Blues looking to leverage global markets

And I expect to get as much Country of Origin marketing cash back from Richarlson, Bernard and Mina as we did from Donovon, Howard Pienaar and Cahill...and they were bigger names at the time.

Was more of the same all they get from fanastics/kitbag...was there nobody else out there.

Until that far-off day, "worldwide commercial growth" is a bullshit dream.

The only thing that will improve worldwide revenue is world class performances on the pitch. Until that happens they can waffle all they want.

Are our boys still having a nice rest? Why aren’t they in the Far East, or Middle East playing a few friendlies in the sun? That’s where the money is. That’s where potential investors are.

We are still being run by amateurs. Nothings really changed, we are just being run by wealthier mugs than the previous ones. Kenwright out!!

It's 20 years late but better late than never. Eyes and ears are finally open.

On the other hand it may mean were simply bringing Rooney back in the summer! Just a joke people, just a joke..

We’re never going to get a shirt on sale in America with Calvert Lewin playing.

As for Donovan, Howard and Cahill - well it’s obvious that these 3 played at the same time as Hibbert and Osman. That’s why we didn’t crack America or Australia.

I just can't see many in Asia or Africa deciding to follow us. Someone in Jakarta talking to their mates

" hey I am going to follow Everton from now on. They play amazing football and the zonal marking is an example to all"

Sorry if the truth seems negative. I may be wrong and they will open a store there and have to fight the punters off.

Yes, our 'old' marketing team(s) were poor and somewhat lacked a decent product to market. It could be that the powers that be at the time didn't believe in marketing at all.

I'm sure the new 'hotshots' will make a decent fist of it. I mean they were all, I'm sure, handpicked / head hunted...much like Koeman and Walsh, but their faults were soon exposed in league tables.

I look forward to the forthcoming marketing 'league tables'...I think those in the marketing game call them by some technical term, now what was it now?...ah yes - income, profits, something of that nature.

Fine ( if slightly vacuous and vague) words, need backing up by deeds.

Like with the team post defeat, we will do better platitudes...don't talk about it - do it.

Or to use the old phrase; Show - Me -The - Money.

We simply need more availability in every retail outlet around the world. It may cost a few million but it will get us noticed even if the question is who's Everton?

Then there's the excellent charity work we do localy. If we expand that into global projects, sport, education, community events we can stand out from the crowd.

I would imagine outside of Britain not many youngsters will have heard of Everton never mind contemplating buying Everton merchandise. Look at all the best franchises in World sport and the common denominator is the clubs who sell the most have been successful for long periods of time.

Another thought as you mentioned, the biggest teams sell to a global audience but how many people walking around with New York Yankees baseball caps on for example are interested in baseball?? Virtually none I would suggest okay maybe 5%, now I know Everton are a different prospect altogether but we have to think differently on this, I remember in Liverpool early 80s when choice was slim

St Etienne's green le coq sportif was very popular, I don't believe it had anything to do with their famous Liverpool match and more to do with flooding different markets, and just as important it looked superb and different. I don't know?? Maybe they knocked up a few thousand too many in the factory and had to get rid but Reds and blues were wearing them.

If we're in the business of bringing players into this club based on the preferences schoolboys and screaming school girls in Asia and Africa, we're not going anywhere.

I had hoped the players we buy are purely because they might help us win silverware and not who they've played for previously or how they look?

David Beckham isn't doing much at the moment, he'd increase our profile and like Rooney he's played for UTD!

I take your point over the St Etienes shirts but I think you will agree it was a 1 off. As for the New York Yankees merchandise again probably the most famous baseball team ever. But I agree the more we spread the merchandise hopefully we will get some return on it. But it doesn't matter what City in the World you are in you will always be able to Buy Real Madrid,Barcelona, Man Utd and possibly Liverpool kits. Sustained success sells merchandise in great numbers.

I think Mike Gaynes and our other fans based all over the World will tell you how hard it is for Evertonians to pick up Everton merchandise. So hopefully this will make it easier for them to get merchandise in the future.

