Gareth Barry yesterday

[Ashtonian]

Why?

Barry has been immense this season and the opportunity to sign a player of his experience, professionalism and calibre should be grabbed with both hands by the club.

The fact that he's only got 2 or 3 seasons left in the tank, doesn't matter a jot to me. You'd have to find £20m+ to sign a player of his calibre in the current market.

What difference does that make if his legs go during that time? Unless you are buying someone of Pirlo's quality then it is always a risk to sign someone getting on in their career. Even the great Xavi is starting to under perform as i have been led to believe.

Point i am trying to make is, rather than give someone the arse end of their career and depend on them, we should be signing someone to say well in those 2-3 years they will be fantastic and still at the right age to be the 38 game a season man. Barry isnt that.

All pointless mind you considering he clearly is signing for us.

 

[4737carlin]

Barry has been great this season, running out of steam a bit now but that is understandable. If anything this kind of highlights why we need to miss the Europa league as the whole team would be empty by now if Everton got stuck in that.

 

[when i score we riot]

SYLVAIN DISTIN IS OLD
SYLVAIN DISTIN IS OLD
SYLVAIN DISTIN IS OLD
HE'S LIKE THE OLDEST PLAYER IN THE PREM


WHOAH OH HE'S OLD
TOTALLY GOT A CONTRACT EXTENSION
HIS PACE IS LIKE DIVINE INTERVENTION
WHOAH OH DISTIN IS OLD



Barry will live to be a hundred and his lovely teddy bear face will be etched into the goodison pitch, forever a reminder to us that Chris Ashton17 should be vaulted to bits for his opinions, for ever and ever Amen.

 

[The Hibbert Agenda]

Barry has been great this season, running out of steam a bit now but that is understandable. If anything this kind of highlights why we need to miss the Europa league as the whole team would be empty by now if Everton got stuck in that.

Oh yes its vital that Everton Football Club doesnt play in Europe, its actually demeaning to the club playing in such a woeful compeition, going on tour, playing night games, blooding youngsters, giving the manager a case to demand funds to increase the squad.
You're totally right, we should avoid Europa League so that we can focus on missing out on qualification to the Champions league next season.

 

[AaronTheBlue]

If everton want to improve as a football club you need european football. No other way about it.

 

[Ashtonian]

SYLVAIN DISTIN IS OLD
SYLVAIN DISTIN IS OLD
SYLVAIN DISTIN IS OLD
HE'S LIKE THE OLDEST PLAYER IN THE PREM


WHOAH OH HE'S OLD
TOTALLY GOT A CONTRACT EXTENSION
HIS PACE IS LIKE DIVINE INTERVENTION
WHOAH OH DISTIN IS OLD



Barry will live to be a hundred and his lovely teddy bear face will be etched into the goodison pitch, forever a reminder to us that Chris Ashton17 should be vaulted to bits for his opinions, for ever and ever Amen.

Very good,

The difference is we bought distin and he has spent how many seasons playing consistently? We still don't even own Barry yet by the sounds of a lot of people (yourself included) we should be treating him like some superstar. I just want the club to build a team in 5 years still be playing, but just better than they were when they started.

Barry wouldn't even look twice at goodison if Villa offered him his wage demands.

 

[Foot Long Hot Dog]

If everton want to improve as a football club you need european football. No other way about it.

Yeah mate, it did wonders for Wigan & Swansea this season. They're now household names on the mainland, with scores of players beating a path to their door.....

It only makes any real difference if you get to the final imo, but you've got to play another 18 fixtures to get there.....

 

[AaronTheBlue]

Yeah mate, it did wonders for Wigan & Swansea this season. They're now household names on the mainland, with scores of players beating a path to their door.....

It only makes any real difference if you get to the final imo, but you've got to play another 18 fixtures to get there.....

We're a different level to the both of those in respect. If a team like us want to improve europe is a must, you do not attract better players without europe, thus you do not improve by much.

We need it.

 

[Ashtonian]

Yeah mate, it did wonders for Wigan & Swansea this season. They're now household names on the mainland, with scores of players beating a path to their door.....

It only makes any real difference if you get to the final imo, but you've got to play another 18 fixtures to get there.....

