Jo Whiley is a vapid sycophant and the British Lions were robbed

So what did we learn over the last week....well for one thing Stephen Pienaar and Tim Howard are both ace but ultimately miss out on honours due to not being in the 'elite' teams.

We also learnt that when touring the southern hemisphere teams from up here will always be the victims of dodgy referees. They were brilliant on Saturday and deserved so much more than going down 2-0. They have really shown a lot of pride & togetherness during this tour. Qualities that were missing during the New Zealand tour. But for a few key moments they could easily be 2-0 up. Hopefully whatever happens in the final test it'll prove that The Lions will always have their place in world rugby because both tests so far have been superb games.

....and we also learnt that the BBC are only interested in presenters who will earnestly look into a camera and proclaim that what they are seeing is just brilliant/fantastic/amazing etc etc etc. Primary amongst this is their Vapid-Sycophant-in-chief Jo Whiley but her cohorts (and possibly clones) Edith Bowman and Zane Lowe are almost as bad. I am, of course talking about their Glastonbury coverage, Blur were good last night...their slow songs were spot on but all the up-tempo songs were just that little bit too snatched and fast. Probably understandable nerves.

One thing I did notice this year was that the flags are just getting ridiculous...paying all that cash to look at a stage obscured by a forest of national flags, footy flags, CND flags and a huge banner with "I love sausage" written on it. Shame on the two flag carrying Evertonians who were seen at a Ting-Tings gig!

We also learnt that The Ting-Tings are still garbage...shame on the two Evertonian flag wavers in the audience.

BBC Licence fee to be split up

Do I not get a say in this?

BBC Licence fee could be shared

I don't really want my money going to pay for ITV or Channel4...quite frankly their crap. The BBC is ace. If the sponsors and advertisers aren't enough to keep Coronation Street in the production values it is accustomed to then tough luck.

If I am going to pay for anything I want it to be the sort of high quality stuff that only the BBC can produce. If we are talking about sharing it out how about giving ITV Jonathon Ross' share, that's it.

Leave the BBC alone, it's one of the best things about the country.

Is this your new replica kit? (What were Spurs thinking?) 15 June 2009 - 13:18 | Sport.co.uk

Is this your new replica kit? (What were Spurs thinking?) 15 June 2009 - 13:18 | Sport.co.uk

New football kits for this season. I don't particularly like the new Everton home shirt (the away kits looks like it'll be nice but isn't pictured here).

The new Blackburn and Bolton shirts are much worse than ours.

City's is surprisingly classic given that Umbro were forever messing with our shirts when they made them.

Wow, It's just not cricket...actually it is

I'm sure there was a fair few MCC members scowling yesterday but ultimately yesterday was just a cricket carnival.

Even the most cynical of England fans would doff their caps to the Indian fans, fanatical doesn't even begin to cover it. As the Australian will attest our "Barmy Army" are no slouches either so it made for an amazingly vibrant evening. If they fail the old Tory "cricket test" then who cares.

With 153 runs under our belt I thought England were at least 20 short but in the end it was an absolutely enthralling finish.

So chuffed England won, this tournament is really catching fire now, England have an extremely difficult job on their hands later today but after yesterday anything is possible. Hope some of those Indian cricket fans will revert to plan b and support us now.

Phew!

Well after the debacle against the Netherlands it was relieving to see England step up and deal with a very tricky match against Pakistan so professionally.

The loss to the Dutch was utterly shocking but Twenty20 can be like that 'cause the game can get away from you so quickly. Against Pakistan that never really looked like happening. It would have been pretty shocking to go out of the tournament after just two days so I'm very glad we won.

England's footy players dealt with an arduous trip out to central Asia pretty professionally too with a fairly comfortable 4-0 win (once we'd settled down) and finally the Lions continued their winning ways although they were given a scare against the Ceetahs as they almost blew a 20 point lead.

Also great to see Roger Federer complete his career grand slam because he really is one of the greatest.

and that's that

Bit gutted about the FA Cup Final still but at the end of the day it was a great day to be an Evertonian whatever the result. Chelsea fans, individually, were mainly sound but collectively they seemed an odd bunch (Singing versions "Poor Scouser Tommy" and some weird Bouncey bouncey song). It was only this weekend that's made me realise how unpopular Chelsea are, everyone we met, Arsenal, liverpool, United, Blackburn, West Ham, Brentford seemed to be going out of their way to wish us luck again The Pensioners which was nice.

Ultimately the only thing that threw the Evertonians off kilter was Saha's early goal...it was very much "Okay, what do we do now" (We had a brilliant angle for Saha's goal...the delirium after he scored was breathtaking.

In the end we we met Triumph and Disaster and treated those two impostors just the same and that's all you can ask.

Will write more about the match when the dust settles (Haven't even read the program yet). It has been a great old season...if even my lucky conkers couldn't conjure up a win then nothing could.

Thanks to everyone, blue or otherwise, who's helped make this such great season.

What Everton means to people

With the FA Cup Final looming The Echo have done this survey about what Everton means to it's fans.

Everton FC fans' survey shows depths of passion and pride.

