New Day Rising

The last time anything like this happened it was the start of something big. John Moores took over and all of a sudden Roy Vernon, Alex Young, George Thomson, Gordon West, Jimmy Gabriel, Micky Lill, Tommy Ring were joining us in fairly short order followed by Harry Catterick, Tony Kay and Dennis Stevens.

I was only 11 then and now I'm well stricken in years but I can't help getting a bit of the same vibe.

I realise the shape and structure of football has been changed by the influx of private wealth and TV cash but it would be nice eventually to eat at the top table and fish in the same pool and this appointment could be as much the catalyst for this as it is a statement of intent.

An interesting summer awaits.

There are two other things in particular for me that Koeman will get a proper chance to become familiar with. The first is Finch Farm. In fairness to Martinez, he has developed further what was already a very good training facility. It is now top class and Koeman will get the full summer to make the most of it. The second thing is the Academy. We have high hopes for some of the recent graduates and Koeman will get to see how some of the players recently promoted to the senior squad are like.

This is definitely only the first piece in Moshiris puzzle, well I hope. For me it's undeniably the most important piece and it's clear clubs have realised investing in the manager is just if not more important than the players that follow. £5m for a world class player would be considered a bargain.

I do believe the salary was the key influencer in getting Koeman, but men of calibre will forget about that as soon as the contract is signed and get on with doing their best job of being successful.

Now that he has joined I'm now watching his moves closely and hope to see him absorb and realise the cultural significance of our club that he might not have been aware of as an outsider. Hopefully his heart will follow soon as at least we have his head.

I expect nothing less than improving the team structure and effectiveness. I hope that he sees talent in the players we are itching to see more of. No matter what happens I will be very disappointed if I don't get to see more of Galloway, Davies, Dowell and Ledson next season.

Being an Evertonian , still cautiously optimistic.

Chris - 1 - we are of the same era and an excellent post - I couldn't agree more.

Just reading the gossip columns and seeing Everton's name being linked with quality players will do me nicely for the summer months!

Just praying for a waterfront stadium now so I can go back to the days when Anfield was the inferior ground in Liverpool!

DoF is next and there rumours about that we are meeting with Monchi Tomorrow. This would be great news. I really hope it doesn't end up like the RS though, 5 man comity signing overpriced crap. anyways excited.

This summer is going to the craziest I have seen possibility in my life time as a Blue.

With Howard, Hibbo, Ossie and Peanut gone it will be really interesting to see who else goes in regards to deadwood.
McGeady, Kone, Ovideo are looking like dead certs That would be for arguments sake if they were all on £40k a week £14.5 Million off the wage bill. This would pay the wages of 3 truly world class players.

As it has been pointed out there is a sense of ruthlessness about so maybe Barry , McCarthy, Lennon etc could be on the chopping board.

Regards GK we see names getting thrown around Krul, Forester etc, But we should go for a big name Like Bernd Leno, Jesus this guy is good and only 24 he could be in that position for 10 years.

Oh well exciting times to be a blue. COYBB

What has brought about the near euphoria in the fan base is down to one man - Bill. OK, I have heard all the arguments about how he has held us back over the years, his lack of investment, his poor choice of Martinez and his lovvy dovvy attitude and placations etc etc.

But I go back to the fact that he was/is an Evertonian through and through. I believe he only wanted the best for the club, I do think he got in with a useless crowd but that at least kept us afloat in some pretty rough seas. But as we Welsh like to point out 'Da ni yma o hyd'

- 'We are still here'!! Not only are we still here under/after his stewardship, we are very apparently still here and in very very good shape thanks to his continual search for the 'right' man to steer the ship.

How that all came about I do not know - was it because of his ill health being a problem that he decided to cash in his chips or did his co-directors thinks that Martinez was about to take us down and jumped ship taking with them all the family silver leaving him to hold the baby

No, I think Bill has been true to his word, altho' I have cursed him many times, he has delivered and after the fiascos of King's Dock, Kirby etc it certainly looks as if he eventually got it right, call it luck? Who knows.

Nothing will be the same - bloody right it won't in fact after a two year absence I have renewed my Season Ticket and look forward to retaking my seat in the Old Lady until she takes her place with Bill in Everton's Hall of Fame.

Says who? Another poster on a different thread said he is pretty relaxed (he said he knows a first teamer). So which is it?

Sounds great, Matt, how did you get on? Who won it? Your an ex-pro? Beagrie had a good shot on him and GB & KI were decent players.

Thanks for the Moshiri information, though not sure about Iranian players!

The player is a pleasant lad, true professional.. So maybe just didn't want to say anything negative about his old manager?!

But the EXACT phrases he used were "simplifies things" and "creates a relaxed atmosphere". Make of that what you will.

Anyone who has read my posts on here and knows where I'm from would be able to know who it is anyway.

I think the disaplinaring think is fabricated on the basis that he dropped pelle to play Shane long. On those grounds we could say that Martinez was a tough one too cause of the subs he made at Barnsley in the cup.

Moshiri has given us the ability to compete in the transfer market with the top clubs in Europe (aside from stupid money clubs like City, PSG or the super-draws of Barca, Madrid, Bayern or Man United).

