Silva hopeful regarding Digne's injury

Be healthy, young fella, be healthy.

As much as I love Baines, I think if we lost Digne for any serious amount of time, I'd be worried. Silva's system relies a lot on the full-backs bombing up and down constantly. No doubt Baines has the smarts but I'm not sure he has the pace and stamina required for it. Very few 34-year-olds would.

Sidibe has played left-back before. I wouldn't be surprised to see Delph there either. So at least we have a few options.

Calum Connolly is another option at left back who could be quite useful.

We seem to be getting a lot of injuries and we've only played two games, I thought Silva's methods were supposed to get players fitter. I don't understand Baines not being fit, he hasn't even played apart from pre-season.

Joe @6, it was the other way round with Martina, basically a right back, who covered on the left in emergency, although he seemed to be better out of position, than normal, but please, please No! he's a liability we could do without.

Sam, Calum Connolly would be a better option in an emergency situation, can't believe we're talking like this after two games, there's also Fabian Delph, oh wait a minute he's injured too, wtf is going on?

I love the pair of these players, there huge cogs in our wheel, but Gomes went off injured last week v Palace and was fit enough to do the 90 a week later, now Digne is going off with muscle fatigue and may be okay for 6 days later.

We don't look very fit as a whole (team-wise) if you ask me, we need to up the fitness to keep these lads on the pitch.

Had Digne not gone off on Saturday I'd have looked at getting Davies on for Sigurdsson who looked slow and leggy, Bernard who tired after working very hard all game, or Gomes who was withdrawn the week before.

I don't want to sound like one of our more negative fans, as a whole I'm very happy with the start from the lads, I'll be even happier if were sitting top of the league for a few hours through Friday night after a win at Villa. I believe there is a lot to come from us yet, were not our of 2nd gear, but we also can't keep clean sheets forever so the sooner the big guns (namely Sigurdsson and Richarlison) start firing, the better.

Si Smith, the opening games are always ‘painful' as any amount of preseason training or games just don't get near the intensity of proper competitive games. I'd rather the players were sensible and allow the manager to use his replacements rather than risk long term absences. Gomes injury came from a proper jarring impact and it seems reasonable that it would be tender for a while.

The second game of a new season always felt the worst to me, but after that the knocks quickly become more ‘absorbable'.

Age plays a big part in recovery from injury and it is not surprising that Leighton Baines may struggle to shake off the little niggles that wouldn't have bothered him a couple of years ago. That is the gamble with most players well into their thirties.

Then comes out and says, yeah I felt it before it went but wanted to stay on and show how tough I am!! I'm sure you'd be moaning at him for not coming off in that scenario!

That said – Silva pulling Gomes off last week changed the pattern of the game but on balance clearly it was the only option he had – it's a long season ahead of us and both Gomes and Digne are vital to our progress this term.

In the short time Moise Kean was on the pitch on Saturday – I'm drooling at the prospect of Digne, Gomes (and Sigurdsson) in particular feeding this lad.

That precision long pass to Bernard for the goal was a real appetizer – and I can't wait to see us stretching the RS's high line in behind with Moise's pace – already evident in spades.

Bainesy is an adequate replacement for the Villa game and took an extra training session on Saturday to ensure he is fit for Friday if Digne isn't.

What's further puzzling is how he sustained the 'injury' as I don't remember him being overly involved pre-season, in the first place, let alone pick up a knock that was considered serious enough to make him unavailable.

Sods law the one position where we seemed to have not one but two decent players as cover, both are crocked when needed!

Am looking forward to the game though. Although I've disliked Villa since that 6-2 stuffing they handed to us about 28 years ago when Tony Daley tore us a new one (believe we were 6-0 down and our two where consolation goals at the end), they are a proper club who've been in the top flight one of the longest. Glad to have them back in the Premier League.

Hoping we can leave with 3 points and another clean sheet - smash & grab would be nice with Kean getting off the mark.

For aw Christ sake 㾶k a week is a fortune to most of us. Joe Royle was on 㿅k a year!!!! Centre-forward for Champions Everton and England. Everton's under achievers over recent years must be living in dream land.

Spotrac lists Baines as being on £65,000/week. As Joe says, that's down only £5k/week from his previous salary.

Robinson was sacrificed for peanuts (not Pienaar, I must hasten to add) would have been on a lot less and presumably been available if called upon.

That's the only question mark, if you like, over Marcel Brands I have, he is saying one minute that wages and numbers have to be cut, and rightly so, then agreeing deals like Baines and Lössl who more than doubled his wages when signed as a reserve keeper!

Am I missing something here or what, it doesn't make financial or logical sense to me. Mind you, they never asked me on these occasions, but I would have put his hat on straight for him, if he had. :-)

I'll bet there are loads of if, but and maybe clauses in the deals.

