Everton invited to play in US tournament this summer

Who knows — we may have American owners by then.

Can we afford the bus fare?

When I read the headline, I thought Sing Sing or Alcatraz had been in touch!

Maybe US customs won't let us in with our charge sheet and fines.

Seriously though, I am pleased for our American fans who get to see Everton in the flesh.

Coming to the USA to play two games in effing Florida?? The sick, warped core of book burning, vaccine denial, and the general demise of American rationality? Never a game (again!) in the western half of the country?

Nothing in Portland or Seattle where every seat for every game sells out months in advance and Evertonian fan clubs roar?

Jacksonville and Tampa don't even have MLS teams. The Blues will be playing on NFL artificial turf. Alert the knee surgeons.

Do I seem upset?

Mike, my friend, you have taken it remarkably well. If I were you, I'd have posted something that showed my displeasure. Admirable restraint. 👍

But hey, Jamie is going to like this. Anyway, I'll catch you at the Bramley Moore. 👍

Could have been worse, Mike – could have been Houston – and I have now returned to Scotland!

Hey Mike,

The Man Utd - Liverpool game in Columbia, South Carolina, on August 3 has sold out the 77,000 capacity stadium. The left coast has no monopoly on English football interest and maybe the fans prefer sunshine to drizzle.

Mike, the last game in Orlando drew thousands of Evertonians and was a really hot and rain-free day.

Please allow Jamie, myself and thousands of other Florida-based blues to enjoy the occasion.

If you're that keen, take a flight, Lyndon did last time as did Tim Howard and Dr David France. It would be nice to see the face behind the antsy attitude. Drinks are on me.

Mike, come and buy my house in Ocala, Florida (half way between Jacksonville and Tampa) so I can leave this shit-hole and go home.

I dare you, Mike. In fact, I'm going to wind you up, now you're winding everyone else up, and suggest you better show those Florida Yanks how much of a True Toffee you are mate!!!

Thank fuck it's in Florida so it will not be in my conscience not going to see our current shower of shite 1,050 miles away in either Jacksonville or Tampa Bay, where I would have no wish to go anyway.

Does anyone know where in the much more palatable and cultured/politically savvy state of Connecticut we will be playing?

As this is in the Rumours section and I haven't seen this anywhere else yet, my son has just told me he's seen a rumour that Barcelona are offering 4 players (including Fati and Dest) for Onana…

My daughter goes to Yale so Connecticut would be perfect for me since we are planning to visit her during summer session anyway. The whole state is tiny so no matter where they play it won't be a long drive.

Mark #14,

It was on NewsNow and I think it was a choice from 4 players, plus cash.

Having said that, it was NewsNow so file under shite!

Net domestic migration rates per 1000 inhabitants:

Florida + 28.9
South Carolina +31.42
North Carolina +20.29
Connecticut -0.02
Oregon -0.18
Washington -0.96
California -20.03

Go East young man!

Brian #16,

Must be rubbish as there's no way they'd have 4 players willing to accept the kind of wages we could afford to offer!

I think it's a pick from four Mark.

Barcelona are willing to offer Everton the pick of four players - 21-year-old Spain winger Ansu Fati, 28-year-old France centre-back Clement Lenglet, 23-year-old United States right-back Sergino Dest and 20-year-old Spanish midfielder Fermin Lopez - in a bid to land their £80M-rated Senegal midfielder Amadou Onana, 22. (Sport via Teamtalk)

£80M, fuck me. But some people tell me there's a player in there somewhere and others assure me that he is a good player and so maybe I should start believing them and how he will fully flower once he leaves us.

I don't care about him and will not be watching his space but I do care about £80M and say thank you very much.

I know Connecticut well, Kieran, and have good friends teaching at Yale who live in Guildford. I suspect it will be Hartford. That's only a 900-mile drive and driving away from Florida so I'll be there.

Yale doing well in the NCCA East Rd 1st round (East? They're playing in Spokane) against 4th seed Auburn, one point behind after 9 minutes.

