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Season 17-18 Opinion Columns

Column & Opinion Articles

Contributions from our editorial team and featured columnists.

A World In Motion Indeed

Lyndon Lloyd
There is so much magic woven into the tapestry of every World Cup in terms of what happens on the field. In his new book, World In Motion, Simon Hart brings the 1990 Finals back to life with a number of its various back stories and provides so much context to what was a pivotal tournament in so many ways.
25/06/2018

Benjamin Howard-Baker: Goalkeeper, Olympian, Corinthian

Rob Sawyer
Blazing a trail for Everton goalkeepers to represent England was the remarkable Benjamin Howard-Baker. If Brian Labone was “The Last of the Great Corinthians”, then Benjamin Howard-Baker was one of Everton's first.
02/06/2018

“All You Need is Just a Little Patience…”

Lyndon Lloyd
The 2018 close season has already offered a fresh start and some optimism for Evertonians following the appointment of Marcel Brands and Marco Silva. Now the new management team needs time and backing to effect the big changes needed.
31/05/2018

Happy Talk

Rodger Armstrong
As we stand on the edge of the next take on the Moshiri Brand New Dawn, there is a renewed groundswell of optimism from the glass-half-fullers but there is much to be done to convince those who remain skeptical
30/05/2018

If All of This Was Easy, It Wouldn”t Be Worth Doing

Paul The Esk
Lessons learned, expensive mistakes... time for a re-boot. Nothing worthwhile ever comes easy. If it did, it wouldn't be worth doing.
29/05/2018

Boom, Bust & Bad Medicine — 2017-18 Season Review

Lyndon Lloyd
2017-18 may have offered few moments to savour but it will live long in the memory… hopefully as the nadir in a decade that has promised much but delivered very little
24/05/2018

Alan Ball Unseen

James Corbett
In this unpublished but recently rediscovered interview, the Everton great talks about his career high points and life low points.
18/05/2018

Reboot

Lyndon Lloyd
Marcel Brands and whoever is drafted in as head coach have a big rebuilding task at hand. It won't happen overnight but where the director of football is concerned at least, Everton appear to have made a significant appointment
18/05/2018

Sea Change at Everton as Moshiri Seeks to Correct Course

Lyndon Lloyd
There have been mis-steps under Moshiri's reign but they have not caused irrevocable damage. The swift moves witnessed this week provide a means to get the Iranian-born businessman's project moving in the right direction again.
17/05/2018

The Silva Lining to the Storm Clouds of 2017-18?

Lyndon Lloyd
It's only speculation but Everton could call time on Sam Allardyce's tenure this week. Marco Silva and Paulo Fonseca remain the leading candidates to replace him judging by reports. A look at the former and what he might bring to Goodison.
12/05/2018

Fairytale Unfulfilled — Rooney's Second Farewell Would Suit All Parties

Lyndon Lloyd
It seems as though this Sunday's game at the London Stadium could be Wayne Rooney's last competitive match in an Everton jersey. He would leave the Blues again with an air of unfulfilled promise
10/05/2018

“He Took My Breath Away”

Becky Tallentire
The latest installment of Becky Tallentire's Real Footballers' Wives features Johnny Morrissey's wife, Celia
10/05/2018

“60 at 90” — A Night to Remember William Ralph “Dixie” Dean

Rob Sawyer
To celebrate the 90th anniversary of William Ralph Dean's record-breaking 60th league goal, Blues of all ages gathered at the People's Club Lounge in the Park End stand last Friday evening.
08/05/2018

“Go On.” Unboxing the 2018-19 Home Kit

Lyndon Lloyd
Overall, it looks as though the club have scored with the 2018-19 home strip and another one of those stirring promotional videos to go with it
07/05/2018

Time for Boldness

Paul The Esk
"Being bold de-risks, being timid increases risk and reduces the prospects for success. Mr Moshiri, time to be bold in every sense."
07/05/2018

“Our Rightful Place”

Lyndon Lloyd
No club is ordained to be ever-successful but there is a strong case to be made for one club's place at the proverbial “top table” of English football being “rightful” and that is Everton. We need not be apologetic about demanding we get back there or be hesitant in trying.
03/05/2018

The Waiting Game

Lyndon Lloyd
If the various rumours and tabloid website reports are correct, Sam Allardyce travelled to London yesterday looking for assurances over his future but was left largely in continuing limbo. The simple lack of definitive backing for the manager was significant. If true, it suggests that Farhad Moshiri wants time to secure a more permanent appointment to lead Everton forward.
27/04/2018

