scouse

think this will be done before EOW, needs time to settle plus he hasn't played match for sometime so will need time to come upto speed, thankfully he wont need to adapt to Koemans style!. excited by this deal him and Gana will be a solid pairing in the middle hopewe pull it off. Agree think 22.5 will be the price aswell!

my struggle with him is whats his best position he is not a number 10 imho but at the same time not in the same mold as Barry and Gueye either, so where he fits under Ron I don't know. Del Boy was excellent when he came on him winning a 50:50 for our second was interesting and would never have happened under Roberto

heard you're still trying

He talked to Bolasie about signing I have a feeling he will stay, would love them both up-top and why not !

I would take him in a hart beat (excuse the pun) still allot to offer and brings vast experience and im sure a point to prove.

this thread/transfer is painful, in my view if he wanted to sign for us he would have done so by now.

Should insert a "everytime I open my mouth to the media to pine for a move, I should have at least a week's wages docked"....he'll be the next David James. Moneyless bellwop.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the 1990s-2010s period more of an exception than it is the rule in our history? Weren't we one of the clubs that paid players and made record signings before the Premier League era? Didn't we have a reputation as a moneyed club? So, maybe the provincial notion about us really being a club of crafty penny pinchers who know how to punch above their weight on a shoestring budget has less depth than we think.  
There tends to be a correlation in this world between one's place and practices and an ideology that justifies, legitimates and rationalizes them as morally superior and just. Sure, maybe we've been convinced of our moral victories in a world gone crazy with cash, as at least we still haven't sold out. But, football is about winning and losing on the pitch. Those who manage the club need to please the fans. If they can't win on the pitch, they need to do whatever they can ideologically to make the fans continue to care about and even believe in the club. This takes the form of media campaigns that tell us how special this club is and how it's unlike those other clubs who lack the integrity (or class, understanding, belief in certain principles, etc) that we have. Thus, many of us can point to loving Everton for some reason or another that only makes sense in a field of other clubs that are unlike Everton in X/Y/Z ways. "Those clubs are soulless. They have no heart. They're plastic. Etc." But, whether or not these statements are accurate, they say more about US than they do about THEM. What I think we are dealing with and will be dealing with in this transition (from "plucky little Everton" to being a club with major expectations and money that allows us to compete in the contemporary game) is a change in culture and mindset and coming closer to what we've all trained ourselves to hate and made the butt of all of our inside jokes for years.
 
The soul of the club, or of any club (if there is one), has never been the players (at least not since this became a game that you didn't have to work a side job to survive in). Their job is to go out and compete as professionals and bring home a win (or a performance worthy of winning). The soul is in the people who give their days, weeks, months and years to caring about the club and its fortunes as if their own personal happiness depended upon it. The soul is in the people who go to the games (if they are so lucky), wake up early or go to bed late to watch from afar, participate in a community of other supporters, and who support the club through thick and thin as if they have a familial connection to it.
 
Sure, money has changed the nature of how clubs and players operate. But, it's really always been about the fans and the community. And, this is something that (for all their failings) I think Everton have recognized and done a solid job with. As long as the club remembers that it is ultimately about delivering something the fans can be proud of, then it will still have its "soul."
 
That said, I'm not convinced Witsel is worth what we are apparently going to pay for his services. Though, I admittedly know very little of him as a player beyond his work history and appearances in international matches, where he's looked decent but not world class.

yeah maybe first on that list :wind up:

Gerry changed the pace and got the goal. Was trying to link up and gave us the attack we needed. He should start more often.

Silence as always from the board

No Martinez.
No Moyes.
 
Let's aim higher lads.

Favre would be my shout out of work done a great job a borussia Monchengladbach language would be an issue initially tho

Moyes had to many defensive coaches, Martinez has to many attacking coaches.
 
Dave Watson would be a great shout, |David Weir tho he is now no 1 at rangers would also be a good shout.

If, and it's a big if, the take over happens they may well have their own man in mind anyway

Did you see him when he played here? He'll have had to have improved a hell of a lot.

If he never put the transfer request in would his gesture still have been took the same way?
As you've just said the request nailed him for you, so it doesn't matter what he does you will always have a problem with him now.
 
 
 
I shit myself when he was doing that too, but if we saw Pique doing that for Barca everyone would be praising his skills and confidence.
 
We have a player with the ability to get himself out of trouble without conceding possession. How many times have we seen him stroll alongside a forward and just walk away with the ball and pass to a team mate rather than have to bust a gut to get back make a slide tackle and put it out for a corner at the side of our box. The other players trust him, if they don't I'm sure he would have been told.

Yeah he looks dead angry doesn't he!

I think there's a bit of an overreaction going on here. I shit myself as much as anyone at what he did last night but did it make think he doesn't want to be here or that he's gotten too big for his boots? No, he's not doing anything different to before he handed in a transfer request. He's always been a moment away from disaster. He's also always a moment from the sublime.

Call me old fashioned but I would prefer to keep our best young players and build a team around them

10 mill seems steep for a championship GK, would rather take a look at Leno off Bayer Leverkusen

10 mill seems steep for a championship GK, would rather take a look at Leno off Bayer Leverkusen

gazza played well drunk :-)

how many are first team quality now? yes henry may not be either! u missed Holgate out too

heading over to Moses thread to post after this!