These player plus cash deals very rarely get done. Whilst Onana might like the idea of playing for Barca - Fomin, Dest, Fati and Lenglet might need a bit more persuading to come to Everton.

If this happens, I would have thought it is more likely that one of the former 3 would come on loan as part of the deal.

I'd be fairly pleased if that was Dest, since we clearly need a new RB with Patterson seemingly out of favour with a 3rd consecutive Everton manager.

As for the others, Fermin Lopez would be interesting. He's the sort of player Dortmund and Leipzig might sign and would work well in a trio with Garner and AN Other (a more defensive holding player).

Ansu Fati has not really done anything of note at Brighton and doesn't look like a Dycheball type of player. Pass. Lenglet is nothing special. There's lots of much cheaper options than these; and cheap is going to be the order of the day this summer.

Ahhh, 1 of 4 would make sense – especially if we get the much needed £80M in the coffers.

I'm not a fan of Onana. No doubt he has talent but he's playing for his stats, not our team.

Paul 20,

Do you teach at Yale?

No Mike. But the fella who supervised my Cambridge PhD moved to Yale at the end of the 90s and we're pretty close, so I head over that way a couple of times a year.

Okay. Mind you, a Cambridge PhD might establish you as TW's most academic poster (unless there are other contenders for that title???).

Mike, I've got an "ology".

Brent that’s worth having too. A much underrated qualification in my view. You could probably be Paul F’s assistant on the ToffeeWeb Academic sub committee.

Viva Paul!

I have a horrible fear Mike that sand-grounder Brent may have sold his soul and done a stint in administration.

Brent, you might enjoy this, Southport v Port Vale, FA Cup first round, 1988, at the Avenue.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bi8kr4FPofE

If Brent is forced out then you’ll need a replacement. Possibly Paul The Esk? Clearly a highly intelligent chap - and also based in the USA.

I did sell my soul late on in the career, Paul. But I kept my hand in at the same time, so straddled both camps.

I didn't know that PTE is over here.

Yes, it is a serious situation Mike. If Brent does indeed own up to a stint in university/college/departmental administration that has to raise fundamental questions about his credibility, character, and motivations.

Hmmmmm, "straddled both camps", a double-agent then.

That’s a concern Paul. If Brent fails the Ethics Committee checks and PTE isn’t available then a fall back contingency is needed. What about Victor from the Live Forum?

I own up, Paul - I took the Vice Chancellor's shilling in the final years. Helps me now pay for my season ticket!

Good grief, I'd forgotten about him Mike. Brent will be fine after a month of debriefing.

By the way, Brent teaches/taught at Illinois Institute of Technology'

That's a fecking administrator's smile when about to deliver bad news.

https://www.iit.edu/directory/people/brent-stephens

Haha, that's another Brent Stephens, Paul. Wrong subject.

That's. Shame (sorry Brent) the Brent at IIT seems to be a construction / engineering expert and would seem ideally positioned to advise how the new stadium might be completed if or when the 777 loans run out. Should we try and contact him?

Is Graham Smith involved in any way? It was he who got us involved in games in the States also involving Mexican teams.

A scouser who played in the old First Division keeping goal for West Brom among others.

Thanks Andy, Tony, Gerry, Ed, Mike and Jay for the laughs.

Ed, it never rains here in the summer, but even if it did, I doubt the players would prefer a sweltering sauna to drizzle. Have you ever spent a summer in South Carolina? It's like being simmered alive in peanut oil. Jacksonville is somehow even steamier and adds the attraction of voracious mosquitoes, an empty downtown with no decent restaurants and a traffic jam guaranteed to make you late for the game. Of all the places to schedule a game... I guess Gary, Indiana was unavailable.

Kieran and PF, enjoy the game in Connecticut. I lived and reffed next door in Rhode Island for seven years. Loved that south-facing coast. Lobstuh, baby.

Brent and PF, I'd like to discuss my grade during your next office hours.

I have friends in Mystic, CT and relations working at the shipyard in Groton who might be interested. I think that's only about an hour drive to Hartford if they play there.

Jacksonville will give me an issue. Can I persuade my friend to invite me over?

