That Danny Blanchflower era was easily your best.
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I fully understand what you mean, but I would imagine your opinion will change quite quickly once you get used to your situation. At the moment it seems as though you feel like you're elevated to a level that you hadn't thought possible, and so you're 'enjoying the ride'. I would guess that the novelty of that will wear off fairly quickly though, and once you've got your feet under the table you'll be expecting a lot more than just competing.
It's a bit like when someone like Reading gets promoted, they sell out every week, the atmosphere is bouncing and they turn up at away grounds in huge numbers and tell everyone that they can't believe how quiet the home fans are (is it a library hahahah top bantz) and then three years later they're bringing about 200 and getting booed off at home because they lost 1-0 to a team that's won more league titles than they've won top flight games. Most non Spurs fans think you should be winning trophies now, it won't be long before your own fans agree I reckon.
Yid4life
Player Valuation: £35m
The youngsters/jcls already do mate.
Three words sum our fate out = KINGS DOCK Failure!
WeAreEvertonians
Player Valuation: £950k
He is, that squad, that net spend, that wage bill, he’s doing a sensational job, Spurs will drop like a stone when he goes, they’ll be fighting for 6th.
They already are.
Undisputed_blue
Player Valuation: £8m
Only Goat can provide an old meaningless article to this thread.
You said nobody cared about Europa league, so I posted Christian Eriksen saying he only joined Spurs cos they had Europa league.
But nevermind.
Undisputed_blue
Player Valuation: £8m
He wasn't a top player then.
Darth Toffeeman
Player Valuation: £40m
Brands was brought in and Silva was given a 3 year deal.
I honestly think Brands would have indicated that this club could probably achieve sod all in that time due to the amount of wasted wages on useless players.
Silva was an option who wanted the job, and gets his contract to see if he can improve results as the squad improves under Brands purchases.
Currently the home form is excellent and the away form is shambolic.
Unless the home form collapses we will keep the status quo.
As Silvas contract comes to an end we should have a far stronger and tighter squad. If the away form and cup runs have not improved then Silva will not see his contract renewed.
We are just in limbo as a club currently thanks to misplaced trust in poor regimes since Moyes departure.
Cool_Blue
Player Valuation: £35m
That’s undeniably true, but.......they have established themselves as a perennial top 4 team and are now European regulars.
I grew to dislike Spurs intensely, mainly because of the way they gradually moved ahead of us, because let’s face it, we were ‘equals’ years ago, both in the shadow of more successful neighbours etc., but now I like the job Poch has done and wish them well.
Frang
Player Valuation: £70m
Spurs are like us on turbo mode..
Got the new stadium, the great manager, the world forward..
We try and try and never quite make champs league, whereas they make the champs league FINAL, come a close second and third etc etc
And at the end of the day both teams end up with nowt..
Must be alit harder being a spuds fan!
It's the hope that kills you and they've got mountains of hope these days!
What a frustrating thread.
Don’t get me wrong, finishing fourth that season was an incredible feat. It’s something I personally look back on as being one of the major heights of my time supporting the club, and it was the catalyst for the club to go from relegation-battlers to top four challengers.
But it was a fluke.
If you look at the squad during that season, there are a couple telling issues which needed to be addressed the following season. Firstly, our back four.
We usually started with a flat four at the back consisting of a limited Tony Hibbert, the ever reliable Alan Stubbs, the ageing David Weir, and Gary Naysmith. We played the vast majority of our games on the backfoot that season, which suited our defence as pace at the back was never a strong point. Naysmith and Hibbert were told to stay back, and on the rare occasion we did push them forward we’d have the athletic cover of Lee Carsley there to provide cover and form a make-shift back three.
A perfect example of how limited we was was the 2-0 loss to Fulham. A game that, at the time, was seen to be the game in which we needed to win to finish in the top four meant that Moyes shifted into a more attacking formation. This saw Yobo come in for Alan Stubbs to provide pace and athleticism, and Steve Watson preferred to Tony Hibbert for his ability to get down the wing and support Arteta. We also played two up front, with Ferguson and Bent leading the line.
As we pushed up, Radzinksi and Collins John moved to get in behind the centre back pairing - notably targeting Alan Stubbs’ comprehensive lack of pace. Within 40 minutes we were 2-0 down, reverted to our defensive game and never really looked a threat as Fulham were contempt sitting with their lead intact.
Whether it be by miracle, or Liverpool’s inability to capitalise on our drop of form, we finished 4th and secured Champions League football the following season.
Moyes understood full well that, if we were to crack on, we’d have to change our gamestyle from 1-0 chancers to becoming an outfit that was capable of holding the ball and pinning back the opposition into their own half.
Following the end of his contract, Alan Stubbs was released to join recently promoted Sunderland. His replacement would come in the form of a £5m Danish centre back who had just played a major part in Udinese’s 4th place finish in Serie A - Per Kroldrup.
Champions League winner and Portuguese international, Nuno Valente was signed from Porto to replace Alessandro Pistone.
