Ancelotti: I promised to take Everton to the top

SING US A SONG YOU'RE THE PIANO MAN! Hopefully Carlo, fuckin hopefully!

You better hope Moshiri still has plenty of money to give you. Because you ain't getting top with the crap you have at the moment.

Nice one Carlo. He sounds confident enough to finish the job. What was we worrying about !! That jam is just round the corner.

I think Carlo should be praised for the way he has embraced our club history and where he lives. He could have just come here for the money, but he's here because he actually wants to see us in the Champions League. This is his biggest job ever and I believe he will get us there. I'm made up he's our manager and a massive thanks to Moshiri for the job he's doing.

Don't forget the fifty million quid in his sky rocket though Bobby, I'm sure that was also a factor.

Haven't been on in a while.. couldn't take the negativity.. then I get to Paul @ 2..I don't think I'll be back for a while...

It's not negativity, Joe. It's stating a fact.

There's no doubt it takes several years and a shedload of money to build a team to challenge the top of the league. Look how long it took City when the Arabs arrived. But we now have a top manager, who has had a good first transfer window, and a couple of billionaires onside, so how can we not be happy?

Totally agree roger

"There's no doubt it takes several years and a shedload of money to build a team to challenge the top of the league. Look how long it took City when the Arabs arrived. But we now have a top manager, who has had a good first transfer window, and a couple of billionaires onside, so how can we not be happy?"

Because Roger... some people are unrealistic in that they want jam today.
Years of shit management cannot be turned around in a short spell, I have every faith he will get it right but it will take time.

Kevin you know what I don't think it's about money anymore with Carlo. He loves the community feel about our whole club that's it for me. I also don't care how much he gets he's a top bloke and manager

There is £500m difference between the value of our squad and the squads really competing for silverware. That's a lot of ground to make up, especially since those clubs (along with all of the big 6) have bigger budgets.

Over the course of 3 to 5 years and with decent backing and a strong recruitment strategy, I expect Carlo can get us there or thereabouts. There will be ups and downs in the meantime because we're very light on top quality.

Hopefully Moshiri and the stadium plans remain on course over that period. That is what is incentivising the investment. Without the investment, there's a limit as to what Carlo can realistically achieve.

Joe # 6. Don't worry, Mr Hewitt is always like that!

Well, we were top for a week or so earlier in the season so technically he's achieved that already.

I have faith in Ancelotti although some of his selections do surprise me. As some of have mentioned above, and from what I read, he likes the area and hopefully the challenge of getting Everton back up where we haven't been for decades will keep him at the club.

Sadly, we might have to do his without many youngsters or players from the area and follow the route of the top clubs - buying in from abroad.

I remember Moshiri saying he'd do whatever it takes. He has been true to his word despite numerous costly setbacks with managers and players. If it weren't for him where would Everton be now ? Patience is a rare commodity in football but we'll have to tough it out like Moshiri. Hopefully it'll be worthwhile.

Well said Pat, Moshiri has not been lacking with his backing!

I see Carlo has some cards to play. That doesn't sound like a man who does not see a viable way forward. And Carlo has seen a thing or two.

#2 - "You better hope Moshiri still has plenty of money to give you. Because you ain't getting top with the crap you have at the moment."

With 15 teams below us in the standings at the moment this league must be chock full of "crap" players. By definition it must be pretty much a "crap" league, right?

Can we please go all out to try in the Carabao cup, will take any trophy at the mo.

I predicted a loss vs Chelsea but, based on the way we played in that game, on another thread I went for a 1-0 away win today.

Allan will be a big loss to our very skinny looking squad, particularly in the next couple of weeks, but I still think we can get the points at home to a very average Arsenal.

Hats off to Moshiri. He's spent a shitload of dosh on a load of crap players, and managers, and has stuck with us when many would've run for the hills.

I know his endgame is probably building the stadium and then selling us for a big profit but he's shown patience (he's an accountant after all) and he now has a manager he trusts.

Colin (21)
Investing multi-millions of pounds in the hope and /or expectation that you will eventually be able to sell an asset for way more than you have paid to acquire it and build it to its present state, is, I would suggest, a "high risk" strategy.

There is and can be no guarantee that the football "money merry go round" will, or can, continue indefinitely into the future.

I think he (and his mate Usmanov) made this decision before they cashed in their chips at Arsenal.

They wanted control of an EPL club and we were, for once, in the right place at the right time.

If they were merely intent on acquiring assets that will guarantee to continue to rise in value, they could more easily have invested in gold, old masters, or diamonds and just sat back and waited.

After all, I expect that despite being a multi billionaire (in the case of Usmanov) or a common or garden billionaire in the case of Moshri, life still gets boring after you've bought the latest/ palace/yacht/private jet etc. and they were looking for something to stimulate their interest.

So, why not a project to take a once highly successful and fashionable football club, currently down on its luck, and try to restore it to its former glories?

If they manage that, their names will live for ever more.

At Carlo's age, with the trophies he'd won, you could be forgiven for thinking about his retirement fund, but this feels more like a legacy project, to show he can take a club in the doldrums to the heights he has achieved.

But he's doing it with a genuine love for the club, the city and its surroundings. Proving the age-old quote from Sir Alan Ball: "Once Everton has touched you, nothing is ever the same again."

It hasn't been perfect, but we're 2nd at Christmas (albeit to that lot) and 6th in the form table since he took over. With the unpredictable nature of this season, who's to say we can't make a real run at the Champions League places?