Schalke, Bayern, Dortmund, Gladbach (and a few other German teams), Real, Barca, Juve, AC, Manu, Arsenal, Chelsea and another (unmentionable) English team who play in a red shirt.

And there we have it folks! The children of Deutschland or anywhere else will not be spending £40 a pop on our shirts!

If you leave out Schalke & Gladback who are local teams and you would expect them to be there, the rest all have one thing in common - Success on the pitch!

Revenue streams and fans abroad will follow this, don't put the cart before the horse.

I simply don't comprehend this linear thinking. It makes perfect economic sense to improve our income streams from all corners of the globe, with companies and niches you wouldn't normally associate with football, in the here and NOW!

To wait until a Shangri-la moment into some unspecified future when we have a much-respected team sweeping all before us ignores and wastes the opportunity to tap into new income streams NOW!

Surely by increasing our income streams from sources other than the TV contracts NOW increases our chances of funding a successful team on the pitch, no?

It really is possible to do 3 key things at Everton simultaneously - improve the team and performances, improve and diversify income streams, fund and build a new stadium - to our benefit, not detriment.

Yep! We need to see returns on these initiatives. But the default naysaying reaction from some on any and every news that emerges from Everton does get really tiresome after a while.

As I've stated above go to any sports shop around the world you'll find the same shirts and they do have one thing in common other than wealth.

I just don't know of any shirts that kids are wearing around the world where the team represented by the shirt has not won major silverware?

Once a reputation has been tarnished or found out to be ill-promoted, it is extremely hard to turn, or reverse those opinions, but getting consistent results would go along way to doing so.

Like someone stated before playing a televised 'Friendly' in China or India etc, (and of course winning) would do a lot more than a run on the sand, back to the pub for a Hog Roast and a few pints, under the guise of team bonding in terms of gaining that support/following.

There again, I am not sure if a 'friendly' is allowed in a mid-stream break during a season, but a similar PR exercise would surely be better.

I said at the outset that any improvement of marketing Everton Football Club can only be a good thing. But I went on to say that to expect a massive upturn in the sale of merchandise would largely rely on an upturn of form. I don't see anything negative in many of the posts on this thread. Seeing you live in Brazil maybe you could let us know how easy it is to walk into a sports store in Brazil and buy Everton merchandise.

The top earning sports clubs in the world are usually successful, do you not think thats the case. Last year the clubs biggest sport franchise was Dallas Cowboys with a turnover of 4.8 billion closely followed by 3 from Europe Man Utd 4.1 billion, Real Madrid 4.0 billion and Barcelona 4.0. All have been massively successful for decades, which backs up what I said in my earlier post.

Different issue altogether. And you might want to review your claim about trophy winners as some on your list have many a blank season without landing silverware.

The target for Everton is to raise our profile and be competing - and landing - silverware. That way you will start to see Everton's colours at international airports around the world.

That will not be achieved in a single quantum leap because as minted as Moshiri is, he is not in the league of Abramavic at Chelsea, or the Sheiks at City who could fund such a sea change. And even they couldn't achieve it in a single season.

That, IMO, is why the new stadium project and the initiatives the club are taken as described in the opening post are to be welcomed, not sneered at.

I am well aware of those numbers and just what we are competing against.

I'm not sure just what you are advocating: that we don't even TRY to improve alternative income streams because 'What's the point? We'll never catch up'..?

And trust me, in Brazil you can get any shirt made up, but the clubs will never see a cent of those pirated sales. Official shirt sales help, but I think you find these days clubs like to see a cut from a player's image rights as that can be worth many millions.

Are you aware, for example, that Jose Mourinho's move to United almost fell through because Chelsea - a club he was no longer associated with - owned the copyright to his name???

Despite this regular irrigation, it 'died' along with the fans' hope of a 'Phoenix' type of Renaissance. :-)

The club are damned if they do and damned if they don't! How long have we been waiting for this crappy kitbag deal to end and now it has and looks like there is a plan people are still slagging the club off!!

Same with the stadium, positive results are published and its moan moan moan it'll never happen!!

