Gnonto détente at Leeds may force Everton to move on

"Could" be a face saving move by Leeds. They integrate him back into the fold and then announce that as he's done as required they've decided blah blah. Having said that I hope we pass on him tbh.
Price is far too high IMO.

You want him, you pay through the nose for him. Leeds are just exacting a bit of tit for tat because they got relegated and Everton didn't. willingness to deal is not on the cards, hardball is.

We are chasing shadows with Gnonto, Leeds stringing it along until Friday 1st September. We've spent far too much time and effort on this and it's time to move on.

The one position that whatever money we've got to spend should have always been focused on the striker. Even in our current state we would have three points on the board and be mid table with a decent quality striker on the books.

Kevin Thelwell needs to take a cold shower and wake up to what the team needs. Get out there and buy the best quality striker you can , blow the budget out of the water if necessary just get the man in, forget about Gnonto altogether and wheel and deal the rest of the positions.

The fact that Gnonto is back in the first team fold doesn't mean it's over. There has been no mention of any backtracking on his transfer request (yet), simply he's back in training.

Leeds did say disciplinary proceedings were taking place, possibly resulting in being fined etc, so Gnonto has thought “sod that”, and returned to first-team training. Be interesting to hear the Leeds fans' reaction if he does play for them again.

We've had 3/4 bids turned down, told he's not for sale, and now he's back training with Leeds.

We should have moved on weeks ago. In my opinion, Hudson-Odoi is an upgrade for £8M.

It's going to be a £30M deal if it happens, isn't it?!

Leeds would be stupid to turn that down and would be cutting off their noses to spite their faces. I wouldn't have been happy being stuck with Gordon after he spat his dummy out.

If we really want him and can pay the money, make it happen. If they want more then just walk away and go for Yohan Bakayoko or Sulemana.

I'm really not sure about Hudson-Odoi. He couldn't get into Bayer Leverkusen's team last season and has never really improved and been very injury-prone after all the initial hype... Better him than no one though.

Christy is spot on, we need to stop fucking about and get 1 or possibly 2 strikers in... then a centre back

Who is negotiating on our behalf?? If it's fat Bill, we are a joke.

It's a sad situation Leeds find themselves in… but hopefully it puts off any young players touching them with a barge pole, and when they fail to come up this season, we can rescue the kid at half the price they are trying to extort right now. Slavery is alive and well in Yorkshire. 12 months, £21M profit, for a guy with 2 goals.

You've gotta know when to hold them,
Know when to fold them,
Know when to walk away,
Know when to run.

We can't be held to ransom. There are other good players out there.

Get Sulemana on loan with an obligation and spend the money on Ekitike or Broja or Okafor. Or maybe on a CB or a decent DMC.

It's getting to crunch time so let's see what the master negotiator can manage.

Leeds are entitled to hold on to their player if they want to and, if they do sell, make sure they get the best possible deal.

Like Everton wouldn't do such a thing!

Gary @ 11, we might be playing Leeds next season for all you know — in the Championship!

Gary @11,

It's hardly slavery is it? The kid signed a contract, his agent neglected to put a 'relegation clause' in his contract and now he's got to remain at Elland Road, until such time as a bid is made that is acceptable to Leeds United.

Seems fairly straightforward to me, as it happens, I don't want him or his agent anywhere near Goodison, so I hope he stays where he is.

As for feeling sorry for Leeds United, it's quite feasible that Everton could replace them in the Championship, if we don't get our collective fingers out of our rectums.

Gary,

What an ignorant remark to make. There are people enslaved around the world today that couldn't even dream of being in his shoes as would most of us free from shackles with our ordinary jobs.

Forget the price. I don't want this guy based on his attitude. Imagine he hits the ground running and come January a “bigger club” starts sniffing around. Do you think he will say “I'm blue to the day I die?” No he will throw another hissy fit and drop us like we are hot.

I dislike Leeds but they're a big club who deserve better than this kind of treatment from an employee. Next.

Why do EFC always get caught up in these transfer messes? Make an offer and one more after that, if needs be. If they still say no, walk away.

We certainly wouldn't like it if another club was sniffing around one of our contracted players, totally unsettling the player and refusing to take 'No' for an answer.

However, as it's Leeds, I'll make an exception in this case.

