Everton 'offered' Lucas Moura

Not exactly a prolific scorer but probably better than many we have. I have seen him have some good games for Spurs. Have we any money?

I'd take him. Probably be on loan, Derek.

He is carrying a long term injury and has six months left so would need to be a contract. Don't think helping spurs out with more players in the wain is a good idea.

We would only do this if he was to be used to keep us up, the fact he is not fully fit and has barely kicked a ball this season means he is not the sticking plaster needed right now and we would need to pay a fee for someone who can sign a contract now for next season as a free agent.

No thanks. Spurs trying to offload more junk to us. We probably sign him on a 5 year deal!!

He is better than anyone we have- it's a no-brainer.

Hahahahahaha aaaaahahahahahahaha
This, ladies and gentlemen is what we've been reduced to. Tottenham Hotspur's dustbin. No doubt the Transfer Conductor will bring him in on a 5y contract worth 120k/wk so he can clog up the physio's table with his old mate Dele

On similar par as Gray and Gordon; not an upgrade on either…..would be very expensive wage as cover for them. Personally I'd like to see Stan Mills promoted, but John Major Lampard doesn't have the balls or Will for kids.

Get me some fuckin strikers.

If this happens I'd walk if I was Frank. Then he doesn't have to sign an NDA….

Yes if they promise to buy Davies, Maupay, Doucoure, Holgate and Keane. I'll hire a minibus

Mark, more likely came in with a cash and swap deal for Pickford.

Really? They're making it worse, not better, if that one goes ahead. We need goals!

Don't take anyone who is 'offered', go out and find someone good.

No, he's not what we need , he's a decent player that is fading and will be looking for that one last lucrative payday . We need two forwards who can score goals. A wide man who can score and a serious challenger to Calvert-Lewin's goals and aerial ability.

Goals goals goals, without them we are going down, focus on getting players who can score. Players who are more ruthless in front of goal.

I'd have Danjuma, Beto and Gallagher or three players of that profile and then let Gray, Gordon, Calvert-Lewin, and Iwobi fight it out to be included.

We are crying out for more quality, competition and hunger up front and attacking midfield.

West Ham have just signed Danny Ings for £15M

Ings to West Ham. Just in time to do us in.

Goes without saying, Bill, we simply have to get a striker in before 5pm tomorrow!

Ings not signed yet, “in talks” with WHU.
And no sign of anyone signing for Car Crash FC

I'd have taken Ings all day for £15m. He puts in a shift and if nothing else is a nuisance. We must be on our arse if we can't pay £15m what a mess. There isn't another 15 points in this team.

Ray, it's just been confirmed on SSN that he's signed.

Has Bill been having lunch with Daniel Levy again FFS

We could play him up front alongside Dele.

Meanwhile did you see Gnonto for Leeds last night? Now that's a signing.

Watching Everton the other day Tony, it was clear that Onana, was having a very good game, and then he did what he always does, and he went missing for twenty minutes, and this obviously never helped Everton, one bit.

I had two gripes, one was with the player, who could become anything he wants, but my other gripe was with his teammates, who just allowed this to happen, to a player, who just needs to learn how to keep himself involved by staying focused?

When a good player is on his game, you should always try and keep trying, to give him the ball, but this never happened and our best player on the day, was allowed to totally switch off, and let the game pass him by, instead of being made aware that he was good enough to take the game by the scruff of it's neck.

I'm wracking my brains, and I'm thinking, would getting him to play to instruction's in a two man midfield, help or overwhelm him?

We have got to do something, the sweeper isn't working because he's playing that deep, so the most sensible thing to do imo, would be to just get rid of it, and turn the responsibility onto our keeper, but I won't bore everyone with the rest of my ideas!

Please no, we really are a dumping ground for people's unwanted crap. If he "Gets Everton" he could get himself a 5 year golden contract.

Brereton Diaz won't be arriving, he's off to Spain in the summer.

James@21, looking at Bill's large flabby chops I think he also had lunch with The Hulk.

Could be clickbait on net. Ben BD. young Blackburn striker hasn't signed a contract
and is possibly going to Spain on a free in the summer. Surely Everton have enough
money to be able to buy him now. If we had him and he was able to score a few would it help keep us up. I know it's a different level but many players have stepped up.

I think the real question we should be asking the owner and the board is our manager said weeks ago he wanted to add a couple of striking options to this side. So why has this not happened, is it because the owner wont sanction any more spending, or our the financial constraints the Premier league have placed on us stopping any transfers. Because being 19th in the league and with a poor goal scored ratio, unless we do add to our striking options then its hard to see how we get out of this mess.

I cant ever remember us being linked with so many players, and of course non have materialised, Every day its a new player today its Moura hardly a goal scorer.

Ings will keep West Ham up. 15m will then seem like a total bargain.

Then there were five

Only 30, not a prolific scorer, hasn't played in months. But would still be an upgrade on McNeil and Maupay. That's why it's over.

We are only making loan offers for players so we must have no money. Ings and even Danjuma loan offers that are not going to happen. Ings was only £12M. What a shambles.

Not a bad player Moura, and definitely better than doing fuck all. His greatest ability is that he runs, and running can be infectious, especially to us frustrated fans, who aren't used to watching very much aggressive running, coming from our players.

Brian, I would think it's a combination of only offering loan deals or on the drip deals because of our FFP situation, and no decent player wanting to come here because we're bottom of the table, have a clueless board, and fans are chasing players down the road screaming abuse at them.

