Nathan Patterson: Keep, Loan or Sell?

Nathan Patterson had been going below the radar but those eagle eyes at The Echo. Here's what Joe Thomas says:

Nathan Patterson is one of a handful of players who, even in a small squad, face a summer in which they have work to do to convince the Everton hierarchy to give them a serious role in the upcoming season.

The right-back has been plagued by injury since joining from Rangers in 2022 and had to watch from the sidelines as the likes of Jake O'Brien and Ashley Young shared duties during much of the second half of the campaign.

The longer the club goes without bringing in a new option, the more time Patterson, still only 23, has to convince his superiors he deserves a chance. Unlike last summer, Patterson is fit for pre-season and, like Beto, could be heard receiving praise for his work in the one-v-one drills as he fought off the advances of Isaac Heath.

I must admit personally I quite like watching him. But I'm an unashamed advocate of attacking football and like watching players who go forward and look to deliver the ball with intent. That's why I liked Dixon too… and Nkounkou before him.

But apparently the smart money says they don't do enough defending… and so that's them done. Even though scoring goals is the name of the game and something we seem to have become increasingly incompetent at. (Yes, a personal word of thanks here for the hugely frustrating efforts of one Dominic Calvert-Lewin over the past 9 years... sorry, I wasn't going to mention him.)

He's never scored a goal and he's never provided any reliable delivery from wide areas?

If we can replace him then I would.

The decision to sell Nkounkou was incredibly poor. I also saw something in him that obviously Everton didn't. Hopefully Dixon can return from the rumoured Stockport loan and emerge as a regular starter.

However, I expect O'Brien will always be used as right-back cover ahead of Patterson and that's why Moyes has decided to keep Keane.

I don't think Patterson has a future at the club, a loan at least takes him off the wage bill.

I'm sure Moyes will bring it out of him.

I would imagine they and him have already tried so what do I know.

I am not convinced on him, but Leighton Baines also had a tough start to life Everton, heavily linked to Sunderland, and he went on to be brilliant.

I am not putting him in that category, but you need 10-15 starts to get your confidence. Look at Obrien, Beto etc.

Can’t defend, can’t cross a ball consistently, slow

SELL

His first season he played 22 EPL games.

Then we would have Coleman and Dixon as backup. And obviously O'Brien if necessary with Tarkowski and Branthwaite fit.

At times he has looked okay to me, at least going forward, but any progress he may have made has been hampered by injuries.

Hopefully Moyes can get him playing well in the first team; if not, he has been a complete waste of money and should be let go.

Played 242 games for Everton under David Moyes.

Anyway We've done all this previously.

If we can just get him fit, a la Calvert-Lewin, we really have a player here.

Personally, for me, I'd look at him wide right, if not more a winger. Compared to our Leeds loaner, Patterson is streets ahead.

Awful player.

Several managers have given him chances and he consistently proves he is a naive defender who doesn’t learn the basics.

Just not sure we’d get any money for him.

May have to be loan with us paying part of his wages.

Poor scouting.

Allow him time free of injuries, some good coaching and a run in the first team. Then decide.

We can debate the merits and/or deficiencies in these two all day long, but neither appears to have a basic football brain, particularly when it comes to defending, which as full backs should be high on their CV, and which you'd consider to be a fundamental requirement of a professional footballer, never mind a Premier League defender?

Neither seems to recognise danger, or take charge and manage/direct the wide player tracking back to support them. Both are forever being caught out of position and on the wrong side of the man they're meant to be keeping in check, which then adds to the pressure on the centre-backs and keeper, due to them simply not doing the basics.

Let's see how he gets on in the next few weeks.

What I have seen of him, both for Scotland and Rangers, and fairly limited for us, his attacking flair is better than his defensive element. However, I think Moyes can help him along in that department.

I have seen enough of him to say his defending leaves a lot to be desired.

He has been unlucky with injuries which have definitely halted any progress. I don't see a queue of clubs willing to buy him.

