Stars in his Eyes

The old saying "You can't make a silk purse from a sow's ear" comes to mind but I will be so happy to be proved wrong.

The last four years under Moshiri need completing wiping off the record books such has been the shocking level of performance on the pitch by some woeful players costing huge money.

Off the pitch it's been equally as limp, terrible managerial appointments, Directors of Football not doing their job right, just about every part of this club has failed to work.

Ancelotti has to be in full control of signing players, and the recruitment policy now needs a massive overhaul.

We have signed at least ten terrible footballers in the last three years, and when they can't pass a ball five yards (some of that passing yesterday was so bad you wouldn't see at an Under-10s match) then you know you have some bad players in the squad.

If this club is totally serious under Ancelotti then it needs to somehow attract the very best football players here, how I don't know, but it is imperative now.

There can't be any more rejects from clubs above us not deemed good enough for the top six but somehow we end up with them.

No more shots in the dark on unknowns from abroad with no proven track record at a high level.

No more lumps of wood from relegation battle-worn teams.

This club must attract the very best players otherwise the lavish appointment of Ancelotti will be another three year waste of time and money.

No matter how good a manager he is or isn't, he will not get that defence playing it out from the back.

He will not get more athletic performances from one of the slowest clueless midfields I've seen in 30 years.

Up front, either Moise Kean starts hitting the ground running to ease the burden on Calvert-Lewin or he's moved on.

Either way, we need to find a striker in the summer anyway, we are far too blunt in the final third.

We don't have another season to waste after this one.

If he turns out to be a shit manager at least he should be able to attract quality: although links with Zlatan do worry me. The massive positive is that when this episode is over Dunc's time will surely come. Much as I would have loved him to have at least the rest of season, this does feel like a big step in the right direction. If Moshiri has been bedazzled by Carlo's former glory I have faith in the back up plan.

If this goes wrong, after spending more than another £250m, then it does not bear thinking about where this would leave Everton and it's finances. There can't be another change of manager. We cannot afford it.

Please, get behind the boys, be excited we've got the most successful manager in the game right now. Be excited that moshiri will spend more money, hope that FFP doesn't restrict this too much. Let's all hope this is the start of some glory days.

Trying to be positive, I see his strength being in the basic coaching of players and the not acceptance of a standard below a certain level of competence. These are recurring weaknesses at Everton.

The basics in both defending and attacking is getting in front of the man. In attack the basic is attacking the near post. In defence maintaining shape and bottling off the runner.

In distribution from the back speed and accuracy both long and short are essential. In the final third, high pass completion rates and encouragement of pass completion.

The midfield trio, mobile, supportive and interchanging at speed, readily connecting with defence and attack.

A goalkeeper who aware of percentage play and keeps his concentration.

The other area is Finch Farm and the intensity and motivational attitude there. Getting rid of the holiday club. A prepared and fit team. Reduction in errors. Set-piece preparation.

These are all the changes necessary to create a winning culture on the football side. Of course if Everton want to go further there needs to be changes also to the Board and internal management of the Club.

Many voices heard at yesterday's game seemed to assume the expenditure vested in the Angelotti family circus will guarantee success with Russian money readily available to echo the Chelsea project of the mid century. Don't you believe it. Plain common sense will all too soon prevail but by then it will be the Everton business which is once again in the shit. The Italians will be nowhere to be seen.

He could be relishing one last hurrah and taking this project on and building a team for the Champions League and finally bringing some silverware back to the club (one Cup Final appearance in 25 years is an utter disgrace).

There's no doubt he's got a lot to do but any top managers we looked to bring in would be faced with the same problem.

It's like putting a millionaire in the reduced section of Aldi or Lidl (no disrespect to those stores).

You can have all the money in the world but at the end of the day you can only play with what's in front of you.

This club needs pulling out of the doldrums so desperately and I hope to God Carlo Ancelotti is that man to finally start getting us an Everton team to be even remotely excited about.

Won't harp on, but it's water under the bridge and we have to concentrate on the future. Having said that, and I've said it before, I believe we still have some decent players, and as Rome wasn't built in a day, a couple of astute additions could see a significant change in fortunes.

One thing Duncan has instilled in his short tenure is pride in the shirt, and that never say die attitude. I hope that is not only retained but built on too.

Meant to say on the other thread, I personally found it almost sickening to see Kenwright fawning over Carlo like a an expensive call girl, has the man no sense of decency? Sycophant lickspittler!

There is only so much money that will be handed over before the old phrase "Good money after bad" kicks in.

I don't envy Ancellotti his task. Looking at him after the game yesterday it was the face of a man who knew he would have his work cut out for him.

I hope he will be the true Messiah after all the false dawn's.

