Hot on the heals on Lancashire's disappointment Everton & Waterloo both lose at the weekend. *Pout*.
Judging the mood of the Evertonians I know I am fearful or another Villareal effect if we don't turn it round in the second leg against Metalist. I hope not 'cause it was a cripplingly depressing season two years ago. Again, depsite being talked of as shangri-la European football might well turn into a poison challice for Everton.
Speaking of poison challice's Waterloo's recovery from being poisoned (Ie going up into National Division One) is stuttering with a bonus point loss to Henley...sounds like ill discipline cost them dearly. A win there would have put us well and truely underway....hope we can sort it out at Blundelsands on Saturday.
Whilst that was dampening my spirits the final of the Twenty20 world cup was proving totally compelling. India V Pakistan was the dream final...a derby between the two most cricket obsessed nations on earth. Brilliant stuff...It went right to the wire and was impossibly to call right upto the very end. Congrats to India in winning what has been a tremendous competition. Looks like it's been well & truly hyped up over there :
Interesting things coming out of Stamford Bridge :
"Half an hour before the Group B fixture, claims a dressing-room source, Terry told one of Mourinho's assistant coaches that he had 'things on my mind'. Only the intervention of a team-mate put him in the right state of mind to take part in the pre-match warm-up, for which Terry arrived late.
Midway through the first half Rosenborg scored, after Miika Koppinen beat Terry at a set piece. When Mourinho then directly criticised the centre back's defending at half time, Terry refused to accept responsibility for the goal or even to respond to his manager.
Earlier on Tuesday, Terry had been informed that Mourinho had gone to the club's medical department to ask whether there was any physical reason for the player's sub-standard performances in matches this season. Mourinho hoped to find an explanation for a significant decline in Terry's play following an operation to remove a disc from the defender's spine in December.
Chelsea chief executive Peter Kenyon was made aware of the dispute and, according to the dressing-room source, presented the information to an emergency board meeting on Wednesday as evidence that the manager had lost the trust of key players. The club subsequently asked Mourinho for his resignation, which he refused to tender, but ultimately settled on dismissal by 'mutual consent'. Later on Wednesday, Mourinho sent Terry a text message sarcastically thanking him for talking to the club's hierarchy.
On Friday, several first-team regulars apparently took their captain to task during a 50-minute team meeting called by Terry in the aftermath of Mourinho's dismissal. Ashley Cole, Didier Drogba and Florent Malouda are believed to have accused him of not doing enough to keep Mourinho at the club.
Terry is England's best-paid footballer after agreeing a five-year, £131,000-a-week contract this summer. In initial negotiations he had requested a 'limitless parity' clause to ensure he was the club's biggest earner for the duration of a proposed nine-year term. According to a Chelsea insider Terry also wanted - and was refused - a contractual option for him to manage the club at the end of his playing career."
and
"Tuesday, 10pm, home dressing room, Stamford Bridge. Andriy Shevchenko is taking Michael Essien to task on his performance in the night's embarrassing 1-1 draw with Rosenborg. The former European footballer of the year tells Africa's finest midfielder that he tried to make too many passes through the centre of the Norwegians' formation where '70 percent of their players were'. Essien learns he should have been passing to the wings 'where they only had 30 percent of their men'.
Not the most insightful of tactical advice, but then these are not the thoughts of a Ukraine international, they are those of a Russian billionaire. Standing beside Shevchenko, tactics board in hand, Roman Abramovich is the man telling Essien how to play football. Shevchenko is merely there to translate. In another room, attending to the press, Mourinho is utterly unaware of his employer's actions.
Tuesday, 7:11pm, the home dressing room. Chelsea's squad of 18 are called out for their pre-match warm up. All the players step out for the carefully prepared drill - except one. John Terry remains sitting where he is. One of Jose Mourinho's assistants urges Terry out. Chelsea's captain refuses, swears, and, according to an eye witness, says he is upset and has 'things on my mind'. Terry is said to be furious after finding out that Mourinho had been asking in Chelsea's treatment room whether there was a medical reason for his perceived loss of form over recent weeks. The stand-off continues until a team-mate cajoles his friend out on to the pitch."
This was a welcome sight...at long last England with a backline playing like a unit and a pack that dominiates. Great to see. The forwards really did let loose, Gommarsall was superb and it all went from there. Gommarsall, Wilkinson, Barkley, Tait and Sackey, Cueto and Loosey just looked so much more assured. Samoa gave us our scares and both teams must have been at a pretty low ebb going into the game. It just felt like England knew what was expected of them for once.
Tonga will be a tough, tought game. They did very well to give South Africa their first real scare of the tournament.
I have to admit to being surprisingly gutted at Lancashire's so-near-yet-so-far in this years cricket county championship. 74 years is an awful long time for a county like Lancs to go without a title of their own. This time they were just 25 runs short.
An looming large on the sporting horizon is the Mayweather V Hatton fight. I am in now way a follower of boxing but fights like this don't come along very often. It'd be amazing if Hatton could beat him...no-one gave him a chance against Tszyu or against Castillo. Who knows.
"Mayweather is a six-time world champion in five weight divisions, including super featherweight, lightweight, super lightweight, welterweight and super welterweight.
Hatton has also been successful across the weight divisions winning multiple world titles at light welterweight and welterweight.
The Manchester boxer enhanced his reputation as a ruthless boxer with victories over Kostya Tszyu (for the IBF light welterweight crown in 2005) and Jose Luis Castillo in 2007, when he became the first fighter to put the Mexican down."