At times last season I would have started him at right mid to see what he could do as I don't see a future for him at a prem club as a fullback. I rate Garner as a better right back.

Feel like he's the right back version of Darron Gibson, in that he'll never play more than 4 games on the spin and never play more than 10 games a season.

I'd like to say keep and hope for the best but I truly believe he'll never make it with us now sadly.

None have us have seen him much, but he doesn't look as bad as the treatment he's received. It's a massive mark against Moyes that he didn't just play Patterson for the last 5 games or so of the season; it would have done him the world of good. Even if we didn't want to keep him it would have raised his transfer value.

His only assist was from a low cross converted at the far post by Danjuma at Bramall Lane the season before last.

Mark #14, agreed. If there's anybody who can save his career, it's Professor Moyes -- who not only turned a headless young Coleman into a star but just this year created a very solid young right back of an unused center back named Jake.

Billy #6, strongly disagree on Nkounkou. He couldn't play defense. Four subsequent clubs tried him at left back and passed. He is now a reserve left midfielder at Eintracht Frankfurt, who are trying to offload him. Played less than a thousand minutes in all competitions last season, less than 400 in the Bundesliga. We missed out on nothing with him.

I'd say the Mykolenko's strength is defending. He was almost forever present in the 4th best defence in the league last season.

I thought he might have been a promising find when we signed him, but I don't think it's going to happen now. I would say sell but don't think we'll have any takers, so maybe a loan spell is our only option.

It might well be a loan because he's performed so badly that it will be hard to get any fee for him at all.

Probably a return to Rangers - or to the Championship - or some mediocre team in a mediocre league overseas.

No need to be sentimental. Move one. Just buy a new, quality RB please (maybe two).

In my opinion Patterson and any player need to start being treated like a business asset of a well run and structured business.

Patterson cost the club circa £16m in transfer fees alone and he still has 2 years left on his contract, just writing that off is the mistake the past leadership would have made.

The current leadership need to do what they can to get a tune out of Patterson by giving him subject to fitness minutes on the pitch at either RB or RW so that he either becomes a profitable asset however unlikely that may seem at present or to increase his potential value in the market to limit the losses.

The club needs to start acting like and running like a business if we are ever to get back to the top and compete for the honours we all crave.

That makes Patterson 3rd choice(arguably second and a half choice because we won't always have the option of O'Brien at RB), use the friendlies to find out if he is up to that. If not move on and get a proper RB reserve.

Bless him, but I don't take Seamus as a serious option, he was being shown up last season and before, and it's another year and a very used clock. Maybe emergency RB but no more. Hopefully coaching beckons for him.

We can just do what other Premier League clubs do and buy good players. We've had the worst right flank in the Premier League two seasons in a row now – it's time to buy.

I'm not saying he should be 1st choice at RB or RW but maybe if he's fit enough a run of games gives him a fair crack to see if he adds any value to the team and squad, he's still young and with the right coaching and guidance he offers options even as a back up.

By all means, if the club buy a first choice RB to start ahead of Patterson, O'Brien and Coleman, then I'm all for that; I just don't think people need to write Patterson off just yet.

Imagine having to play behind who Patterson has had to play behind when he's had the chances for the last 3 seasons and people are wondering why he looks poor.

Get a good RW in front of him and we may see a different player if given the chance.

They aren't.

The people who made those mistakes are gone. New ownership. New management. New club. New stadium. Wealth far beyond anything the club has ever had, and the in-progress assembly of an entirely new management structure unlike anything we've seen before.

What happened before isn't a pattern that needs to be broken. It's history and it's done with. People need to stop thinking it matters. It does not.

“We've had the worst right flank in the Premier League two seasons in a row now”

Even with O'Brien, a lot of fans favourite, playing there, Robert?

So what are we waiting for? That suddenly he discovers some hidden talent that many don't see?

That's the real issue imo

I can see it going one of two ways.