I posed the question on the Darren Hind thread but no-one responded so I'll repeat it here – "On the morning after the Anfield catastrophe, how many of you doubters would have said no to Ancelotti and instead opted for Duncan"?

I just hope that this latest project works out. We have the man to turn things round. We deserve our chance.

As for all this "light touch" nonsense. This was allegedly uttered once and maybe he said other things on other occasions.

We could have tried to get all sorts of foreign guys, who sound exciting but have never tried the Premier League. We could have gone for Howe and hoped he would get more out of a (better??) squad. We could have asked Duncan to continue, but how the tone would have changed if the bubble burst.

There simply are no guarantees. It is very easy to predict disaster. Moshiri may well be like a kid in a toy shop but at least this time we have got a guy who has won the double here and everything abroad. He still has Ferguson in his backroom and his persona will attract better players.

Everton have made a big statement. Arsenal fans are incredulous. I bet the same moaners would have slagged Arteta off for lack of experience... and after all, he has only had the best players to work with at Man City.

Let's pull together and see what Ancelotti can do. It won't be overnight. We simply need to build on what Duncan has started. I have high hopes.

It's quite a wild assertion to say that if it 'doesn't work out with Ancelotti' it'll be the end of our hopes of glory. Get a grip. At Everton, we consider 'failure' as not being able to compete above midtable. Of course, it's quite possible that Ancelotti's presence fails to improve us from that position, and that would be extremely disappointing. But not disastrous!

At least, finally, the Club appears to be aiming for glory rather than being content to remain midtable. To me, a big issue that has needed to be sorted out for a long time at Everton is the willingness to let our best players leave at the drop of a hat. In my memory, this all started with Alan Ball, with the latest one being Gana, with Lineker and Lukaku being stages in that process of not helping us maintain momentum and reach for the stars. If the appointment of Ancelotti does not mark a departure from this tendency, nothing will, and we'll likely remain midtable or worse.

But provided there is now a change in this approach, where we are now far more likely to attract top players and retain them, and provided Ancelotti's status and expertise finally gives us the mental resilience we've lacked for so long, then there is every reason to anticipate a rise back to the top.

Goodison soon turns toxic if we have a bad run of results, ditto this forum; his appointment is our big chance to at last win something. Just read what the players who have had him as manager say about him, he's not just a big-time Charlie.

We will never get out of this "good, but not good enough" rut that we have been in for 20+ years, if we don't get behind this guy. The very best teams have the best players, he's our key to getting some of these players into our squad.

Without quality players, any manager is flogging a dead horse!

Appointing a manager is an awesome responsibility and personally I'd feel slightly less anxious if the only person on the club's board who knows anything about football came out in full and unequivocal support for it or, even better, intimated that he suggested this appointment.

As I said on Darren's thread, Duncan surprised me and I was impressed enough to believe that he had bought the board time to get the appointment right. The sudden availability of Ancelotti may turn out to be a stroke of massive good fortune for our club, and let's hope so, but there was a case for waiting for the DoF's choice (whoever that was) to become available and allowing Duncan to continue until then.

Martin, this does not equate to doubting Carlo, more a desperation to get it right. We need him to be hungry to rebuild Everton and to infuse the whole club with a winning mindset.

Seriously, some people on here are never happy unless they're moaning.

For me, this is not a time for looking at disaster scenarios, it's a time for hope and belief, an exciting time of renewal and opportunity. We have a manager without relegation on his CV for a start – that'll do for me. Notwithstanding the fact he has won everything there is to win in modern football and he wants to be at Everton. Why is that so hard to process for some?

A Premier League club, new stadium, caked with money, in a footballing mecca, a great history and passionate fan base (albeit scared to dream) if this article and thread are to be taken seriously.

Think big, guys... this is the real deal this time, a proper serial winner that will be backed with serious money or he wouldn't be here.

Right now we have the only manager on Merseyside to ever win the Premier League. Think about that for a minute, we have a Premier League winning manager in charge of EFC.

At my last count, 15 ex-Liverpool pundits have all come out in the last 24 hours and said it's a bad decision to get him which for me means it's the right decision.

Ancelotti brings know-how, he knows how to win and he knows how to do it. He will also bring big-game experience you don't win the number of Finals, Semi finals and Leagues that Ancelotti has by fluke. His game and big game management will be spot-on.

He will also attract bigger names, players will look at Ancelotti at Everton and think this guy has gone to EFC for a reason.

The players in the dressing room now have one of the most decorated managers in world football (a winner) stood in front of them they have to prove they are worthy now or they will be gone. There are no excuses.

He's a world class pedigree manager, the best we could possibly get, the stars aligned when he got sacked the same week we also sacked Silva. Well done to Brands, Kenwright and Moshiri to bring him in.

Upwards we go.

Cast you minds back before Moshiri and remember the lack of ambition compared to now.