Permission to Plan

Rodger Armstrong
With a clear Plan we can unite, and, even more importantly than that, we have a chance of understanding what we are trying to achieve and how we are going to go about it.
27/04/2018

Frank Sugg — A Great Sporting All-Rounder

Rob Sawyer
The story of the cricketer turned footballer who played for Everton in the inaugural Football League season
24/04/2018

Kicking the Can Down the Road

Paul The Esk
In modern day language it means deferring, putting off difficult decisions, to postpone a difficult action. To me it singularly defines the last 12 to 18 months at Goodison Park.
19/04/2018

Le Coq Sportif: Spectacular in Action — Sensational in Style

Rob Sawyer
Everton have never worn an Adidas team kit...or have they? Not appreciated by many is that the Gallic marque, which burned brightly but briefly on these shores, was a branch of the German sporting behemoth.
25/03/2018

The Bramley-Moore capacity debate

Paul The Esk
Is there sufficient demand for a 60,000-seat stadium and what does the capacity of the new ground say about Everton's ambition?
23/03/2018

The Business case for a smaller capacity?

Paul The Esk
Following recent comments by Robert Elstone, a look at whether it makes sense for Everton to opt for a smaller increase in capacity at the proposed new stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock than was originally thought.
20/03/2018

Unnecessary caution at business breakfast meeting on Bramley-Moore

Paul The Esk
Paul reports from the “Everton Football Stadium and Associated Regeneration” meeting hosted by “Downtown in Business” featuring Everton's current CEO, Robert Elstone and Liverpool City Council Mayor, Joe Anderson.
16/03/2018

The Turning Point?

Paul The Esk
Are we at a point where we can finally throw off the shackles of the past, the lack of ambition, the cautious thinking, the poor decision-making and execution?
13/03/2018

Strike While the Iron is Hot

Lyndon Lloyd
If Everton retain any serious interest in their top two managerial targets of last year, they should reopen the communication lines to Messers Silva and/or Fonseca immediately
13/03/2018

Williams lost his rag... and his claim to the armband

Lyndon Lloyd
Ashley Williams abandoned his defensive duties and his responsibilities as leader on Saturday. It's time to give the team captaincy to someone far more worthy.
05/03/2018

Faith, Hope & Charity

Rodger Armstrong
The latest away defeat has only increased the gloom around Everton.
04/03/2018

Decision Time

Lyndon Lloyd
Farhad Moshiri has just passed two years as the club's major shareholder. He will have learned plenty in that time but Everton now need strong and unmistakable leadership from the top.
01/03/2018

The Life of Charlie Parry

Rob Sawyer
Charlie Parry enjoyed 6 years with Everton, over two spells, winning the club's first Football League title and becoming only the third Everton player to represent Wales (after Job Wildling and Joe Davies).
27/02/2018

Nil Satis… you know the rest — time for it become a reality

Paul The Esk
The decisions the club makes in the next few months will define our future, once and for all. The right decisions will ensure that our future can be as glorious, and perhaps even more glorious than our incredible past
26/02/2018

Have Great Expectations become Paradise Lost?

Rodger Armstrong
On the second anniversary of his arrival at Everton, a look at the Farhad Moshiri reign thus far.
26/02/2018

A club of firsts — time to be bold and imaginative

Paul The Esk
This is an opportunity to be bold, not only in terms of capacity, physical features and design and pricing structures but in the whole approach to hosting a football match.
25/02/2018

How Catterick avoided the dreaded taxi ride!

Paul McParlan
Everton's unexpected 1966 Cup triumph
22/02/2018

Goodison, its legacy and what should we take to Bramley-Moore?

Paul The Esk
Ensuring that we protect the essence of Everton when we leave, not only at our new home but back in L4 as well.
22/02/2018

Best of the Rest?

Rodger Armstrong
Everton could still finish seventh this season despite our many attempts to set the house on fire but the club's record against the top six confirms that, regardless, this will still have been one of regression.
20/02/2018

Sports Action Winner, by Ryan Byrne

Michael Kenrick
Ryan Byrne's remarkable image, capturing the horrendous moment of impact that broke Seamus Coleman's leg, gets 1st Prize in the Sports Action section of the Press Photographers Association of Ireland Awards for 2018.
18/02/2018

Rolls-Royce Coasting in Neutral

Lyndon Lloyd
Once lauded as Everton's Rolls-Royce, Morgan Schneiderlin has become a source of frustration this season. Blues fans have had enough but it's probably not too late for redemption.
16/02/2018