We sell and Patterson, retaining Coleman and Dixon as backup.

We keep Patterson as backup alongside Coleman. If we keep him, he would need to play more, which will be difficult as back-up.

Either way, we need a new right back.

On Jonjoe, I really wanted him to succeed, but he just didn't have it at the top level. And I didn't just watch him for Everton.

Mykolenko did well in the second half of the season. He has always been a good defender, nothing more. Maybe it was Moyes's influence, confidence and playing in a more settled back four, and towards the end of the season, he also improved going forward.

He still looks like a very Everton kind of right back. One fans can appreciate for his effort and bravery.

Unfortunately he's suffered with injury and the simple fact that no manager has been prepared to give him experience at this level. Both have hindered him and it's unrealistic to expect that he be ready for this league without some learning experiences.

I'm now coming around to the idea that he won't make it at this club and, for his own career, should be making a move for regular football.

Shame. I quite like the guy.

He is more of a wingback than a fullback and is okay going forward with decent pace and good crossing ability.

I am torn on this one. He might work in a 3-5-2 but never in a 4 at the back formation.

Sell and recover some money before he ends his contract and goes on a free.

Not getting what Rangers got for him, that's for sure.

Sorry I've forgotten his name but looks good to me, Dutch lad.

Rafa was sacked 12 days after Patterson signed.

Across the whole of world football, we must be able to do better than that surely?

Same as this kid.

He's Scottish Premiership or EFL standard, he's just not good enough for the Premier League, imo.

When I think about the last few years, it absolutely 100% amazes me that Everton are still a Premier League football club, such was the disgraceful and unprofessional way we were being run.

A ready-made first-team coach for so many new managers is simply incomprehensible, and that's before you consider people like Brands were just going along and taking the money, until an irate supporter made him unconsciously take his guard down.

The board also showed their true colours before they left, and luckily for us, 777 Partners were complete charlatans; otherwise, we would have been truly fucked by the end of the worst era in our entire history.

Hopefully the good times are coming, because we have seen more bad than most, and somehow survived sometimes through the sheer will of our wonderful crowd.

We have been a crowd that have taken a lot of stick, when we haven't at times been able to control our exasperation – but how many consider it's because of the huge emotional investment so many Evertonians have got in our football club?

Seeing as this has a bearing on EFC going forward - can we have a summary of why Palace have been kicked out of the UEFA League and downgraded to the Conference League. UEFA having done this because of Textor owning shares in both. Cheers J.

Bring in even a half decent fullback,Walker Peters, free signing has to be a massive upgrade on Patterson. If we rely on anyone from the reserves or Patterson, then we are in for it again this season.

We are already scraping the barrel with Coleman and Keane signing, I wouldn't be surprised if Harrison comes back.

One more thing, off topic. Why are the writers putting up pictures of players that are no longer here? Young, Decoure and Harrison recently, I know the squad is small but surely we can put up better choices than them. Would-be nice to have photos of players through the history of Everton, Dean, Ball, Collins, Latchford etc.

So at this point, I think we need cover for him -- which I'm certain we will get -- but not a replacement.

Of course we will eventually need somebody better to challenge for Europe, somebody who can contribute in attack. But with our tiny squad we're not close to that level yet. For now, Myko is just fine, and we have much more urgent priorities.

While we're on the theme of giving no-hopers a run of games to prove how useless they are, why not bring back Niasse, Tosun, Rondon, Alli, Vinagre, Maupay etc…,? Give them all 30 to 40 games each to prove themselves.

Some people never learn.

According to Steve Parish, Textor either had to sell his Palace shares or put the Palace shares into a blind trust.

He missed the deadline to do that.

It was Brands and particularly Kenwright who signed those deals off. But who really knows???

Agreed about Mykolenko's all round game needs improving, but given the tactics of Dyche - with, what I perceived as his reluctance to let his full backs overlap (correct me if I am wrong folks), I thought under Moyes his all round game had improved, he was getting forward more, overlapping and putting in some decent crosses and having a go at shooting too.

