Interview with Sasha Ryazantsev

Interesting listen.

Click on PAUL THE ESK and scroll down to interview.

Always thought Matt Munro was Born Free, didn't realise he was also Born a Blue, a Russian blue! :-)

The professionalism that the interview clearly shows gives you great confidence that in both the short and longer term we are doing things right.

Let's get 5th, 6th or 7th plus a Wembley appearance and 2019 could be a big step forward on and off the pitch.

I wondered what the frig you were on about, referencing Matt Monro. And I was thrown again when clicking the link to first hear the crooner singing 'From Russia With Love', thinking I'd picked up a radio broadcast instead!

Then it clicked and I laughed. Disappointed not to hear the full song.

Settling down now to listen to the actual interview...

On the footballing side, he speaks highly of Brands's professionalism and the short and long term vision on recruitment and developing players from the academy.

Silva has evidently been given goals for this season as Ryazantsev, when asked where he hoped Everton would be in 12 months time, replied in the top four of the league, having just qualified for the knock-out stages of the Europa League.

On player recruitment and finances, he mentions the media deal means many Premier League leagues have similar budgets, other than those who regularly qualify for Champions League football who have a jump on the others. The idea is not to outspend them (because we can't), but rather, outsmart them, because where we currently are we unable to pay over the odds for a player, or sustain the astronomical salary the very best command.

Whilst saying Everton is not now a selling club, player trading remains an essential part of how the club operates. Yes, we need to profit on player deals, but we have to strike a balance between selling a player at a big profit, or retaining him to improve results and our standing.

He spoke how Everton cannot afford 'free loaders' (my words, not his) – that is, players receiving a salary, but playing no or very few minutes in the first team to justify their salary. Thus the cull we saw in the summer, which will no doubt continue in January and into next summer. We've had a hint of this already with (Brands..?) recently saying January recruitment will be along the lines of 'one in; one out'.

He made a lot of positive noises about the stadium. Quite simply, the project continues until it does happen! There has been significant progress in the last 6 months with regard to the different funding options and that there is no single plan, but Plans A, B or C depend on which way we go to fund the project.

He added ours is possibly more an Arsenal model, rather than a Spurs model (without detailing how so), that we can learn from their stadium projects whilst very much following our own.

He spoke in detail also about increasing other revenue outside the media deal and how deals such as that with Angry Birds (mocked by some fans) is the way to go to capture the younger generation who, more than an older generation, increasingly consume content over hand-held tech and who maybe don't engage with the full 90 minutes of a live game exclusively, but flitter between different apps as they do so.

I found this part particularly revealing and evidence of Everton's (newly-founded) forward thinking in this area.

Highly recommended listen.

My 12-year-old lad cannot sit through 90 minutes, at the ground or at home, without going on to a media platform to either discuss the game or get info on the game.

I used to find it annoying, but he comes out with some interesting facts during games, so I've come to appreciate it.

Today's youth multi-task online, and it's good that EFC are aware of it.

It's a sign of the times. Similar is the Live Forum. Posting while watching the game surely means you miss parts of the game?

Apparently you can train either eye to be dominant.

A few people on here have been posting one-eyed for a while now so it's not a new thing... :-)

The vast majority of fans appear rightly to be well on board with developments so far. The move to Bramley-Moore Dock is such a massive step for us that, until its funding is clarified and, more importantly, delivered, it will probably be difficult for fans to accurately assess and have complete confidence in what the future holds.

Although I dislike the Angry Birds logo on our sleeve, the club seem very happy with them, opening them up to the younger generation.

All-in-all, as Jay said, it's fascinating stuff.

Please encourage as many Blues as possible to listen to it, thank you for having done so to date.