Okay that sounds a bit petty but it was such an annoying game last night. At least almost 40,000 bluenoses can tell our grandkids that we saw the world's narrowest midfield, it was practically a 90 minute group hug from Carsley, Osman, McFadden and Neville). Apart from the first 25 minutes we got suckered into playing narrow & tight with them and frankly they were better at it than us. There was no nouse or brains because as far as I could see an expensive game would have killed them. Any width we are going to get was going to come from Baines & Hibbert getting forward and Johnson & Yakubu darting out wide. Yakubu looked extremely ponderous whilst Hibbert stood out as player having an absolute nightmare.
At 1-0 with AJ having just slotted in a penalty and them down to 10 men it all looked rosey. The ref spotted an encroachment and AJ missed....we then gifted them a goal from nothing (a clearance rebounding and them breaking forward). From there at all felt utterly forlorn and when Johnson stepped up for his third penalty of the night (courtesy of an almost comical rugby tackle on Anichebe) you knew what was going to happen. So 1-1...top result for the Mentalists and we need to chase the game in Kharkiv (a game they'll sit on quite comfortably I'd say). European football is cack.
You've got to love Jose...Arrogant, possibly. Honest, most of the time. Entertaining, always. The premiership will be duller without him. I suppose it's what happens when you do a deal with the devil. Abramovitch was always going to take over slowly. Can't see this director of football guy commanding anywhere near the same loyalty from the spine of that Chelsea team somehow. Anyway this is the BBC's Jose quote anthology
Yuvraj Singh smacks 6 sixes in an over completely eclipsing Dimi Mascheranas hitting him for 5 sixes last week. The icing on the ignomany cake really. The Twenty20 World Cup is proving to be a great tournament, just a pity we don't seem capable of mounting a challenge in limited overs cricket.
The tournament has been made bearable for me by those lovely people at the "Out of the Ashes: Lovers of English Cricket" facebook group. Thanks for the banter chaps and uber-thanks to Swotty Mel & Ceci for their Collingwood photoshops :
Leicester allowed Nottingham Forest's keeper to score in order to reclaim the one goal lead they had when the match was abandoned after a Foxes player had a heart attack at half time a couple of weeks ago.
I do hope this is just a prank the other players have played on him...Nowadays they aren't just people turning up to play for England, they are centrally contracted professionals. They are supposed to be ambassadors for English cricket...if they don't want the responsibility that comes with it they can turn in their test numbers.
I don't expect them to be living like monks but the England cpatain shouldn't be going out to a club of any description the night before a game let alone a bloody lap dancing bar. Very shabby indeed, it says a lot about the team's attitude if the skipper is doing this...especially after what happened in the World Cup.
Away from sport this is certainly a bit too "x-files" for comfort :
Didn't get to see either game 'cause we were at a family wedding (who gets married during the footy season). Despite my best effort to pout about missing the sport we all had a great time. My cousin Gary and his new wife Kirstie did us proud laying on a brilliant party.
Aparently Everton were easily worth a point...very annoying to get mugged like that.
Waterloo were more assured and should have put Manchester to bed easily but a spirited comeback and a few dodgy refereeing decisions meant it was pretty close at the time. It'll take time for Waterloo to gel so getting some points in the bag early is welcome. Like the sound of the new coach, Chris Callaghan, his column in the programme was a great read.
Not good at all....they basically made mincemeat of us. You almost expected that Australia were going to put us out. If anyone could have done it (136 from 9 overs required to destroy our run rate) it's them. These Twenty20 specialists really need to up their game otherwise the wilderness awaits. Our only compensation is that Australia's guernsey style attire is more embarressing than our team's performances...
It's difficult to know where to begin...ultimately England are so far behind the rest of the field it's untrue. We truly worth our current world ranking of 7th. The performance on Friday was that of a minnow desperately trying to live with vastly superior opposition and should be judged as such.
The picture above is of the only two people who can hold their heads up. Robinson was the only player who put in a world class performance and basically he ran himself into retirement. Lewsey was his usual self but him and Billy Whizz couldn't do it on their own. The rest of them played right into South Africa's hands all game. This world cup is proving to be a depressing one but to be honest I didn't really expect much else.
"With Jonny Wilkinson and Olly Barkley both sidelined, Mike Catt, 36 on Monday, will start at fly-half, with Andy Farrell alongside him as a second playmaker and the team's principal goal-kicker."
Common sense has prevailed there I think but still not too happen with a 36 year old with a bad back as our fly-half. Ultimately I think this game is irrelevant for England...it pains me to say it but I just don't think we are capable of winning.
England did well to hold Zimbabwe at bay today at the Twenty20 World Cup...looked a bit dicey at one stage...didn't want to go the same way as Australia. KP did his magic and the required run-rate was always going to be challenging for the Zimbabweans. I was just wondering about Mascheanas' bowling when he made the breakthrough for us. Australia tomorrow...a win would put them out. That would be nice.
Another great night to be a sports fan...more entertaining matches in the rugby world cup which really is shaping up well. The less established nations are giving great accounts of themselves and the crowds seem to be having the time of their lives. Highlights are available here.
It seems that England are going to take to the field on Friday with *drum roll*Andy Farrell at fly-half. The man is more than capable of putting in a performance but surely if this was was our fall-back position for what is one of the most key postions on the pitch (a position seemingly cursed with injury) then we should have blooded him before now. Personally I think he's capable of doing it...never forget his record in rugby league. It's just you need to be a natural in that position rather than a stop-gap. Sometimes with Farrell you can almost see him going through the decision process in his mind (This is to be expected with his amount of experience playing at this level). At stand-off you need to be instinctive. We'll see anyway...The South Africans fill me with trepidation. Rightly or wrongly this will be a grudge match for them after 2003 and they look bang on form.