I like this, they made the following Word cloud out of the answers :

Congratulations David Moyes. Manager of the Year again

Well done Davey...LMA Manager of the year again. 3rd time in 7 years. Personally I'd have given it to Roy Hodgson this year but who am I to argue

Everton's David Moyes has been named as the League Managers' Association's manager of the year for the third time.

The Scot, who guided the Toffees to fifth in the Premier League as well as the FA Cup final, has twice previously won the award in 2003 and 2005.

Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson won the LMA Special Merit Award for his success this season.

Son Darren, Peterborough boss, won the League One title and Wolves boss Mick McCarthy took the Championship prize.

Brentford's Andy Scott was named as the League Two manager of the year after guiding the west London club to promotion.

Moyes's third win means he has achieved a feat even compatriot Ferguson has yet to achieve.

We're on the march with Moysie's army...We're all going to Wem-ber-lee

So, The People's Club has come through for us. The wife has got a ticket and so have a lot of the people in the supporters clubs. Some people are still disgruntled and there are some anomalies for example half season ticket holders with 3 extra games get a ticket whilst non-season ticket holders who've been to every game having to go into a ballot.

In truth whilst the allocation is so small there is always going to be problems like this. I genuinely believe that no club our size could have done it any better (the club even gave nothing to it's own shareholders unless they met the season ticket plus extra games criteria).

Rumours abound that the club managed to liberate a load of tickets from a touting network and re-distributed them to supporters clubs and season ticket holders.

Anyway, the fact is that we are on the march. We're all going to Wembley...win or lose Everton have done their fans proud this season.

the final countdown

Still massively busy at work so not so much blogging at the moment, Love the UEFA Cup Final tonight. Odd to watch a game where you are complete neutral. I could tell I was neutral because I was willing Shaktar, the better side, to score and as soon as they did I really wanted Bremen to equalise.

The last day of the season this Sunday and Everton have little to play for so it's time to relax, hope for not injuries and watch the relegation battle unfold...and thank God for every season that Everton aren't involved in it.

After that....the small matter of the FA Cup final. If Hibbert plays he scores the winner.

and that is that (almost)

Everton's end of term party was pretty routine really,

Everyone had stayed in the pubs to watch the end of the Utd v Arsenal game so getting into Goodison was fairly tricky. West Ham threatened to spoil the day by scoring a 30 yard screamer which was applauded by the Everton fans such was the quality of the strike (although Howard's reading of the drive and positioning was possibly suspect.

From there is was all about Everton, once West Ham were down to 10 men and we'd scored the penalty we took control (apart from two lightning West Ham breaks coming after sustained spells of Everton pressure).

So 3-1 and we wave the boys off to Wembley....looks like The People's Club have came up trumps for it's season ticket holders by stripping tickets off supporters clubs and shareholders. Fingers crossed

Cup Final Tickets

So far it looks like I've got my FA Cup Final ticket but it looks like the wife is going to miss out. Looking forward to it but trying not to rub her nose in.

Will be up in the top tier in the corner but who cares, Everton are going back to Wembley and I'll be there

COYB COYB COYB!!!!!

As we all try to be positive in the wake of poor Phil Jagielka's injury here's a nice article about the adversity Everton have faced this season.

Another game, another catastrophic knee injury to one of Everton’s key players. The sight of Wembley hero Phil Jagielka writhing in agony around the Goodison turf was a sobering one for the Blues, coming just a week after the ecstasy of that semi-final win over Manchester United.

Injuries are a fact of the game. Every player who takes to a football field across the world knows that, should fate deal you an agonising hand, an injury could put you out for weeks, months or even threaten your entire career.

Thankfully such serious injuries are rare, but that makes it even more galling for Everton fans when your look at what they have had to cope with this season.

The campaign began without talismanic Aussie Tim Cahill who was still recovering from a broken foot sustained the previous March – the third spell out with such an injury in three years. The likes of Mikel Arteta and Tony Hibbert also had operations over the summer and that coupled with Moyes’ inertia in the transfer market, meant the side began the season with just 14 fit senior players.

Worse was to come. Nigeria international Yakubu, who hit 21 goals in his first season at Goodison, ruptured an achilles tendon at Spurs in November, instantly ruling him out for eight months. With the likes of Louis Saha, James Vaughan and Victor Anichebe also suffering minor niggles, Everton found themselves without any strikers. However a fit-again Tim Cahill and record signing Marouane Fellaini formed an unlikely, but effective, strike partnership.

A key cog in the Everton machine was Mikel Arteta. The Spaniard had finally regained match fitness and was arguably playing the best football of his Toffees career when again the injury curse struck at St James’ Park in February. A cruciate knee ligament injury put him out for up to eight months - another hammer blow. In the same game Victor Anichebe was the victim of a horror tackle by Kevin Nolan and was also ruled out for the rest of the campaign with a knee cartilage problem.

But once again Moyes, who has never dwelt on or moaned about the injuries, rallied the troops again and found another system which garnered more Premier League points and FA Cup wins. It reminds me of Rocky IV, when our hero took on steroid-fuelled Russian giant Ivan Drago. Punch after punch battered Rocky’s face and chest, but he continued unabated and unmoved. Everton have taken each blow full in the face but have refused to go down, bravely fighting on battered and bruised.

