Doubt he will be fit or risked against Hull. In the absence of proper cover I imagine Norgard (If fit) or Garner will fill in or possibly Jarrad and bring in Jake or Keane. Shows how poor our so called elite team have done.

No, just real AI. Play with it a bit and you realize the scam. LLMs are not the model.

An injury and a positional exposure waiting to happen. Completely self inflicted. Ridiculous really for a PL team, very amateur.

Yes Dave. I remember him getting quite a few chances, but he couldnt quite make the shirt his own

Yea, Dave, my sources say Billy Kenny Snr played for Everton on 10 occasions, plus 2 as a sub.

They usually tell us these young players have been with the Everton Academy since a very early age… but not in this case. What Ian Jones said on the earlier story rings true: “A quick Google suggests Jake was at a school in Warrington and was part of Liverpool’s academy before moving to Everton.” However, when I asked Google to check this, she said: “Jake Doughty was never part of Liverpool’s academy. He is a product of Everton’s youth system at Finch Farm, where he developed and featured for Everton’s U18 side and represented England at the U16 level. The reference to a Liverpool link appears to be a misconception or confusion with another academy player, as there is no record of him ever playing for or being associated with Liverpool FC.” Fake News???

Are there any negotiations going on at the moment while the lad is losing thousands of pounds every week at the moment, mind you plenty of clubs will be back in January offering Harrison a good signing on fee and very good wages— might suit these owners not to offer a new deal and sell him.

Not good . Thought we’d have to be lucky for none to get injured on such a long break.

Good post Darren but Bilbo definitely played for Everton’s first team around a dozen times but never enough to become a regular.

And so the injuries start….

I think perhaps what most of us want to hear from players is their take on stuff that never made it out from Behind Closed Doors. But it’s a bit like the Official Secrets Act and an almost unwritten creed not to provide any tittle tattle on mysterious events that went on at the club years and years ago now — but are still veiled in secrecy and silence. Here’s three that Barry Horne night have some additional insight on: 1. Gary Speed’s fallout with Howard Kendall, his rapid departure from the club, and years later, his shocking suicide. 2. The Curious Case of Per Krøldrup, an interntaional defender signed for a bifg fee who “couldn’t head a football”. 3. Any dirt whatever on the Master luvy, Bill Kenwright, who profitted to the tune of around £40M from his Everton Shares.

Why are the most recent comments not showing up in the “recent comments” list ? Yet older ones are ? I cant make head nor tail of this site at the moment. I

He was a bit of an Eddie Grant. (Born at the wrong time). His arl fella Bilbo was a smashing footballer. Didnt quite have enough to break into the first team. He grew up on road were drinking was very much part of the culture (Much more so than at Everton FC) By the time Bill came along, the drinkers were slowly but surely being replaced by the users. I never dabbled in Persian rugs, so I`m no expert. but they seemed to be everywhere. So readily available. Many a youngster fell by the wayside so I certainly wont be condemning anyone for falling into that trap. Especially somebody suffering depression after his very promising career had been derailed through serious injury. In fairness he takes it on the chin and is maybe even a tad harsh on himself when he says he only had himself to blame. Bilbo was the best player on Scottie (which took some doing back then), but his lad was the best player in the city….and he knew it

Do you not think Branthwaite could play right sided centre half Mark?

He seems like a level headed kid, he wants to play for Everton and I imagine he’s family are Evertonians ,he’s got a great future in the game, just offer him a decent long contract and I think he will sign.

You say you have worked with top sportspeople for many years Mark, so how far away from success, and what do you think they have got to change the most, if they’re to achieve their overall goal, which should imo, definitely be either The European Championship, or even The World Cup, for this current group of players?

I wish it was that simple, Eric. Like I said, we had to move the entire site to a new host for multiple reasons and the old comment system couldn’t transfer. Believe me, if we could avoid upsetting the TW apple cart we would avoid it… the last thing we want is unhappiness from the regular posters and negative comments when we log-in. I’m pushing Arena for the changes we need, so leave it with me. Hopefully we can get sorted as soon as possible and it shouldn’t be so different. They’ve listened to what Michael and I have asked for and think a lot of the changes make sense for their product.

Replying to Eric -further down the thread- 5 hours ago. Yes Eric I honestly think that money plays a big part in the decision to move away from the club even though you were born in the city that you’re moving from like Jake has done now. Regarding Tony no money was offered. although a week in Italy with Forests youth team that summer was offered as a sweetner. Football was all Tony thought about but he had plenty of mates in Norris Green and a lot more closer to town where his school was so I t nought it was best he moved from that environment to concentrate mostly on his possible football career. He never made it at football but those 4 years at Forest enabled him to learn about looking after himself and definitely helped him to grow up quicker.

Jarrad is trying to establish himself with players who got to a World Cup semi final and in some case the final of the last Euros. He needs to earn his place from players the manager knows and trusts.

Don’t agree Mark. If you got that draw in the Euros it would be considered a tricky one pre tournament.

Ian England played 2 rubbish teams croatia and chech who you would expect to beat . Then the only game that was hard was Spain and they lost easly look at the big picture when where not favourites we lose simple, same under southgate and now tuchel .