We're a toxic mess. If I was an up and coming young striker, I'd give us a massive swerve too to be honest.

Am I the only one who thinks Tony A talks an awful lot of sense?
More detail please Tony-!!!

I also think this is why we done the business we did in the summer Michael, because the only real way we could sign players, was on the drip.

Can we buy Cornett? If you give us the money. Can we sign McNeil instead? We should be able to do something, how long do you need to pay? I think this definitely played a massive part, in the way Everton recruited last summer, and this is possibly also another reason why the inexperienced Lampard has struggled badly?

That's not making excuses for the way he's constantly setting us up to play, that's just looking at the harsh reality of having complete ineptitude at the very top of our club.

Tony, absolutely. Onana was the big ticket item in the summer, and I would imagine Jimmy Garner was one we really wanted too, but the former is still raw - although starting to show flashes of the player he can become - and Garner had a major injury just as he was probably ready to get more game time.

Now we're spent up and, realistically, an even less attractive proposition for a player than we were in the summer.

I feel for Lampard. Could a more experienced manager have got more out of this mediocre squad? Dunno, but Rafa failed so maybe it's not Frank's fault we're so dreadful.

I'm not sure Moura can play up front on his own in the way required based on how our team is setup and would be Maupay 2.

Everyone around us appears to be strengthening. We aren't (or can't) until selling teams get more desperate to off load later in window and then maybe consider our sub standard offers

Moura is not a goal scorer. For the last three seasons his totals PL goals are 3, 2, 0.

Moura till the end of the season before he goes back to Brazil doesn't seem entirely unlikely, and I'd suggest, about as good as we can get under current circumstances.

Why on earth any player would want to sign for Everton right now is beyond me so anyone we can get in, we pretty much have to be grateful for - even if they are earning top dollah.

Ings will do the business for West Ham, probably keep them up, and almost certainly score against us on Saturday if he's signed/plays.

I honestly think we're fucked when you look at our fixtures. We play:

West Ham, Arsenal, RS, Leeds, Villa, Forest, Brentford, Chelsea, Spurs, Utd, Fulham, Palace, Newcastle, Leicester, Brighton, City, Wolves & Bournemouth.

Of those who can you see us beating? We can't score goals, at all, against anyone hardly so who can we beat out of that lot? Maybe, and it's a big maybe we can beat, West Ham, Forest, Leicester & Bournemouth? That's 12 points tops, maybe the odd draw here & there if we're lucky and you're looking at maybe 15 points we might scrape together - that leaves us on about 30 points = relegated.

I cannot see where we're going to pick up enough point to stay up.

Tony (23), Onana was Everton's best player on Saturday, in my opinion, but those twenty minutes he went missing were the last twenty minutes of the game when he reverted to type and just passed the ball backwards or to the nearest man but never implemented anything in an aggressive way but the lad is young and couldn't or shouldn't be the one to take control of urging this very weak squad into action.

We all know the whole club is in a terrible mess and there doesn't appear to be a leader in any part of the club on or off the field but certainly, at this vital time in the clubs destiny, there is nobody on the field or on the bench, tragic consequences of how this club has been run for many years.

Matt, considering it's now 19 days into the window and there's absolutely no sign of any incoming players, I think you're right.

Realistically, we're less than a year into Thelwell's tenure as our DoF, and he's reportedly made massive changes in personnel across the club, not to mention his 120 point plan to change the culture of the club. If you take what's been said at face value, Moshiri has stepped back from interfering in signings - at one point it seemed to be him and his favourite agents making all the decisions - and Thelwell is now working closely with Lampard to slowly rebuild our dreadful squad.

So far, so shit, to be honest. We've signed a few duds. But we've also signed a couple of decent players. It looks like we're going down this season, so the question is whether Thelwell has taken that possibility into account in his plan.

For me, and I know I'm in the minority here, I don't think Bill and Denise are really the issue. Moshiri is. He's spent a massive amount of money on us, including building a new stadium, so thanks for that, but unless he gives Thelwell (and Lampard or whoever replaces him) long term support and independence, we're fucked.

Despite all the many things that are wrong with this club, the manager and his Director of Football have to be responsible for a lot of what's wrong and why we are in the Bottom 3.

I understand because of our financial mismanagement that there would not have been a lot to spend, but they will have been made aware of what the budget was for player purchases. We spent 㿍 million on Onana and many say he has great potential to be absolutely anything but we needed ready-made players and not to spend most of the budget on 'potential'.

Despite having to sell Richarlison to keep inside the financial parameters that the Premier League stipulated, shouldn't Lampard and Thelwell have used a chunk of that budget to sign a couple of forwards?

Lampard is a very lucky man in my estimation; because the board and owner have decided to pick a fight with the fanbase, he has somehow avoided the criticism he richly deserves.

Yes, this is a poor squad but individually probably not one of the three worst in the Premier league. We need an experienced coach as Frank stumbles from one formation to another and the players seem lost as to what he wants from them individually or collectively.

One week he plays Onana as the attacking central midfield player, then the week after, Gana is asked to play there. Sometimes he plays McNeil out wide,, then the next week Gordon.

Both McNeil and Maupay were left on the bench against Southampton; Frank, you signed both of these in the summer – now seemingly both surplus to requirements now.

Then we have the biggest financial cock-up of the lot – his first signing Dele Alli, which is costing us 𧴜k+ a week – despite him being on loan – we are still paying most of his wages… and Besiktas would end the loan deal now if they could.