That athletico madrid havent benefited form spending season after season in it.......

look, the way i see it, if you can get through the group by playing as little of the first team as possible and then kick on through the stages then there is plent of benefit. It is exactly the same as the champions league in all honestly, except nobody cares about it. So would you rather qualify for the champions league and rn the risk of almost getting 6 results against the top teams as we have done this year or would you rather warm up in the europa, get used to playing twice a week, blood youngsters and perhaps at some point make a dart for winning the thing and getting into the champions league anyway?

 

[when i score we riot]

Very good,

The difference is we bought distin and he has spent how many seasons playing consistently? We still don't even own Barry yet by the sounds of a lot of people (yourself included) we should be treating him like some superstar. I just want the club to build a team in 5 years still be playing, but just better than they were when they started.

Barry wouldn't even look twice at goodison if Villa offered him his wage demands.

I'm uncertain what the point you're trying to make here is. Distin has his fifth season here and has notched over 175 games for us. He's been solid at the back and delivered the goods except for the odd soul-crushing brain fart (Wembley against the kopites, i still cringe at the thought), which I guess is something Barry might himself might commit, and sure neither might improve but they most certainly can provide the manpower and experience to well warrant being in the squad. Even for the long term.

We've got five good years out of Distin so far, and it's not unlikely we can get the same out of Barry if we can secure a deal for him. He's just another good option to add to the other players that are already here for the long term. And we'll know that Barry is an asset we are going to keep and get value out of. You cannot be sure that players like Stones, Barkley or even McCarthy will be at the club in as long as five years. We all thought Rodwell would, right? Christ, you can't even be sure Barry will be here that long either, clubs were courting effing Phil Neville just a few years ago ffs.

 

[Ashtonian]

I'm uncertain what the point you're trying to make here is. Distin has his fifth season here and has notched over 175 games for us. He's been solid at the back and delivered the goods except for the odd soul-crushing brain fart (Wembley against the kopites, i still cringe at the thought), which I guess is something Barry might himself might commit, and sure neither might improve but they most certainly can provide the manpower and experience to well warrant being in the squad. Even for the long term.

We've got five good years out of Distin so far, and it's not unlikely we can get the same out of Barry if we can secure a deal for him. He's just another good option to add to the other players that are already here for the long term. And we'll know that Barry is an asset we are going to keep and get value out of. You cannot be sure that players like Stones, Barkley or even McCarthy will be at the club in as long as five years. We all thought Rodwell would, right? Christ, you can't even be sure Barry will be here that long either, clubs were courting effing Phil Neville just a few years ago ffs.

All good points but if we signed the likes of barry and the rest up then the average age will suddenly star to grow until we end up like Fulham and we all know where that gets you.

We need to invest properly into the team rather than sign whoever 'used to be good' on a massive contract. There is more chance of Barry losing the ability to play consistently rather than a 25 year old. Neville, although limited really started dropping form at 34 and eventually retired a year later.

I dont get the Distin Comparison, he has had a fantastic career and has proven to be a great signing. Would i want us to sin a 31 year old centre half for 6 million now, no! How many 38 year olds a re running up and down the pitch like he does every week? Even giggs couldnt run as fast as him at 38 and he was known all his career for speed.

We have got lucky on an old player yes, but osman has dropped form, hibbert is not even considered, neville retired after a bad performance showed him up, you see where i am going. For arguments sake you say sign him up (which we are doing btw, not disputing that), what if his knee is taken out on game one of the season, and that leads to his legs going after that? hyperthetical, but it is much harder to recover when you are mid 30's than when you are in the prime of your career.

 

[davmaher]

Not sure if this has been posted elsewhere, but yesterday was his last home game before his loan comes to an end - he can't play against City. Really hope we get him on a perm as he's been fantastic this season. I'm pretty sure he will sign as he says he has really enjoyed his time here and seems like a grounded type of guy. He put in an awesome shift again yesterday and complements McCarthy perfectly.

 

[hktoffee]

Did he say goodbye to the fans after yesterday match？ I hope not.

I really hope Barry stays. He forms an awesome partnership with McCarthy. Gareth is a fantastic footballer.

 

[Groucho]

McCarthy and Barry together are simply excellent.

 

[Clint Planet]

Barry was superb yesterday. I dearly hope it wasn't his final Goodison appearance in an Everton shirt.