Leighton is probably on a much lower basic with the balance being made up of pay per play and win bonuses etc.

This will also be true of many other of the peripheral players.

No doubt the £65K per week will be true, if he plays on a weekend and in a midweek cup game, scores a goal and the team wins.

On a much much lower level, I was chairman of a Welsh Premier League side for several years and have been involved in the negotiations with the managers and players at that level and, as I say, that is how the deals were generally worked out and some of the players were coming down the leagues (including from the EPL) and this was the system with which they were all familiar.

He could easily have gone to Man Utd like the glory hunting, money-grabbing "Once a Blue"... but he stayed and now people are complaining because he got an extra year. What have we become?

Which then developed somehow, that he was 'earning' (?) almost the same as he was when on contract. I certainly bear no animosity towards Leighton Baines, and I doubt very much whether any other TW'ers do either.

In this day and age of crazy transfer fees and immoral earnings, in comparison to the average working man's Annual earnings, often being surpassed many-fold for a week, it is sure to raise hackles when the said player is not even available.

He is still one of the better left backs in the league and would get in the first team of at least half of the Premier League. You would imagine that, with less games to play, a player with a good injury record wouldn't be susceptible to injuries.

Given the choice at board level between offering a 1-year deal with no transfer fee, or paying ٣-10 million for a back-up player who would be similar quality, I'm not surprised they went for Baines.

For some reason or another, it just hit me, the amount of money for Baines.

$48,000 per week. That equates to about $1.9 million per year.

I'd buy a beautiful, $500,000 house, finance it, pay it off in like 4-5 years, drive a nice car like a Volvo or some such thing, bank a million, get some goofy part-time job to keep me occupied, and live on the interest for the rest of my life.

How some of these professional athletes end up bankrupt is beyond me. We have a ton of them over here. It's astounding. To cut through that much money, you have to be spending like a drunken sailor.

I do not begrudge them the money. My only point is, how do some run out of it!? Amazing.

Digne needs to get fit, fast. He's a vital cog. It seems to me, the majority of dangerous attacks we create happen down our left-hand side.

Chicken soup – order up!

MoneyNest
FourFourTwo
iNews

In answer to your second point, most live according to their immoral earnings, so when they are suddenly not in demand any more, and therefore not milking the 'golden cow' the exuberant lifestyle has to be maintained or forfeited.

Or, many are ruthless gamblers (nuff said) or very un-savvy investors in Ponzi schemes.

Take care, Jamie, and don't let it get you down too much, you are not alone in your incredulity.

Derek #28, I'm with Kevin on this one. The Baines deal made perfect sense, and I'm sure it will prove wise this season. But Robinson -- damn, damn, damn.

Jamie #34, from our perspective it doesn't make sense, but the fact is these are often unsophisticated kids who have no idea how to handle money because they've never had any and nobody has taught them how. So, in addition to going the houses-and-cars route, they become easy pigeons for experienced financial predators and bad investment ideas.

Remember, even seasoned financial professionals got scammed by Bernie Madoff (Santander, HSBC, Tremont Partners, Royal Bank of Scotland), so these kids don't have a prayer.

So... ummm... you can get a "beautiful" house for $500,000 in the Panhandle, eh?

Clubs should have advisors for young players as they sign first pro contracts. Actually l thought they did.

I admit I used to bet a fiver out of my 㿇.50 in 1987. It's a good job I got injured or I'd've been one of them.

Joking apart, you are right, but at the end of the day, I don't wholly think it's the Club's direct responsibility, but yes they should have a general advisor (maybe they do) outlining the pitfalls of having so much money at such a young age, and not to take things for granted.

They are on enough money to get their own Financial Advice, there again, there are some unscrupulous advisors out there. The other side of the coin being, that Investments do have a gambling element to them (but less so) there are no guarantees. Stocks and Shares can plummet overnight due to some unforeseen event.

Anyway could go on 'ad infinitum' still hoping for that game of golf, weather and back permitting! Take, care mate.

How much would it cost to have a "minder"? I'm sure there are thousands of Evertonians that would be delighted to earn a modest living out of taking care of these delicate creatures and making sure they do not slip into sleazy bars or "Grandma" brothels, let alone the drug dealers and gambling operators who are lining up for a slice of their "hard earned"?

You would think their sleazy agents would be forced to look after them as part of their licencing but I guess it's just a greedy and corrupt world from top to bottom.

They provide help with property, health care, banking child care. I think they even can get someone to wipe your ass. If the article is true, then as a club we are looking out for the team.

Seriously though, I hope Everton have such a system, because I have not heard about any other Club having that.