So, to add to our financial problems, we have another of Frank's buys not fit for purpose.

Ings to West Ham for 㾻M.

Where is the so-called planning and getting people in??? Total incompetence.

Clive,

Moura scored a hat-trick in a Champions League semi-final. He can link up play, is tricky and can run. An upgrade on all our forwards.

Ings going to West Ham. I wonder if he will be available to score his usual goal against us on Saturday?

Ings might not have wanted to join our happy shipmates (who would?) but, as others have said, if we can't afford 㾻M for a guy who does score goals, then we are buggered.

Five or six goals from him could keep a team up and then 㾻M plus wages won't seem very much.

Nothing is going to happen until we have played the Irons. Then the board and owner will have to make a decision. Stick or twist — and splurge whatever Moshiri keeps in his sock drawer on a striker.

Leicester signing Kristiansen from FC Copenhagen. 㾽m.

We're getting completely left behind, as predicted. If the Board and Kenwright think the last protests were toxic, just wait until we've lost the next two and can't field a full subs bench.

The stadium very much risks being purchased by a third party and we would then have an option (or more likely no option) to rent or stay at Goodison Park. So, after years and years of total mismanagement under Bill Kenwright, we've gone full circle.

I'm really worried we'll be facing bankruptcy, and a winding-up order because, without doubt, we will plummet through the leagues because there is nothing at Everton to suggest we can bounce back.

The academy does nothing, and the mentality of the club is one of a plucky loser, scared to raise its head above the parapet.

How sad.

After we sold Rooney for a fee that many of us felt was too little, in the subsequent years we picked up Man Utd players Neville, Howard, Saha and Gibson, some for undisclosed fees.

We sold Richarlison last summer and it had the feel of a pre-arranged sale and many of us felt we could have got more. Months before we surprisingly picked up Spurs player Dele Alli for buttons (on a deal that has subsequently mystified many of us) and now we are being offered Moura for nothing?

There were also strong links to Harry Winks, another player Spurs would happily offload.

I might be reading too much into things but there are some parallels.

Keith @41 - have you just noticed?

Everton should have been talking to players as soon as that August window closed.

Deals should have been good to go by 1 January but no, we sit around and allow more winnable games to pass us by because we have no fuckin attacking threats.

Club's a shit-show from top to bottom and you often wonder if they do actually want to get relegated as some kind of masochist kick.

We are in the mess we are in partly because of singings such as this and Ings.

Good players on their day but the reality is they are no improvement on what we have. They are injury-prone, inconsistent, fading career journeymen that have not played regularly because of these reasons.

A 37-year-old Modric or 30-year-old Eriksen I would welcome because they are so consistently good even if many supporters tag them as to old.

We had James Rodriguez who, although younger, was injury-prone but still a top-level footballer who was very good for us.

Many fans, despite his goals, assists and creativity, think he was a mistake. I disagree, Carlo and James are about the only thing Moshiri got right on the playing side of things.

Some players aren't worth their 'free' tag, Ings and Moura are not free nor are they the calibre of player that will help improve our situation.

AVOID!

Michael at 39,

I don't think it's one or the other being the issue (Moshri OR Bill and Denise), I think they all are. We've got a moron of an owner and an incompetent Board. If only one was the issue, we might be far better off but the total top layer of the organisation is completely ruined and they then make decisions impacting the rest of the Club.

I don't think people appreciate how many poor decisions have to be made over a very long time to find ourselves where we are. It really is quite an achievement for them to have screwed up so badly and for so long and not foreseen this outcome.

A couple of years back our deadbeat of a Chairman seemed to think he was doing a great job (what would Everton do our competitors ask themselves) whilst the Club was slowly burning down.

On the other side, it will also take a shed load of good decisions over a long period of time to turn things around – it's not happening overnight (especially if we are relegated) and we will still be living with the mistakes of the past (big wages and unsellable players) for some years yet.

Brighton are where they are because they have got so much right continually for a long period to bring them up through the divisions. It's because they had a plan they believed in and followed.

Justin,

Not really.

We are in a mess because our board are a fuckin shambles and our managers have an unwritten fetish for continually buying defensive-minded crabs instead of attacking players.

Ings at 㾻 million would have represented far better value to me than the combined 㿔 million we spent on Gana, Maupay and McNeil.

We need to sign a player of some calibre and experience.

If we seriously think someone like Zapata who's permanently injury prone or Elanga who's a kid with less on his CV than Gordon, will keep this club in the league then we are grossly mistaken.

Give me a Kevin Campbell type signing.

Matt @48,

Yes we should be looking at Brighton (and Brentford) to see how a strong culture throughout the club, and making intelligent appointments whenever a head coach or manager leaves, creates a foundation for success.

But we should also be looking at Arsenal. A few years ago, the fans were unhappy with everything about the club, including their board, but now it's all sweetness and light. They appointed the right manager – a very strong manager – in Arteta, but equally important: they appointed Edu as Technical Director in 2019.

No complaints at the Emirates now, are there? Make the right appointments in the important areas, let them get on with their jobs, and give them support. When Edu said they should pay up certain players' contracts to get them out of the club and improve the culture, the board backed him. The board hasn't changed, it's the same people the fans hated a couple of years ago, but the club has been turned around.

What's changed at Arsenal since Arteta was being touted for the sack at the start of last season? Nothing, they've just been winning more matches as their youth policy starts to pay off.

It's a fickle game.