Mikel Arteta, who impressed the Goodison Park faithful with his creativity, signed on a permanent basis from Real Sociedad for a measly £2m. Matteo Ferrari, a highly-rated pacey centre back from the Italian league, was loaned in to provide cover for Joseph Yobo. Manchester United’s Phil Neville, known for his versatility and work-rate, was then made our club’s highest paid player when he was brought in for £3.5m. Simon Davies also signed from Spurs, but I can't remember the fee.
And on the final day of the season, the enigmatic but undoubtedly highly talented, Andy van der Meyde was signed from Inter Milan for £1.8m on the final day of the transfer window.
On the face of it, it looked as if Moyes had addressed all of the squads shortcomings. The pace issue at the back looked to be addressed in its entirety, with Per Kroldrup and Matteo Ferrari providing far more athleticism than Alan Stubbs and David Weir.
Nuno Valente and Phil Neville provided the sort of technical ability we needed if we were to push our fullbacks forward. Andy van der Meyde promised to provide the crosses needed to get the best of out of James Beattie. Simon Davies looked to offer more than Leon Osman.
It just so happened that almost all of those signings (other than Valente, Arteta, and Neville) turned out to be complete flops. Moreover, the dependable Nigel Martyn was forced into early retirement after being dealt a nasty break in his ankle, leaving us with the eclectic Dickie Wright in goals.
We bought well from then on, but early being knocked-out so early on in the Champions League and that horrible 5-1 defeat to a Romanian side I can't even remember the name of took the wind right out of the club. The hangover was immense, and we did well to finish were we did.
I wouldn't blame anyone in particular for this. We spent £15-18m that season on a number of players, who on the face of it, looked to address all of our shortcomings - but it didn't work out.
But it was a fluke.
If you look at the squad during that season, there are a couple telling issues which needed to be addressed the following season. Firstly, our back four.
We usually started with a flat four at the back consisting of a limited Tony Hibbert, the ever reliable Alan Stubbs, the ageing David Weir, and Gary Naysmith. We played the vast majority of our games on the backfoot that season, which suited our defence as pace at the back was never a strong point. Naysmith and Hibbert were told to stay back, and on the rare occasion we did push them forward we’d have the athletic cover of Lee Carsley there to provide cover and form a make-shift back three.
A perfect example of how limited we was was the 2-0 loss to Fulham. A game that, at the time, was seen to be the game in which we needed to win to finish in the top four meant that Moyes shifted into a more attacking formation. This saw Yobo come in for Alan Stubbs to provide pace and athleticism, and Steve Watson preferred to Tony Hibbert for his ability to get down the wing and support Arteta. We also played two up front, with Ferguson and Bent leading the line.
As we pushed up, Radzinksi and Collins John moved to get in behind the centre back pairing - notably targeting Alan Stubbs’ comprehensive lack of pace. Within 40 minutes we were 2-0 down, reverted to our defensive game and never really looked a threat as Fulham were contempt sitting with their lead intact.
Whether it be by miracle, or Liverpool’s inability to capitalise on our drop of form, we finished 4th and secured Champions League football the following season.
Moyes understood full well that, if we were to crack on, we’d have to change our gamestyle from 1-0 chancers to becoming an outfit that was capable of holding the ball and pinning back the opposition into their own half.
Following the end of his contract, Alan Stubbs was released to join recently promoted Sunderland. His replacement would come in the form of a £5m Danish centre back who had just played a major part in Udinese’s 4th place finish in Serie A - Per Kroldrup.
Champions League winner and Portuguese international, Nuno Valente was signed from Porto to replace Alessandro Pistone.
Mikel Arteta, who impressed the Goodison Park faithful with his creativity, signed on a permanent basis from Real Sociedad for a measly £2m. Matteo Ferrari, a highly-rated pacey centre back from the Italian league, was loaned in to provide cover for Joseph Yobo. Manchester United’s Phil Neville, known for his versatility and work-rate, was then made our club’s highest paid player when he was brought in for £3.5m. Simon Davies also signed from Spurs, but I can't remember the fee.
And on the final day of the season, the enigmatic but undoubtedly highly talented, Andy van der Meyde was signed from Inter Milan for £1.8m on the final day of the transfer window.
On the face of it, it looked as if Moyes had addressed all of the squads shortcomings. The pace issue at the back looked to be addressed in its entirety, with Per Kroldrup and Matteo Ferrari providing far more athleticism than Alan Stubbs and David Weir.
Nuno Valente and Phil Neville provided the sort of technical ability we needed if we were to push our fullbacks forward. Andy van der Meyde promised to provide the crosses needed to get the best of out of James Beattie. Simon Davies looked to offer more than Leon Osman.
It just so happened that almost all of those signings (other than Valente, Arteta, and Neville) turned out to be complete flops. Moreover, the dependable Nigel Martyn was forced into early retirement after being dealt a nasty break in his ankle, leaving us with the eclectic Dickie Wright in goals.
We bought well from then on, but early being knocked-out so early on in the Champions League and that horrible 5-1 defeat to a Romanian side I can't even remember the name of took the wind right out of the club. The hangover was immense, and we did well to finish were we did.
I wouldn't blame anyone in particular for this. We spent £15-18m that season on a number of players, who on the face of it, looked to address all of our shortcomings - but it didn't work out.
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