Leighton Baines

[nigelcoyb]

It's Rooney, Lescott, Arteta revisited and regardless of any personal animosity toward BK and co the absolute fact of all this is their ownership puts us forever in the box marked "feeder club".

Like drag anchors welded securely around our bollocks.

 

[Brennan]

People defending Kenwright. Lol.

 

[Arteta10]

I'm not defending kenwright, but I don't think losing Rooney, Lescott and Arteta over the period of 10 years or so is that bad going. The fee we got for Lescott was a lot more than he was worth and arteta had come to the end of the road with us really.

People bang on about us being a selling club but its only really them 3 players, Gravesen and possibly Rodwell who have been sold from our first team. Compare that to the sh1te who've lost Alonso, Torres, Mascherano, meireles and now possibly Suarez, yet they're not labelled a selling club

The horrible thing is they get silly money every season to throw at the likes of downing, Henderson, borini and co. whereas we have to scrounge on our arse to stay above them

 

[radiostar]

I'm not defending kenwright, but I don't think losing Rooney, Lescott and Arteta over the period of 10 years or so is that bad going. The fee we got for Lescott was a lot more than he was worth and arteta had come to the end of the road with us really.

It is bad going and the very fact you dont think it is shows how we have steadily had our ambitions curtailed and expectations lowered. FFS we are one of the biggest clubs in the country yet a lot of the time we act like we're not (understand that we are forced to by the owner I suppose)

Although i also partly blame moyes for lowering expectation at this great club too. He did well here but made it appear that he'd doe better by lowering our expectations.

 

[maccavennie]

It is bad going and the very fact you dont think it is shows how we have steadily had our ambitions curtailed and expectations lowered. FFS we are one of the biggest clubs in the country yet a lot of the time we act like we're not (understand that we are forced to by the owner I suppose)

Although i also partly blame moyes for lowering expectation at this great club too. He did well here but made it appear that he'd doe better by lowering our expectations.

I know where your coming from mate and your spot on regarding us being one of the top clubs ( in my opinion we are and always will be ). But I dont think Moyes lowered that expectation. I think thats something thrown at him as a negative imo. If he lowered expectations then we must have been ****ing really low before he came ( which we were ). He raised expectations which is a great thing, we should have done better than we did which is an insane thing to say considering what we spent but thats the truth. He done a great job 85% of the time and we move on now and hopefully onwards and upwards

 

[nigelcoyb]

I'm not defending kenwright, but I don't think losing Rooney, Lescott and Arteta over the period of 10 years or so is that bad going. The fee we got for Lescott was a lot more than he was worth and arteta had come to the end of the road with us really.

People bang on about us being a selling club but its only really them 3 players, Gravesen and possibly Rodwell who have been sold from our first team. Compare that to the sh1te who've lost Alonso, Torres, Mascherano, meireles and now possibly Suarez, yet they're not labelled a selling club

The horrible thing is they get silly money every season to throw at the likes of downing, Henderson, borini and co. whereas we have to scrounge on our arse to stay above them

The flaw in this is there was no option, during Arteta's time and Lescott (not to mention Pienaar, Howard, Osman, Cahill Saha etc) there were long periods when a good rest or more realistically a kick up the arse via competition for their place would have done wonders. We didn't because we didn't have the cash to get players, as such players drifted through the last knockings of their contracts - effectively we played with 9 or 10 players at times.

The idea of ONLY selling a few is a plaster over a massive wound - you must see this?

Having this board directly holds us back - no 2 ways about it.

 

[Greek Fisherman]

Really hope Baines stays but if he doesn't... we'll be ok.

As brilliant as Baines is, our lack of creativity and pace upfront leaves us overly reliant on him in attack.
Bring in a genuine, creative, goal scoring #10 (not Cahill or Felliani) and a few quick wide players upfront and I'll find you another Coleman for left back.

 

[Royal Blue Jersey]

Yes.

OOC.

Nailed it. ****ing ****

 

[Arteta10]

Really hope Baines stays but if he doesn't... we'll be ok.

As brilliant as Baines is, our lack of creativity and pace upfront leaves us overly reliant on him in attack.
Bring in a genuine, creative, goal scoring #10 (not Cahill or Felliani) and a few quick wide players upfront and I'll find you another Coleman for left back.

You'll find us one? Personally? Cheers mate! Is he any good?

 

[Arteta10]

The flaw in this is there was no option, during Arteta's time and Lescott (not to mention Pienaar, Howard, Osman, Cahill Saha etc) there were long periods when a good rest or more realistically a kick up the arse via competition for their place would have done wonders. We didn't because we didn't have the cash to get players, as such players drifted through the last knockings of their contracts - effectively we played with 9 or 10 players at times.

