Philinsuffolk

I've not been onto the site for a while but glad to be back. Lets face it we have been pretty dire all season to the point where I beleive that our best form of the season (however modest that form may prove) is still to come. Given that we are 10th tonight if we can beat Bolton then there is reason to beleive that a top 7 finish is achievable. Of course, we're all desperate for a decent cup run to go with it. If this season we finished top 8 and before May we also give a few more games to the likes of Barkley, Vellios, Gueye and McAleny then maybe the real benefits of the season will be felt in the season or two ahead. Regardless of the rights and wrongs of the financial situation we are where we are and development of the young players is essential to at least keep our place as the respected member of English top flight football that we are seen as. Onwards and upwards.

You can't buy class, you either have it or you don't. Much respect Mikel, go show them what you've got.

Vellios needs to be given a chance - I do think this lad can come up with the goodies.

Yes, I will be certainly be watching him play in any big Champions League matches they get through to - will be interesting to see how Mikel gets on at that level. I hope he does well and also gets his long desired Spanish cap - but suspect he won't get that. There are enough people criticising the club at the moment (some but not all of it is fair) - but if you are inclined to think positively, in the last few days we have reduced our debt by about 25% - for the long term well being of our football club that is positive. Our club IS in a healthier state than the vast majority of British football clubs, that should be kept in mind.

Agree completely. The club is bigger than any player, always has been and always will be. Winning our next game is key though to try and get some positivity. Let's get behind them and in particular the young lads who will get more chances over the course of this season..

I take your point but we are where we are. The debt has to be reduced, there is no choice of that. And tonight our debt is reduced by almost 25%. That in the long term has benefits, including to help get new investment. Alan Ball, Bob Latchford, Lineker, Rooney, Lescott. I do believe that the greatest fucking club in the world are still here and still one of the most respected clubs in Britain. We are Everton, so everyone needs to get their heads up. We fight on and we fight fucking hard.

I haven't seen a figure for Yak mentione anywhere. But assuming it is £1.5m, lets not forget his salary is £50k a week - £2.6m per year. If you add the Yak & Arteta salaries - we have just cleared £6.5m a year off the wage bill.

Agree it is dangerous - but without new investment, maybe it needs a radical approach. How many clubs are debt free? Very few. How about we break the mould, be debt free and once we are we won't have to spend millions on bank interest. I suggest it with total confidence that we won't be in a relegation battle. I honestly think there is plenty to be positive about.

There is another way of looking at things. If Arteta, Yakubu and Beckford leave tonight (for say close to £20m) then we almost half our debt. It's not sexy and feels tough tonight, but does this put the club in a healthier position for the long term...yes, absolutely.

Given that we are not in a position to buy players, it isn't really worth getting £3m for Beckford. We all know he isn't a world beater (you don't get world beaters for £3m) but if gets 10 Prem goals this season then it would be worth keeping him. Saha is great, but will miss plenty of games with injury, Tim supports the striker, Yak isn't fit enough for the Prem any longer and that leaves Victor. Beckford's wages won't be too high. Having Beckford as a main striker is simply a reflecton of where we are as a club right now. We can only afford so many top players and Jermaine isn't one of them but he's doing ok.

A decent argument.

I certainly beleive we can achieve 7th this season, indeed it is possible (though unlikely) that we can finish a little higher. Inevitably we are focussed on our team/club and the concerns, but you wouldn't get many people betting meaningful money on the likes of Villa, Sunderland and Bolton finishing above us - they might but that isn't how the bookies see it. Much respect to Owen Coyle at Bolton though, he is doing a good job there and would be a worthy successor should we be looking for one in the coming year.

The review of us by The Guardian was good. Even better were the many, many comments from various readers (mainly supporters of other teams) - whose comments were very fair and offered interesting food for thought for all of us - regardless of where we each stand on questions of ownership, investment and our on-pitch chances this season. I challenge you to not be pleased with the level of respect for our fine club that other fair-minded supporters show. A must read.

Sign him on 30th August and sell him for £7m on 31st!

Taking out the emotional ties of football (for supporters of any club) and just looking at this very coldly - it is hard to disagree with the idea. And although they may deny it, it also makes a lot of sense for Liverpool FC, albeit we would have to reluctantly accept that they would probably get larger gates. Again, truth hurts. None of us would really want a groundshare, if we were also offered either our own new ground or a wonderful, clever redevelopment of the greatest place I can think of! But then given the choice we'd all probably opt for bigger houses, cars etc too...

7th. Forget the doom and gloom, we're good enough.

It is obviously tempting - he is a very good player, would give his all for the club he supports and as a free it makes it much more affordable to us (wages would still likely be an issue though). However, despite all of the above I am willing to be regarded as being self-righteous but a football club has to maintain some integrity. To that end, we should stay away. People who are given say £50k a week to kick a football should also be expected to behave appropriately.

In relation to Mike's initial post on this subject - I agree. There is plenty of doom and gloom around but there are many teams that would like to do a straight swap for ours - the likes of Villa included I would suggest. The bookies don't tend to get things too wrong - they have us as 7th favourites for the title (and the cups) - in effect they rank us 7th. We really do need 1 or 2 additions, even if it was just to give better cover for the inevitable injuries etc. But if it doesn't happen, we get on with it and do what Everton do, we give it our best. PS - not been on here for ages. So hello to those that remember me! Glad to be back. COYB

I agree that to publicly blame Beckford smacks of a manager making a bad decision. I am a huge Moyes fan and want him to stay, however starting to blame player in public is a slippery slope to losing the dressing room.

I was there yesterday and felt we played well in the main - and to some degree they played as well as they needed to against a poor Birmingham. Do feel that some of Romey's player assessments were a little harsh, but then I'm an eternal optimist. I do feel that Fellaini had a good game and more than anyone else controlled the pace of the game. Baines was great and as noted above Ossie did well for an hour before fading - but I will say this about Osman, if you assume he is aware of the flak he has had he deserves much credit because from the first minute yesterday he looked for the ball and worked to make things happen for himself and the team - they are just human beings and he stood up yesterday. Likewise with the Yak - for me he is trying and his back to goal hold up play was good, he just needs one to go in. Once 1-0 up we were deeper than Chilean Miners but again that is the psychology of football for you - all teams do it when they need a result and have something they desperately want to hold on to. The balance of that starting line up was good. Pienaar, Saha and Heitinga would improve it but the balance is good to my mind.

I'm going to St Andrews on Saturday, driving up from close to Ipswich. So, if you've got a ticket for the game and you're somewhere along the A14 route and fancy a lift then I may be able to help out. I'm sure there would be plenty of Everton problems we can resolve en route!

This isn't just poor form, something is going on behind the scenes. Personally, I don't care if it makes it harder to beat Fulham, but I would drop so many of the "big names" just now and lets see who wants it.

All talk of Moyes and player positions aside, I assume everyone else is getting that sick to the stomach nerves feeling? Performance and form aside, we just need to win this...

Yep, Kevin Brock. At least we seem to be stepping it up a bit...

For those of you who are old enough... Manor Ground, Oxford moment anyone...?