Not too sure I like this guy's attitude, though. He's not long ago signed a new contract, seems to think he's a legend before his time and would probably do the same to us if a 'bigger' club came knocking. Swerve!

It's not happening, this one, anymore – I don't think it ever was going to happen tbh, we're offering fuck-all upfront and the payments spread out over 5 years. Fair play to Leeds Utd – they've said from minute 1 what they wanted and we just can't financially match it.

Time to move on, this is where big Kevin Thelwell has to earn his coin, surely he's had other plates spinning in the background? I won't hold my breath though. A week left and so much work to be done once again, this club just never changes.

I got a problem. In short we are in dire need of several players or we will be in the same mess at the end of the season and we will not get out of it.

We are often linked with players who we have no interest in whatsoever, that may be cost, availability or fit in the team..

Then there are the ones we actually want, can afford, but cannot or do not close the deal, all the while we are losing points, crippling confidence and looking like a joke, on and off the field.

Holding out for the best deal is fine, to a point. The window is shortening, prices rise as it gets closer to the deadline, yet Everton FC are incapable of closing a transfer. It's the way we do business and it's costing us potential points every day.

Quibbling over relatively small amounts is pathetic. We know how much we want a player, how much we have in the kitty. If the other side want more than we are willing to pay then give tell them it's our final offer and move on. Gnonto wants to come, we want him, the price is to high..tell them, move on. Instead we keep talking, the window closes and we throw up our hands and say we tried! Well, trying isn't good enough. This is a results business and the failure to land key players is directly proportional to were we end up in the league.

If we have no money say so and get on with getting the best out of what we have got. It's amateurish the way we negotiate, the time we take to complete a negotiation. We all see it EVERY window. Business done at the end of the window after 6 or more games played is gambling with18 points.

Which brings me onto my follow up..

What's changed with the new board? Tell me one thing? Improved communication? A playing vision? A strategy to achieve it? Where do the club want to be? What is the measure of success as a club, as a team? What single change has been made with the appointment of the new board? What the fuck are we doing?

This owner and chairman are singularly responsible for the demise of our club, their leadership is non-existent, their absence in both mind and body represents the very reason we are spiralling once more.
Second tier managers, and I count Dyche and Thewell as implementers, they do not have authority to lead. Without leadership we are lost and struggling.

Priority is baffling, how long have we needed a striker? Any striker, yet how many wingers do we seemingly keep going for? Why? Ball in the net, remember?

There is no point in clearing deadwood if we do not get the mission-critical positions filled, we are gambling with survival. The players we have brought in are better, but priority has to be a striker, the rest can wait.

Could not have put it any better myself, well said Christine.

You nailed it spot on, whereas me, it comes across as if I'm a doom and gloom merchant, and I mean that from myself after reading how I write about such matters, I can never word it as beautiful as you.

For the first time in a very long time, I am really worried about our great football club. Absolutely shocking we go into a third season without the striker issue resolved; this may get resolved before the window closes, or we panic buy another striker following on last-minute panic buys, Tosun, Rondon and Maupay.

We were told by Moshiri we would get a striker, we were told by Moshiri he convinced Bill to stay on due to his excellent negotiating skills in the transfer window. Yet 2 games into the new season and still not resolved, our most glaring and obvious need is a striker, possibly two.

Not getting one in was bad enough at the start of the window, but to be two games into the new season and still no closer is shambolic.

I really feel for the die-hard Blues, travelling everywhere with such positiveness. The club is taking you for a ride, those at the top are destroying our great club. Those in charge have sucked the life and any hope out of me. I'm not sure how much further down they can drag me, but something needs to change at the very top and soon; otherwise, we will not be as fortunate in the coming year or so.

Players available now – all Bosmans and not injured according to Transfermarket.

CD: Sergio Ramos Former Spanish International - played 45 games for PSG in 22-23 and I guarantee he is better than Maguire and he won't cost £30M. If Silva can still do it for Chelsea.

DM: Luis Chavez Mexican International

CM/ RM / RW: Roberto Pereyra Former Argentine International played for Udinese last season as Captain. 36 games 5 goals and 9 assists.

CF: Alfredo Morelos Former Colombian International, best CF left on the free agents list. Could he be better than Adams. He's 27 and won't cost £15m.

This is the last of the Beggars Banquet - Get them while they're free.