That said, I like the old style view that a defender's first priority is to .... defend; maybe a wee bit old fashioned these days. But too many forwards defend and too many defenders attack in the modern game unproportionate to their skill levels.

That said - we once upon a time had Mr. Mountfield!

As for Patterson, he could improve under Moyes and certainly has the skill set to play on the right of midfield.

We’ve got our “dour Davey” back with his familiar style and approach which ironically most appear to be happy about. If that isn’t a throwback to the past, for better or for worse, what is?

New ownership, new structure, new money but crucially (and very relevantly) the same manager from the past!

We need a decision this transfer window, based on the current manager's honest assessment of the player, to stick or twist.

At the moment we don't have a proper, first choice right-back and that should be a clear objective.

Personally, I'd be surprised if Nathan Patterson was the next incumbent and if he is I hope it's because he has stepped-up and not because our plans for recruiting in that position all came to naught.

Indeed the rules are clearly constructed to make clear that a multi club ownership model (such as TFG) cannot have more than one club competing in the same competition.

This is a very real / possible scenario we could find ourselves in within a year or two. Roma are almost perennial qualifiers of European competitions and I just cannot see under any circumstances, that we would be given the nod rather than them. The fans outcry would be very damaging to a club and hugely of TFG.

Short of acknowledgement of the probability and stating well in advance who gets priority, I don't know how this circle can be squared, as Steve Parish is finding out.

Lampard, who trusted him and was developing him was gone before he recovered and then Dyche never gave him a chance.

Dyche brought in Young for the 23/24 season and played him every game no matter how badly he played. I never understood that.

Personally I'd like to see him at least trusted as our 2nd choice RB.

He must surely think he needs a change as the last 3 years have not gone well for him here.

He's worked wonders by trusting Jake there, he wasn't and isn't going to replace Tarkowski just yet at centre-back alongside Jarrad. But in the future, he will.

So, if Moyes does buy a right-back, that's O'Brien back on the bench, and I think Moyes sees that as unfair, and also unhelpful to O'Brien, and his long term morale when he has played so well. This way, O'Brien stays in the team and keeps up his development and experience.

Patterson will be kept as back up in my eyes.

(ps: I don't rate Patterson at all btw. I also think he maybe has an annoying character – there were vox pops with players and many stated he would be worst colleague to room with. Loud etc. Plus Dyche slapped him on tour, perhaps all indicative of him being irritating! 🤣)

For those interested, here's how the Manchester Clubs got around it with Girona and Nice respectively. It's not that long a read and from the UEFA website.

Link

As for Patterson, that's a good point Steve. What the player wants could play a part in any decision. We may find it a challenge to find a buyer if we move him on given his injury record.

I don't think he is as bad as some make out. Not great, but not terrible and better going forward as many have observed.

Still young so maybe worth loaning as a good season in the championship could double his value right now.

I was supporting Robert‘s rebuttal to the allegation that we were “Skint“ when it’s clear that we are not, and my point wasthat everything businesswise has changed at the club that it would be possible to change.

The manager has virtually nothing to do with our business situation or financial capabilities to buy players.

We've seen some shockers over the last couple of years that have actually cost us games, like the Seamus og away at Bournemouth. And the ridiculousness of Ashley Young picking up 2 yellow cards in the FIRST half at Anfield. Two of the most experienced players in the League making schoolboy errors.

Now, I know Patterson has his deficiencies and has been poor on occasion, but he's also played in games we've won and kept clean sheets.

Dyche gave him a run in the team from October to December in '23, and Nathan played well in victories against West Ham and Burnley away, he came on after 41 minutes against Chelsea in a game we went on to win 2-0! He also came off the bench late on against Newcastle and the got the assist for our 3rd goal (scored by Beto).