Once we start transacting with Spurs, we usually come out on the wrong side of things. While he would be an upgrade on what we have in wide positions, his signing could not be at the expense of bringing in a striker who might score the 7 or 8 goals that would keep us up.

Ings for 㾻 million v Maupay for 㾹 million?

Saturday evening around 5:00 pm will tell a tale.

Agree with all that Andrew 44, it all stinks of BS Kenshite

Of all the ex-Blues that just hang around the club like a bad smell, it boggles the mind why we didn't have Arteta as a coach as soon as his playing career ended.

He's always been a strong-willed and intellectual man that knew how to play the game and also more importantly knows the work ethic required to succeed.

More appalling neglect by our board.

For me Onana's quiet period on Saturday was just after half time until about the 60th minute when he realised we were in a game cos Southampton had equalised, it was by far his best game for us and he needs to start producing those performances every week.

Eddie, 42, his goals have dried up the last few seasons.

Michael at 50 - agreed but the quality of our Board and the Arsenal one are light years apart. Ours have had several tries at managers and DoF and they have repeatedly failed. They've also presided over a
Club making such big losses that we are now forbidden from spending even if we had the cash.

Any manager thrown into our Club will struggle because there is so much wrong with it everywhere and changing a manager alone won't solve that - we know this because they've tried several managers now. We may have already appointed the right manager in the past but he was never able to succeed. It's a lot easier for a manager to succeed at a well run club, that's why Brighton can change managers and hardly miss a step, whereas there previous manager, hailed as brilliant by plenty, is now struggling at Chelsea. Same manager but now at a dysfunctional club (although a lot less dysfunctional than ours) and now struggling

Michael 50 We could have had Arteta but he went to Arsenal when we appointed the Italian dinosaur.

Kenwright would be all over Moura. Spurs throw is a sweetener for us in return for a knock down price for Pickford in the summer.

I thought exactly the same Jeff. Someone the other day said on ToffeeWeb, that Everton never come out fast at the start of the second half, and this is something else that is very badly wrong with our players right now, because we always either seem to start the game, or the second 45 minutes, in a very lethargic manner.

Dave W, you could get locked up for saying nice things like that about me mate!

Alan Myers our former communications director has just tweeted the Deloitte money table for 2020/2021.

CLUB REVENUE WAGES % of Turnover
Manchester City 619 million 57%
Liverpool 594 million 62%
Manchester Utd 583 million 66%
Chelsea 481 million 71%
Spurs 443 million 47%
Arsenal 367 million 58%
West Ham 255 million 53%
Leicester 214 million 85%
Leeds 189 million 64%
Everton 181 million 96%
Newcastle 180 million 95%

So we produce one of the lowest incomes of the top 10 Premier League clubs but the highest % of wages at 96%. I know there was a guy from Deloittes last year who said any club spending more than 75% on wages is to high.
So paying 96% of our income to a very average group of underperforming players and coaches makes no sense. But highlights why we havent spent any money this window.

Let's be honest, Kunal when we get relegated there will be a fire sale for FC Pyongyang's best players. Would you trust Ken Bill Wrong Un to get the best value? No, me neither. And, given the last twenty years of probably the worst wheeling and dealing anyone has ever seen in professional sports (see Deli Alli) let this man be involved - because he always is, he even has a name, The Transfer Conductor - in rebuilding a squad? The sooner him and his awful cronies are gone the better off we'll be regarding the future, which already looks as bleak as hell.

Matt at 56, yes I think that's all true. So what do we do? Sack the incompetent board, then sack Thelwell and Lampard because they were appointed by the incompetent board? And what do we do with Moshiri - it's his club, we can't sack him, and he will appoint a new board made up of his mates no doubt?

At this stage, short term, we are where we are. Let Thelwell and Lampard - or a replacement for Lampard because I think the long term and most important appointment is the Director of Football - get on with their jobs, and if we go down we go down. Moshiri is going nowhere, it's his money, and it's the money that decides who runs (and in our case ruins) the club.

Apart from the fans, the club is: The Owner, The Board, The Manager, The Director of Football, The Players. Right now I'd say the least of our problems is the board, because that is selected by the biggest problem we have - the owner. Get rid of Bill and Denise and nothing will change, except even bigger idiots being appointed by our idiot owner.

Thanks for that Brian @60. This is exactly the sort of metric the BoD should be held accountable too. It's completely unsustainable as we are seeing. We have probably the worst commercial dept in the league and have done for twenty odd years but they're all probably blues so that's ok, and have handed out ludicrous contracts to all sorts of dross. I really hope all the nay-sayers and Kenwright fan boys are taking this all in now because you're all his guilty as him for allowing this to go on, unchecked year after year.

It's a sinking ship. Hopefully all the rats will be leaving soon.

Nick @45 ive been saying it for ages.

The Italian Dinosaur won the Champions League and la Liga last year.

Imagine calling Ancelotti a dinosaur. For fucks sake.

No brainier for Ings in choice between WHU and us. London
Better team
And fans not chanting you're not fit to wear the shirt at players.
Why would he choose us even if we could have afforded him?

Ian, cast your mind back to when Carlo had us doing well and Arteta was under increasing pressure at Arsenal. At the time many were saying they were glad we got Carlo and Arsenal fans were moaning that they would have preferred Ancelotti.

Kinell Brian @60. I was depressed enough.

Not shooting the messenger Brian, but those figures you have put up are Stop-you-in-your-tracks shocking.

We're really are going to hell in a hand cart if this crew isn't ousted

It's not just too high Brian, it's downright irresponsible.