Knowing your customer/fan — moving out of the dark ages

Paul The Esk
Generally, most clubs have no basis for optimising revenues from across their customer and fan base. Can they learn from business processes that other industries have used for decades in their interactions with consumers?
15/02/2018

Comfortably Numb

Rodger Armstrong
Sam Allardyce is not the problem, he is the primary symptom of incompetence at the highest level.
05/02/2018

Everton need Lookman more than Ademola needs a loan move

Lyndon Lloyd
Amid suggestions that Ademola Lookman could be sent out on loan, surely there's a better argument for using him judiciously in a Blues' first team that badly needs his precocious talents.
25/01/2018

Money for Nothing

Rodger Armstrong
Time for Moshiri to lead, to act and to affect wholesale change across the entire staff of the Club. The fans may put up with money for nothing in the short term because it's in our blood; but don't abuse that love, that trust.
22/01/2018

Allardyce' no-risk approach — short-term expediency or dyed-in-the-wool trait?

Lyndon Lloyd
Sam Allardyce's unexpectedly rosey honeymoon period offered the journeyman boss an opportunity to reboot and begin re-building for Everton's future. Instead, his joyless, defensive approach has favoured ageing players without achieving positive results.
18/01/2018

Farewell to the Flawed Diamond

Lyndon Lloyd
He may never reach the same level as Wayne Rooney or achieve as much but Barkley's departure has conjured up the same feelings of disappointment and the loss of a homegrown player to a (currently) higher-achieving club.
06/01/2018

Will Everton fans put up with Big Sam's style of play?

Gary McCarty
There is a certain type of football that Sam Allardyce like his team to play and it makes for one of the most boring spectaculars. These tactics work well enough to secure a team's future in the EPL but it comes at great cost to the fans who have to watch it every week.
13/12/2017

Faith Of Our Families: The Hillsborough Disaster

 
Another excerpt from Faith Of Our Families: Everton An Oral History 1878-2018, published by deCoubertin Books
09/12/2017

Super Kev Sinks the Shite

Jim Keoghan
Everton victories at Anfield are rare so the last one to date, secured by a solitary Kevin Campbell goal, was extra special. This extract from Everton's Greatest Games recalls that evening 18 years ago.
06/12/2017

Nihil Est Quam Salvos

Lyndon Lloyd
Fold away the “Our Motto Is Our Standard” banner and padlock the doors to the School of Science”. Sam Allardyce, disgraced ex-England manager, purveyor of quintessentially agricultural football and Premier League escapologist is now manager of Everton.
29/11/2017

Paulo Fonseca — A risk/reward dilemma?

Lyndon Lloyd
Evertonian observers will know plenty about Sam Allardyce and Martin O'Neill, two of the three names said to be on Farhad Moshiri's shortlist, but emerging Portuguese manager Fonseca is a lesser-known quantity
28/11/2017

Diminishing options on the listing ship Everton?

Lyndon Lloyd
The interim appointment of Unsworth may have seemed sound at the outset but Everton's worsening plight will surely force the Board to act quickly now
27/11/2017

Comment: FA's decision to charge Niasse makes an uncomfortable rod for their own backs

Lyndon Lloyd
It almost seems as though the Football Association has gone out of its way to make life as difficult for itself as possible with their decision to charge Oumar Niasse with “successful deception of a match official” in Saturday's 2-2 draw at Crystal Palace.
21/11/2017

Unsworth is Everton's bird in the hand... but for how long?

Lyndon Lloyd
His Blue credentials made him the ideal interim coach but the limited options for Koeman's successor mean he could stay in charge for longer than expected...
15/11/2017

Jack Humphreys — Blue Dragon

Rob Sawyer
The story of the Welsh centre-half who at one time was keeping Goodison great T.G. Jones out of the Everton team.
13/11/2017

Tim Cahill and Moyes' Modern Football Miracle

 
An excerpt from Faith Of Our Families: Everton An Oral History 1878-2018, published by deCoubertin Books
13/11/2017

Green shoots of revival despite cup defeat at Chelsea

Lyndon Lloyd
A narrow loss at Stamford Bridge — or rather the performance that went with it — at least showed that the fight, the spirit, the organisation and the belief can be there to start putting wins on the board in the near future.
26/10/2017

T.G. Jones at 100

Rob Sawyer
12 October 2017 marks the centenary of the birth of Thomas George Ronald Jones in Queensferry, Flintshire. The tall, quiet son of a Connah's Quay coal merchant would find his footballing feet at Wrexham F.C. but he would achieve immortality at Goodison Park.
12/10/2017

Why Youth Could Be the Answer for Everton

Gary McCarty
One thing Everton have seemed to lack over the course of the season so far is pace and energy. So, could youth be the answer during these troubled times?
10/10/2017

