What would be seen as a successful season?

[Steve0]

Any improvement...after spending £72M on players you'd accept 10th spot in the league?

Personally I think having the season end in early January already means that there will be no improvement unless we now go on a sensational run that takes us to top 5. And that is highly unlikely.

£28m got injured in November.
£34m didnt arrive until January.
£12m replaced a £47m player.
£8m has had a month in Africa.

Next season will see the real improvement. Think we'll be pushing for CL places personally.

 

[Saint Domingo]

A return to European competition should be welcomed. Breaking one of the mental barriers at certain away grounds would be good too.

 

[Mountfield1985]

Any improvement...after spending £72M on players you'd accept 10th spot in the league?

Personally I think having the season end in early January already means that there will be no improvement unless we now go on a sensational run that takes us to top 5. And that is highly unlikely.

Davek logic:

Koemans spent £72m on players so there's no excuse not to challenge the top 6.

The net spend is only £25m - Moshiri is a fraud and we cannot compete with the top 6.

 

[tim cahill]

Top 10 shows improvement but 7th would reflect the squad we have which is success relative to the last couple of seasons where we underperformed due to a completely incompetent manager. Removing his taint is a success in itself.

 

[Goat]

Davek logic:

Koemans spent £72m on players so there's no excuse not to challenge the top 6.

The net spend is only £25m - Moshiri is a fraud and we cannot compete with the top 6.

First things first, its not 72m, its 80m spent on 6 players.

Next up, our net spend is minus 8m, when you factor in the loans that will become perm.

If we get Europa league its a success, if we dont, there will certainly be a degree of disappointment, but when you consider how much further along in their project the teams above us are 7th would be an acceptable transitional season.

A lack of Europa would no doubt hurt us big time with regards summer recruitment and I would imagine would shift some focus from certain targets, but theres no reason we cant get some business done early in the summer and make a real go at things from August straight from the bat.

7th is totally acceptable this season, but providing the manager is backed fully in the summer, I will be expecting a top 4 challenge next season.

 

[chippy1722]

I would be disappointed if we didn't make the top 8. Anything in the top 8 would be a decent first season and something to build on. he still hasn't settled on a first 11 or formation and I think with the players in Centre midfield it still may take a bit of time to get the best partnerships.

 

[GlosBlue]

In all seriousness the OP question is a good one in terms of how the fanbase now views matters concerning satisfactory progress. I firmly believe that the last two seasons has provided a big opportunity for an incoming manager to coast to comfortable top ten finishes without too much fuss being made. That is the danger. What we latterly would not accept off Moyes will be seen as achieving success under Koeman or any successor...almost regardless of what he spends.

I dont think that should be the case, but there's obviously an element of relief we aren't on the other side of mid table again and that gives a lot of Evertonians some pride. I understand that but dont think it's healthy. Healthy is to apply pressure on manager and owner at every turn to make incremental improvements year on year. Never stop agitating them in that respect. No free passes for either. That's the only viewpoint to take.

How on earth do you quantify that statement?! A squad with morale at rock bottom, that had finished two consecutive seasons in 11th/12th, was aging and lacking quality in depth and you think someone should walk in and turn it around in a season?!....

 

[ant1878]

£28m got injured in November.
£34m didnt arrive until January.
£12m replaced a £47m player.
£8m has had a month in Africa.

Next season will see the real improvement. Think we'll be pushing for CL places personally.

also more money will be spent this summer to further improve the squad!
adding quality back up to Rom and more depth at centre half, maybe even improving the goalkeeping options.

 

[leelead]

i think we should be no lower than 7th which is a improvement on last couple of years.
if we get around the 60-65pts mark we shouldnt be too far from top 6.
Aslong Man utd win the cup and the FA cup winners are top 5 we will take a europa spot which again is progress.
the summer will be massive still a few to clear out and the loans from january to finalise into perms, before adding 4 or 5 quality players spending 100M including sales in order to challenge top 4 closer than this year aswell as compete in the europa league

 

[davek]

Surprised as this post from you Dave. RU suggesting that the last 2 seasons have been so poor that fans would accept a mediocre top half finish with negative football as success?. Firstly, thats a poor indictment of RMs tenure here. But also the thread poll doesnt back this up and neither do most of the comments I've read.

If anything, our expectations have been unreasonably high given the resources available to the teams we are trying to overtake.

Expectations were crazily heightened after Martinez's first season to such a point that when we fell out of the top 8 in the autumn of the following season the first Martinez Out polls were being posted on here - thats how mad things had gotten out of whack.

Those expectations continued the following season and saw Martinez out the door. But they seem to have been tempered now for a new manager. All of a sudden some people are suggesting a spell for a couple of seasons in the top half or around 7th place will be ok. So expectations have have been diluted. That doesn't make sense to me. If this feller is 'an improvement' then we should be expecting him to at least get to where the previous two managers have got to - managers who didn't have half the resources this one will have at his disposal. You can also see that attitude being encouraged by the likes of Ratcliffe today trying to elevate the "enormity" of the task of cracking into the 'Sensational Six' teams above us. That is utter BS.

 

[davek]

@davek you've made 8 posts in this thread, that's a fifth of the content do far... But it doesn't appear that you've voted in the poll as yet.
Give us all a clue mate eh ?

Well, I was going to vote EL spot would be a successful season...but how can I vote for that when my long held opinion is that getting one of those places is like getting a kick in the bollocks for the next seasason's PL campaign. Not much of a success that.

 

[davek]

Last season I found myself in the terrible position of hoping we lost in the cup because if we won it we would keep the manager who was going to get us relegated. This season I can see the green shoots of a balanced squad emerging.

Never in a million years would I ever be able to understand that mentality.

 

[davek]

£28m got injured in November.
£34m didnt arrive until January.
£12m replaced a £47m player.
£8m has had a month in Africa.

Next season will see the real improvement. Think we'll be pushing for CL places personally.

He better had be.

 

[davek]

Davek logic:

Koemans spent £72m on players so there's no excuse not to challenge the top 6.

The net spend is only £25m - Moshiri is a fraud and we cannot compete with the top 6.

Wasn't my point. My (obvious to most) point was that we have a paper thin first team that needs upgrades in nearly every single position and it'll have to be done in the summer...and that the spending of £72M this season has not got very far in reconfiguring this first team....probably because this manager has paid through the nose for those players he has brought in apart from Gueye.

 

[Aar_the_Toffees]

Expectations were crazily heightened after Martinez's first season to such a point that when we fell out of the top 8 in the autumn of the following season the first Martinez Out polls were being posted on here - thats how mad things had gotten out of whack.

Those expectations continued the following season and saw Martinez out the door. But they seem to have been tempered now for a new manager. All of a sudden some people are suggesting a spell for a couple of seasons in the top half or around 7th place will be ok. So expectations have have been diluted. That doesn't make sense to me. If this feller is 'an improvement' then we should be expecting him to at least get to where the previous two managers have got to - managers who didn't have half the resources this one will have at his disposal. You can also see that attitude being encouraged by the likes of Ratcliffe today trying to elevate the "enormity" of the task of cracking into the 'Sensational Six' teams above us. That is utter BS.

No mate. We're saying that progress takes time. It will take more than one season to turn the crap team Martinez left into a top four and eventually title contending side. So no we are not saying 7th is ok. Nobody is happy with seventh. But we all accept that to attain top four next season we will need to finish at least 7th this season.

 

[chrismpw]

The double.
Nsno