Love the mention of Rooney. Bet a cost/benefit analysis of extra merchandise/ branding gained compared to the £10m+ odd he cost us wouldn’t make great reading. Never mind the obviously restrictions that the kitbag deal puts on any sales that may be achieved.

We had Donovan, Howard, Pienaar and Cahill in the past and achieved almost nothing re US/Australian/S.African marketing. And that when we had SAs captain and best player in a year where the World Cup was held in his home country!

Just focus on the stadium and the performance on the pitch. The ONLY thing that attracts new fans on mass is being successful on the pitch. People abroad generally don’t give a toss about a mid table also ran that hasn’t won’t a thing in over 2 decades and has never even played in the Champions League (qualifying stage doesn’t count).

Yes some of them have blanks, but as big as our blanks?

If Fanatics were to start putting our shirts in airports right now it would be through an act of charity towards us. Those big team shirts are there because they've won things in recent history.

Raising our profile? What do we tell these kids that will make them buy our shirts, there's a great club in Liverpool that hasn't won anything in a long time and looks like it won't for a long time, forget about LFC and support this team?

Schalke who are a giant of German football, with huge support and similar to us in many ways, a big club punching well below its weight. Their last major wins was the Uefa cup 1997 and the German FA cup 2011, are just like us struggling to get their kits on sale in Asia, Africa and international airports. It's not through want of trying, there's another club in Germany that keeps winning things and because it does, it's profile is constantly raised and it sells the shirts.

I agree the new stadium should be of great benefit if it happens. You're right nothing will be achieved quickly, but success when it comes (if?) will suck in much more wealth and fans than any marketing ploys.

You can tell the world your great, but in the modern game unless your in the CL and winning things, the world will lose interest very quickly.

If you had read my opening post, I said any improvement to our marketing would be welcomed; I then went on to say that depending what we do on the pitch will be the catalyst for increasing revenue. So were you get the impression I said we shouldn't try to improve our revenue streams by whatever method I don't know.

Also, in your post #25, you said that there seemed to be a perception that to market the club successfully you had to be successful on the pitch, but you disagreed with this approach. Then in post #30 you suggested that for Everton to have shirts on sale in airports all round the world, we need to be competing and winning silverware.

So in one post you are arguing that you don't need to be successful on the pitch to increase your revenue streams, then in the next post your saying that's exactly what we have to do.

And if you read my posts you refer to more closely you would see I didn't contradict myself at all as you claim.

Rather, I acknowledged we are way behind others in our alternative income streams, but questioned the linear thinking of some in this thread: that we can't expect to improve those income streams without having a successful football team first.

I couldn't be clearer in my post @ 25 that we should be pursuing all three targets simultaneously – a successful team, a new stadium, improved income streams – NOW, rather than wait for some "Shangri-la moment into some unspecified future when we have a much-respected team sweeping all before us" BEFORE improving our alternative income streams and building a new stadium.

As I also wrote, to do this ignores and wastes the opportunity to tap into new income streams (and build a new stadium) NOW! which (short drum roll) can help fund and improve the team and performances.

It's stating the bleedin' obvious that the more successful we are, the higher profile we have both locally and globally, the better and more lucrative alternative income streams we can cut, the more we can fill a new stadium.

It's a bit more nuanced then repeating the age-old complaint about shirt sales as you and Rob Marsh are doing. That is but one income stream and not as crucial as some are making it out to be.

When you've been wading through crap up to the eyebrows, it is hard to see the wood from the trees. The announcement re the stadium and the statement of intent by Ryazantsev are positives. On and off the pitch, turning mere positives into results is the key. We need to make these things happen.

All the announcements made by EFC about revenue streams are good and I'm happy they're doing them, but these marketing projects in the grand scheme of things will produce very little compared to success on the field.

I still totally disagree with bringing players in based on potential commercial revenue and not playing ability.

Thoroughly agree mate. I only read as far as your own post because the fucking whingeing negativity on here is becoming pathetic, absolutely pathetic.

It's also becoming increasingly boring to see the subject of a post almost ignored so the "usual suspects" as you put it, can change the subject and just fucking moan.

Jesus I'd hate to get trapped in the corner of a pub with some of them!

