No contact regarding Laudrup so far

We haven't contacted a man who we can't afford, doesn't want to come and may possibly be offered the RM job.

I'm not sure about Laudrup anyway. He seems to jump ship very quickly and I'm not really sure what he's done to benefit a club other than the Tin Pot cup. There's plenty of managers who were well regarded as players, who have won trophies and could be tempted. Why aren't the likes of Blanc, Deschamps, Simeone and all the other I can't think of being mentioned? Would Laudrup even be mentioned in the media if he didn't live on these isles?

Can't see Kenwright doing anything other than playing cheap and safe tbh which probably means Robert Elstone taking over team affairs.

Bielsa did the unthinkable at Argentina and refused to play Riquelmhe. yes that Riquelmhe, Juan Roman, to be precise.

Beilsa does not have a role for the traditional number 10 in his style of play. It's all about explosive football and high insensitive pressing. Riquelmhe is neither explosive nor fit, and never has been. At the height of his powers, Riquelmhe was too good to be left out, Bielsa's tactics were compromised and he failed as Riquelmhe could not fit into his style of play. Argentina were not disastrous and he was margins away from success to be fair to the guy. He learnt a lesson form that day, and has since never comprised again. It's now his way or the highway. And his way is best, otherwise Klopp, directly, and Bayern indirectly, would not be contesting the Champions League Final with two teams based entirely upon his philosophies. Guardiola is another of his high profile disciples.

On Laudrup what his lauding shows is the power of the media. When he was on MOTD they were fawning over him. He was a great player and because of this the media have amplified his managerial abilities to ridiculous levels. Seriously he wins England's 4th most important competition against a 4th division club and people are thinking he may go to Real Madrid? get real

I don't think I am the only Evertonian whose Spanish side is Bilbao. I have always had an intrigue for the club our manager left us for and this has only grown on understanding why a club which can only recruit basque players can be one with an English name that has predominantly been managed by foreigners from the start and mainly by Englishmen. When bielsa went there, it intensified my interest in the club, and I have since followed everything I can find written about the guy.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/internationals/6943705.stm

Flavour of the month sure but I doubt he will be around in a year or two

Beelzebub meets Bielsa in south France? BK doesn't even know who Bielsa is! Your also clearly mad if you think BK spent money on a flight that Ryan Air does not offer.

Can't think of many steady, trustworthy alternatives apart from Neville with Stubbs, Irvine, Weir or Round but that's too scary to dwell on.

And by your own admission you think he will be a great appointment because World Soccer Magazine told you so!!

Quite staggering...Do you not think that if he was all that then a top club either english or european would have been sniffing round him...I havent heard St.Bielsas name linked with R.Madrid.....have you????

And as for kev and ross.....you two are a joke....you only want Bielsa because Steve told you hes a top manager..

Dont you have your own opinions?? Your like kids in a classroom the lot of ya....."steve told us to miss because he knows best"

'Very soon': I can't bear it any longer

Staying quite = I am waiting for you to come knocking, but last time I did a public job interview it went belly up (Martinez)

I have a lot of respect for Everton = I would take it is it were offered, but know thee is almost no chance. (Benithez)

Laudrups “no” seems to me to be a true “no”

I’m flattered = I would like this job, and will take it if personal terms can be agreed.
Has anyone apart from GN said they are flattered?

Anyone know the public reactions of various candidates?

I haven't been this excited about a mythical set of pictures since Lucy Pinder finally got her Nips out!!!

Somebody pinch me...!

Not as camp as Timothy anyway...

Bilbao's performance against Man Utd the season before last struck me at the time as the best club performance I had seen in a very long time. I was (and am) bored of Spanish tippy-tappy stuff, but I was hugely impressed by the dynamism of Bielsa's team. When you factored in that Bilbao only use Basque players it was even more incredible.

At this point I realised that the manager had also been in charge of Chile in the previous World Cup, when they had played with admirable skill, verve, intensity and attacking intent. I also remembered that he had managed Argentina, not entirely successfully from what I knew. I'd come across various articles about him which made him sound like something of a maverick, with a unique take on the game, but it was the Bilbao magnificent performances against Man Utd that made me put all of the pieces of the jigsaw together. I formed the opinion then that Bielsa is an inspired tactician, and it made me laugh (or, rather, snort with derision) when people praised the arch pragmatist DM for his tactics, even going so far as to describe them as "innovative".