As I've commented previously, it's not the transfer fee that kills you, it's the wages over years. And over recent years, the salary pay offs for sacked managers.

Especially for a club that, despite having increased its season ticket prices still ranks 3rd from bottom in price.

Admirable, to help a largely local support base but add that to the fact we don't generate much on match day; we're probably in a similar 3rd from bottom place in that table.

Badly run is one of the biggest understatements I've heard you make Darren. But can't agree more with your sentiment.

Someone asked, maybe on another thread, what is the petition going to achieve? Well, maybe not much right now, but it is raising the head above the parapet. Putting it on the radar as this club's regime has been hiding for too long without any scrutiny outside of us band of brothers and sisters. Putting it in the spotlight and turning the heat on those who have been in their comfort zone for too long.

Like any family, we may squabble and fight amongst each other in typical Liverpool fashion, but we unify when the one thing we have in common brings us together.

It's not even Saturday, but I can't wait for it to come.

Don't let me down Everton. I think I'll need a few in the Fan Zone.

Looks like we'll be rock bottom in a hopeless situation by the end of February!

Forest now looking to sign Chris Wood from Newcastle….

I said in a previous thread that something was no right behind the scenes.
Take over?
Bankruptcy?
Whatever it is, its clear we haven't got a pot to piss in. As usual the silence is deafening from the club and that speaks volumes for me.
This club is expert at deflection and I fear this fan/board spat is an orchestrated attempt to deflection from real issues.
Dark days indeed.

The presser was depressing. Frank is lost. Praised Ings, clearly fed-up we missed out but sworn to secrecy.

Soren, agree. No players incoming. End of Feb we'll be adrift by 5 or 6 points of 17th.

It will be goodbye Premier league, hello Championship.

Eddie - exactly.

Frank speaks really well, chooses his words very carefully, but it's what he doesn't say that worries me. Just like the rest of the hierarchy at Everton, there seems to be a pact to say nothing of any meaning. Are there funds for transfers? Do we have to loan players? Why are we bringing back loanees half way through the season?

I know we can't be privy to everything that goes on behind the scenes, but just some information from the club about what we should or shouldn't expect might help.

Ings not needed. Everton don't need another striker ??
What the hell is going on. Moura is not the answer.

This club is being run down by idiots at the helm.

Moshiri must feel like throwing up🤮 whilst the Evertonian chairman🤑🤑doesn't even pretend to be one of us anymore, now he's lost everyone, because he finally told one lie, to many

Farhad Moshiri, the man who keeps on giving has had his tap turned off, and unless he can sell us soon, then Evertonians, are going to have a few very dark years.

What did you say again Kenwright? 🤑🤑 of course you've had some fuckin good times, but you can't take your money with you, and you must finally be finished with at least 95% of Evertonians.

Darren 69 & Danny70

What may be even more worrying is that should we get relegated, we don't have clause in any of the players contracts that allows us to reduce their salaries. So if they choose to stay and see out their contracts there is nothing the club can do.

Now some may say well obviously some Premier league clubs will come in for them, but Fulham wanted Keane but couldn't afford his wages, and these players aren't looking to take a pay cut even if it means being back in the Premier league.

This just demonstrates the level that this club has fallen when you are offered a injured old player that will never play for their first team, that used to be good but hasn't played since an injury,.and you will have to agree to the players wage demands

The idea we can pay a transfer fee or increase the wage bill for any ‘free' signings in the current financial year is a fantasy. We were linked with at least fifteen strikers in the summer. The only one we could get for the last £15m we had available was Maupay. All the others were outside our price range or had greater ambition than performing for a lower table outfit.

So we are left with taking hand-me-downs from clubs who have players surplus to their requirements.

Brian @ 80. If we are relegated I'd be very surprised if we ever recovered. Not just the cost of the players but we can say goodbye to the stadium as well in my view. If we go down Moshri will be doing whatever he has to do to mitigate his losses and the best thing to do would be to asset strip. I'd expect him to sell the new stadium independently (and maybe throw in Goodison as well) and sign the football club up to a long term and costly lease arrangement for the new stadium as part of the deal and to drive up the sales price. It would be easier to sell the stadium on its own with a long term tenant and the new owner can also then profit off other events held there. Goodison will be sold to developers. Then we will be in the Championship and not own, and be able to profit from, our own stadium meaning less to invest in the football side and we'd be much worse off than before Moshri arrived and destined to become an irrelevance for generations that kicks around in the lower leagues.

Brian # 60

The numbers are truly staggering, mind blowing really. Years of shocking mismanagement.

I've just watched Frank Lampard's pre-West Ham press conference.

I can tell you there are no further injury problems this week. Nothing else worth hearing. All the exact questions and answers you would expect in light of the last week and nothing new to learn. Save yourself the 21 minutes.

Matt@82, the stadium will still be used, and regeneration of the whole area will motor on much quicker when it officially changes from blue to red.

Stop the negativity right now. We are Everton, and have got to believe in our song. It looks pretty obvious that we are going to have some very dark days, but we will get through them, we always do, and although we will come out of the other side, older, greyer, and for those of us who never envisaged the curse, less naive, but wiser.

We are Everton - and “WE SHALL NOT BE MOVED” so if the board have got any dignity left and really want to help us Unite - they are best fucking off right now.

Come on guys, we are not dead yet!

A lot can happen between now and the seasons end, ok its not looking too rosey at the moment but there's still 6 or 7 clubs that could go down.
If we did go down I can see match attendances still being high, how high is anybodys guess.