While Billy boy was busy regaling anyone who would listen to him of tales about getting past down the terraces on a human carpet.
Other chairman were recognising the huge potential of tapping into the sky audience.

We missed the starting gun and have paid for it ever since. Any serious attempts to play catch up should be applauded, not mocked

If we could get Beckham involved it would be a coup!!

Like it or not the Asian trade is about winning and celebrity. No one in Malaysia or Thailand gives a toss about Pickford, but Rooney, no matter what you think of him or how he plays draws attention. They don't care if he is caught with a slapper in a VW Beetle or at an airport on sleeping pills.

For the club to grow, all revenue streams need to increase. We don't want to sell stars when we have them? We need to be able to finance the deals to keep them. Otherwise, business sense is to buy at one price and sell for more, as league placing is only worth £1 million for each spot until the Champions League proper.

This is getting to be a regular, us agreeing.

Our club will be forever hindered while Mr Kenwright is involved. The sooner he is gone, the sooner we can move forward.

Let's see Everton for what it is – a sleeping giant seemingly impossible to wake up!

When we played in Africa the season Rooney joined us ,him and Bolasie were all the fans cared about . Indeed they were probably the only players they'd heard about. Finished or not, he was a big draw over there.

Brent, Brian, I touched on the negativity on here a couple of weeks ago. I was shouted down for light-heartedly suggesting that the Samaritans phone number be displayed. The club are trying to move us on, both on and off the field, yet they still get slagged off. Can't win. (On or off the field.)

That's it. They know celebrities. They don't have the affiliation that a boy or girl born in Liverpool have with the club.

The Premier League is a global entertainment scheme. Of course, domestic revenues are critical, but the guys around the world who don't have that connection need a reason to be interested. Rooney helped with that. A global figure.

You're right, success on the pitch is the driving factor in world footy marketing, but you also must have the infrastructure in place to take advantage of it. Leicester won the league but could not convert that newly raised profile into revenues because it didn't have the shirts ready and the markets lined up.

I continue to believe that Everton blew an opportunity here in the US to leverage the fact that several popular Yanks were playing in Blue. Donovan and Howard could have sold a hell of a lot of shirts.

Every party needs a pooper but jeez we seem to have cornered the market.

Thank God I don't find this level of negativity at Goodison (except for what's going on on the pitch) but maybe I'm sitting next to the wrong people.

Reading this stuff has become a once-a-week occupation for me now. If I want to get depressed, I'll watch the BBC Parliament Channel.

Darren #48, I wasn't mocking. I'm just in the "believe it when I see it" camp about anything regarding Everton marketing.

Whatever, the first and most impotent part of the club is our team and its performances everything stems for that. A new stadium is great but will that make us more successful? Not necessarily if the team is average.

Neutrals buying merchandise want to be associated with success, until we start being successful your unfortunately flogging a dead horse.

Our neighbours also gazumped us good and proper all those years ago when they were allowed to call themselves Liverpool, foreigners probably don't know where the hell Everton is!

I'd start with getting a proven manufacturer for the shirts, like Adidas, Nike etc. The quality of the Umbro shirts is very poor and they are not good value for money. Anyone with young kids and old alike will confirm compared to Adidas etc.

What I've said on several other threads recently, is that successful commercial marketing requires some unique branding, product as well as the market potential.

For me, this season's malaise makes Bramley-Moore Dock harder to get backing. The priority plan isn't clear but there is a plan.

So perhaps The Uzbek is joining the EFC board soon?

Perhaps, just perhaps, Mahon & Co should have thought similarly rather than fighting to keep the 'Everton' title all those years ago. Just saying, like!

Jay:
Mike has made an excellent point of which I've overlooked and it's that Leicester won the League and probably didn't make a fortune from it, because they didn't have the commercial streams developed.

I was a bit too sure of myself with post 39, apologies for evangelising a bit there, it makes every sense to be ready for it if the miracle ever happens.

Mike:
Good point that needed incorporating into my thinking.