Tell them it's our final offer or we are leaving the room this Friday.

We have wasted another whole week hearing rumours but yet again not completing any signings that we are desperate for.

Leeds are within their rights to force Gnonto to stay, much like our John Stones stance in 2015 when I believe it was Roberto Martinez's finest off-field hour for us.

We need to have other targets now ready.

I'm not really convinced on Hudson-Odoi however. Yes, he was highly rated about 3 or 4 years ago but his career path has taken a very similar pattern to many who wash up shore at Everton.

Sulemana on loan looks like an appetizer to me, loads of pace.

Jack 24, Morelos would be great. A much, much better option than Adams.

Forget this kid (he's not even that good). Forget Adams, whose bang average. Forget the rumour mongers like Romano, Myers, el bobble etc…… they're all full of shit. As long as kenshite, and the gormless Thelwell, are in charge of recruitment we'll always take thing to the limit before ending up with egg on our face.

If we've actually got 25m for fim and 12m for Adams surely its time to jog on?
Roberto Pereyra and Chavez on frees would give us depth
Gift Orban apparent asking price is 30m Euro, he's actually a striker, still plety other strikers in the 25M bracket, can't see why wee're apparently bidding 12m for a striker and 25m for a winger

Jim, Hudson-Odoi, massive wages, injury concerns, downward trajectory, coming from a sky6 club desperately looking to offload deadwood and wages, not convinced he would have the desire to ‘dig in' at Everton when the chips were down. There's got to be better alternatives, Sulemana looks like he's worth a gamble, especially on a loan deal.

Instead of the 15mAdams and 25m Gnonto combine fees , go all in 40m on the best possible striker we can get. Then get some loans, Sulemana , McTominay with options to buy. Get a CB to work with Branthwaite this season , there's frees out there like Johnny Evans who would do a job for us in rotation and back up.

I feel like Kevin Thelwell has lost the focus of what was actually required in this window and has been going off on unnecessary tangents.

Buy the best possible striker!

Colin & Martin. Agree with both of you. I thought the recruitment of the young Portuguese lad might have been the start of a new approach to recruitment- but it appears Dyche has no plans to play him any time soon, so it seems we are back to our usual policy of over paying for underwhelming players like Gnonto and Adams. We never seem to learn.

Zouma, Zaha, Zebedee from the Magic Roundabout all chased until the last day of the transfer window only for us ending up like the spotty faced twerp standing alone at the end of the year school dance.

Zebedee wasn't really in our sights to be honest.

While these same two pot herbs are running our club,there will NEVER be any meaningful change. Just hope that once again we can scrape through the season.

I don't think Gift Orban would come to Everton to be fair.

There's no point in saying ‘player x is available - get him instead…'

The fact is Etikite and Sergio Ramos WILL NOT come to us. Having the funds is one thing, being able to structure them in a way that the selling club will accept is another. Then agreeing wages is a whole new ball game when you're under massive financial pressure to lower the wage bill significantly.

Then the most important one. The player has to agree to play for the most dysfunctional club in Europe. I hate it, just saying it makes me sick. But that's the reality.

It's just not as simple as ‘if Gnoto doesn't sign we've got 25 million to spend on someone else…. Get Beto in…'

There's a reason we're in for Che Adams.

And yes, the buck stops with Kenwright and Moshiri.

Bill I love that phrase “Pot Herb” me arl fella says it all the time, let's move on from Gnonto, one half decent season and he becomes a £30 million player? Time to move on, come on Blues ffs pull ye finger out and get the squad sorted before we get stranded at the bottom

Christine and Brian

Both bang on!!

Honestly, I'm completely baffled this is still rumbling on.

Granted I didn't watch a lot of Leeds last season but looking at Gnonto's stats, why are we so hell bent on this kid? A striker is our main priority and has been for three seasons (a CB is needed too mind). We appear to be wasting invaluable time and effort on what? 'Potential'? The priority is goals, a striker that can hit the net regularly. I know there's a lot more to transfers than just targeting a player and that's the deal done, but chasing positions and players that aren't priority when the main need of the team is being neglected is nothing short of insanity.