Down in the cricket Twenty20 world cup Zimbabwe gave us all a checkle by beating Australia in the thriller.
I know it sounds petty but I will always love to see the Australians getting beat...we'll see if England go a similar way today when we play the Zimbabweans.
At 8pm turned over for England V Russia...great performance from England. Russia were very lively in attack but England looked really well balanced for once and it was just basically an impressive job-done type performance. No fireworks just beating the opposition all ends up. McClaren has GOT to stick with those players now. Lampard simply cannot come back into the midfield now that Barry & Gerrard are looking such a good combination, same goes for Heskey and Owen. We just looked really well set-up...it's something that looked a million miles away againt Andorra a few months ago.
Whilst that was going on news was coming through that the Scots were winning against France in Paris and so I spent the last 20 minutes of the England match anxiously checking teletext. That was a monumental result for them...McFadden scored an absolute pearler...what with that and the goal he scored at the weekend (and his two goal of the season awards for Everton) he seems to be turning into the classic scorer of good goals (as opposed to the good goal scorer).
"A quick rewind through the past month shows why, starting on Aug 14 at Tottenham Hotspur when Neville utterly dominated Jermaine Jenas in leading Everton to victory.
At the final whistle, the midfielder ran across to the jubilant hordes of away supporters. Neville removed his sweat-darkened shirt, leant across the hoardings and handed it gently to a wheelchair-bound Everton fan. A special souvenir for a special night."
Good old Phil Neville. Nice to see him getting a bit of recognition (even if it is in two of my least favourite papers).
Important games in footy, rugby and cricket on the one day. Our apetite had been well and truly whetted by Argentina's fantastic performance against France the night before...they really worked themselves into the ground for that. It was so good to see a nation that's basically been cast adrift by the powers that be come good. Again as at Twickenham last year they did it with quiet dignity...the epitome of being a good winner. So onto Saturday
Who could ask for me...I resisted the temptation to put a treble on the three of them seeing as the odds would be so rubbish. Had some some my bro and some friends round and watched the footy with the rugby on a portable tv with the volume turned down (we also had the cricket updating on teletext 'cause we've got no Sky).
Thoroughly enjoyable although the rugby seemed a wee bit tortuous...they'll be lucky to get out of the group playing like that I'm afraid. Barkley and Ress impressed, Lewsey and Farrell did okay....not a lot else to be happy about. South Africa look scarilly good and on the evidence showed so far in the tournament Samoa could give us big problems. As a footnote it was great to see ex-Waterloo scrum-half Chad Erskine playing for the USA in the world cup.
In the footy it was just a good day at the office. Richards looks the business, chuffed he got a goal. Wright-Phillips took his well and Owen's was something really special....job done. If we can get a result against Russia on Wednesday we are back on an even keel.
Remember this on Friday. After all is there really anything to be worried about?
In the rugby Wilkinson has managed to do his ankle ligaments just days before the World cup starts and over in the cricket Flintoff's ankle still isn't right.
There are numerous others missing...what is going on? How can this many people be getting injuries especially with the footy season barely having started. I hope Gerrard is is fit (injection or not) 'cause we really need 6 points from these two qualifiers. I've pretty much given up on the rugby as a lost cause anyway.
Over on XFM Jason Manford has exclusive commentary rights on the current Biscuit Dunking World Championships. This morning the championship was thrown wide open by a fig role somehow outlasting a ginger nut. Tremendous listening.
That really is a great result. I know Bolton are in turmoil at the moment but going there and nicking the points is very satisfying. Great to see Yakubu break his duck immediately. Brilliant work by AJ to lay on a plate for him. By the sounds of things it was another thrilling game.
Sounds like there was great all round contribution made by the new signings...Moyes seemed pretty happy with the options he's got on the bench nowadays. Interesting the Hibbert wasn't in the starting line-up. Hope he can turn his form round.
PS It looks like Lescott has finally earned an England call-up. Would love to see him get his first cap as he's an absolutely superb player.
Even 4 years later the words still make you shiver. How Australia managed to push a vastly superior England team all the way still escapes me...how the ref ever gave the Aussies that last second penalty still riles. Anyway it's all ancient history now...the trophy is up for grabs again :
After months of talking about it seems to have crept up on us but it's all go from Friday onwards. Can't see England doing anything....we don't even know what our best team is and we've no form whatsoever. Still looking forward to it though. Two recent Waterloo players will be there in the form of Chad Erskine and Ander Munro (USA and Canada respectively). It's not hard to find reasons to watch each and every game.
"Waterloo took an early lead with a penalty by Alex Davies but tries from Otley’s Dan Smith, converted by Alan Greendale, and Paul Williams gave the Yorkshire side a 12-0 lead at the break."
That was always going to be a toughie, pity we didn't nick a losing bonus. Nice to get the season underway.
(Notice from that picture a distinct decline in shirt sponsorship from last year's shirt)
I suppose Sedgeley Park should be a second team for me this season. Steve Nutt, J-Lo van deVenter and Freeman Payne were all Waterloo superstars so I really hope they do well....However they also got off to a losing start facing Exeter. Our old mate Jason Luff chipped in with a couple of tries.
The Sedgely boys have got Northampton coming up in the next few weeks. Have fun chaps.
Look like Chris Bascombe, who I've long held contempt for as one of the bitterest most arrogant kopites around, has jumped into bed with The News of the World (Ie The Sun's sunday edition). Given I always thought he was an appalling 'journalist' anyway I find this whole thing very, very funny. Not only has he stuck two fingers up and the club he's sycophant-in-chief for but also at the fans who lapped up every fawning word he's ever wrote. Given the shockingly poor standard of his one-eyed jealousy laced ramblings it also tells me everything I need to know about "The Sunday Sun" that they'd employ the guy.