But it isn't. It is about finding something marketable. Many, many years ago I spotted the Man City away kit (black and red stripes, like nothing else) and had to have it. Say, we had six-foot-four Adonis from Singapore. I reckon that would be marketable.

These are not top examples, I concede, but can you see the point. Someone with talent can find an angle and kick it off. Who would have thought that the "invalid's drink", Lucozade (who never had it in its hideous cellophane wrapper?) could have a Fleetwood Mac album track kick it into orbit.

People with talent can sell beige as the new psychedelic. Imagination, vision and talent can set a target for the team. Let us not market what they are doing. Let us market what they must aspire to.

Did you like Dusseldorf Mike?

I've spent some time over the years in the Alt Stadt drinking some very fine beers while gently drifting into a nice and jolly state.

I like the Rhineland, it's a completely different experience to anything we have here in the UK.

I almost bought a Schalke shirt, but then come to the conclusion they've won sweet FA just like us lately, I'm not backing two sets of losers, one will do!

Dallas Cowgirls successful? Do you follow the NFL?

Last time they were in the Superbowl was 1995.

We won the cup that year and got into the equivalent in 2009 and lost. They have not even got to the "Semi-final" in those 23 years.

All their income is based on the previous history like another team I could name who have not won the title for even longer but still have a huge global following.

Some on TW go ballistic that they didn't properly slag off our own players, Board, coaches, ground, fans, kit and plans.

No apologies necessary for your evangelism... your point is right, success is crucial, but you do need to have the cart already built when the horse gets there.

One other point about something mentioned here -- for marketing purposes, the location of the club is not at all relevant in geography-ignorant countries like, say, the United States of America. Probably 20% of us dumb Yanks have ever heard of the city of Liverpool (remember, the Beatles were 50 YEARS AGO) and perhaps 1% could find it on a map. I'm sure Asia and African markets are the same. So in the wider world, our geographic rivalry with LFC won't matter to our ability to sell Everton kit. The important thing is to have seen somebody they know wearing an Everton shirt, maybe holding up a trophy.

After Kenwright ran us like a corner shop till someone would give him the millions he wanted – which was all he was in it for, we finally have commercial people in place who will do there best to arrest the decline that was in place ever since Everton co-led the breakaway from the Football League.

Anyway rant over. Back to lurking. Hate the game now but forza Everton.

Please stop lurking and post.

Insofar as the negativity on TW goes?

Link

As for clinkers Jamie? Had a few of them in my time I can tell yer!!!!!!!

I'm writing this in Meerbusch, just outside of Düsseldorf! And I can say that an EFC scarf is hanging proudly in the bar run by. Shalke supporter. He'd heard of Everton as had his barman, chiefly because he's Croatian and loves Vlasic.

The biggest “mistake “ EFC made was not cashing in on the Chinese connection when we had Li Tie who had the biggest fan base in the world, or so I read at the time. China was an emerging market that few people imagined would grow in the way it has. And with the incompetent shower running the club at that time we had zero chance.

On a side note, I really hope our next kit manufacturer is a global brand and not bargain basement Umbro. Most kids parents around the Merseyside area would spend upwards of £100 on a Nike, Adidas, or Under Armour tracksuit so would be more inclined to pester their parents to buy one with the Everton crest on.

When you go into any sports shop or online retailer, you would avoid Umbro and would never dream of paying even £20 for an Umbro tracksuit. This goes beyond replica shirt sales but is what kids and adults are actually buying these days and what is on trend.

The top six have all, without exception, won more than Everton in the past 25 years. Even if, in Spurs' case, it's just a brace of League Cups and some Champions League finishes. It all helps! What've we got?!

Yes, huge market is the Chinese one and only going to become soooo much bigger, we could have planted a seed that would have grown into a mighty English Oak in that country but missed the chance.

Still it's good to see the club trying now, but I don't want to see this paper over the cracks, we've got problems on the pitch.

Often when looking on the net for Everton related things (such as the manager's press conference) or even a report on an U18s match you will be directed to the 'Official' Everton website. Whereupon, you are invited (not always but mostly) to 'log in' or 'create an account'.

