The Writing's on the Wall

I stayed the night at my brothers digs in Finchley the night before. I had laid the sweater out on my bed at home ready for its powers to wreak pain and destruction on RS.

Imagine my horror when I realised that I had not packed it and it was still at home. I phoned my wife and she could not understand why I had left it.

My wife [now-ex], offered to wear it as she watched the final on TV. I immediately banned her from touching it. [NB, she had only been to two matches in 12 years and EFC lost 1-4 at home to Coventry and 2-6 at home to Manure in the late seventies!!!].

Therefore I accept that the undeserved defeat at the hands of RS was down to me, and me alone.

I thought for one moment that I would have cleared my conscious but that game still burns in my heart and I will never be free of this guilt and stain on my character

I'm with you, Mark, let's think positive, it certainly won't do any harm... I might revise that in November if it hasn't worked out!!!!

"If I ever missed a game at Goodison (very rare) and Everton lost, I convinced myself they would have won if I had been there".

Me too – I always blame a loss on your absence.

Off to Bury tonight to watch the friendly. Will be interested to see us against a top club (!) rather than that Austrian side.

Despite the disaster of the last transfer window, we somehow managed to finish in the top half of the table. It must have been those lucky mints.

Moshiri to his credit has rolled the dice again with the appointment of Brands and Silva and I have a gut feeling that he will back them in this transfer market.

I think the biggest dilemna Moshiri is facing is whether to push the "go" button on the stadium. If Silva and the team perform, he will press ahead with the stadium.

So, with that in mind, I invite you to join me yet again in pushing the Make Everything OK Button

Up the Blues!!! Regardless of how the season starts or progresses we have to stay behind the manager and players.

I have an old 1966 FA Cup jersey that I was convinced was jinxed. A mate bought it for my birthday so I was obliged to wear it. We never won the first few times I wore it so I decided to ditch it.

I'm neither mad nor superstitious and I am quite certain that my jersey played no part in the result, yet from time to time I still wear it just to check, we still haven't won!

As to the negativity, I totally agree, we need to be positive and head into the new season with a clear slate. 23 years is a hell of a long time and does need to be rectified, yet there is only one thing that really gets my goat and I suspect most match goers too and that is a lack of effort and application. I can take defeat to a better side but what I can't accept is defeat when the team haven't given their all and that has happened an awful lot over the last few years hence the awful atmosphere.

We Evertonians don't like to be short-changed. Regardless of your opinions about Moyes, his teams generally gave their all, which is probably why he lasted so much longer than he should have. So when the new season starts if Silva gets the players on board and gets them to actually play and be committed then the atmosphere will improve immeasurably at Goodison Park.
COYB

Granted it took me years to come to the realisation that anything can happen in a game of football, something I've drummed into my grandson who has been coming to the match with me since he was 6; he's now approaching 14. When I was younger, I expected Everton to win every game; if they didn't, my weekend would be ruined, I don't want him to go through that.

Nothing changes. You only need to ask my long-suffering Blue widow. I sit in front of the TV or computer here in Florida, shouting at the screen, wearing my blue and white scarf and my "lucky" blue underpants (too much information I know) and a blue shirt which may or may not have been washed since our last win.

Does it make any difference? Of course! You must be positive in your way of thinking, right John (#7)?

You have just made me think. Believe it or not, I always put my left sock on before my right and my left shoe or trainer before my right. It is a habit I've had since for years and it has brought both bad and good luck - but I always think it brings me good luck.

I am now thinking I must have been doing this for 23 years - so from tomorrow I will start the other way around to see if it changes our luck!! Right then left! I wonder if I dare?

She forgot to write Croatia's name on a slip of paper and stick it in the freezer section of the fridge.

Common Brazilian footy superstition. Write the name of the opposition and/or a key player on a piece of paper and stick it in the freezer so they 'freeze' in the match and don't play well.

Meself? I never put my shoes on before me socks, and I most DEFINITELY don't swig me ale without removing the cap first.

Let's be positive as you say, and here's hoping.😇😇😇

Don't ditch the wife. “In sickness and health, good times and bad, wealth or poverty...”

I have a superstition that I've only used a few times, and usually works like a charm. I toss in a gigantic wad of Kodiak when we need a change of fortune. My inspiration to accelerate cancer and death came from Colin Glassar's “ciggy breaks” on the live forum.

Nothing like a 48-year-old man spitting brown juice into an empty plastic water bottle, usually around 11:30 am, to change the course of the future across the Atlantic Ocean.

Makes perfect sense to me!

But yes, there will always be something to bitch about. But in the main, especially where we are with a new coach and corporate leadership, we need to be positive and patient.

To be united in board, boot room, FF and GP is key to any reasonable chance of success. I hope v Seville the atmosphere will be good, and a good smell in5he air on the way to the ground.

God only knows what BMD will become, but success on the park, could be the driving force to all good times for EFC. Let's hope so.