Over at Everton aparently the old Bellfield tradition of getting unsuspecting souls with a bucket of water from the first floor window is still going strong but for Gravesen's return they got him with a bucket of oxtail soup. Lescott was saying that once Beattie turned up for training in some posh, expensive jacket and when he got back into the dressing room all the team had signed it telling him they assumed it was for charity. I love Everton.
God bless the BBC. Not sure whether this is old or new or what but I happened upon it last night. Not usually my sort of thing but it was really entertaining listening to the people blast out their lyrics...some of it was far too earnest and tettered on the line between precocious and pretentious but it was raw and messy (the marking format seems a bit of an afterthough). It was however unashamedly enjoyable. Pure modern poetry stripped down & unpolished getting blasted out to a receptive audience. Sometimes the predictable rhyme or sentiment jars but sometimes the poet slips in a clever little vocal punch from where you aren't expecting it. Definitely be listening again next week.
And on the subject of poetry this was read out on 5live earlier...it was written by Rhys Jones' dad. I had to turn off in the end as it was too heart-wrenching.
"Now god wanted a football match And to play it up in heaven But first he needed players And select his first eleven
Georgie Best, big Brian Labone The legend Dixie Dean Alan Ball and Bobby Moore All made it in the team
He needed one more player Some one who would be quick From up above he looked down And saw Rhys there in his kit
So Rhys was taken up above God took him by the hand To play the game he loved so much Where sponsorship is banned
There is no cheating either as God is the referee There are no mega wages And the transfers they are free
The games are live on telly You don't have to subscribe The players all stay on their feet Cos no one takes a dive
So Rhys plays now so happily To the angels in the crowd And every time he hits the net They roar his name so loud
Have fun my little blue boy Your safe and in gods care Till its time for me to get my boots And join with you up there
Looking back there's not been much cricket in the blog this summer....it's been pretty turgid and up & down. Loads of injuries and flashes of brilliance dulled by long periods of averageness.
It's warrants mentioning however tonight's tremendous 8th wicket stand by Broad and Bopara to swing the one dayers round England's way.
Bad news for poor David Beckham though...just as he looks certain to get the caps he needs for his tonne he get's a knee injury. He's really pulling his tripe out at the moment ans I suppose something had to give eventually.
And finally Everton have replaced the potential Frenandes signing with Thomas Gravesen...
much as we loved Mad-dog it's fair to say that is less positive a-move. Still a loan move can't really go wrong, he was a superstar in that final year of his contract. I don't blame him for going to Real, I just hope he comes back with some of the hunger with which he left. If we can get into the UEFA group stage then he'll be very valuable to us. Plus he was such a popular character with the fans that he'll get everyone bouncing.
"Tonight, Liverpool Football Club chooses to honour him by playing Z Cars before their game. Now, I'm under no illusions that this will affect some mass long term change in attitudes between the clubs - I'd be amazed if it lasts to the weekend because people in general aren't that pleasant, memories are short and perspectives are drawn up and redefined on a daily basis.
However, it is a noble gesture from a club we've been quick to condemn for its own attention-seeking antics over the years. It might only be a small token, but what gesture isn't in the wake of a child losing his life in such circumstances?
Liverpool didn't have to do this, they chose to. For this they should have our respect, no matter for how short a term you choose to give it to them. I'm not advocating that we all hold hands, singing along together forever as one united city of two great clubs, but the events of the last few days have made football seem very, very small in comparison."
Was very happy to see Orval beer on the shelves at the supermarket near work. Tremendous stuff and, as with all Official Trappist beers, it's all not-for-profit so I get good karma just for drinking it!!! Earl Hickey would be proud.
After a moving tribute to little Rhys Jones the business of Everton V Blackburn seemed almost flippant but here's my thoughts.
It was more about Blackburn really. Super-strong side (Christopher Samba in particular stands out) with a class forward line keep themselves busy harrying and getting tight the second the opposition get's the ball. This forced us to squander possesion time and time again. We aren't the best passers in the world anyway but with the options closed down as fast as they were it was doubly difficult. Arteta struggled to impose himself and when that happens Everton struggle....especially now Fernandes isn't coming. We had started really well gut gifted them a soft goal through lead footed defending. Hibbert in particular had a nightmare of a game.
Blackburn took the game by the scruff of the neck but ultimately Everton stayed strong and went in only one down. We hadn't been the better side but we'd stayed in touch...a minor booing seemed harsh to me. Second half Moyes made changes. Lescott came on and imediately looked imperious. Jagielka patrolled the centre with calm efficiency...never getting over-ambitious, he just popped up everywhere he needed to be and then made the easy pass. After that it was Blackburn who were getting pulled out of shape...Arteta got free at last and put in a great ball for McFadden to nip in on...1-1. A fair result. Blackburn are a good side, they'll squeeze points out of many a-game this season. Everton showed resiliance but a lack insight. We have a lot of injuries for this early in the day though. THank God we do have a bit of depth at last.
Went rounf town on the Monday and perservered with the scaled down Mathew Street festival...it was fun as usual but it was very low key and you could tell people hadn't bothered after the powers that be had cancelled the big events. A real shame, they'd better line something good up for next year.
"BEMUSED Everton officials were last night trying to contact Manuel Fernandes in a bid to resurrect his move to Goodison Park. The club were stunned to see Valencia claiming that he had joined them from Benfica just hours after verbally agreeing his switch to Everton with chairman Bill Kenwright following Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Blackburn Rovers."