I'd have walked away from this after the second bid got rejected, but we probably only upped the bid by a tenner. If you want the player put in a decent bid, set your limit and hit it with the second bid. If that gets turned down walk and go for the next player on your list. However, it seems we don't even have a list of more than one target. Our ability to negotiate is shambolic. We could get offered a player with personal terms agreed, contract signed by all parties bar us and we'd still manage to faff about until someone else hijacked the deal.

Maybe there's more going on behind the scenes we don't know about and a striker is being looked at, for the love of god I hope so. If we don't sign a striker Kevin needs to walk and take Bill and Moshiri with him. Shambles :/

Fully agree with everyone here, precious time, weeks even chasing a player who won't make that much difference. Yet again, unprofessional from Everton.

Points have been lost already this season and no one new is going to be arriving before the Wolves game.

We cannot have played 3 lost 3. Do Moshiri and Kenwright not understand what relegation for this dysfunctional squad would mean?

Rian, I totally agree.

It's has been obvious that we need a new centre-forward for 3 seasons. Even Benitez realised that Calvert-Lewin and Richarlison wasn't enough which is why he bought Rondon. Who then totally unfit played 8 games immediately because Calvert-Lewin and Richarlison were injured.

Forget about wingers: we need 2 ready-to-go centre-forwards and assume Calvert-Lewin is not going to be fit. If he does then return, it's a bonus and a nice problem to have.

Beto and Adams would be the minimum for me. I still can't believe we've spent £16M on a centre-forward who is one for the future. If we don't get a goalscoring centre-forward, there will be no future!!

Do we really believe anything that comes out of Everton?

Every other clubs is linked to a player and gets him, we are linked and linked and linked and then the window will shut and dickhead Dyche will be having an interview saying we tried to get these deals over the line but just didn't have the time.

If we do manage to get any kind of shut deal over the line (Ché Adams) Blue Bollox Bill will be stating he has saved us 3 weeks' money on salaries, forget that having a forward may well have got us 3 points against Fulham or probably £2 million in a league position with the lost 3 points.

And we just sit here and let it. I don't know what's more criminal or farcical!

- Is Kenwright ill?
- Or is he not?
- Who is negotiating the/any offers?
- Is Thelwell being dealt a straight hand?
- Is Moshiri trying to get involved in transfers?
- Is there a decent player (striker preferably) who wants to join Everton?
- Where does space end?

All questions baffling the minds of the sane.

It's like an episode of Scooby Doo.
Mysterious goings on in Finch Farm.

Rain (36),

A lot of sense in that post, your last paragraph hits it home.

There is a lot going on behind the scenes and unfortunately I think it is tying Dyche's and Thelwell's hands behind their backs when it comes to the transfers they are trying to complete.

Something is very wrong at the club in the way it is being run and it doesn't bode well for how we try and stay in the premier league this season and for the future.

I hope I am wrong and we get the three players, at least, we need to strengthen the squad before the end of the transfer window but even so, we have already lost the 3 points against Fulham that could prove to be vital at the end of the season.

I don't understand why we have pursued this lad for so long. In our position, we do not need a 5ft nothing luxury winger.If he was that good, other clubs would be interested but they aren't.

Why aren't we trying to hold onto Gray? The whole situation is baffling.

Buy a £20M striker who isn't ready, trying to buy a £15M very average striker from Southampton, again, who nobody else wants.

Our scouting and recruitment department is the worst in the Premier League by some distance. Lazy appointments made by people protecting their own interests.

If we don't go down this season, we never will.

Rian (36), sorry about the misspelling of your name, It's that gloomy at Everton now I put Rain in automatically!!

There is no plan. Nobody is in charge.

We've needed a striker for 2 years; if they cared about that, they wold have signed one. If we lose oo Wolves, we'll have thrown 6 points away (the home games) of the new season for lapses in basic recruitment.

Imagine if we'd been told that after supporting the team right through the hell of the last 6 months of last season:"Moshiri wouldn't be arsed getting a new striker when the next season starts." – None of us would have believed it, even though we knew what a fool he was.

Worse than that, I actually think we are being led down the garden path with phantom bids, and obfuscation. Moshiri and Kenwright are contemptible. At least now finally everyone can see it.

Aside from Dyche, do the board really understand the dire position that the club is in?

If, Dyche cannot get his transfer targets in or he has to ‘make do' with panic buys, I can see him walking before he is pushed, only the severance pay from his contract will keep him until he is yet another statistic of sackings.

