Everton: Foundations laid, bricks to follow..

[whiteshadow]

Admittedly I'm not as familiar with how transfers come together and fall apart as many of you.

From an American sports perspective, names for various positions get put in the press, but when they don't happen, the consensus doesn't always seem to be "he chose X (Stoke here) over Y (Everton)." A lot of times it's that the interest wasn't ever actually there, the interest was there but the new team wasn't willing to pay a premium for the player or get into a bidding war, etc.

Seems every time a potential transfer is mentioned for EFC, and doesn't occur, both GOT and the media make it out as though we've been spurned. Are those conclusions just for clicks and a "woe is us" perception, or should I really be convinced that Marko chose Stoke straight up?

It's just people overeacting. A lot of what the press report is inaccurate, based on speculation and embelished or just lies to get clicks. You shouldn't be convinced he spurned us, he may have done but like you outlined so well in your post, a lot of what gets put in the press isn't fully accurate. People who are frustrated about lack of activity, out of desperation, latch on to those kind of reports and use them to justify their own frustrations. People often tend to see what they want to see instead of taking media 'rumours' with a pinch of salt.

The British press doesn't help as they throw as many rumours as they can around to generate traffic on their sites and sell papers.

 

[RaleighBlue]

What foundations? We have a squad of left backs and right wingers.
Terribly imbalanced. It's all well and good to say let's be calm, but there is a drastic revamp needed, of which we have seen nothing more than a back up keeper.
I'm not panicking just yet but ambition means jackshit if it isn't married up with end product. We need those quality signings in and quickly to allow partnerships and team chemistry to form.

I think...

So, there are a couple of camps of supporters right now:
1) OMG WHY HAVEN'T WE SPENT OUR MONEY, NOTHING HAS CHANGED, FRAUD! (and imitators)
2) Wait and see, give it to the end of the window, but we NEED big business this summer or serious doubts about the ownership set in
3) Ideally we get good signings, but what's happening off the pitch gives hope for the future. Bringing in a new setup for the first team with the DoF concept, new board members (although Elstone is squicky), a lot more noise about the stadium, much more noise in the papers about us.

I'm between 2 and 3. Obviously the squad and winning matches is paramount. But am I ok with a mediocre season if it's setting us up for long term success? Yeah, probably. So if the best thing to do is actually wait out this summer, solidify the squad rather than vastly improve it. Aim for Europa or the cups and get our finances in order for a spending spree next summer (when we may not need to player trade to massively increase our wages)...that may be ok with me.

I guess the question is whether you trust the new regime. I'm an optimist, so I tend to trust them still...the noises coming from people far closer to the club than my 4600 miles give me long term hope. But I can see why people tend to number 2 or even 1.5...we were promised Big Things Soon. And they are coming off slowly if at all.

But in the end - are the foundations of a football club the playing staff? Or are the foundations the structure around it? Sorry I picked your post to reply to...I'm rambling.

Either way, there's nothing I can do about it, and we're not losing matches yet, so I'm content.

 

[Abertonian]

I think...

So, there are a couple of camps of supporters right now:
1) OMG WHY HAVEN'T WE SPENT OUR MONEY, NOTHING HAS CHANGED, FRAUD! (and imitators)
2) Wait and see, give it to the end of the window, but we NEED big business this summer or serious doubts about the ownership set in
3) Ideally we get good signings, but what's happening off the pitch gives hope for the future. Bringing in a new setup for the first team with the DoF concept, new board members (although Elstone is squicky), a lot more noise about the stadium, much more noise in the papers about us.

I'm between 2 and 3. Obviously the squad and winning matches is paramount. But am I ok with a mediocre season if it's setting us up for long term success? Yeah, probably. So if the best thing to do is actually wait out this summer, solidify the squad rather than vastly improve it. Aim for Europa or the cups and get our finances in order for a spending spree next summer (when we may not need to player trade to massively increase our wages)...that may be ok with me.

I guess the question is whether you trust the new regime. I'm an optimist, so I tend to trust them still...the noises coming from people far closer to the club than my 4600 miles give me long term hope. But I can see why people tend to number 2 or even 1.5...we were promised Big Things Soon. And they are coming off slowly if at all.

But in the end - are the foundations of a football club the playing staff? Or are the foundations the structure around it? Sorry I picked your post to reply to...I'm rambling.

Either way, there's nothing I can do about it, and we're not losing matches yet, so I'm content.

Good post, I'm the same, somewhere between 2 and 3.

Got faith in the new regime but it would be good to see some movement in terms of strengthening the squad.

Quite possible some of those in 1, were the same people shouting about us having the strongest squad since the 80s last year!