"The 21-year-old has openly expressed his desire for a return to the Premier League following loan spells with Portsmouth and Everton last season, although both clubs were originally unwilling to meet Benfica’s asking price.
His third-party ownership, given the controversy over Carlos Tevez and Javier Masherano joining West Ham last year, also clouded the issue, which is why Everton were in the process of raising the money to own 100% of him.
But because third-party contracts are no problem in Spain’s Primera Liga, the Valencia deal means his owners would retain an interest in the player and any future transfer fees."
Murky, murky business whenever these third party guys rear there slimy heads (Global Sports Agency in this case)...Really disappointed he's not signing but ultimately he's been comletely duplicitous by the sounds of it. Odd, odd, odd.
This is pretty much how I feel at the moment. The club deserve massive respect for holding the vote in the first place. No other clubs has. The majority has had it's say although I am stunned that so many people turned their back on 115 years of heritage on the strength of 4 JPGs and a letter from a supermarket CEO. All the doom-mongering and the cheeky rumour that this new stadium won't cost Everton a penny seem to have swayed people. I firmly believe that Kirkby is no-one's preferred choice. Why couldn't people just have held on for an option that suited us.
Hope it's not one big argument tomorrow....The club are having a minute's silence for poor little Rhys Jones....ultimately that's the most important thing that'll happen tomorrow. People here are still stunned by his death...he was just any little kid coming home after playing footy with his mates. Executed by a teenager in broad-daylight.
Eternal rest grant unto him, 0 Lord. And let perpetual light shine upon him. May he rest in peace. Amen.
"Everton Football Club acknowledges that a majority of those Evertonians who were eligible to vote in the ballot do support the Club in its desire to relocate to a new home in Kirkby."
Eh? 41% is not a majority is it? I'm not disputing the Yes vote but they got 15,230 out of 36,662.
Number of voting packs dispatched 36,662 Number of votes received 25,761 Number of votes found to be invalid 63 Total number of valid votes 25,698 Turnout 70.27%
That is the golden rule of defending. Simple stuff.
I have no idea what Paul Robinson was thinking of tonight...England where one up and bossing the game against an under-strength German team. The first real thing Germany had produced lead to him spilling a shot, fair enough it happens...he then chased back to Shorey who had swept up the danger and hoofed it out to the left back position from where Germany could restart their attack...he then completely misread a cross and ended up scambling back towards his own goal to collect it, instead of tipping it over the bar he plopped it down into his own 6 yards area for a German striker to tap into the net...appalling.
Oh dear! They don't get things their own way and look what happens. That's all a bit pathetic really. One penalty decision goes against them and their tapping-up of Heinze failed and Benitez goes off on one.
there was a time when I'd have said "You exepct better" but now Benitez knows he's got carte blanche to behave as arrogantly as he likes from the assembled adoring hoardes. Doubtless all the rednoses will lap it up as him fighting their corner (totally different from the whingeing they've always hated Ferguson and Mourinho for you understand).
Complaining about kick-off times? If the police are insisting on it then it's tough, if it's cause they are being televised then they are getting the best part of a million pound for each appearance. There's a lot of clubs who'd kill for the money they have coming in. It was the same with a CL final...you can't bask in the rosey glow of millions and millions of pound but complain about the inconveniences and responsibilities that go with it.
"Then I want to ask the Premier League why it was so so difficult for Liverpool to sign Javier Mascherano, when we had to wait a long time for the paperwork, but it was so easy for Carlos Tevez to join Manchester United?"
Erm? Didn't the Tevez signing drag on for months even though by that time the contract with West Ham was actually legal........and didn't The authorities rip up their rulebook and give them special dispensation when our lovable neighbours demanded to be Macherano's third club in a year?
"England World Cup winner Ben Cohen has walked out on Northampton after being overlooked for the club captaincy.
The 28-year-old winger has not attended training since losing out to Bruce Reihana for the role last Wednesday."
Snub or not Saints really need to bounce back after last season. They do NOT need one of their best players doing that, strikes me as a very 'overpaid Premier League footballer' thing to do...can't help but think he's going to turn up at the Guinness Premiership club of his choice very soon.
Martin Samuel, an excellent sports journalist, has highlighted this ominous rumbling from across the park. I can't see the turkeys (Ie the rest of the league) ever voting for christmas on this one but we need to be careful on this one. The G14 will push and probe on this one. Beware the thin end of the wedge.
Oh look...ref makes a bad decision against a G14 team...all hell breaks loose. The head of referees apologises and the ref in question is dropped.
I wonder why there was no corresponding furore surrounding Mike Riley gifting liverpool with the free-kick that enabled them to grab all three points at Aston Villa the week before....oh right that wasn't a 'big club' who suffered and so doesn't matter. It's always been said that these things even themselves out over a season...in the case of our lovable neighbours it evened itself out over a week....but somehow it's much more controversial when it's a G14er on the receiving end.
This is not a dig at liverpool, they were robbed against Chelsea...It just that it's getting increasingly obvious nowadays that the Premiership is the top four plus a load of bit-part extras.
That is bit of a kick in the pants...There is no shame in losing there but a win or a draw there would have really set us up nicely. Sounds like two good teams playing out a good game of football but we should be targetting points at places like that. We had our chances but them's the breaks I suppose.
Ah well, just need to put it right at Goodison at the weekend...our first game of the season. Looking forward to it although I'm a bit nervous 'cause Blackburn are looking decent themselves....you look around and if a couple of teams turn out to be surprise packages this really could be a league of death this season.