It looked like he was on his way but after a poor performance (by everyone) away at Wolves, it appeared Dyche lost faith in him and he barely featured again for the rest of the season.

He's certainly nowhere near as bad as some make out, and I hope he gets an opportunity under Moyes this coming season. An experienced manager like Moyes should surely be able to correct him on his positional sense.

I wish him well, for some strange reason I've got a bit of a soft spot for him.

Under Dyche he seemed to be out of position against a touchline hugging winger as it seemed both full backs were told to tuck in nearer the central defender. As for the effectiveness of his crossing when he has played matters little as we rarely had many if any in the opposition box, something that may change with Barry, Beto and better organization.

For me, give the lad more of a chance and perhaps, within reason, a role more suited to his style.

I've seen him make mistakes but that's what young players do when they haven't played at this level before. And it's certainly what they do when they're coming off the bench or making rare appearances. It's also what his right back competition was doing.

Whatever anyone can say about Patterson's ability, I think the majority would agree that we haven't seen his best, nor really given him a chance to produce his best.

He needed a manager with at least a medium term view. And he got a manager with no interesting in improving anyone.

That's unfortunate. Moyes at least did take a longer term view... He just opted for Jake over Nathan which is hard to argue with.

Whether he fits into the manager's plans remains to be seen, and despite the various opinions, don't think we should be crucifying a player who has come to a far more competitive league at a young age in a club in turmoil during which time he has been blighted by successive injuries.

Players who have little to no PL experience:-
Chermiti
Charley
Tim
Barry
Harrison
Tyrer

We appear to be making no inroads to adding the vast numbers we needed to replace the first team squad of 9 leavers
I don't count Charly as a replacement because he was already here in the numbers.
So we have signed 1

Patterson, imo, isn't very good.
Any half decent winger can skip past him. He is frequently out of position. His reading of the game is limited. His passing ability is low.
Tackling is ok if he isn't caught out as above.
Maybe Moyes can do something which improves him.
Due to our chronic shortage of pl players, lets face it the real squad number is 17 (excl Tyrer and Harrison) or if you exclude Coleman due to injury likelihood, 16 or those who have hardly any time under their belt 13 (excluding Charly)

Patterson would ideally go out on loan with Tim and Chim.

But we sods law dictating we are bound to get a draw full of injuries and a ridiculous red card or two.

I don't envy the crap that the new regime had to deal with which was left by the others. A failure to buy more players last January (when money was there) has been a killer.

Everton have to get some bodies in and NOW !!!
Nathan is not going to feature much, its clear from last season.
Vit should be an understudy as stated above.
Our CM'S are not strong enough nor skillful enough.

Why arent we getting players in ???
Answers on an advertising poster sized envelope to :-
TFG WTF

The window is open for seven more weeks. Put that on your envelope.

I think there’s two weeks till we go to America.

I expect the market to pick up in the next two weeks.

Need some dominos to start falling

However as a full back he is a liability on the scale of Michael Keane with lapses of concentration and slow on the turn.

Coaching may improve that a little but you cannot make a championship level player into a top Premier league level player as 3 or 4 managers have concluded.

My concern with getting him that game time is if Tarkowski and Branthwaite are healthy (and we don't sign a new right back, which we clearly want to do given interest in Tete), it will be hard to make the argument that he deserves to play over O'Brien. Obviously Jake is our CB of the future, but for now, I want to find a place for him on the pitch, but maybe that means playing 3 center backs with wing backs, which might suit Patterson better anyway.

I, too, have a soft spot for Patterson. Not sure exactly why, but probably some combination of coming here young, playing for a shitshow of a club, getting injured a bunch, and not being allowed to play through mistakes and bad performances. But maybe it's just wishful thinking that he's better than he actually is.

The process always seems to come as a shock to Everton.
9 out didn't. Unlike other clubs we haven't lined others up likely to come.

Do you seriously believe that 8 more (at least) will be in?
Start throwing those names so that I can decorate my envelope.