I hope that Dyche read the riot act to the players over the Villa loss, because we were totally out-played; if that performance sets the benchmark for the season, we all know where we are heading. Dyche himself didn't cover himself with glory over that debacle!

We need to buck our ideas up fast, get all our key players fit, add some quality, and play with some organised tactics, instead of just running around clueless.

Kevin sums it up. There is nobody in charge.

Kenwright staying on has just added to the problems. Moshiri is looking for a way out whilst protecting his investment and the new ground is his priority. Obviously keeping us in the Premier League is also pretty essential.

The club needs dismantling and rebuilding from top to bottom. I wonder what the atmosphere is like on the training ground? The players know that things will turn nasty if we lose to Wolves.

They have been spared taking too much flak because the owner and Chairman were seen as those responsible. The poison is spreading. It needs to be sucked-out. Another shit transfer window and the fans will be at their wit's end.

I've got a bad feeling about all this. Dyche seems to know what type of player he needs and wants, and all this guff about going in for this and that player is just so frustrating and makes many supporters' blood boil.

If he doesn't get who he wants, and he knows full well the way a deal has to be constructed, I think he could very easily walk away.

I mean, whose idea was Chermiti? If he's good enough he's old enough. Remember, he's a striker – we paid for him, so bloody well play him.

Dave [42],

Aye, I have a feeling Dyche's hands are well and truly tied, possibly lopped off at this stage… :/ His "Last Post" March interview he made no excuses, more or less said what we all knew, we were shit and mentally we crumbled. You could see the frustration.

There's definitely something very wrong internally at the club. It seems utterly rudderless at the minute and, without sounding like a gloom merchant, if things don't change really quickly and we don't sign at least one centre-forward who's ready to hit the ground running, I genuinely think this is the season it finally catches up with us. Hopefully I'm very wrong, but it feels like we're spiralling towards the plughole. :/

I agree with Mal [46], I could see Dyche walking if he doesn't get the targets he (we) need and he feels he's been lied to... the miserable merry-go-round continues.

The Chermiti signing you'd think would have been a Thelwell move surely?

The idea that you buy him for £12M and sell him in 3 years time for double that, but to actually get money for him, he will need to play bloody games in these next few years – and not be the second coming of Moise Kean.

Dyche will walk if he doesn't get who he wants? Please don't make me laugh.

Do you honestly think another club as big as us (and yes there'd be plenty who'd want this job) would employ this dinosaur?

Go on about strikers all you want but people seem to be missing the point. That midfield of ours has zero creativity in it whatsoever.

And let's not forget: this is the clown who keeps playing calamity Keane while a promising young lad languishes getting splinters in his ringpiece. Oh, and his insistence on bringing the prolific Maupay on before the likes of Cannon and Simms when he was here.

He's basically laughing at us saying "Please don't tell me who to pick."

It's stubbornness bordering on arrogance and reminds me of the last throes of the Martinez reign.

Expect to see the usual suspects line up on Saturday, with the 3 stooges in midfield contributing absolutely nothing. And I'll include Garner in that because he's hardly set the place alight.

The only one I would give a pass to is Danjuma who toiled hard on Sunday without any support at all. Hope he starts up top before the munchkin… but I'm not holding my breath.

Can't wait for Saturday- Donkey Keane as our defensive "rock" and Mighty Maupay as our "striking sensation ". 5-0 to us easy then!
But hey, now you supporters, be careful with your procrastinations- you might upset "the little darlings".
If it winds you up that much you resort to racist, homophobic et al comments however- you need to sort you're life out.
The club is done by the way- and viewed as a comedy sketch by all. Thanks Kenwright. Keep you're dignity folks and stop feeding the monster- take up golf,or fishing,learn the guitar,or learn to sing. Football is not important- but allowing liberties to be taken and your loyalty disrespected - is in this life. Once you find there is no longer
enjoyment in a past time you once loved doing- it's time to focus on something else that makes you happy. Life is indeed to short folks. Off to the beach and a spot of singing later. Everton? Who needs the hassle eh? Good luck all.

although not the only issue, the striker issue is THE major one that needs sorting out for me. even under Lampard we made enough chances in some games to win them but poor finishing cost us. it is the same now - look at the Fulham game, the chances were there to be taken and get us the points.