We finally got to see the Turning the Place Over thingamy down near Moorfields...really striking, I love that sort of public art for art's sake. Makes otherwise dull bits of the city interesting. People can say what's the point of it but why does there have to be a point?
Everton's impressive start to the season has been heartening and our status as top of the league has given us a few chuckles but it is patently ludicrous printing the league table after less than 3 games. What's even more ludicrous is talk of crisis and managers under pressure at this stage as well. The media seem to be talking up the pressure on Martin Jol and Sammy Lee for their two defeats. It's just crazy-bonkers (copyright 1995 Daniel Amokachi) it really is. Radio reports and phone-ins seem to have Utd fans conceding the league already.
Notice the Kieron Dyer eventually went to Newcatle for the original asking price...wonder if Big Sam eventually found the *ahem* paperwork to be in order.
Bad news to wake up to, especially as we were there on honeymoon this time last year. Pisco was a nice little place (in that shabby Latin American way). There is a pretty impressive national park there with billions of seabirds and seals. We strolled round the town and watched local buses full of rowdy footy fans roll round the main square singing and shouting. Sad to think of it as the centre of such a disaster.
There is still no info on what this project will cost us. Tesco's contribution seems less and less impressive the more you look at it.
It seems to be they will aquire the land and get this Barr company to given us a discount but we have no idea how much the club will be expected to pay. How can we back a project that will cost us ? million pound.
Brilliant result for Everton at Whitehart Lane...I'd have been chuffed with the draw. I know it's irrelevant but it's always nice to see us top of the league.
By the sounds of things we were good value for the win....they spent £40,000,000 in the close season and everyone, myself included, expected them to be sending a message to the top 4.
The post-match text-fest confirmed that Evertonians are a pretty happy bunch, the jokey scowls from the rednoses in The Victoria adding to the fun.
Habemus Lescott, Habemus Arteta. God I love being an Evertonian.
Now this would be good news, a little late but good news nonetheless...Everton really wouldn't be far off with him in our ranks. In fact if Cahill and Vaughan hadn't got those injuries I'd be ecstatic with our squad (assuming Manny signs 'cause there's many slip betwixt cup & lip).
Beattie glad to end Everton nightmare "I have never doubted my ability and although the football didn't go too well last season, I was Everton's top scorer 12 months ago and was getting touted to go to the World Cup."
"Last season was a bit of a nightmare. If the manager doesn't fancy you any more you get frozen out and that's what happened to me."
Dissapointing to read that 'cause I'd previously thought he'd left on the right note. The move was the best for all parties concerned...why bother sniping in the press afterwards.
icLiverpool - Waterloo ring the changes "So far 14 of last season’s squad,Martin O'Keefe, who takes over as club captain, James Hall, Peter Ince, Chris Tyms, James Ormisher, Dan Smith, Dan Palmer, John Broxson, Alex Davies, Chris McGlory, Dan Loader, Neil Kerfoot and Neil Hunter, have committed for the coming season.
New to the club will be Argentine prop Bruno Pani, David York – a South African No 8 from Durban University – Luca Dalan who is an Italian flanker, Aberavon flankerMatt Bradley and another forward, Gareth Owen also a flanker from Bridgend.
More homegrown talent comes with Stephen Dodd a centre from Birkenhead Park, Jonny Lowden, a full-back or centre from Nuneaton and Ormskirk-born Alastair Davidson who has been been full-time at both Edindurgh Rugby and Borders.
Returning to the club are Tom Davies after two seasons at Neath, centre Jason Duffy following a season at Sedgley Park and Stuart Thomas who comes back after two seasons out injured."
Surprised they didn't mention Neil Hunter, if he get's back fit it'll be a bonus as he looked very good in our promotion season.
Nice to see things heading in a positive direction.
I am staring at my ballot paper debating what to do....until now I've been No all the way. I just don't think the club has made the argument. I am trying to forget about the sentimentality and the fact it's not in a purple binned part of the area is neither here no there. There hasn't been enough costs and benefits data given to us. I am not sure that a yes vote is the right thing nor am I happy rejecting out of hand what really does like a fantastic bargain.
Why have the vote if they aren't going to furnish us with the information to make an intellgient, measure decision.
They really were...Today was Jack O'Boyle's baptism, this meant that lots of my match going gang had to forego the first game of the season in order to attend something tht was truly more important that 22 men chasing a bag of wind round a field for an hour and half. Bishop Malone performed the baptism and Jack was welcomed into the gang in really, really nice style. Me, Dave, Helen and Claire were priveliged enough to be asked to be the little guy's godparents so it was one of the easiest matches I've ever had to miss.
It also meant my cousin Daniel and his dad Angus got to go the game in our 'stead. For some reason Dan, the only blue on that side of the family, always seems to bring us luck. Can't got wrong really.
After the service we hot footed it to the Vic and switched on our phones
Everton were winning 1-0 Osman...St Sebastian had sorted it for us.
2-0 Anichebe and the Evertonians began to swagger....St Sebastian frowned and so news of it going 2-1 brought us down to earth as we endured the interminable wait for the result to come in.
Not too bad really, a poor game by all accounts and Wigan scored the goal of the game but a win is a win.
Back at the Vic we waxed lyrical about how lucky we were to be Evertonians and had a pretty indepth debate about the Kirkby vote...all in all a good old Evertonian night.
Add to this that when I got home I find my fave blue blogger Sarah has gotten herself back online and it adds up to a pretty cool old day :
So Newcastle agreed a few...changed their mind, the deal collapsed and Allardyce is acting liked the wounded party...You can only assume he didn't get offered a big enough brown envelope. I suppose saying that could land me in trouble but if his own son can say it why can't I?