The idea of ONLY selling a few is a plaster over a massive wound - you must see this?

Having this board directly holds us back - no 2 ways about it.

You're right like, it's no way to run a football club, but I grew up watching us in the 90's so it's pretty much the only Everton I've ever known and I still fkin love em to bits!

 

[ToffeeMark]

[video=youtube;j9ESlsANlqk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9ESlsANlqk[/video]

 

[Clint Planet]

"Hiya, I'm Leighton."

 

[Steve Wigan]

I know our debt is less than others but we cannot borrow against the banks anymore can we? (serious question because I am not sure). Are we losing 5-6 million per year? If we have to sell to buy then surely BK and the board are the wrong people in charge. Have they really not put a penny into the club? If that is true then they should be hounded out as incompetents. I don't pretend to know the politics but it looks as clear as day that they are not very good at running the club. Steve, you and others may baffle me with economics and the politics as it is not a strong point or interest of mine but it just looks like he and the club is just surviving by having a decent manager. Like on ebay buy something cheap then flog for a profit. Why won't he and the board try and put there hands in there own pockets to push us on. Are we financially in a worse state now than when he took over? Not trying to antagonise people just honest questions.

Thanks,Banno for a good response and I respect your non abusive comments.. I'm not trying to antogonise anyone either, we all want the best for our club. I'm not great at economics, or the politics of football, but I've been in business for 50 years and feel justified in having an opinion about the workings of the club I've supported for 65 years. Sometimes its not easy to take a balanced view of the financial situation at Everton, because quite frankly people with an agenda(on both sides of the argument) are so adept at spinning fact or rumour to suit themselves, The majority of football clubs from the Second Division up are in debt, and in most cases the debt is manageable ,but in some cases (not Everton) debt is spinning out of control....these are the clubs like Portsmouth, Coventry, Hearts etc, who find themselves in administration or worse. Selling to buy, or even selling to balance the books is what every club does, apart from those with very rich owners who treat their club as a hobby, or status symbol...Chelsea, Man City, come to mind, but it isn't a long list. None of our board is excessively rich, or at least not rich enough to throw money away by 'giving' money to a football club, so like many other clubs, Everton needs to be self supporting,in a financial sense. Hence the manageable borrowings which as you say are probably up to the limit at present. This also means that any loan from a board member(and board members don't just 'give' money to their club...there are always strings attached apart from the very rich few,and even then there are just less strings).....you see how its possible to go on and on about this topic?? More later, but by all means ask questions and state your opinion, thats the purpose of a forum.

 

[throughthewindandthedrain]

Thanks,Banno for a good response and I respect your non abusive comments.. I'm not trying to antogonise anyone either, we all want the best for our club. I'm not great at economics, or the politics of football, but I've been in business for 50 years and feel justified in having an opinion about the workings of the club I've supported for 65 years. Sometimes its not easy to take a balanced view of the financial situation at Everton, because quite frankly people with an agenda(on both sides of the argument) are so adept at spinning fact or rumour to suit themselves, The majority of football clubs from the Second Division up are in debt, and in most cases the debt is manageable ,but in some cases (not Everton) debt is spinning out of control....these are the clubs like Portsmouth, Coventry, Hearts etc, who find themselves in administration or worse. Selling to buy, or even selling to balance the books is what every club does, apart from those with very rich owners who treat their club as a hobby, or status symbol...Chelsea, Man City, come to mind, but it isn't a long list. None of our board is excessively rich, or at least not rich enough to throw money away by 'giving' money to a football club, so like many other clubs, Everton needs to be self supporting,in a financial sense. Hence the manageable borrowings which as you say are probably up to the limit at present. This also means that any loan from a board member(and board members don't just 'give' money to their club...there are always strings attached apart from the very rich few,and even then there are just less strings).....you see how its possible to go on and on about this topic?? More later, but by all means ask questions and state your opinion, thats the purpose of a forum.

nice insight there, 'debt' definitely seems to be the new bogey man that has been used to stop progress not just at football clubs but politically. the second most people decide to get a house they are in debt and nearly every rich nation accepts a level of debt as part of its well being. seems to me you just have to say the word 'debt' now and people accept whatever is thrown at them. I agree that as far as this side of the club goes then it seems its being managed sensibly and it doesn't stop calculated investment. whether we are or can invest sensibly is what the arguments probably should revolve around

 

[allezlesbleus]

hoping against hope that he stays but one thing is for sure, having watched a you tube compilation of his goals and assists recently if he does go to utd RVP should score about 50 goals next season.
Fingers crossed. Come on Bainsey!