Moshiri should be commended for bringing Ancelotti here, not derided for being ambitious.

The next step is to buy some quality in January. The team without Gueye and Zouma are fragile.

Should we adopt his mantra by not buying the very best players and bring them to little Everton? Yeah, Messi has won everything, but fuck him he's old now, he won't cut it with the existing players and he hasn't got the enthusiasm he had five years ago.

All recruitment is a risk, why should this be any different? Well the massive difference is that he is a proven winner and by buying one of the best, we have reduced the risk considerably.

He will command respect from the players and hopefully they will respond to him. Ancelloti has the advantage of being able to attract the cream of European players.

Playing for EFC isn't an attraction at the moment, so I'm hoping that he will attract them. However, although our players aren't performing well, but I think we do have a nucleus of a good team.

Some of our players are still world class, it just takes a world class manager to get them back to their best. The problem at the moment is luck, both with injuries and getting decisions from the ref.

I've said in a previous post, that refs don't respect Everton and it's all to easy to not give us penalties, or penalise us for player infringement, that never happens again, or to any other club.

Ancelloti won't accept that. I'm hoping that he will be vociferous towards the FA and also get our board to register their anger and disgust, at the lop sided decisions the FA dole out to Everton. He won't accept the disrespect to his club.

As so often has been written on this forum, who would have given the 1983 Everton team a cat in hell's chance after the Oxford game? They were being written off as losers and morale was very low, but look how that turned out.

All we need is for the team to get their mojo back, Dunc has started the revival, Ancelloti will finish the job. Granted many will be shown the door, but let's not throw out the baby with the bath water by selling them all.

Re the Anfield disaster, I don't think even the most optimistic or deluded amongst us predicted anything other than a bloodbath. I was disappointed Ferguson didn't get the chance then.

Don't get me wrong, I am mightily impressed that we have landed someone of Ancelotti's calibre and feel excited that Moshiri has managed to secure undoubted quality: I have said many times I would be happy to have a manager that, as a minimum requirement, has a proven record of not being an idiot.

I have seen many false dawns and I may be a tad cynical. As a weary Blue, I often feel that, if I was to tumble into a barrel full of tits, I would come out sucking my thumb.

Martin O'Connor says he would love to think and hope he is wrong. Then why not wait to see if he is right before posting this garbage?

So why not Moyes? Or Hughes? That did not go down well, another who was sacked from the team we have just drawn with, bet that would have gone down a bomb with many on here?

So who do the majority want? I do not have a clue and for those who do good luck because we do not pick the manager or the team but try and support them.

I hope it works, I hope each appointment made would work, but at the end of the day the boss is putting his money in so he calls the tunes and all we can do is support the manager.

The team needs our support. I sit by the pointless “singing section” — didn't hear a peep from them yesterday. There was vitriol and bile from others throughout the game and the boo-boys were at it at the final whistle.

I fear, and sincerely hope I'm wrong, that Ancellotti will have a honeymoon period of 2/3 games before they're at it again. Let's get real. No one can turn us into a good team overnight.

Can we have a “no whingers” section at Bramley-Moore Dock please?

I don't care what Ancelotti achieved when he was inheriting global superstars in the past. I'm sick to the back teeth of seeing Evertonians being grateful when somebody deems to accept the a staggering salary. It reeks of small time mentality. We are not Bournemouth... We are one of the oldest and without doubt finest footballing institutions in the world.

What the fuck has happened to this club? We were here a century before Ancelotti got his first gig and will be here another century after he has done his last.

The guy has been charged with restoring our club to greatness. I wouldn't have chosen him, but I pray with all my heart he succeeds. If he does I will be singing his name from the rooftops.

But please; let's ditch the fanfares and the premature coronations. Let's just (for once) make a manager earn the adulation.

If I met Ancelotti tonight I would say one thing to him. "You've just landed a contract you never believed possible after the way your last two gigs went... Go justify it."

You are right in saying "we're not Bournemouth" but some on here (maybe you? I'm not sure who your managerial preference was?) would have had their manager rather than Ancelotti – now to me, that really does reek of small-time mentality.

I realise you're died in the wool blue, but take your rose tinted glasses off, Man City, Chelsea we ain't. Yes, we have a fantastic history...oh fuck it why bother? it's been written about a hundred times. Let's just see how it pans out and if it all goes Pete Tong, well then you can come on here with your pyrrhic victory.

Whether we're grateful or not, one thing the appointment of Carlo Ancelotti isn't is 'small-time' — in any shape or form.

I would like us to pull a "crazy gang" under Bielsa's "tutelage".

Darren, you say: "Let's just (for once) make a manager earn the adulation". When was the last time an Everton manager received the adulation of the crowd? Silva never once had his name sung, nor Allardyce, nor Koeman. We have to go back to Martinez, and that was only when he was flying high, or going far in the cups.