Mind you, there could be a job... No, forget the arse-wiping!

I get what most of you are saying, although, Pete Edwards, I wouldn't say my comments warrant the word 'moronic'.

But my point is most players who go off injured in an important game, usually need more than a 6-day recovery.

Yes, muscles tighten up in early season games, but my personal opinion is if you need to come off then maybe you should be injured more so than tired.

Also, the point I was making was that I didn't believe we looked very fit yet.

That's the one disappointing thing as the season has begun exactly when it was supposed to, so our professional athletes should be there or thereabout ready for full 90-minute games. It isn't as though someone has sprung it on the players, or that they have not played in the Premier League before this season.

Each to there own, cheers for the replies,

I mentioned to Ray via email about the day before the Sheff Utd game 20th Sept but he can't make it then unfortunately. However, Clive is up for it (long drive) and maybe Neil. I'm sure we could get a few but it would be nice for everyone to be there if possible. It never worked out for us, did it! If it's okay with Ray we could have a day and make sure he's here for the next one.

We might only have 3 sunny days left so for the record I'm fine playing in rain and thunder. That's easy for me. I first played golf in Winnipeg, Canada and I'd rather get drenched than bitten to death by mosquitos. I'd literally have to run with my bag in between shots.

Steve Ferns @35 – I've not read those links yet. At work and needed a respite so jumped on. Will read later, but 40% is an astounding, tragic number!

Mike, Derek, Jay, and James @ 39 through 42 – Firstly it's absolutely fantastic Everton have someone on the staff to guide these kids financially and otherwise. I am stunned more teams over there don't do this as well. The world is full of sharks, and these kids, as Mike points out, are absolutely ripe for the taking. It's predatory and sad, but seeing how the big banks, who are absolutely too big to fail, ultimately handle all the investments, it's a scary thing. But big banks are another topic altogether. The players should have someone at the team, guiding them and encouraging them to have a very diversified, "safe" portfolio. And I personally believe the player's association (forget the acronym) should employee someone to help the players transitioning out of the game. These players are sitting on sums that are life-long, game changing amounts. With just a little bit of discipline and restraint, they should be set up until God rings the bell.

Greed and Gluttony, two of the deadly seven and all that.

Mike – you can get a castle for $500k in NE Florida where I'm at, and the panhandle. Cost of living here is nowhere near the Northwest. It's relatively cheap. When I say a castle, I mean by any common man's standards, not the rich and famous.

Any employee of a club or player's association tasked with watching out for the well-being of the players financially, should never, ever let the agent handle the player's financial planning.

Trust them to extract their percentage, and pour over the details of the contracts they sign, making sure the player is signing a fair deal.

After that, no one, and I mean no one, should entrust the future financial planning to an agent. It would have to be a third party, who's paid a flat salary and isn't on a percentage basis, to perform the financial planning.

It's just so disproportionately high, isn't it. And the names of the players are also surprising.

So you are in Florida? Nice. Lucky you. I'm getting tired of all this rain. And when I'm in Canada, it's all snow and extortion.

Formby Hall is a very good Course and they may do a deal, nudge nudge, wink, wink, I have a contact for them, BUT it would have to be guaranteed numbers. None of that, "I should be alright", and then cancelling last minute etc, anyway we can discuss this further by email.

I will do some alternative research in case I can't get Formby Hall, maybe a 2-for-1 Voucher establishment. Then again it has to be multiples of 2 and availability, of course.

God's Waiting Room, also known as Southeast Florida, is full of Canadiens in the winter. Try snow-birding.

I'm sure someone or myself can pick you up. I will email you. Clive mentioned Woolton, l said Grange Park. I think we should see who wants to come and pick something in the middle. I'm okay with Frodsham too. And Formby. Hopefully it's quiet enough and do more than just bacon sandwiches.

Jamie,

We have Bournemouth and Devon as our gods waiting room. I just googled snow birding. I thought you mis-typed. I confuse myself these days mixing English and American terms.

Whoever books will have to say it is TW Golf Society, whether they will accept 4-6 as a Society is another matter, otherwise it's dearer, but they also require a non-returnable deposit of ٣ per/head which comes off the Green Fees on the day.

Woolton is okay, Grange Park (St Helens) is good too apart from the geese who tend to deposit indiscriminately near the greens by the many ponds. Harder for me to get to though. Hope that helps.

I've just tried to post it to TW to see if anyone else wants to play. I'm not sure if it went through or l deleted it by mistake. If it's not on, l will post again. I'm going away to Canada for a couple months, so it would be nice to meet some fellow society members before l go.

Really hoping he's 100% for Friday. Wouldn't be quite so concerned if Baines was raring to go, but he clearly isn't yet.