The Magpies had accepted a bid of £6m for the player but increased the amount they wanted for the 28-year-old to a fee thought to be in the region of £8m.
"In the end, we decided Kieron was undervalued," said Allardyce.
"We escalated the valuation to what we thought was realistic and West Ham did not want to roll with it."
Dyer had agreed personal terms and passed a medical at the London club.
But West Ham boss Alan Curbishley said on Saturday that the deal "was pulled at the 11th hour by Newcastle and there's not much we can do about that".
Newcastle's re-evaluation of Dyer angered Curbishley, who said on Saturday that the transfer was "definitely off".
But Allardyce said he was "more upset" than West Ham about the collapse of the deal.
Apologies for finding this compelling. This very evening I was having the old Lion/Tiger Great White/Orca debate with a mate from Lourdes and then this pops up.
A move to Kirkby will hand over the city to the Yanks to push their brand totally unopposed. And push it they will.
Once those red dollar signs start appearing, the likes of Liverpool City Council won't need much reminding (as if they ever did) where their future interests lie. A stadium in a public park will just be the start.
The net result being, those future generations of youngsters in the city with only one 'local' team from which to choose, will slowly succumb to totally unopposed local media bias, and the erosion of our traditional fan base will begin.
I know we need to improve revenue streams, move or redevelop Goodison Park, blah de blah, but Kirkby is not the RIGHT move.
I have accepted the club's stance that redeveloping Goodison Park was not an option, despite no available public feasibility study. I assume that the club's lack of exploration of other sites,was due to this so called 'exclusivity period' with Knowsley Borough Council, and a lack of finance, but this 'no plan B' statement is absolute rubbish! The club have treated us like idiots in saying this.
There is always a plan B, even if it means staying put. A CEO without a plan B is blagging or not doing his job. Plan B may cost more or deliver less. Let us not forget, Goodison Park may not be safe inside ten years, so what will the board do then if the Kirkby vote is a big fat NO? Plan B anyone?
So just what will Kirkby actually give us in real terms? An iconic new stadium design perhaps? No. Take away the blue bits and there is nothing at all which associates it with Everton Football Club.
Will it give loads more cash to Davie Moyes, and allow us to 'compete' in the transfer market? Well, up to £10M more was quoted, so only a blue billionaire or rule changes will ever allow us to compete with the likes of Manchester United in the transfer market again
No, in return for selling our home, our standing in the city, our heritage and ultimately our pride and our soul, we get a blue Meccano structure on a retail park on the outskirts of Merseyside, with enough extra money to maybe buy two Championship players. But it's ok because we got the deal of the century, a stadium and some land on the cheap.
Face it, over the years we've been crap, often. Yet even with the other lot winning penalty shootouts by the barrel-load and being the local and national media darlings, even after last day escapes, many humiliations and numerous false dawns, we still manage to recruit a sizeable percentage of mainly local support and remain a 36,000 strong big blue thorn in the side of the red franchise.
A move to Kirkby will not stop United taking our best players if they wish. A move to Kirkby will not guarantee Champions League football, nor will it guarantee sell-out attendances every fortnight. It will not boost our image locally or internationally, will not give us a prime location to maximise on other commercial interests nor ensure that fans get to the match easier.
The club owes it to the fans for their years of unswerving loyalty to now finally deliver on the motto. We are Liverpool's oldest club and this is our future at stake. It isn't like taking a chance on a young manager, overpriced player, or finding a new owner. Even a last-day relegation dogfight becomes insignificant compared to this in the long term.
If you have any doubts about Kirkby at all, if you feel any aspect of the move does not deliver up to the club motto, do the right thing for the long term future of Everton Football Club, listen to your conscience and vote no to Kirkby.
This is a difficult time for Evertonians...Kirkby represents, or is being represented as, an oportunity for the club to get out of the medium size club morass and onto the next level. Weighed against that is our Evertonian heritage, our dads and grand-dads went to that stadium, had their trials, tribulations and triumphs there and shuffled back down Goodison Road in the same way we do nowadays. We would be abandoning all that tradition. History was made at that ground, William Ralph Dean scored his 60th league goal of the season there, he died there as well! There are 1000s of stories linked to "The Old Lady" everyone's got their own.
Giving all that up is a massive step but if the club needs to do it to move forward I think blues will be able to bite the bullet...But the club has singularly failed to spell out that need (aside from a bunch of scare stories from Tom Cannon) and it has also singularly failed to spell out how a new stadium will help us move forward. Yes there'll be more seats and more corporate boxes, more food & drink kiosks etc etc but if the stadium's half empty what revenue will they be generating?
For me I just don't see this dammed up wall of Evertonianism just waiting for a modern arena to flood into. If they can really spell out the benefits then I'd glumly vote Yes but the clubs just don't seem to have bothered doing that. Until that happens I'm a No voter.
As I've said before I love the idea of being proved wrong and, in a few years, watching Everton parade the treble round our beloved Fortress Kirkby. In the current footballing climate I just don't see how this scheme suits Everton in any way other than it's a cheap way to get a new stadium. Evertonians deserve better than trooping out to a retail park every two weeks.
Anyway I thought I'd post this goal by Florent Malouda from last weekend Charity/Community Shield game 'cause it was such a great impovised finish.
"Things didn't go well for me last season, for one reason or another, but I hope the fans appreciated my attitude. I never stopped working hard in training and always gave everything for the cause when I was on the pitch...and that's exactly what Evertonians expect.
"They are terrific fans and I will never forget them."