Like kids in a classroom, eh? I suggest you do a bit of homework, Mr Shearer.

Dont you see the point im making?

Bilbao, Napoli, Chile, Argentina etc....all a mixture of South American and continental Football....

Never managed in England before and your wanting him to use ua as an experiment to see if he cuts the mustard...

No thanks, were not Sunderland or Stoke etc....were EFC!!

Plus, his continental approach to tactics may not be of any use in the fast paced, physical world of English Football....maybe in Spain or South America it would because its slower with more time on the ball with more emphasis in technique...

Your thinking of the wrong Everton lad, your confusing us with the Everton in chile!

So forget this silly notion of hiring Bielsa once and for all...

Go home, give ur head a wobble, do your homework and get under ya duvet and have a long long sleep......

I'm not sure whether it's a good idea as it means somebody who fails to qualify from CL groups and goes into Uefa will have a second-bite at qualifying for CL.

So if this had been in place this season Chelsea would have qualified virtue of winning Uefa, but it's not clear whether Spurs would have got a place in next season's CL virtue of Chelsea.

Maybe someone has more information on this.

Paolo - Come on, we're all dying to see these photos of Bill at the bar in The Rover's Return with some bloke photoshopped in next to him... ;)

No I do not think that Bielsa is a great manager because World Soccer Mag told me so. I said my interest in him was started after listening to Tim Vickery talk about him on Radio 5. I have linked and named all of the informed football journalists I am aware of, because they all agree on the guy being an outstanding and innovative coach. I challenge you to find a football journalist who does not rate him. And do not quote some bloke from a tabloid.

As I said previously, Bilbao are my spanish team, and have been since Kendall went there in 1987. I watch every game shown on sky sports, which since Bielsa came increased dramatically. I watch a lot of others other live streams. I can formulate an opinion based on what I can see.

Furthermore, Bielsa is someone that people love to write about, post videos about and his press conferences are frequnetly dissected and used as the basis for coaching classes. The likes of Moyes and other coaches who look to develop thier skills frequently go to seminars where what Bielsa is up to is the subject of the day. On an aside, I noted with interest Klinnsmans comments on Moyes and Everton and his attendances at these seminars.

As for no big club being interested in Beilsa, you are wrong. He has been approached by many big clubs over the years, including Barcelona and most recently Inter Milan (Summer 2012 to be precise) but typical Bielsa he turned them down as he does not like managing big clubs, as he prefers a club which will allow him to stamp himself all over the club from top to bottom, in a similar way to what he has done here.

Bielsa is clearly the manager's manager and every coach you can find talking about Bielsa hails him as a genius. I think others have commented on his lack of success, but I think you'll find that he's laden with trophies in Argentina, where he was the countries top dog before being given the job with the national side. He also was pulling Espanyol up the table in La Liga at the time of getting the Chilé job. Napoli want him and they have Champions League football to offer him.

If you want Everton to get to the top, without spending money, then you need a manager like Bielsa. The best someone like Martinez can do is to keep us where we are, but I seriously have my doubts. I request a top class coach first and foremost and believe it is time to finally look abroad. There's a reason the national game lacks technique and that is down to British coaching.

The English game is no where near as fast as it once was, and the leagues of Italy and Spain are not as slow as they once where. Just google videos of Everton in the 80s to see how much quicker the game was back then. Bielsa is the only coach I can see with the vision, tactics, strategy, and coaching abilities to take us to the next level without the need for major investment. Buy hey, you put forward your Harry Redknapp dinosaur types if you want.

Pooo huge liar......

Interestingly since the shortlist was rumoured on Sky a name that wasn't on that list has seen their odds drop sharply to 4th Favourite today, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. The bookies must be loving this take over, new favourites every day.

How long was the Espanyol success story? I think I read a couple of months.