The club will still be here in one shape or another, the Prem. as a 20 team competition is really a joke anyway.

Gordon to Newcastle for 30m, Moura on loan. Ings said he didnt want to come to us so Ditherin Davy got his man. Cue Ings coming on as sub on Saturday to score the winner and we take Antonio.

Sorry Tony its hard not to be negative right now with the cardboard cutouts running the club.

Tony, Raymond,

I am in fighting mode.

Not literally, but fighting for this club of ours.

I will be on Saturday and I know you will all be there. Physically, virtually, spiritually.

Every single one of us.

We can't give up on them. Ever.

Two bright sides to look at should we drop…………..No going that shit hole over the park for a year or two…….. and no VAR, so all those dubious offside goals we've had ruled out by VAR will count next season!

Jay# 89. I thought you'd got Anthony Gordon mixed up with DCL going to Newcastle, but upon checking, it seems they want both. JEEZ!!

A decent player for Spurs but has hardly kicked a football in anger for ages now. as for Wingers who score goals then what about Kent up at Rangers or the cheaper option Albrighton at Leicester, both work their bollocks off and can provide DCL with crosses all day long!

Just a thought fellow Blues.

Brian # 60, your table illustrates just how difficult a job Lampard and Thelwell have on their hands.

It also explains:

1. Why we signed who we did in summer

2. Why we were unable to sign the sorts of players we actually needed

3. Why we haven't signed anyone yet this window despite dire need.

As much as Lampard has been a pretty weak manager of the players at his disposal - the players at his disposal are not good. Any relegation would be because the financial situation leaves us unable to compete even with Bournemouth and Forest for the players needed to stay up.

Matthew # 93, someone like Ryan Kent might be OK but it looks unlikely we could afford anyone who costs actual money up front. I suspect that rules him out.

Cut price Strikers who could do a job for us. Morelos at Rangers (hothead but scores goals),or Pukki (Premier experience) or even Charlie Austin (who loves scoring against us!).

Looks like we used all our financial overhead to bring in McNeil, Maupay, Garner and Onana. If you weren't aware of how recently they'd joined, you'd expect us to be desperate to move McNeil and Maupay on right now. Sorry state of affairs.

However, a fit and firing DCL and the reintroduction of Doucoure and Keane could provide the change we want to see.

So 96% of our revenue goes to wages and 63% of our income comes from broadcasters which would largely disappear if we go down so we would have to reduce our wage bill by about 50 million to stay with P&S rules. The better players would all have to be sold and many support staff would be terminated. Parachute payments would cover some of this in the short term but the value of the club would plummet and sale would be certain. I would love to see an analysis that shows the risk of going into administration

Jim #53, he probably didn't want to come, knowing that he'd be labelled as another 'jobs for the boys no-mark useless cone putter outer' by our fans.

Ed, 97, I'm no accountant but with the £760M new ground costs, what the club owes Moshiri plus any other debts I can see the total debt being in excess of £1 billion. Serious problems if we are relegated as you say.

The wages aren't just bad because we overpay incoming players, we also routinely jack up the wages of anyone here who's had a handful of decent games. Case in point, Mason Holgate when Carlo was here we suddenly drastically increased his wage seemingly to ward off interest. This season we've had talks with Iwobi and Gordon with both rumored to be seeking 100k a week. It seems as if we pay players based on the past reputation of Everton as a "big club," rather than basing wages on financial reality. A team that for the last 24 months has been involved in a relegation battle shouldn't have some of the highest earners in the league. It's just complete madness. The players get the pay and the "allure" through association with the club's history but in terms of performance level just about everyone from Moyes onwards has set the bar at surviving relegation.

Brian #60, isn't that total Club wages not just playing staff and coaches?

We've got the best paid tea ladies in the country don't you know!

But I assume it doesn't include the 20 new staff positions created by the Strategic Review?

So I expect next year our wages to be more than our revenue.

I've just heard that the Gooners have bagged Trossard from Brighton.

Another fine player that we've missed out on,so...the misery continues.

If Ings has gone to WHU that leaves Antonio available for us to sign doesn't it?

Gordon on 10k a week.

Yeah that'll be the reason the wage bill is so shocking

I'm not disputing those shocking figures that Brian put up at post 60, but I am staggered that Everton with £181m at 96% equating to a £188m turnover, while West Ham with £255m wages at 53% would equate to a £481m turnover.

Really? - are W. Ham turning over 3x as much as us? (And Newcastle?)

I know why Frank hasn't resigned and why he is fairly unflustered by the lack of transfer activity.
He knows that Moyes is coming next week regardless of the Hammer's result. Frank is leaving and David is coming.
It explains the inertia, the same old presser from Frank and the silence from the club.
Bill wins back the fanbase by bringing back his old chum...let the good times roll!

Depressing media conference from Lampard today. Other teams in trouble sign players, Leeds, Leicester, West Ham, Southampton and Bournemouth all active and spending money.

Everton - "it's a difficult window, we are trying to do what we can", the usual guff that translates as we simply cannot and will not sign anybody until some desperation, last minute move on 31st for a 15th choice back up forward.

I think I'm at the point now where I would accept relegation if it means the Board going en masse.

I'm talking myself down before I build myself up for Saturday.

Eagles music playing in the background.

Peaceful Easy Feeling

Lying Eyes

Take it to the Limit

Were they Evertonians?

Aye, don't expect any New Kids In Town, Danny!