NORWICH xx

And I was referencing the fact that we have no idea who is lined up to come.

But I do believe that your expectation that a brand-new recruitment team would already have replacements lined up for the departed is wildly overoptimistic, to the point of unreasonability.

It's simply not possible to find, recruit, negotiate with and finally sign that many players this fast. This isn't a fantasy league team.

The so-called £16 mln fee was almost half made up of bonuses that have evidently not been triggered. The fee was more like £10m and due to amortization would only be worth some £4 mln now.

Either loan out to a Championship club or sell for at least £4mln

If the final decision rests with Moyes we all know he dithers.

The new recruitment team are experienced I would be amazed if they hadn't suggested a dozen players that are within our grasp.

There are lots of free transfers out there. Walker Peters would walk onto our team at full back. Instead we went for the injury prone tete who jibbed us anyway. Don't be surprised if any of the loan players we released come back.

Obrien will start the season as our right back. The squad will be threadbare and we will be scrambling around in the winter transfer market for players. It's the Everton way.

My interpretation of that would be the sit as a panel, of with the manager will be part of, to discuss and collectively agree on targets to go after. I don't think any one individual will have a final say. It will be decided by committee.

I know it's important to some, but I personally don't get to bothered by the Premier League experience thing.

There are plenty of players who hadn't played in the Premier League until we signed them. Jake O'Brien (I don't believe he played for Palace), Jarrad Brathwaite and Vitali Mykolenko.

Former players like Duncan Ferguson and Time Cahill.

Other clubs; Dennis Bergkamp, Thierry Henry and even a couple across the park.

There will be more, just as there will be examples of those who struggled to adapt, be that the culture, the club and surroundings and the difference in the game.

Oh well, it’s the wife’s birthday so I’d better get her breakfast going.

C’mon lads, give us something to get excited about.

If Moyes 'dithers' and it gets us the equivalent of another Martyn, Howard, Coleman, Baines, Oviedo, Lescott, Jagielka, Yobo, Distin, Heitenger, Stubbs, Neville, Carsley, Graveson, Cahill, Fellaini, Arteta, Pienaar, Mirallas, Naismith, Yakubu, Saha, etc. then long may it continue - Compare that to 2016 and onwards - the money wasted on big contracts for players and managers that dragged Everton into the relegation zone a number of times - please - dither away!

Or is it due diligence?

Oh, and so far the dithering - if the transfer were actually down to Moyes have gotten Everton both Alcaraz and Barry - at, if the reports are to be believed, a cheaper rate than the release clauses/desired selling price.

BTW, when you say it's hot what's the temperature there? It's 33C here at16:16. Feels like 42C according to the forecast but that's coprolite, it's just 'cos of humidity.

Patterson will be with us till his contract runs out. Can't see him getting a better offer.

Hopefully we’ll see movement this week

Any team wanting to get off to a good start will have this in place by vendor July.. otherwise it's a catch up and race for top half of table scenario.. make a statement blues...get good players in key positions in the next 2 weeks

They at least competed - like the current lot under Moyes have.

I am no Moyes fanboy - and often criticised his overly cautious approach on the pitch in his fist incarnation as Everton manager - and the dumbing down of expectations. Other than flashes under Martinez and Ancelotti and all the wasted money since 2016 - a bit of 'dithering' as it is called - might not have gone amiss and we might not have been staring relegation in the face season after season.

I watched the great teams of the 80s at the time, so I never bought into the plucky little Everton tag.

That said - criticising Moyes' record and effectiveness in the transfer market is something I will never understand.

My observations are that the women's game has improved over the course of the past several years, maybe longer. Admittedly, I've only watched it intermittently.

I know football in general is a game of mistakes, but the women's is particularly littered with them, which in a way, makes it entertaining and unpredictable. And the goalkeeping is by and large not very good.

Barry, I'm well documented on Moyes. Disappointed when he came back, but he turned us around.