I often laugh, I mean, what's the secret? Don't they want people around the world to know about us? A few minutes later you can watch the same items that the official site has denied you access to on other 'third-party' sites. Maybe, Mr Ryazantsev might start by addressing this 'small-thing' first?

Btw, sorry if my 'negativity' offends some fragile souls on here, but as soon as I read the word 'global' I knew it was copywriter time again.

It is right to put the outlet basics on a proper footing but when you meet people abroad they quite often recognize the accent or when you tell them you're from Liverpool, they either mention the Beatles or say that your football team is doing well. When you explain that you're an Evertonian they look at you and ask why you don't support the team in the city you are from. When you explain that Everton is the original club in Liverpool and where they play was Everton's original ground, they look at you as if to ask when you thought up that one.

Negative I might be and the monies raised through such merchandise might enable us to afford better players but, to me, the aim of the core business is success on the pitch and that has to be the priority.

I can't understand this either about wanting us to sign up and log in. There will be a lot of people (around the world and locally) who might be interested in something that is happening at EFC watching these videos might peak their interest further.

Why make is so hard to get involved? EFC are becoming like Google in this respect, every time you log in with them, they will gleam info about you from it, build a profile and then target you with their partners.

Gone are the days when commitments allowing you could just roll up with one of your little nippers to the game and pay at the turnstile.

Right that's my rant for the day done!

To me that is ridiculous for a mid-table football club that's won nothing in 20+ years and that is searching for new young supporters.

€80 is ridiculous for any team, including Real Madrid.

It's gone silly, at Goodison when you consider the cost of a season ticket — Gwladys Street, Lower £485 — and airport prices for food and drink at half-time.

It's out of control and becoming worse. How much does one of these shirts cost to make in Bangladesh sweat shop? A few euros max!

They can piss off!

I'm surprised so many Americans are so unaware of Liverpool. The Confederate navy was built here and the fleet was commanded from Rumford Place, in the city centre.

On top of that, the final Confederate surrender was made in Liverpool Town Hall.

Mike # 71

http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/maritime/collections/americancivilwar/

The Liverpool Museum site does take some liberties with history by claiming that the Liverpool surrender of the last Confederate ship was the official end of the Civil War – it had actually ended seven months earlier. But it's interesting stuff nonetheless.

Unfortunately, it's hard to overestimate the ignorance of many Americans towards their own history.

You're quite right, the war did end seven months previously but the captain and crew of the CSS Shenandoah were oblivious to that and continued sinking Union ships. Zonal marking may have been a contributory factor in their strike rate.

During the Civil War Liverpool must have been like WW2 Lisbon. Every man and his dog seemed to be a spy for one side or the other.

Sorry to TWs if we've gone a little off track but history is fascinating as it's made us what we are today.
.

The Shenandoah's surrender was pretty heroic, however – pursued by Union ships, they sailed from Alaska to Mexico and then across the Pacific and Indian Oceans to Liverpool nonstop, never making port for fear of being arrested on piracy charges. On arrival, they sailed up the Mersey with the Confederate flag flying and surrendered to a British ship.

Don #91, I visited Galena on a school field trip as a boy!

As it was a sail assisted steamship, much of the journey must have been under sail.

It may be a different ship, as memory fails me, but I think my memory is correct in saying some of their ships were built on the other side of the water too?

"HMS Donegal happened to be anchored in mid-river between Toxteth in Liverpool and Tranmere in Birkenhead. Captain Waddell maneuvered his ship near to the British man-of-war, dropping anchor. The CSS Shenandoah was surrendered by Captain Waddell to Captain Paynter of HMS Donegal on 6 November 1865."

There are several books about the Shenandoah on Amazon. Here's an introductory passage from one called "The Last Shot":

"In the autumn of 1864, at the height of the American Civil War, the Confederate raider Shenandoah received orders to "seek out and utterly destroy" the whaling fleets of New England as part of an effort to bleed the Union of its economic strength – an undertaking that met its greatest success when the raider fell upon a fleet of whalers working the waters near Alaska's Little Diomede Island and sank more than two dozen ships in a frenzy of destruction."

Definitely zonal marking there.

