Formby

Agreed.

Not really. I would say that Moyes’ natural conservatism, his desire to protect leads rather than punish opposing teams, not to say team selections and substitutions, have cost us a lot of points this season. So, all that ‘fantastic football’ is wasted. Moyes will never change. He is what he is.

Pretty sure Hafnia was referring to Moyes' general inability to manage an attacking team. Moyes is far too conservative by nature. Now his defence is getting all leaky, he doesn't know what to do.

Not optimistic about this game at all: Moyes’ record against Liverpool is dire. He’ll revert to tentative type and play Neville again, justifying it because of his ‘big game experience’. A passenger down in midfield, bereft of any tactical nous, and on the wrong end of some expletive filled decisions, we will let Gerard run the show again. Only wish it was going to be otherwise, but experience teaches...well, you know the rest.

Like Raquel Welch in One Million Years BC, the curves are iconic and should never have gone. I presume it had something to do with getting more fans in to the stadium.

As I have mentioned before, there seems to be a hierarchy of ‘isms’ in this country. Insulting a black person appears to carry far more moral condemnation than insults directed at gays or Jewish people. This may be something to do with how the latter are perceived (soft targets). Every race has its racists. Manchester, though multicultural, has very complex racial divisions. People of all races and creeds run shoulders but, scratch beneath the surface, and the prejudice leaps out. A sniggering forbearance (at best) is how I’d best describe the majority’s view on gay people. You can hear it all the time in pubs. Pakistanis (who I know a lot about) have issues with Indians from partition days (Muslim-Hindu issues), Pakistanis with Bangladeshis from the 1971 war, black Africans and black Jamaicans don’t get on, Pakistanis don’t get on with blacks and vice versa, Chinese just the same. Muslims don’t get on with Jews. Of course, you can always say you know so and so and that’s just not the case with them, but it’s a rare individual that isn’t comprised of some kind of ism (whether it be something to do with race, creed, denomination, sexuality or xenophobia). It’s horrible when it comes out but may not always reflect the totality of that person.

5-1, I think. We beat them 4-0 on the opening day of the previous season, too. 'Everton run rings round runners-up' was the headline on the back of the Express. Bob got a brace then, too.

Statistically, the sixties were a better period for Everton in terms of league position (average league position 4.3). 1960-61 42 13 4 4 47 23 9 2 10 40 46 50 5th 1961-62 42 17 2 2 64 21 3 9 9 24 33 51 4th 1962-63 42 14 7 0 48 17 11 4 6 36 25 61 1st 1963-64 42 14 4 3 53 26 7 6 8 31 38 52 3rd 1964-65 42 9 10 2 37 22 8 5 8 32 38 49 4th 1965-66 42 12 6 3 39 19 3 5 13 17 43 41 11th 1966-67 42 11 4 6 39 22 8 6 7 26 24 48 6th 1967-68 42 18 1 2 43 13 5 5 11 24 27 52 5th 1968-69 42 14 5 2 43 10 7 10 4 34 26 57 3rd 1969-70 42 17 3 1 46 19 12 5 4 26 16 66 1st Hard to compare teams from different eras but I tend to agree with Dalziel. There were some good squads under Catterick and Lee, too. Dave Thomas and hairy Bob Latchford were a fantastic combination in the seventies.

I'm a bit confused by your comments. Are you against the song because you think it's 'dreadful', because it has become inextricably connected to LFC and therefore something an Everton fan shouldn't countenance singing, or because there are better ways to express solidarity? Or all three? On the first point, I disagree. On the second, I refer to my previous post and say the song is from Carousel. It doesn't belong just to LFC. And, even if it did, expressing solidarity with its message is a worthy, human thing to do. On point three, there may be better ways to show support. The original question was what your views would be, not which is best.

I think it’s entirely appropriate they play it and I hope everyone sings it. Time to let petty rivalry stop and supporters see the bigger picture. It’s a song from Carousel, for God’s sake, and about a struggle we’re all going to face at one point in our lives.

Yes, of course it is! A satellite! Pe(e)ing pedantic was a nice Freudian slip?

One of those (fortunate) people who will be remembered for all time (or, as long as there is a human race). The moon landings seem so long ago; sad the space programs lost their ambition. As a boy, they absolutely fired my imagination. To have actually walked on another planet and looked back at insignificant, old Earth must really have put things in perspective.

Definitely worth doing. Not quite as painful as this, though. Take it away, Lou. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZtKkDmpxPA&feature=related

But you know there will be, surely? Our super tactician won't break with tradition.

A decrepit Paul McCartney croaking out ten years past his sell by date; the painfully awful Arctic Monkeys; a lot of non sequitur texting inanely splayed across the screen (presumably, so the yoof could relate to it); a half-baked reference to Shakespeare, our greatest export; a lot of backslapping and rather rustic dance routines. This is England.

I thought this summed it up rather well (Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times). http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2012/07/the_body_count.html The record of mass shootings in the US since 2005 is 62 pages long and makes sober reading.

The truth of which makes the ready availability of guns even more dangerous / irresponsible.

The figure I hear most of all is around 45%, which amounts to an awful lot of guns. I wonder what it would take (if anything) for popular opinion to turn against owning them? The patriotism point is one most people over here would find little sympathy with, but then I think we are pretty ambivalent patriots here.

Curious to know how many Americans you do think have guns (per household and as a percentage of the population). Most stats I've seen are pretty high. Also, are you saying it's the UK alone that has this preconception about the US - or does it extend to other countries? What is America's view of itself? Really interested to know.

Agreed. Spain are horrible to watch. I hope they fall behind early to Portugal and then get C-Ron'ed on the break. See where that ticky-tacky nonsense gets them then. France were wretched. Match was a pretty good indicator of how England measure up (ie they don't).

I quite agree. I was supporting Germany, as ever, and there was an inevitability they would do it. Fischer's goal was always coming. So many great, great players on the field that night. France were brilliant. Rich in the memory.

Pienaar was sold to Tottenham the season before when Bily and Saha were in the squad, and the results improved. Does that mean it was an astute move to sell him then? Is Gibson really that good? Or was it that Moyes has stumbled on a way of playing? Next year, we'll have the same slow start and Moyes scratching his head and then maybe two other new faces will be brought in (or players leave) and we can say how astute he was (again). The fact is, we're going round in circles, and that's because of Moyes.

A step up from Fatima Whitbread, but not much.

I agree with you on that. Easy to hate England. Hodgson comes across as urbane, civil and dignified, which are good qualities to have in any walk of life. With our international standing being so low, I would guess the FA were minded of this. Redknapp come across as wide-boy and parochial. I’m glad they overlooked him. If Hodgson can imbue the players with some of his own qualities, I think the sense of schadenfreude will abate.

I ride in and out of the city centre every day, and use the Kingsway. You can take my word for it. The roads are full of potholes, the cycling lanes conveniently run out when you need them, and the chances of an accident are high. The Sky team may practise there – I’m sure there’s a good number of them and they command a lot of room. A single cyclist like most of us are have no such comforts. Take it from me, Manchester roads are dangerous. We’ve been running campaigns for years to get them improved.