but, their players seem to go out and play without a worry in the world, they work as hard as anyone but they also enjoy it. A top notch manager will have his players going out believing they are the best in the world, forget about the opposition, let them worry about us. Moyes has a collection of about ten screens in his office, he must have square eyes watching endless videos of opponents! Sling them in the skip Moyesy, and just concentrate on five a sides!

Alright TL, nice to see theres still some owl arses on here!! ive been nowhere!

this thread just confirms what i stated earlier, why do Evertonians accept second best?????

in my humble opinion, the buck always stops at the number one, and we have a "number one" who simply isnt up to the job, look at little Wigan for example, they have a ruthless businessman at the helm who has worked wonders, why is that? because he has a proven way of doing things, he simply wont rest until he gets things operating as he sees fit, he even took on greater manchester police because , in his opinion, they were charging him too much to provide policing at Wigans home games. Whelan is exactly the type of person who should be in command of EFC, instead we have a person who without doubt is a massive Evertonian, but, hasnt a clue on how to progress. Unfortunately, being a big Evertonian wont take us foreward in the long term. This club has gone from being one of the biggest, to being overtaken by clubs who are not fit to be mentioned in the same sentance. Until we have a Dave Whelan or the like we will continue going backwards.

i mean the expectation levels of our fans have been run into the ground by the no marks who run this club, did anyone notice the 2 million we through away on the dane ???!!!!