Here are some worrying connections and likely out comes for Saturday. Lampard our manager, who scored the winner against us in the f a cup, who's dad scored the winner in the league cup final against us, gets sacked against the team him and his dad played for, who are managed by our former manager. Goal scorer Ings, former red shite player, who we could have bought, first goal for the club, puts us bottom, results, sacks our manager. Uncle Bill rings up West Ham manager who was joint bottom with us, and on the verge of being sacked for possibly getting W H U relegated, offers him the Everton job to save us from being relegated.
Any bets?

Danny 109, I think you should book a holiday at the hotel California just to take it easy for a while. Don't expect any wine their though as like Everton's success, they haven't had that spirit since1969.

There's no "while" at that hotel - you can never leave.

I see people keep saying we signed the players we signed because we could do so '' on the drip''. Other than the top clubs, and particularly since the pandemic, isn't that what most clubs do?

Could Barrett - Baxendale be our Witchy woman?

I'd need talking down with that Eagles music playing too Danny.

Probably from the window ledge.

I'm with The Dude (Big Lebowski). "I hate the fucking Eagles man"

Leandro Trossard: Arsenal agree deal to sign Belgium forward from Brighton

Yes Sean #113

But I suspect in terms of even "on the drip" deals...most of our rivals are more attractive buyers because they can offer a bigger upfront payment and pay off the remaining balance over a shorter period.

My mate from Warwick who I've mentioned previously and who didn't know anything about football until he met me is travelling and meeting up on Saturday at West Ham.

Lovely bloke who I have served with all over the globe.

I can't help myself as I know no different, but I almost feel guilty. He's now a committed Evertonian and has been since the 90s. Me? I was born.

Danny, that's one hell of a twisted tale. How could you do that to another human being?!

Sean, we are a bunch of desperados, believing in Lampards lying eyes, but knowing we are already gone.

Jeez Danny #117

And I thought the Taliban were inhuman...

Kim 105 You are reading the numbers incorrectly. The pound number is revenue, not wages. West Ham's revenue is 255M and ours is 181M.

The comparison that really tells the story is between us an Newcastle as the numbers are almost identical while they are challenging the top 4 and we are in the bottom three.

Clive 99 Everton does not owe Moshiri all of that money, they only owe him the part of it that are his loans to the club. The rest of it he owns as equity in the club or has been borrowed from other sources.

Paul, maybe we'll be alright in the long run.

Paul #110, odds on favourite!!

Will #122, if you were replying to Paul # 119 you should have said

" we'll be alright now"

(Sorry Paul, you must have heard that a million times!)

Just woken up from a nightmare. We go down and are forced to sell BMD to the RS

Eric - high optimism!

Will #116, not a Free fan I gather!

Much better than The Eagles.

Everton are going to become "The Last Resort " -if we are talking Eagles songs surely. A brilliant track-go read the lyrics- could of been written for Everton FC! No bugger is coming to Everton,but don't worry Bill's cheery chops will still be in Goodison!
And,an Eagles track just for Kenwright and the Board- "LYING EYES."

Brendan @ 116,

And the really sad thing is that none of these players insist that they only want to move to Everton.

Paul @ 119.

LOL!

Oh, I got it alright, Eric. One of the first riffs I tried to play. I didn't realize anyone else had twigged Paul's name, don't think that was on your post initially (or I didn't see it).

Ed - Thanks., mate. I get it now, doh! Thought I must have been being a bit thick. I didn't even really look at the numbers higher up seeing as who they all were.

Kieran @100. You describe perfectly how a club SOULD be run. If Iwobi is on a contract, leave it. If someone wants to buy him, sell for a hefty profit and reinvest in one of the five/six players you have been tracking for that position and who you can get in much cheaper on lower wages. But this is Bill Kenwright who lives in cloud fucking cuckoo land. We bump up the wages far far far too quickly, the players then think fuck this, I'm on easy street. Their performance dips. No one wants them and we get zero resale value. And this is what's happened for the last 6/7 years. Which is why we should have cashed in on Gordon, and reinvested the money. But that's the problem - we are the worst club in the division by a long long stretch at identifying talent and reinvesting cash. Again because the man running the club is a fucking dinosaur and should have either fucked off years ago or employed people that could do this and left them to it. It's an absolute disgrace but I've been saying it for years because it was obvious long before Moshiri came in. His money has just hastened the decline in actuality. What is it they say, a fool and his money are soon parted…. or our case Bill and someone else's money are soon parted. Not his own money.

John 125 it is truly a nightmare. It might be a way that Moshiri could cut his losses if he decides he has had enough of owning Everton. Kenwright could then return to his roots.

Sean, Will and Eric, We are all in the wishing well with Everton!😀

Paul, don't Just say it, play it :-)

Seems like Everton are the butt of an ‘in joke' between the owners of every other football club. Moshiri should get the word “MUG” tattooed on his forehead. Who knows, Lucas could be our new Kevin Campbell… but the chances are less than slim.

Paul @134 my fave band of all time is Free. If you can play guitar half as well as the "other" Paul Kossoff - you are one talented dude! Brings a Free song to mind for Kenwright- The Stealer. Or Heartbreaker?

The Eagles ; 19 days into transfer window and still no goalscorers. "Wasted Time". But we live in hope that there will be "A New Kid In Town" soon.

Nobody mention their 1974 song, "Already Gone".

We'll end up with some deadbeat like Arnautovic who'll spend more time suspended and causing trouble than playing.