Everton's Greatest Games — Dixie's 60

 
a chapter from Jim Koeghan's latest book, Everton's Greatest Games: The Toffees' Fifty Finest Matches which covers standout fixtures from a club history stuffed with great occasions and memorable encounters.
03/10/2017

Nil Satis Nisi Optimum? Moshiri's own goal falls well short of Blues' motto

Lyndon Lloyd
Four years ago, the club removed our cherished motto from the crest. They reinstated it following howls of protest from supporters but if Farhad's latest “statement” is any indication, it never made it back into the mission statement of the Board of Directors
02/10/2017

Don”t let go of another Future Star — Everton should do more to keep Barkley

Gary McCarty
Everton should be doing more to keep hold of Barkley, or at least put him to use this season.
01/10/2017

Obstinate Koeman's reign reeks of a busted flush

Lyndon Lloyd
To say we expected a hell of lot more this season is an understatement and it calls into question the likelihood of success for Ronald's three-year Everton “project”.
29/09/2017

The Life of Smart Arridge — The Welshman from Sunderland

Rob Sawyer
The wonderfully named Smart Atkinson Arridge was one of Everton's first Welsh international players
08/09/2017

They Were The Best Years of Our Lives

Becky Tallentire
The latest installment of Real Footballers' Wives features Norma Vernon, wife of Everton goalscoring legend Roy.
05/09/2017

Deadline Day Echo from Everton's Austere Past

Lyndon Lloyd
Everton's transfer deadline-day had an annoying sense of déjà vu last Thursday when the window closed without the club being able to land much-needed reinforcements.
04/09/2017

Opposition View: Q&A with Chelsea HQ

ToffeeWeb 
Ahead of Sunday's trip to Stamford Bridge, we spoke with Chelsea HQ to get their angle on a fixture that has provided plenty of drama in recent years but which Everton haven't won since 1994.
26/08/2017

Everton FC injury data

ToffeeWeb 
As with all Premier League clubs, injuries are an ongoing concern for Everton but there are no good resources that show the actual impact that injuries to certain players have on our season. We've teamed up with CL Legal, who have tracked all the injuries to Everton players over the past eight seasons which actually forced the player to miss games.
26/08/2017

The Long-Awaited 'No.10'?

Lyndon Lloyd
Gylfi Sigurdsson's arrival doesn't necessarily mean an end to Evertonian longing for the No.10 slot to be filled but he potentially has the talent to operate as the all-important central position behind the striker(s).
17/08/2017

'Jack O” Both Sides' — The Life and Times of Jack Sharp (1878-1938)

Rob Sawyer
Jack Sharp sits in exalted company as one of England's few dual cricket and football internationals. To Evertonians he is much more than that — an iconic player, captain, FA Cup winner, club director and founder of Liverpool's best known sports outfitters.
31/07/2017

Diamonds aren”t forever: Koeman confirms Barkley will leave Everton “100%”

Chris Smith
On the cusp of a major leap forward for Everton, Ross Barkley, the diamond of the club's academy, has decided to jump ship. It's a sad day for many Evertonians; an indifferent day for many others.
27/07/2017

When “Legends” Were Thin on the Ground — Part 1

John McFarlane [Senior]
A brief introduction to the 48 players who represented Everton between the resumption of the Football League in 1946 and the Toffees' relegation in 1951, starting with the first six in alphabetical order.
14/05/2018

When “Legends” Were Thin on the Ground — Part 2

John McFarlane [Senior]
Continuing the theme of listing the 50 players who featured in the Everton team, from the resumption of League football in 1946-47 until the relegation season of 1950-51
02/06/2018

When 'Legends' were Thin on the Ground — Part 3.

John McFarlane Snr
Continuing the theme of listing the 50 players who featured in the Everton team, from the resumption of League football in 1946-47 until the relegation season of 1950-51
13/06/2018

When 'Legends' were Thin on the Ground — Part 4

John McFarlane [Senior]
Continuing the theme of listing the 50 players who featured in the Everton team, from the resumption of League football in 1946-47 until the relegation season of 1950-51
23/06/2018

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Season 2011-12 column articles
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The Unofficial Everton Timeline – 2014-2023 The Moshiri Years

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  Team Pld GD Pts
13 Manchester United 16 2 22
14 West Ham United 16 -8 19
15 Crystal Palace 16 -4 16
16 Everton 15 -7 15
17 Leicester City 16 -13 14
18 Ipswich Town 16 -12 12
19 Wolves 16 -16 9

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