Branthwaite doesn’t play Right back or right centre back Quansah does apparently so your talking rubbish nothing changes christy .

“The issue we have is, any changes impact how Arena comments work on every site they work with, so it’s not as simple as making quick fixes for TW only.” And therin lies the problem Harry. How many websites do Arena provide services to, 5, 10,100? And if every one of them wants their comment section to be the complete opposite of another one, or ten or ?? You’d have been better off sticking with your in-house IT and we could have lived within those limitations.

Who are the owners of TW?

Considering Villas current form it’s a surprising move, I don’t expect Emery to last until Christmas. He’ll be our manager next season.

Hi Eric, it’s essentially your first point. We had to move to the site to a new modern main host which didn’t support the old comment system, so had to therefore bring in an external provider. That’s the long and short of it. We appreciate the teething issues and things to fix, but we’re confident we can work with Arena to get them sorted asap. The issue we have is, any changes impact how Arena comments work on every site they work with, so it’s not as simple as making quick fixes for TW only. However, just ordering the comments from oldest first would be an easy start to get things back to how they were! Bear with us, we’re hearing you all and chasing for changes. Thanks for the patience, we appreciate it!

Is that all there is to it Dave, money? I know my parents were not enthused emotionally with my move away to university, and my wife with our daughter, but maybe it’s different for parents of a talented teenager? Furthering his career maybe rather than money? Although that will ultimately come if he has a good career. Why did you let your Tony go to Nottingham? Money or the chance to learn under Clough?

Is this a parent bung thing? Something like arranging a signing on fee, free gratis rented upgraded house in midlands and arranged transportation to training, education plan all bundled in. Probably had a visit to their training ground and meeting up with Emery and coaching staff. Full package I’d expect

They’re probably hoping Moyes won’t still be around for when he’s good enough for the first team.

That post should have read— Further up the thread in the reply section— we don’t whether we are coming or going on these threads at the moment!

Yes Mike, without knowing the details of how Villa were able to convince Jake to move to them I think money would have been a big motive for the lad, his agent and family and is always a big part of why the players move. He was born in Liverpool so might have had some affinity to the Blues but most probably Villa offered him a better deal or showed him he would have a better pathway to their first team even at 16 years of age.

It should probably count as an assist but I didn’t think it was a ‘peach of a cross’. He had time to pick out his man but put it well out of the reach of any England player. If the Czech defender hadn’t intervened it would have gone for a throw in.

I thought by now someone would have posted, ‘doesn’t matter, Moyes wouldn’t have played him anyway’.

That’s like saying that fella aint as bad as Adolf MK.

Surely not just “A classic Everton Masterclass™” Michael, but a classic (every club name here) Masterclass™ with youngsters that are too young to sign professional contracts?

Need a lot more information to make conclusions about this. Where is he based? Did he have significant rivalry for a path to the first team at EFC and less at Villa? Granular context for those 7 goals in 15 games would also be useful.

Michael – What were we supposed to have done that we didn’t ?

This England team is full of confidence, playing some slick football, moving the ball at pace. It won’t do our players any harm to be part of it. Provided they steer clear of injury of course.

Just the typical poaching wars. Clubs are always signing other clubs’ English youth prospects now that Brexit has limited PL clubs’ access to young European prospects. We’ve signed over a dozen youngsters ourselves.

Michael because that’s not a peach of a pass it’s a total cock up by the Czech defender going by the report of the game and a few supporters who described the goal.

Yes Christy Jarrad and James coming on when the game is safe— still I hope they don’t over stretch themselves with Sunday in mind.

James and Jarrard, cmon lads

Why doesn’t Kane get the credit of an assist for the first England goal? He puts in a peach of a cross and a Czech defender turns it past his own keeper. If that isn’t an assist, I just give up.

I see what you mean now, Dave. Some apparently new comments showing up on the Recent Comments page… but they don’t appear to be here. Very strange.

Disappointed Branthwaite hasn’t got a start in any off the games, especially as Quansah has played fullback and centreback tonight, ahead of him,

A much more competitive game than Croatia. Pickford is making me nervous though, taking a tad bit too long under the high press. But brilliant second goal for England: Anderson to Rogers to Kane — superb fiirst touches.

I know it’s all well and good being wise after the event but he was a kid who was encouraged by his peers to drink and then invited to snort cocaine… Just say No! At 19, he was old enough to take personal responsibility, or should those close to him have been aware that he had an addictive personality and should they have done more to protect him from himself? But perhaps it was naive of some to expect that he could fight off such temptations on his own. I’m just not fully buying into this line that it was Everton’s fault.

A much more competitive game than Croatia. Pickford is making me nervous though, taking a tad bit too long under the high press.

Mike ( further down this thread about an hour go) Yes Mike a bit like yourself when the posts are about our new owners!

Yes Bilbo played for the first team a few times before going to Tranmere Rovers. When Bilbo played for Liverpool boys his fellow striker was David Johnson and anyone who saw that team most would have opted for Bilbo to make the grade before Johnson but Johnson took his chance and maybe he was more professional the way he went about taking that chance. Maybe Bilbo lost some ambition after Everton let him go because he never made a career out of football and I think he was definitely good enough to earn a good living out of the game.