Apparently no 3pm Saturday home game until Feb 18th, spanning back to November. Mainly down to TV and an absolute piss take.

Looks like (I think) our Blackpool game will be rearranged as they are 2 up v Forest and our game v them is on FA Cup 4th round day.

Real cutting edge journalism to say that we are scouting an unnamed player.

Putting his impending ban to one side. He is undoubtedly a good player but he really a top 4 striker and would you say that if he wasnt an England player? Haaland, Kane, Jesus etc being the benchmark, and for the crazy fee he would cost especially as an Englishman, you could probably get someone a level up if you looked hard enough.

Im not saying that Everton dont have other problems but they have a manager who if anything has overseen a slight decline in results and league position having been in charge for a decent period of time. Nothing about his managerial career says good manager.

I never said it was. Nor have I said anything other than I was glad that he is now gone and outlined the many things he did wrong.

Mowbray said specifically that the strikers he turned down were kids on loan from the Premier League. He also was denied his wish to sell Rothwell and spend some money. I have never, ever doubted that he misused Giles or underused Hedges. Or that he in general was central to our collapse. Even in March you were his biggest fan. Is 8th mid table?

He wont be much use if he gets a long suspension as expected for betting irregularities. Even without them, Toney is a good Premier League striker but not one for a team with the aspirations of competing at the top. They have Nkunku coming but not until next season which is a bit odd. I am of the opinion that managers and players deserve more time only if they have shown enough to warrant that in the first place. Why does Lampard deserve more time? He has been there for a while and they have got worse, not better, currently in the bottom 3 despite bringing in players that he wanted.

What has Lampard ever done as a manager to make anyone think that simply more time will lead to any success? (Watch them win tonight!)

I have never suggested that the poor usage of those signings was anything other than Mowbray's fault. I also think that he should have signed a loanee striker rather than the alternative of no other striker but I don't think we should have only been able to sign a kid on loan in that position. My point is that the bigger problem came from the owners unwillingness either to have a serious push for promotion or even to allow the manager the freedom to sell a player who then went for free in favour of getting a couple of players in, benefitting us in the short and long term.

Such an embodiment of a backwards club that we dont sell an asset (even if it was allowed by the owners) whose contract will otherwise run out because for some reason they wouldnt allow reinvestment. It is literally the opposite of well run clubs like Brentford and Brighton.

My point is that the only strikers available in budget were kids on loan from the Premier League. I have said that he should have still taken one. Whilst Venkys didnt directly not sign a striker on loan as Mowbray should. They neither provided enough funds for such a great position nor did they allow the manager to trade a soon to be out of contract player to raise funds that way. Loans of the likes of Connolly and Forss who were linked by the LT are not going to make a major difference whereas even reinvesting 4m would have done.

The strikers he turned down where kid loanees Should he have signed one? Probably yes. Was Giles misused and Hedges underused? Yes. And could Mowbray have done better having done so well to get us to 2nd? Yes. Are we all glad hes gone? Yes. But the overiding issue wasnt him, it is and always will be Venkys.

Lampard needs time, Appleton needs time, Hirst needs time. We all wish you was our boss.

Are they hoping to put some bets on?

Its not if every single manager is in the same situation, at that point after 12 years you surely work out the common denominator. I dont doubt that each manager has tried his best but when poor performance isnt punished then those in employment arent going to leave, they will keep taking the money and believing thay they can improve as anyone would. The only colossal oversight is you letting off the owners when they are where 12 years of underperformance has stemmed from. The way they work, whoever they employ is somewhat fighting a losing battle. Its amazing that after all of these years that anyone is keen to deflect blame from them, especially when blame towards fellow fans is so easily done!

It's an absolute joke that not only our game but most of the FA Cup games are put at times for the benefit of fans from abroad to watch over fans who are going out of their way to attend. Fair play to anyone making that horrible journey that has been inconvenienced again by the authorities.

We won 2 and lost 2 of the reverse fixtures.

I saw him against Wolfsburg's under 23/21s and like in his cup appearances, he was a livewire. Scored a great volley and also hit the post.

It isn't an effective way to run a football club to block the managers attempts to sell players and reinvest, that in itself massively reduces funds available. We were 2nd and spent 700k and got in a couple of loanees. They could have gone for it (not even necessarily as much as Bournemouth but look at what they did) but they chose not to.

I think it tells you a lot about the lowering of expectations under Venkys when merely not selling your players when in such a good position is considered ambitious. That being said, we could have sold one and potentially improved short and longer term.

More pressure on Frank Lampard with Everton sitting in the relegation zone, surely they will make a change soon. Also Nathan Jones only adding to the theory that he is a good Luton manager rather than a generally good manager.

No one has ever doubted that Giles was misused and Hedges was perhaps underused, but the bigger problem is the lack of spending and even the lack of flexibility to sell a player running his contract down to reinvest from owners who have said in the past that they want to get back to the Premier League. The fact that a loanee and a 200k signing could have done a bit more feels like splitting hairs in the grand scheme of things.

England have a number of players that I highly rate, whereas you cant find fault in the team. He is a good player but he is not one of the very best that rumoured price tags would have you suggest. There are a number of better midfielders in the Prem alone.

He is definitely overrated, not worth the sums mentioned. Technically limited.