You might be right, and he may be a genius, but everything I've read (as a result of your posts - I didn't just dismiss it) makes him sound very high risk. A short term manager who implements his philosophy regardless of whether he's got the players to play it, and unproven at domestic level beyond some Argentinian sides 15-20 years ago.

You must see he would come with significant risk?

I can't see him coming because BK is entranced by DM and seems to want to more of the same. He thinks we have done wonderfully well in the last 11 years and wants someone to carry on the good work. Bielsa is a radical change of direction. I don't see BK going for that at all.

Bielsa would raise our profile. Bielsa is a rent-a-quote. He's the most quoted man in spain at the moment. He says funny things and as a result everyone loves him and everyone listens. This would mean we would get more media exposure which would have a positive knock on effect for us.

Bielsa however, would be less risk than other managers in a lot of other ways. No compensation, as he is out of contract. He's unlikely to spend big, unlike most of the other candidates, and therefore he's unlikely to leave a financial black hole on leaving. He's also never one to be sacked and paid off. Bielsa usually finishes his contract or walks away. So it's unlikely we would have to pay him off it does go wrong.

The builders story is a mountain out of a molehill and differs depending on where you read it and may be down to translation issues and trying to make it all fit in with the El Loco image. Bielsa is a much calmer man than Moyes, he has never grabbed a player around the throat (AVDM) and after losing the Europa Leage and Spanish Cup finals (see the youtube vid I posted) was relaxed calm and composed as he addressed his team at length after the game.

So whilst there is risk I do not think it's a high stakes gamble as someone else might be.

As for Espanyol, no it was not a success story, it was ended very early, but he was going in the right direction, i.e. upwards. Bilbao were a mess when he took over, yes they had had some good young players, they always do, but they didn't sack Caparrós for nothing. They sounded out Bielsa and let Caparros go.

Bielsa was a success even though the team dipped in terms of position. The previous year they had snuck up at the end of the season (and don't forget there had been financial irregularites at Majorca leading to a loss of points) and in Bielsa's first season they did the opposite. They had a terrible start as the team sturggled to cope with Bielsa's tactics (always happens at first) and then went on a terrific run to be in 6th and just points off the CL places. They then ran out of gas and the players looked completely spent and results went against them.

Bilbao is a lot like Liverpool, in that it is a football mad area, poorer than the average place in Spain, and with a port. They, like Liverpool (perhaps for poverty reasons) seem to have an endless conveyor belt of talent and with the Cantera policy they seem to have 3 or 4 players coming through a season. I think we do have something of a production line here and Bielsa could tap into that.

In short, Ernie, I think it can only be Bielsa and it's a risk not to get him in as someone else is likely to spend a fortune (Fellaini, Baines, and TV Money?) chasing a dream without a plan in place. Bielsa has the plan and would probably not cost us millions in giving him a try, but would raise our profile in doing so. My belief is he would be a success here.

Paolo, nooooooooo!!!!

If Bielsa had been able to keep that side in tact, then I think this season Bilbao would have beena minimum of 4th in the Spanish League.

Surely worth a quid?

Hes just serving some customers?????????

I like acting the goat as much as the next man but enough is enough.....

Next you will be telling us you saw Kenwright going in the Lisbon pub with Timothy Jones wearing high heels and royal blue stockings!!!!!!

Phil's Finest
Which will it be to replace Moyes' Boys

Duncan Duncan Ferguson!!!!!!!!!!

And Shane - in the case of our manager, the odds seem to mean nothing at present

This is what we should be aspiring to.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/22414356

Anyone remember when Phelan turned us down to join Man U from Norwich as a player? We didn't miss out there. Secondary question, Mike Milligan - did we sign him from or sell him to Norwich?

Klopp has probably outshone Bielsa for me I think what he has done at BVD is has been incredible. In an age where success is here today gone tomorrow he has built something truly admirable there. I wouldn't want to be a Chelsea or City and just buy success it's hollow. But we have no chance of Klopp so I agree Bielsa would be a smart move.

Sadly when it's announced I think we are all in for a massive letdown.

Just either put the photo up, or say you are bullshitting. Email it to the editors of the site, and if they think it is genuine, maybe they can put it up.

Get cracking jackanory!!!