Let's be honest, even has-beens like Ings (rs btw) want nothing to do with us.

Tony, when it comes to transfers we are, takin' it easy. We are not, desperado in the least by the looks of it.

Colin, you gotta laugh that's exactly what we got from Big Dunc for years.

Allen 137, I learnt off the Free records, slowing them down and working out how he played. My fave band of all time too. Koss was a very simple player but had the fantastic finger vibrato that even Clapton asked how he developed it. I played in cover bands for years and yes, played lots of Free songs. Any advise from me would be learn your pentatonic scale. Any advise to Moshiri, watch out you are in Bad Company!😀

Will 135, I did play it for years😀

Paul, me too. Well it sounded like it to me anyway.

I had a feeling that was coming, Darren, but I have to agree with you mate!

Great stuff Paul@141- fair play to you Sir! My lad is the guitarist in our house - he is just starting to do Free/ Bad Company and makes a decent job of it too. For my sins, I am the singer! I am no Paul Rodgers,(who is!) but have a great tutor who has made me audible!!

We have great times murdering classic rock! A brilliant release from work, school and Everton!

Get that Strat out again bud!

"Koss was a very simple player but had the fantastic finger vibrato that even Clapton asked how he developed it."

A rare sort of Interview I saw very late in his time (a bit sad), he humbly played it down and said it just came out that way.

Free was my introduction to rock as was (original) Fleetwood Mac to Blues. I am forever indebted to Messrs Rodgers, Kossoff, Green and McVie forever. Great bands, timeless music.

Just listening to some Steely Dan btw.

Alan keep it up. I'm a Les Paul man myself, only thing is I'm a lefty and always got charged 20% by the music shops when buying guitars! Bastards!

Colin, I loved Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac. Went to see him a while ago at the Phil, what a player and singer.

Great music fellow youngsters.
Keep the Classic Rock flag flying.

I'm a Steve Ray Vaughan and Clash man myself.

Dave, love Stevie, great Hendrix type player.

Maupay to Everton: 㾻M in the last year of his contract; Trossard to Arsenal: 㿁M with a couple of years left!

Why can we never get anything right!?

Brian, @60, thanks for those facts, and that's another chapter from the EFC Book of Revelation, coupled with the 30 years of gross neglect and incompetence of a part time trumped up Board of directors, systematically ruining a EFC.

It's a damming indictment and cast iron proof that Everton has been run down to its knees as a football club.

The truths hurt, this is the ship that is run aground, and needs an SOS, the Board are oblivious and clearly lost site a long time ago.

There's half a season to play, but it is as many of TWrs fear this will be a last minute bargain basement special, to get essential reinforcements brought in, this window.
Ideally sooner rather than later.

Ignoring the core upgrade requirements of a pair of strikers since preseason, is on the DOF and the Board, and shows they cant be arsed, with their out of site, out of mind approach, to running EFC.

Still we live in hope.

The speculation, is usual this time of year but definitely it seems Everton have no poke, and I dread taking any more cast offs, but the Spurs lad, is a decent footballer, but not an out and striker, but in my view would offer more than Everton have currently.
But would he fit and the chemistry be right...

Beat West Ham, there's a ray of hope on the horizon.

Stick together, and believe, and face this relegation battle, and any thing can happen.

Everton, are in a slump, but there's a lot of games to play.

UTFTs!

As we're on the music theme, how about a Mancunuian one that might be apt right now.

James' Sit Down (next to me).

After all they and other stole Hey Jude from the sons of our city.

Calling for the Director of Football's head is ridiculous. Ings seems like a good deal to keep us up, but the reality is a 3-year contract, injury prone, no resale value.

If we can get a younger striker in, similar fee, and be able to sell him on, that is the only real way out of our financial mess. 㿀M players who left for nothing is what caused this – Bolasie, Walcott, Tosun, Mina, Gomes, Sigurdsson.

Ouattara to Bournemouth confirmed. We just can't compete.

Andrew@156
Dead right Andrew.
Ings could have done a job for us but only on the right terms.
Long contract at his age,with his injury record and no sell on value, well we've been there before.
Moura,good player, I think he had a raw deal at Spurs regarding game time but again my sentence above applies.
The reality is we have no money.
So we will probably be picking up scraps towards the end of the window and hoping they will be the final pieces in the jigsaw.
A forlorn hope I think,and Danny has spelled out exactly what that means on another thread.
The rest of the season promises to be bleak,unless we can bring in a new manager who can get some kind of tune out of this squad. I can't see us getting a result out of the West Ham game,at which point Lampard will be gone.
He should have been sacked weeks ago,dragging things out like this have only made things worse.

Paul #149, is that why Jimi always played right handed Strats? He couldn't afford the extra money for the lefties ones?????

On loan IF he can actually play this is a good signing.
I see the argument for Ings, but he's hardly played and not done much for Villa in last year.

We need Nicola Cortese!!!!

I learned about him here.

Paul and Will. I used to play lead guitar in bands too. We should get a TWeb band together. I still have my Strat and Les Paul. I actually saw Free live on their farewell tour at the stadium in Liverpool, the old boxing arena. Great show! I think it was 1971.

Colin, Steely Dan is my favorite band of all time. Larry Carlton is one amazing guitarist, but they also had guys like Skunk Baxter and Jay Graydon record with them.

Finally, Danny, I was in the basement last night cranking out "One of these nights" on my Strat. Lets hope we have a peaceful easy feeling tomorrow night.