I think say that is a nice gesture on his part....let's face it, apart from one purple patch during the season before last his time at Everton was pretty dire. No ill will, he just isn't a target man and he's not versatile enough to adapt. He always seemed a popular member of the team and never pouted like many-a centre forward would have done in his position.
Evertonians are not stupid, we knew what he could achieve when he hit his stride. The encouragement he got was pretty generous considering his form.
£4 million is decent money so this is best for all concerned.
Went to The Olive Press yesterday for mine and Anne's 1st anniversary....had a lovely time. I am not a big fan of Italian restaurants as generally I find that it's just stuff you could have at home. This place was really nice though. Definitely recomend it.
Feels like the sports season is kicking off again....the SPL is back, the charity shield and some rugby tests to boot. Phew...thank God for that, it was a long couple of days without major sporting events.
Everton have one week to get their acts together in terms of signings....I know the market has been crazy this time round (If Chopra & Richardson are worth £5 million then I must be worth a six figure fee) but if you aren't mvoing forwards you are going backwards in this league and it'd be terrible to see our potential squandered yet again.
It seems that some Evertonians have been working flat out to prepare a Plan B. Impressive work. No bluster, no promises, no pie-in-the-sky....just a breakdown of what could be done if the will was there. Who knows what the best option is for Everton;s future. One thing is certain the KEIOC people can be proud of themselves...Even if us No voters (for I just don't see the long term benefits of a move in this climate) are totally wrong at least, because of them, people were allowed to have the debate.
Ultimately that's all people are asking for. The club has just wheeled out the likes of Tom Cannon to do a Private Frasier impression then put some flashy JPGS onto the website and vaguely assured us how rosy the future will be if we mve to Kirkby. It's not enough information to make the decision with.
Perhaps this will force the club to come back to us with the info we need....even if Tom Hughes' plans achieve nothing else it's done enough.
Hats off.
Laura, a bluenose I know from MySpace popped along and had a nose....here's her response : Okay, so here's the thing, there has been a lot of propoganda from old Wyness and emotive language used like, "deal of the centuary" but my overiding feeling about the whole thing is this:
KEIOC are working their backsides off to find a plan B. Everton have catagorically stated there is no plan B. Then Mr Ian Ross says in an interview that if the vote is a no we will look at redeveloping Goodison, is that not a plan B? Then Wyness says the vote is just an opinion poll and won't affect the decision. Huh? Ian Ross just said it would. Do the Everton board know their arses from their elbows? Why are they contradicting each other and why haven't they given us reasons behind their decisions?
When there are councillors and architects and companies telling us there are other options why are Everton putting up a brick wall and not talking to us?
I don't have anything against Kirkby, I consider Alan Stubbs a scouser but I'm not in favour of a move to the long lane or speke site's either because it away from our home, the place where we belong and the place that has all our history.
Naturally I'm in favour of redeveloping Goodison, it is a club of history and tradition which we would loose by moving. As a plan B, I think the Bestaways site could work. It is actually closer to the roundhouse than where we are now and so we are still within the area of our birth. It's a similar deal to the Kirkby site without tesco's involvement but I think that it would be better to go into debt and have a city based stadium than have a small town based stadium.
I don't see how any Evertonian can possible vote to move to Kirkby without all the information. It would be a knee jerk reaction to the propaganda that has come out of Goodison. Don't get me wrong KEIOC are very good at propaganda too, but they are backing up their arguements and giving the information to the fans in an understandable way. Let's get Everton doing the same. Where is their open day for us to go and look at the plans, see the business plan, see the commitment from Tesco, speak to someone who can answer all these questions. How can anyone vote to leave our beloved Goodison without having all the facts. If Kirkby is really the only viable option then why don't Everton explain it to us in fact based terms instead of just publishing fancy pictures of the new ground? Which seemingly is a pie in the sky ambition anyway when there are developers, builders, qs's telling us there is no way Everton can build that for £100m. When you consider that Liverpool's ground is set to cost £280m and Arsenals was £350 it is not hard to see that the £100m price tag is unrealistic.
If you vote yes there is NO GOING BACK, there is no stopping the corporate machine but if you vote no then there is. It will force Everton to look into the other options and publish the results, it may take a year and it may be agreed that actually Kirkby is the only viable solution but wouldn't you feel happier knowing that the club has been transparent about everything and exhausted every possible solution? They say they have but where's the proof?
I live in Halewood and if there was a proposed move here I wouldn't support it, I'd fly to the fuckin moon to watch the blues so having it closer to me makes no odds, I'd rather go and watch them play where dixie once played, where the holy trinity played, where Duncan scored THAT goal against the Mancs and where I danced around singing du du du du andy johnson when he scored the third against the gobshites.
I believe in Everton, I believe in the city, I believe in tradition and I believe in the fans.
Don't turn your back on Goodison Park; vote NO to Kirkby.
Have to say as a none smoker we are loving the atmosphere in the pubs nowadays...it's so nice not waking up the next morning and your hair still stinking of smoke.
Before the ban I never expected pubs to have air akin to a Highland mountainside but there were a couple of pubs that really were beyond the pale. With that in mind we headed towards The Pilgrim and The Swan...both regular haunts in the past but on occasion they were like opium dens. So much nice nowadays...can't tell you how much more pleasant it was.
Hope the ban holds is it's got to be a step in the right direction (almost a 3rd of publicans saying it's increased trade!)...just need to perfect the holding-my-breath skills now to ensure a none-cancerous entry into every single building in the country.
Everton FC season ticket holder & Waterloo RUFC club member. Labour party member and activist. Views are my own and will generally be dull. You've been warned :)