Most other sides have songs for all their players. We have a song or chant for the two Brazilians, Pickford, Coleman, Schneiderlin, Walcott and Niasse. Though the latter two are just chants of the name. This is an era where the fans are slow to give the adulation, presumably because we think we have given it too fast in the past (Schneiderlin?).

So don't worry, Ancelotti will have to earn the fans singing his name around the ground.

This is not Fantasy Football — it's the real world. A decision has been made. It is not going to change. Whoever was your choice is totally irrelevant. And whether or not you were on board with it matters not one single jot.

Or is this a prelude to yet more of those countless posts that started with "He was never my choice as manger... but/and etc."???

I was talking to a Leeds fan who watched a game at Goodison last season, and he said the greatest thing about Bielsa, is that they have all bought in to him, and this trust has calmed a desperate fan-base, who now just get behind the team. (We, “OUR FANS” reminded him of how Leeds fans were before Bielsa.)

Ferguson has gave us back some of our spirit, and I've read Ancelloti, praise him for this today, so hopefully Duncan, gets a bigger role to play, and this gives Carlo, more time to do the job, he has been excessively paid to do, but only if he can't help restore us to our former glory. So let's just get behind the team that we love, because Duncan Ferguson has already showed us how important this is. Up the toffees!

Michael K, but and if, usually means that people can't wait for mistakes, because they didn't want the manager in the first place. Let the older generation sit back and observe, and let the younger generation sing their songs and be happy, but most of all let's hope that every generation of Evertonians can get behind our club and unite!

Now each to their own, and we have the very best chance we've had as a club, in decades of progressing.

Capo Dei Tutti, is some honour, and Carlo, has earned respect. Being successful is an earned right, and on merit, in football and life.

The clock has stopped and genuinely, more than any one, he knows this is the toughest job, he has met in football.

Surely Evertonians, will and must come together, now as we are at the gates, as we've been the last, 30 years. Move on.

Onwards and upwards. As a club, let's face the real fears, as there's many, but as Evertonians, together we can turn the seemingly spiral of hell.

This is Everton's time to rebuild and turn the tide.

Sorry I just saw your question. As has been pointed out, who I would have chosen is a little academic.

I put an article up the other day. I said I would have preferred the big fella to be given until the rest of the season. I felt he had restored pride and passion under very difficult circumstances.
I genuinely think he was an experiment worth exploring. . . maybe the club will revisit it sometime in the future, but I suspect opportunity will knock for Big Dunc elsewhere.

Apart from giving the gig to Duncan, at least until the end of the season, which other managers would have been in the frame?

Moyes? Hughes? Benitez? Howe? Arteta? What about Pulis or that guy who managed Newcastle and Palace but whose name escapes me?

Arsenal fans I know would have taken Ancelotti over Arteta any day of the week. Arteta may turn out to be an inspired appointment but he also represents a huge risk and, in my opinion, a risk we couldn't afford to have taken in our current position.

However it turns out, surely Ancelotti's appointment signals Moshiri's ambition for our club and should be applauded and supported.

Ancelotti's immediate task is to secure our Premier League survival and then to move the club forwards over the next couple of seasons.

Let's stop being so bloody negative and give Ancelotti our full support in the task ahead.

You seem to confuse my expression of concern as a lack of support for the team. I am not a boo boy as this is useless and completely counterproductive: but I am also not a fool. I sincerely hope this represents a massive sea change for the club and signifies a new era of quality after so much mismanagement: fuck knows, we are due something good.

While I rightly applaud Moshiri for making a massive coup and securing a top manager who must have had numerous other options available, I will retain a level a healthy scepticism that his previous achievements do not automatically guarantee success here. I hope that my concerns are entirely misplaced and success follows: of course I do, just like anybody else on here with feet firmly on the ground. I am not waiting to say ‘I told you so' and find the suggestion appalling and in no way representative of me.

My view is simply this: the job at Everton is far removed from the type of challenges Ancelotti has faced for a long time; we are a massive project with so many potential pitfalls and it requires a significantly different approach from working with top stars with an open check book: he will not have worked with the likes of Niasse or Schneiderlin for a while.

I and hope my worries are totally unfounded, but if this does not go how we hoped, I feel we will have fully exhausted the continental way with the best possible candidate, rather than the charlatans that have preceded him, and it will be then time to give Ferguson the reigns.

The only antidote is success on the pitch. Pre-match platitudes and calls to arms have been 10 a penny at this club and I suspect the majority have had enough.

Carlo will get a marvellous ovation as he strides on pre-match but then, like it or not, he has to deliver and keep on delivering.

Turning this club round will be the biggest challenge of his career. I sincerely hope he's figured that little fact out.