It is important that we spend the next 3 seasons building our brand and buying smart, so that by the time we move into our new stadium we are ready to compete as a top, top club at CL level.

The last time that happened was when Deulofeu scored the equaliser at Arsenal 3 seasons ago, however I am not going to let what followed after that spoil this latest attack of "we will be great again".

The reason for my optimism is down to Farhad Moshiri. He seems to have the same steely determination as John Moores brought to the club in the early 60's. Chris Williams has eluded to this in post # 1.

I think the sleeping giant has been stirred. They better watch out.

Koeman still has a lot to prove as far as I'm concerned. He certainly doesn't stack up against Guardiola and Mourinho achievement-wise. Everton needs to be the club where he takes his career to the next level, more of the same from him will only get us back to where we've got used to being over the last decade anyway.

The much bigger deal for me is the new stadium and overall structure of the club. A new stadium on the docks is the must-have. If they make genuine progress on that this season then I'll be as giddily excited as anyone.

The overall structure of the club isn't too bad, but it is currently very dependent on who the manager is at the time. Both Moyes and Martinez made, or facilitated, good progress on this and we have a strong academy producing players for the first team. The key part of a new Director of Football's job would be to keep this production line flowing, followed by recruitment of players developed elsewhere.

England actually won the tournament but finished second to Iran in a group of four before winning a semi against Scotland 3-0 and the final against Thailand 1-0.

Iran beat England 2-1 in a group game and by all accounts looked the team to beat but lost to Thailand on penalties in the semi. It's always tough to beat Thailand as the local officials are quite poor to say the least.

New Zealand where in the same group as Thailand who beat us 3-0 in the opening game. We then drew with Aussie 2-2 with Eugene Dadi diving for a last minute penalty to deny us a deserved win. We beat Scotland 3-2 to finish 3rd in our group.

The bottom two teams from each group play off for a 'Plate' we beat USA 2-0 before losing to Australia 3-1. Overall we came 6th which is no disgrace for NZ.

I am not an ex pro just a fit lad who tries to keep it simple. That goes a long way in a humid country like Thailand.

Player of the tournament was Gareth Ainsworth who is currently managing Wycombe Wanderers. Cracking lad originally from Blackburn who played for Wimbledon in the premier League. Also playing for England was Barry Hayles ex Fulham and Andy Hessenhaller. So obviously England were very strong.

For the cash he's pocketing he either needs to win a cup or two or get us competing in Europe consistently with Champions League being preferred over the Europa League.

If he wants the Barca job then he needs to win stuff and do so against quality managers, well with the history of Everton and our new financial might now is his time.

Koeman wasn't my first choice but the more I get used to it, it does make sense, Everton and Koeman currently have the same ambition and goals. To prove themselves amongst the best.

We could be the springboard for his dream job and if that is to happen he would have put us back amongst the 'big boys'. If he flops, I can't see Mr Moshiri being too sentimental, onto the next one.

We shouldn't expect this in his first season mind though a cup and decent league finish would be nice. Everton are on the up. Koeman has got balls for taking this job right now because it could make or break him.

There are always going to be positive fans and negative fans, that will never, ever, change. The "glass half full/half empty" argument. The difference now is the glass has gotten a lot bigger.

Personally, I will remain patient, and see what he does. It's way too early to make a judgement, one way or another.

Mistakes made; yes. Stagnation; yes. Fallen behind; yes. But maybe not as far as we could have. We somehow "stayed in the game" or at least stayed in touch and some of the credit for that should go to Bill Kenwright.

Many clubs over the years have jumped at offers of investment and it's all gone horribly wrong; ask Aston Villa or Newcastle. Ask Leeds.

I would agree that Bill's emotional connection to the club (compounded by his theatrical background and tendencies) has clouded his judgement and also agree he was never cut out to take his club; our club back to the heights. He did however step into and stay in the firing line when no one else would and as history will show, left us healthier than when he took over. Moshiri allegedly paid £200m for 49.9% of Everton. Aston Villa (who several years ago we were all envious of) have just been sold for £67m all in and £20m of that was covering an overdraft. I once got slated on here for saying "good things come to those who wait" (...'what the f@#K does that mean'). It means good things come to those who wait. Hopefully they just have.

Waited for the right man or forced sale because of health? I don't know but at least we appear to have got the right man and not a Cardiff "change the strip to red" type investor.

As always let's enjoy the ride ahead. Onward Evertonians.

I was expecting De Boer, and so to see Moshiri get his man, despite pundits claiming he wouldn't is an exciting change. Baby steps, I hope it is one of many, and not false dawn Peter Johnson gave us.

Koeman no doubt came for the money, but also for the chance to mould a good team that Southampton would never achieve in a month of Sundays. I don't really care if he considers this position a stepping stone to Barca or whatever he considers a better job. What's good for him will ultimately be good for us.