Its scandalous that a professional club in the Premier League has had this issue for 3 seasons on the bounce now and not sorted it out. Even worse when in my opinion it is what has almost relegated us the last 2 seasons.

It's like those in charge want us to go down or something. Just can't see why they have not managed to sign at least one decent striker by now - it can't take you 3 transfer windows to find one somewhere in world football who will come?!

We seem to be obsessed with the wrong type of player. Wingers are great and obv valuable - but we need someone to stick the ball in the net first and foremost. Not having a go at DCL by the way - injuries not his fault and hope he recovers soon. But we must have someone to come in who can actually score when he is out.

As for Gnonto - good player but not at rip-off prices. Agree we have wasted time much time chasing him and players like Bilal Toure. Set them/their club a deadline to do the deal and then move on if they mess us about. they either want to come/do the deal or not.

The bottom line is we have a squad that are barely good enough for Prem. survival, they have shown that over the last two seasons.

Add to that we have not been blessed with much luck on the injury front, and here we are now.

We should have got a result against Fulham, we played well apart from the most important bit of scoring. Against Villa we were outplayed all over the pitch and it wasn't our finest day.

We all know we want better players in some positions, the club are trying to sign a few but getting a deal over the line is not easy.

The club for all that are in a almighty mess from top to bottom, our reputation both on the field and off it are at rock bottom.

I'd like to think we can find some form from somewhere and get through this season and finish above the bottom three, I think we can but its going to be a scrap.

Andy, at this stage in the game calling us a big club is more a laughing matter than Dyche walking. We need to stop with that...it's not the 1980's anymore and we're, sadly, not the dominant force we once were, or anywhere near it sadly. Do you honestly think managers or players give a toss about that? Unless their a childhood fan, they don't. It's all money these days. So yeah, if the stress becomes too much he'll walk, he financially doesn't need the job, nor the stress that comes with it.

Absolutely agree we do need more creativity in midfield but with no target that creativity is pointless...how many games have we created loads of chances but no end product. A CF (or ideally two) is THE ABSOLUTE priority lots more quality is needed throughout the time though, I'm sure we'll all agree. It's difficult to be optimistic

Also meant to say Andy, I'm with you on the Keane and Maupay front. Keane is an absolute liability, in fact I'd swap their playing positions around and we'd do better. Baffling

I think people are generally confusing a lack of money with incompetence.

Only Sheff Utd and Luton are in a weaker position financially.

So it is very likely deals will only get done as the window draws to a close and we (hopefully) become the only option for players, selling clubs and agents.

Vent your fury at club management for getting us in the mess, not Thelwell and Dyche who now represent our best chance of survival.

Gnonto is back training with the Leeds first team and rumour has it that he has also withdrawn his transfer request.

Apparently Farke and the CEO of Leeds spoke with Gnonto and that seems to have changed his mind. I guess they both told him the club wouldn't sell him in this window and if he carried on with refusing to train then he would be fined. And we all know that money is the god of footballers so he relented with his refusal to train.

To be honest, given our financial position, £25 million for a player who scored 2 goals in 20-odd games last season is not what we need at present. Let's face it, when Harrison and McNeil are fit and both have way better goals per game than Gnonto, where would he get a game? Gone and use the £25 million to get a striker.

Colin #27

'Bang average' would be a considerable upgrade on what we currently have up front!

Paul C @54.

It really does seem like there's a deliberate policy to kill the club. We are exactly like the restaurant taken over by the mafia in Goodfellas. Buy high, sell low or give away, bleed it white and then when the money runs out torch it for insurance.

We are, don't forget, owned by the bagman of an oligarch looking to launder lots of dirty money. Much can be achieved through a well-organised collapse. Fake bids, extended 'talks', and ghost bids/interest are diversions; merely symptoms of an undertaking near implosion – with information on its true state being kept from everyone with an interest in it.

We are one of (if not) the worst-run clubs in the Football League, not just the Premier League. Come Octobe,r the FA will intervene and punish not those responsible but the supporters by probably applying the petrol and torching the shell of what was once a great club.

The fit and proper persons tests to run clubs should not only be applied before a takeover, but on a regular basis thereafter and must be more than just a rubber-stamp exercise.