On relegation, we've had it since the 90s. Three last day escapes since 93-94. You could argue 4 if we count the Palace match, because the prospect of going to Arsenal to needing a win would not have been easy. That's an understatement by the way.

We were heading that way again last season, until Moyes turned us around. In hindsight, I should have listened to my son, who insisted the eventually bottom 3 would go down. Regardless, change was needed, even if I didn't agree with the choice at the time. But again, in hindsight, probably the right choice for at the time.

It's why I gave up completely blaming managers a while back now. The problems at the club have been way above any manager's pay grade. They can only be judged on performance, competitiveness and success on the pitch.

Players will have many options before Everton

Sure a FA or League Cup is a nice keepsake and bragging rights for a week until the rest of the world has forgotten about it, but our path to the CL is through earning the money to buy the quality of players for us to compete in it.

However you look at it, once Moyes left - we were much worse generally - despite having much more money.

I was initially ambivalent about Moyes coming back - given the time of the season it was, what was at stake and the available options, I warmed to it.

I think many fans, and I am happy to be proven wrong and maybe I have the same traits, aren't willing to let go of preconceived ideas and this can cloud what is actually going on. I guess most aspects of life are like this!

As for the women's game - I haven't watched much of it to be honest, but there seems to be less histrionics, less cheating, more honesty and less 'girliness' about it, especially when it comes to hairdos - and this is coming from a man with long hair that is sometimes put in a man bun! Seeing as I lived in Japan for a number of years I pass it off as sumo-style hair!

Here's hoping he is given the players needed and opportunity to have a real go at it next season and drop his cautious tag. I won't use the D word.We certainly saw glimpses that he was willing to be more adventurous.

Looking forward to seeing your man bun. I'm still mostly short back and sides. A lot of my mates have grown outrageous beards since leaving the Army. I don't mind not having to shave every day, and let it go for a few days, but I can't go full beard.

I'll watch England v Wales later and keep an eye on the Holland v France match.

Then we've got Chelsea v PSG, all on at the same time.

Agreed with the more adventurous hope - I think the older Moyes delegates more and seems to actually trust his players more than in his previous incarnation as Everton manager.

Trust me - my manbun is nothing to behold sir. I only have one when training and try not to go out in public with it - though sometimes I do forget.

I did used to have a complete shaven look, my hair grew back in lockdown, and I just let it grow and grow until it was as long as it was in my early to mid-20s. People who'd known me for 20 years with my skinhead look thought I'd had a hair transplant!

Any Evertonian, aged 30 years, or under has never witnessed Everton, win a cup, and whether you play for the team or support the football team, then nothing beats running around Wembley with the cup.

Run before we can walk, and give the people who love the club the most, an occasion they will never forgot……PLEASE🤞!

If he dithered in the transfer market it might have been because he never really got that much money to spend, but when it came to being really competitive, he was a total failure imo Barry.

We all have different opinions, and it’s already been done to death, but if Moyes is going to succeed, then more than anything else, I believe it’s his overall mindset that has got to change the most.

Hopefully this is now the case because although I don’t think he’s ever been a bad manager, I think he’s been a very lucky manager, except when it comes to that saying, about fortune favouring the brave.

I actually agree with you Tony. I always thought Moyes did a good job under the circumstances, but when we had that plucky Everton guns to a knife fight mentality - it would drive me mad. If you were a player at Everton, and we did have some good ones, what sort of message does it send!?

Anyways, thus far - he has exceeded expectations.

You've got to believe you can though and I think thats where Moyes failed last time. Last night Chelsea beat PSG because they believed they could and had a tactical plan. It worked and no one saw it coming.

Who would have thought to attack the PSG left side with Mendes arguably the best LB in the world? The Chelsea manager did though - this is the type of thinking that wins you trophies and it's not something that Moyes, for all his strong points, has ever demonstrated.

I generally like Moyes as a manager and I like his honesty - but yes, no more self-imposed glass ceilings please!