Make no mistake this is down to Moshiri, not Bill. People have very short memories when they say he is an Evertonian through and through. Is he an Everton fan? Yes no doubt. Has he done what's best for the club? No not in my opinion. Others have rightly said that he was ill equipped to own a club like Everton. We have stabilised, but have we moved further forward since he became chairman? After witnessing the shambles that was last season, absolutely not. In fact it could be argued that the players at least gave more effort than what we witnessed our the last 2 years. It's anybodys guess why he finally found his buyer. Pressure, Ill health, skint, who knows, but imo if he could have kept hold of the reigns he would have done. The one major project that he couldn't afford to mess up, the King's Dock, he did so with aplomb and it cost us hugely. The ridiculous"what a manager" speech just typifies his desire to be right at any cost. Wonder how long he was waiting to say that? It was just embarrassing. No sorry, boys pen Bill doesn't deserve any credit for this upturn of events and positivity. In fact if rumours were to be believed, he would still have the idiot in charge for next season. It's not whats best for Everton, just a desire to be proved right even when it's painfully obvious that he's not.

So a new dawn. Onwards and upwards. This is potentially the most exciting time we have had for decades. Hopefully a new waterfront stadium and finally a team fit to wear the royal blue shirt. Am I bothered what other teams and their fans think of us? Couldn't give a monkeys. Who cares if they say players come for money, who cares if they say we bought trophies, think Mancs cockney sorry RS care what other fans think of them? No they just care what's in the trophy cabinet.

It's a nice feeling knowing that we maybe will gatecrash the top table and upset the establishment. A bonus of this is knowing this will really upset the idiots on sky sports and bbc too.

A new dawn indeed.
COYB

Bill came to the board in 1989 when we still had credibility. He has overseen the worst trophy less run for eons. There is a whole generation who have never seen us win a trophy and celebrated us escaping relegation on the last day of the season. Hardly an enduring endorsement of his stewardship

Where's that figure from?

£200m was what he sold his Arsenal shares for. His purchase of a 49.9% stake in Everton cost him £87m didn't it?

;-)

John Daley, from what I've read that's the figure I understood. If I'm wrong I'm happy to be proven so.

Gents, we can all have opinions. Mine is that whilst Kenwright isn't or was never perfect, he isn't the anti-Christ some make him out to be and deserves some credit for carrying the can when no one else would touch us.

And for some to suggest he isn't an Evertonian; well that's probably his biggest fault. Never mix business with family or pleasure as they say.

In the end he's done very well out of Everton, people should not forget that. What capped it off for me was Kenwright and the 'what a manager' thing.

At the time when a lot of Everton fans were unhappy and voicing their feelings whichever way they did he seemed to get satisfaction by saying what he did. This was a poke in the eye and a middle finger in the face to those loyal fans.

When it gets to the point where you are that emotionally attached to start point scoring with your own loyal fan base something's wrong and its time to let go.

Anyway the dawn of a new day. A new era.

Wouldn't it be nice to have a shiny new stadium sat next to the Mersey, overlooking the City, pulsating Royal Blue into the evening sky on late kick offs.

The EVERTON badge floating above the stadium like something out of a batman movie, seen for miles around.

The roar when the fourth goal gets smashed in by the Blue Boys against the rs, Evertonians laughing at the reds shuffling back toward rickety Anfield with their tails between their legs!

Got to stop myself now! If only I was billionaire.....

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz! Wake up Dan......... Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz! Ha!

His cv as chairman isn't exactly glittering and as you say, we will never know if anybody approached him earlier or not because he never told us anything that portrayed him in a negative light.

Like you, I think this guy Moshiri is the real deal and hope it's going to produce a long and sustained period of us going forward and maybe (hopefully) winning trophies. But as for congratulating Kenwright for eventually finding (after being in the board for 27 years and chairman for 17 years) the right man, well no, for me he has hung onto power far too long to the detriment of the club and not done what the club needs just what Kenwright wanted.

Anyway, after the long seemingly endless wait, a new positive era seems to be genuinely here. Lets grasp it and move on.

This is an excellent start to the new regime. The next big matter is the new stadium, possibly the most important thing in the last 120-odd years of our Club's history. I love Goodison but recognise its dilapidation. Given the way Mr Moshiri goes about his business I doubt we will hear much about his plans until they can genuinely come to fruition, but surely he must be looking at a major statement stadium at the docks?

Guess it depends what you read then...

"The Iranian billionaire, whose 49.9% share purchase at a reported cost of £85m was ratified by the Premier League this week..."

">Link

"Farhad Moshiri has secured the right to increase his stake in Everton , the ECHO can reveal.

Last February, Mr Moshiri announced that he had bought a 49.9% stake in the Goodison Park club for a reported £87.5m, but this was not enough to give him a majority stake, a fact that has puzzled many fans and financial experts."

Link

I think the best part of this "new dawn" will be the ability to buy in January, how many times in the past under Moyes were we in and around top 4/5/6 going into January, and had an opportunity to add to the squad for the final push, just to be let down by lack of funds, when those around us bolstered and pushed on, not now though guys n girls....

Anyway. That's the past and as Lyndon's title says, a new day is ahead. Hopefully a bright and prosperous one

One of the main reasons we finished fourth was Liverpool were concentrating on the champions league cup and Middlesboro were doing likewise in the Europa cup.

Yeah, it seemed every time we slipped up, for once Liverpool collaborated and returned the compliment!