Those responsible for our demise will make their getaway without so much as a parking ticket and with bags of cash to run new scams like film and theatre companies etc.

Amen John!!

John @62,

With any other owner and any other chairman, most people, would laugh at your post. However, in the current economic climate and with the audacity and childishness of so many rich people to destroy what they can't control, your scenario doesn't seem as far-fetched as it would have done only a short time ago.

In the absence of any information from those in power, we are once again, drifting along, like we have done for the last few years. If it does all go belly up, and there's not much to cling onto to say that it won't, who benefits – it certainly won't be us the fans.

As for the possibility of a points deduction or worse, I've always felt that taking points off clubs is unfair, and it would be better if in a set number of games, the team that is in the dock, should have a handicap placed upon them, i.e. start each of the set number of games a goal behind.

If Everton were playing x team the game would begin with Everton one goal down, if on the day the Blues won 1-0 then they would get a point. If they won 2-0 or more they'd get all three points and if they drew on the day, they'd get nothing, and if they lost by any score on the day, it wouldn't matter.

The opposing side would still have to earn their points, so if they lost the game by any score they get nothing, if they drew or won on the day, they get the usual allocation of points

At least using that sort of method, there would be an opportunity to overcome the penalty in a 'sporting' manner.

Barry H. They've already secretly applied that sanction. It's called the Keane punishment. They're annoyed that injury forced it to be suspended for the last four matches last season, but it's now back in force. We are clearly not allowed to play anyone else.

Barry - your logic is flawed in that that would give an unfair advantage to the teams we would be playing under that handicap over other teams in the league. You couldn't go the whole season or even half a season, ie, all home games with that handicap, surely.

Also "The opposing side.....if they lost the game by any score they get nothing," Wrong - If they lost by one goal they would get a point along with the Blues.

If I'm reading your post right.

Kim @66

The opponents would only get something from any given game if they actually won or drew on the day, the handicap, wouldn't effect them. However, Everton would begin the game a goal behind and in order to take three points they'd have to win by a two goal margin and in order to get a point they'd have to win by a one-goal margin.

Scores on the actual day

1-0 or win by any one goal margin Everton gain a point - no points for opponents

0-1 or lose by any score - Everton zero points, three points to opponents

2-0 or win by two or more goals - Everton three points - zero points for opponents

Any draw - zero points for Everton, a point for opponents

Everton should move on by selling the club to responsible owners with a competent board, instead of the fans having to put up with the current facade of floundering in the transfer market and failing to have any meaningful relationship with the fans, aside from the one that the board conjure up to give them the answers that only the board want to hear.

Stump up the dosh, this lad will improve us greatly.

Just look for any striker we can loan for the season, who has a good strike rate, is fit and ready to play now... Gotta be someone who fits that bill.

Find him!

Surely a decent creative midfielder is a must. Our midfield is an absolute joke. Anyone can dominate them as we have seen in the last game and many games last season.

What the fuck are this club doing? I really fear for us this season and we are only 2 games in. What a bunch of shite footballers our great club have. Embarassing. Fail to win against Wolves and we are in deep deep shit.

We would be fuming if the roles were reversed. Good on Leeds for being strong.

Anthony #71,

Totally agree. Unfortunately this refusal to play nonsense seems to be becoming all too common. Personally I wouldn't be signing any player who behaved this way.

A Leeds supporting pal of mine says he's not the only one. Leeds seem to have few players who have downed tools. Sounds to me like a clear breach of contract, but it's football thus I'm probably being naive.

Leeds management are obviously a smart bunch of bastards. The discussion must have gone something like:

Wilfried Gnonto: I don't want to play for this shit club any longer I'm too good for it
Leeds management: You've got a contract
WG: Fuck off I'm not playing
LM (offscreen, on phone): Yes Mr Kenwright, you can have him for £10 million OK, £20 million... If you insist £25 plus 10% sell on, done, you drive a hard bargain"
LM: (back in room to Gnonto): "OK Wilfried, you're going to Everton"
WG (goggling wildly, horrified): "No please, anything but that... I'll play for nothing, I'll wash the other players cars... anything but Everton"
LM: Mwahahahahah!

We'd cack ourselves if they accepted a bid.

Same as for the low ball offer for Adams.

Remember the Alan Smith move at £1 per year until 2038? Then Rooney exits stage left