Yes, the ships were built on both sides of the river. According to Liverpool Museums it was the whole Confederate fleet that was built here as they didn't have one (of any note) when the war started.

Some of the newly built ships were seized by the British Government who supported the Unionists. The Union spies were paid to sniff out any clandestine shipbuilding.

I wonder if the double agents (and there must have been many) wore 50/50 scarves?

And, of course, let's not forget the local connection with CSS Alabama:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/CSS_Alabama

Makes an interesting change to lots of the recent negativity.

Dare I say, a 'one-eyed view' on both counts?

Hold on... I have just heard that the RS are currently debating on whether or not Robert Southey should have been Laureate.

We may not have the best team but we have the most smart-arsed, genius fans in the world.

I've been following Everton for six decades – not just the last one. Yes, the manager and team aren't hacking it on the pitch but behind the scenes a professional structure is being implemented that will move us forward commercially and on the playing side.

I don't know where you live but I live opposite a park and see plenty of kids in blue. Everton has much more 'walk up' support and is the most internet searched-for club on Merseyside (see below). We have more season ticket holders than Liverpool and a greater proportion of female fans (the fastest growing segment in the Premier League).

Extract from thefootballfaithfull.com: internet search data on Premier Club local support. I know you'll probably dish this as it's a year old but it's the latest data available.

'Liverpool is often thought of as one of Europe's big boys, but they aren't even the biggest club on Merseyside. Liverpool and the surrounding area are undeniably blue, it seems, as the popularity of Everton outweighs Liverpool in Merseyside – even in the city of Liverpool. With an estimated 110,000 searches compared to Everton's 165,000, Sam Allardyce's men are dominant in the local area'.

Invisible? Hardly.

I don't understand the anger of older fans like Paul, surely you remember the ‘90s? All too fresh and real for me and never something I will forget or want to experience again.

Apologies for the original failure to mention Birkenhead, Tom, but I did pull this back in #97 lol. "Yes, the ships were built on both sides of the river."

The discussion with Mike was a bit off topic, and I expected to get some criticism for that, but the strength of ToffeeWeb is its eclectic nature as demonstrated by yourself, Don, Stephen and Andy.

I'm hoping Tuesday night's discussions will be all about a positive result at Cardiff!

Back in 2014, the club missed its best ever marketing opportunity after the World Cup. Tim Howard was probably after Barack Obama the most famous man in the US due to his goalkeeping exploits. The whole country knew who he was and media attention on him was huge. What did we do to take advantage of this? We played most of our friendlies in the UK apart from that ludicrous one-game trip over to Thailand to play Leicester, who had a huge amount of support due to their owner's nationality. There was also a quickly put together game right before the season started in Germany against a poor Paderborn team (which we lost). Even if we just had one game in the States at that time, the media and fan interest would have been through the roof. Merchandising would have been a huge as well as Howard was a national hero, and with an increased interest in the game after a successful WC, kids and parents would have lapped up anything Timmy related.

I'm actually excited for the Fanatic's deal. For anyone who is US based, Fanatics is part of the same company as Lids sports stores. I was actually able to other week to buy 2 Everton T Shirts for my kids online, which were on sale for $5 on the Fanatics site and pick them up from my local mall, free of charge. After living here for 16 years, this is the first time I've ever been able to purchase anything Everton related. The store also has a computer set up allowing shoppers to go to order things offline while being in the store.

Having an increased online sales presence is going to be huge for the club, especially for international sales. The Fanatics deal takes away from having to purchase from the official club store, and pay the ridiculous price for shipping. With the increased closure of brick and mortar stores around the world, online shopping will be the only way of buying the club's gear. Gone are the days of going into your local sports shop and going through a limited amount of stock to find something.

I do have to admit that back in the 90's I worked on Saturday's at Olympus Sports in Guildford and would hide all the RS's shirts and prominently display all the our's in the football department. I was also told once to change the window display that I created as all the models were in Everton tops.

I mean, the very idea of a real Everton fan prancing around in a Man City away shirt (because I just had to have it, darling) is worthy of a comedy sketch all of its own.

People in glass houses Andy