The icing on the cake therefore, as a reward for defying the odds, came at Wembley last week when Phil Jagielka tucked home the decisive spot kick to send Everton to the FA Cup final for the first time in 14 years.

If anyone deserved that moment it was Jagielka. The former Sheffield United man has improved dramatically under Moyes’ stewardship, becoming a first-team regular and establishing himself in the England squad. He also deserved to line-up for the final on May 30th, his injury is devastating both for the club and the player himself.

To put it into context take Vidic, Ronaldo and Rooney out of United’s side, or Gerrard, Carragher and Torres out of Liverpool’s starting XI, and you will understand how important the injured trio are to Everton’s fortunes. The entire spine of the squad has been removed.

Now I know all clubs have to deal with injuries but few have coped so admirably and with such a small squad than Everton. The fact they sit comfortable sixth in the table as well as reaching the Cup final (meaning they have qualified for Europe for the third successive year) is testament to Moyes’ man management and the resilience and determination of his players.

Jagielka’s injury is massive blow but if one club can cope, it’s Moyes’ tough Toffees.

BBC not giving Everton a fair crack of the whip?

Not sure if this is just paranoia or just me being gutted after a rotten afternoon at Goodison Park but it seems recently that Match of the Day are being a wee bit snidey to the blues in recent weeks.

After the Villa game they did an absolute hatchet job on Fellaini basically labeling him a thug (the week before our big semi final).

This week they seemed to just ignore a lot of the key issues of the Everton V City game, to be honest it was a fairly fair result but the manner in which it was achieved and how it was reported did grate. They barely touched on the possible fouls in the lead up to their first goal, they didn't bother showing the three incidents when City fans seemed to slap on of our players and tried to spin the outrage over an overlooked Robinho handball as Evertonians booing their own team.

A game against one of Mark Hughes' teams almost always leaves a bad taste in the mouth, I loathed him even when he was an Everton player and his teams are generally in his own image...it makes it even worse when you feel the BBC are trying to twist the knife.

Perhaps that's harsh...there is lots to be upset about from Saturday, not least of all the Jagielka injury. Another player doing their knee ligaments the week after a truly magnificent cup performance. It's just sickening. Just hope Arteta, Jagielka, Yakubu and Anichebe can come back from these injuries and that the rest of the team can cope in their absense. COYB!

Everton are now guaranteed a Europa League spot

Well that's a very very slight silver lining to a pretty thick ugly cloud. Having the sport guaranteed means we'll be able to nurse Saha, Fellaini and Cahill into the final.

From the official Everton website :

Everton are now guaranteed European football next season. The Toffees' run to the FA Cup final and their excellent position in the Barclays Premier League had made a place in the 2009/10 Europa League a probability.

But despite losing to Manchester City on Saturday, that qualification has now been assured. Chelsea beat West Ham 1-0 and secured a Champions League place. As a result, the Toffees will qualify for the Europa League through the FA Cup - regardless of whether they defeat Chelsea in the final.

The Europa League replaces the Uefa Cup and adopts a format that mirrors the Champions League. The Blues will now have to overcome a play-off round tie before entering a new format group stage.

The new-look league will have 48 clubs in 12 groups of four, with teams playing each other home and away as opposed to just once as it stands now. The top two in each group then join the eight third-placed Champions League clubs in a 32-club knock-out stage.

Everton's FA Cup Ticket allocation not enough

Everton have kicked off the now traditional April sport of complaining about their FA Cup final ticket allocation. 25,000 tickets isn't that bad for Everton because we don't have the huge corporate presence of other clubs.

Still it's going to be tricky to get a ticket...there were 32,000 blues at the semi and now everyone is going to want to go to Wembley. I've got a respectable loyalty level this season, should be okay...hopefully. COYB!!!

Everton chief executive Robert Elstone says he is disappointed at the ticket allocation given to the club for the FA Cup final against Chelsea on 30 May.

The Football Association announced on Thursday that both clubs will receive 25,000 tickets for the game.

Wembley has a 90,000 capacity meaning that 40,000 tickets will be given to what is called "the football family".

"We are obviously disappointed at the number of tickets we have received," Elstone told the Everton website.

"The challenge for us now is to make sure that these tickets are distributed fairly amongst the Everton fanbase."

Chelsea have revealed that the size of their allocation means it is unlikely there will be sufficient tickets for all of Chelsea's hospitality and non-hospitality season ticket holders.

However, they too said on their official website they intend to "ensure there will be as fair an allocation of the tickets as possible in line with the club's ticketing policy."

Tickets that are not allocated to either club are distributed to alternative groups which include the regional FAs and referees, sponsors and charity partners.

Last year, 17,000 tickets went to Club Wembley - the 10-year season ticket allocation which were sold to help cover the cost of building the ground.

The FA also revealed on Thursday that tickets will be priced in four categories: £34.30, £58.65, £78.30 and £93.