Culpable deniability meets the bottom line.

[Fedlingen]

This is depressing.

 

[windymiller]

I'd like to see him and Mina with a real midfield so I can isolate why we can't go a whole game without giving up a big chance.

I think you identified the reason right there. The midfield doesn't protect the defence enough, nor does it retain possession well enough to stretch our opponents formation which means our defenders, and centre backs in particular, are often under pressure and if you're under pressure long enough cracks will show. Cannavaro and Baresi would make the occasional error in this side! Holgate, imo, has really stepped up this season. We would've been in a worse mess if he hadn't.

 

[windymiller]

This is depressing.

Shows how cowardly our players are under pressure.

 

[TheBigIguana]

I think you identified the reason right there. The midfield doesn't protect the defence enough, nor does it retain possession well enough to stretch our opponents formation which means our defenders, and centre backs in particular, are often under pressure and if you're under pressure long enough cracks will show. Cannavaro and Baresi would make the occasional error in this side! Holgate, imo, has really stepped up this season. We would've been in a worse mess if he hadn't.

That's what I think it is too but then I still would like to see it change once we sort the midfield. We don't have to be in a rush.

 

[Sentinel]

This is depressing.

Ourselves, now the media are finally catching up. The fragility, weak and/or lack of winning mentality ad nausea, these issues amongst others have plagued us for too long. I understand stepping into Goodison can sometimes feel like entering a gladiatorial pit. But it goes for both sides. We've all been there when oppositions teams have caved under the hostility.

We just seem to be bereft of leadership and the determination to hold your nerve. Someone the players can look to who sets an example. They don't have to be likable but they have to be ours. Galvanizing, with a wee bit of nastiness and snide. With a penchant for practicing the dark arts of the game. Snarling and aggressive. All great teams have it. And until we get it back down the spine of the team. Capitulations will stay the norm.

 

[BernieH]

It bothers me, and this is not Everton exclusive, that players get rich, really, really rich, more than I will ever have earned and the reality is on a handful of players actually deserve these wages for what they offer on the pitch.

There's no shock that older heads don't recognise the sport they grew up with, it's changed beyond recognition from the local game down the park to the huge conglomerate business they are today and the money is frankly obscene.

Money the likes of us will never see is just monopoly money apparently. My brain can't comprehend this as I struggle to pay my bills.

It says a lot about peoples commitment to Everton that despite people growing disenchanted and fed up of never winning or challenging and falling out of love with the sport as a whole, they keep coming back week after week and yet the players don't seem to share the same commitment.

Why would they they can move around as much as they like scamming more money from more clubs with greedy agents to not perform, move on with yet another payout rinse and repeat, either way, players get paid and handsomely.

That for me is a huge problem because they can just toss it off with no repercussions and still post photos of their flash cars and houses and holidays. that they don't deserve on merit.

 

[ToffeeDan]

Away to Big Six since PENULTIMATE victories.

Arsenal (31 years)
Lge 1-6-23
Cup 0-0-3

Chelsea (29 years)
Lge 1-12-16
Cup 0-1-6 (won on pens)

Man U (28 years)
Lge 1-6-20
Cup none

Liverpool (24 years)
Lge 1-11-12
Cup 0-1-2

Spurs (12 years)
Lge 1-4-6
Cup 0-0-1

Man City (10 years)
Lge 1-4-5
Cup 0-0-1

Total Shameful Record

Lge
131 games
Won 6 Drew 43 Lost 82
Average points per six games 2.8

Cup
15 games
Won NIL Drew 3 Lost 12 (won one on penalties)

Nil Satis Nisi Optimum? I DON'T THINK SO

 

[Sentinel]

It bothers me, and this is not Everton exclusive, that players get rich, really, really rich, more than I will ever have earned and the reality is on a handful of players actually deserve these wages for what they offer on the pitch.

We all know this is going on, it's the elephant in the room. At this stage it's past the point of rescue. Evertonains, supporters of other clubs, irrespective, losses ruin our weekend. If your living in Liverpool it can last all week. Maybe it isn't as intense as it used to be, personally I find it difficult to shake it. But it's there, gnawing at you.

The players, honestly, with the money in the game, they pick up their supermodel wives head out to an expensive eaterie, and a defeat washes off them faster than a ducks arse. If you watch any of the games from the pre-premiership. Pick any club and you'll have players literally giving their all, laying it down on the pitch. Bleeding, passionate, city pride. It's gone now.

It's irrelevant now cause those times are over. The personal investment isn't there anymore. Sure Rooney can dress up in his EFC PJ's, but he's not really an Evertonian. He's clinging onto an identity that was passed down from his family, it keeps him "real". It rings hollow though.

Mercenaries wear our badge nowdays. That doesn't mean you can't get a tune out of them. There's a story about Tommy Lawton getting flogged if he didn't jump high enough to head the ball. Ronaldo jumps high, but he does it for the money and narcissism. Lawton did it because he would run through brick walls for our club. That's the difference.

Tell a mercenary to run through a brick wall, they'll send you an invoice.

 

[Remember-the-name]

Holgate has definitely staked a claim.

Mina somewhat.

 

[Sentinel]

Holgate has definitely staked a claim.

It's to early to judge but he's starting to remind me of Des Walker.

 

[Caolam]

I have absolutely no doubt that Carlo can fix Everton and can bring success in the form of a trophy but I am not sure the Board have the vision or the ambition to allow him to do it. The league is so open in terms of European qualification that three good signings would put us in the mix. Everton could be an established European team playing European games in the first season of the new ground. It is a question of the Board having the were-with-all to provide him with what he needs.

 

[light_has_colour]

I disagree completely with this meta kind of thing it is complete ass. good teams score goals in every minute, bad teams concede them all the time. football is played in the minute, There is nothing else in football other then being a good team. There has never been a football team who did better at then end of matches,

 

[Sentinel]

I have absolutely no doubt that Carlo can fix Everton and can bring success in the form of a trophy but I am not sure the Board have the vision or the ambition to allow him to do it.

This is the crux, for many the board is irrelevant, for others it explains the systematic decline of our club. However whether it be the board, players, managers, supporters or various other variables. The fact remains we've won sod all for a generation.

Ancelotti is a massive step in the right direction. The league is wide open, if he is supplied with the funds and the reigns to transform, evolve or revolutionize the structure, silverware will come. For that to happen, we'll need a supportive board with a hands-off approach.

Which means, no jobs for the boys, no yes men, no sentimental "bring a blue home" BS. Just a relentless pursuit to re-establish Everton to once again be the best. In turn investors, hidden or in plain sight will reap their rewards. I don't have a problem with that. A successful business Everton is also a successful trophy laden Everton.

The culpable deniability has to end. The side step and shimmy. Run the club like a machine whose only goal is to win. Win and keep on winning. Bin the sentimentality, bin the nostalgia of the boys pen, bin all the halcyon teary eyed nonsense. Respect our history but forge a new chapter built on an unsentimental, steely eyed determination to excel in all levels of the club.

Adopt a philosophy or in reality regain a strategy that reflects the clubs motto. The entire club should function as one, from youth level to senior. Recruitment, playing staff and non should similarly mirror excellence and cohesiveness.

Achieving any of this will be nothing short of a miracle. But we've done it before and we can do it again. That's why our club is so special, sometimes it feels like an insane game of snakes and ladders but in the end. We'll get it right again. Time for some of us maybe running out but there is no doubt in my mind our time will come.

 

[Glasshalffull]

With proper respect for all the considered views expressed on this topic, what exactly is, 'culpable deniability'?