Simms joins Sunderland on loan

We must be having another striker come in if Ellis has gone though, especially as there is talk of Dobbin going on loan too.

He normally starts slowly and then finishes well - so more likely to score more over the latter half of his loan.

If he gets 15 over the whole season we'll have a £10m (+) striker on our hands who we can either use in the Prem or sell.

Hopefully we have a better reserve option than Rondon to cover the position if DCL is out at any point.

Different situation now... he'll be playing in front of 45K fans instead of 15 or 20.

Let's hope he proves out and this is the last loan before he joins our first team.

He went out on loan at blackpool when they were in League One, Then a step up to the SPL and now a step up again (sorry Scottish football fans) to the championship. Every time he has gone out its been up a level and he has acquitted himself.

Admittedly he hasn't blown the leagues away, but that does not bother me. He has just gone about his business and improved.

Well done Everton Well done Simms

Broadhead must be gutted, he must have thought he was nailed on to go back there. Cardiff City are in desperate need of a center forward, a loan back to the home land in world cup year ?

He went out on loan at blackpool when they were in League One, Then a step up to the SPL and now a step up again (sorry Scottish football fans) to the championship. Every time he has gone out its been up a level and he has acquitted himself.

Admittedly he hasn't blown the leagues away, but that does not bother me. He has just gone about his business and improved.

Well done Everton Well done Simms

Broadhead must be gutted, he must have thought he was nailed on to go back there. Cardiff City are in desperate need of a center forward, a loan back to the home land in world cup year ?

I truly hope he does well and that his spell at Sunderland proves me right and he comes back at the end of the season knowing that he is going into the first team next season.

All he needs to do now is put his back into it and score bundle of goals, which in turn, should spur on Calvert-Lewin for his part. Happy days.

No shame in that; he might well prove good enough for the Championship and that is a success from a career perspective, even if some don't judge it that way.

I also think age 22 is not a bad age to be entering the first-team reckoning. By then he'll have about 50 to 60 first team (loan) games under his belt.

That's about right unless you're a natural who comes straight in about age 19.

Here's to a successful loan. May he score and prosper.

I think going back up to Scotland would have given him a better chance of being a regular starter and keep the confidence with the aim of battering last season.

I hope he is good enough to play regularly for Sunderland and does well. The championship is a better, more competitive league but there's 4 good sides in Scotland that are of a similar level plus the big 2 that are arguably better but certainly bigger.

I feel the Championship is a bit of a slog, so many games which isn't necessarily good for young injury prone players. Broadhead may need handling with a little more care.

I don't think it's technique but understanding how to make the most of what you have for the team. Lost track of how many young players I've seen with all the tools but incapable of making it

In hindsight my specific problem as a young 'un was thinking I had to beat every player before me. Someone needed to whisper "look for the better option first and stop messing with women".

Not sure I would have listened but maybe this is what a change of environment might bring.

I can understand what you are saying but I have difficulty with why nobody at Finch Farm can bring that around (the messing with women bit apart). However, this is Simms's third loan spell and you would think that an improvement has been seen or it's just not working.

Wondering out aloud, maybe some better form of junior competition should be looked at with perhaps better coaches as it seems we think other clubs have them.

This lad did well for Blackpool and Hearts. He's going to Sunderland, a step up and another step along his journey. If he does it at Sunderland where he's done it at the other clubs he's played for, then I don't think he can be crap.

Even if he doesn't make it to our first team, he might well bring in to EFC millions of pounds in a transfer fee; and for him a good living that he'd have deserved.

Personally, I'd love to see him, even now, being in our first team squad... but patience is the watchword.