Paul

My daughter is in the Yale band and was expecting to be at the basketball but Yale announced it “wasn't in their budget” so I think they're the only team not sending a band. Hard to believe so many small schools have the funds but Yale don't!

Kieran, maybe George Bush's annual endowment check bounced.

They won didn't they, so will play again today - fingers crossed.

But that's a proper university where athletics is a low priority, sadly for your daughter, Kieran.

I think that Mike-G got a rejection letter from Yale Law School

I got rejected a lot during my college years, PF.

Not having that, Mike.

By the way, I was wondering how you got to know Brian Viner, if you don't mind me asking. Was it through sports journalism?

Mike,

The latest is that it was a “miscommunication” my daughter is upset. There's not a lot of joy being in the Yale band as I know from watching a few football games she was in the band for during a sleet storm alongside about 500 others in their open-roofed 60,000-seat stadium.

Kieran, sorry to hear that... hope she gets another chance.

America's favorite footy slogan again tonight... Dos a Zero. And another disgraceful performance by the Mexican fans.

PF, no, we've corresponded for years after he reached out concerning one of my posts here. He was kind enough to send me a copy of Searching and I loved it.

Brian is as classy a gentleman as you'd guess from his writing, which today is much more about movies than football. When I stayed with him and his brilliant writer wife on my last trip, they were consummate hosts.

I wish he still posted his intelligent contributions on TW, but he must have suffered greatly from the sarcasm and derision here regarding the final illness and eventual death of his decades-long friend, with whom he shared a love of showbiz as well as the Blues.

MG two smart and articulate Evertonians, what's not to like?

I loved Searching, not least because I was at all or nearly all of the matches and took the same route from Crosby to Bankhall, if we didn't get the bus, as Brian, who, if memory serves, was from Southport.

I lived every page of that book and I'm so glad that you spent that time with BV and his wife. Sorry, too, that Brian feels hounded from these pages. That's a real loss for us for his love of the blues, inside knowledge, and quality writing.

Paul, I love Brian Viner's book for exactly the same reasons, and also loved his writing in The Independent in the days when I read it.

A shame that too many people on here hounded him away.

PF and PT, I'm only theorizing -- Brian never told me himself that he felt that way. So please don't take my words as anything but speculation.

But Mr Kenwright was a well-loved man, and had I been among his friends, as Brian was, I doubt that I could have remained on TW and endured the personal venom directed at him in his final years.

There were posts here speculating that his illness was fake news designed to elicit sympathy. And his passing produced a few posts that were suspiciously close to celebratory. Reading that crap must have been exceedingly painful for his friends and family.

Oh my God. Just read this.

Praying, PRAYING, it's in Jacksonville. If so, I'll be hosting a TW meet up / pregame / grease those wheels thing for sure.

I live in Jax. Well, Ponte Vedra Beach, which is a "suburb" if we even have those things here. I would be thrilled if it were in my town.

We'll see what happens. If they do have it here, try to bring your golf clubs. Tons of courses to play if you like golf. I'd also highly recommend staying at the beach rather than downtown Jax.

If Everton do end up in Jacksonville I'll post something with suggestions, numbers to contact for lodging, places of interest, etc.

I about fell out of my chair when I read "Jacksonville". I'd be over the moon if Everton come here. I think everyone would like it here as well. Slower pace, not hectic, very good weather (it will be hot in summer though), very accessible and nice beaches, plenty of nice places to eat. It's a smaller "big" town, that lives very small, very southern in its own way.

Again, I'd host some meet up. I'd love to see and meet TWers.

If they play in CT, it will probably be the stadium in Hartford. Occasionally they play National team games there and it is home to UConn football.

If in Connecticut, they will play at the stadium in Hartford – Rentschler Field.

It's home to UConn football (not very good) and the occasional Men's National team games. Seats about 40,000.

Sounds like you need medical help Mike!

Mike 42 Have you ever spent a summer in South Carolina?

I have spent 41 summers in SC but I guess you know best.
I have been in Oregon in July and we had days of cold drizzle.