Winning the league

[Yorkie]

 

[1966efc]

What do others think?

That you & Bobby are living on a lovely diazepam cloud.

 

[Zatara]

Not one season,three seasons

We are coming from a long way behind and haven't got the cash to make the leap in one season to proper contenders. While the young squad looks quality it is hoping an awful lot for them all to become the players we think they can and not to have them cherry picked by the big guns along the way.

Nice to dream though and better than a couple of years ago when Moyes left and many were saying we would be relegated within a couple of years.

 

[Mikey_Fitzgerald]

The only time we'll win the league again will be if we get bought by an oligarch and money is pumped in

We'll never manage it on our own stead

It's City, United or Chelsea for the rest of time now, with maybe Arsenal or Liverpool sneaking it one year when those three are in transition or have a bad season

The highest Everton could probably reach in it's current form is to maybe win a cup or finish in the top 4

Until we start spending like the top teams, we won't be within a sniff of that Premier League Title

This is why we need to sort out the ground issue and then get the club sold on to someone who can actually invest in the club

 

[DanEFC92]

Tbf, we weren't that far away 2 seasons ago.

 

[blue4eva77]

Tbf, we weren't that far away 2 seasons ago.

Do you think we came close to qualifying for the Europa this year ?

 

[Brendan Janus]

The only time we'll win the league again will be if we get bought by an oligarch and money is pumped in

We'll never manage it on our own stead

It's City, United or Chelsea for the rest of time now, with maybe Arsenal or Liverpool sneaking it one year when those three are in transition or have a bad season

The highest Everton could probably reach in it's current form is to maybe win a cup or finish in the top 4

Until we start spending like the top teams, we won't be within a sniff of that Premier League Title

This is why we need to sort out the ground issue and then get the club sold on to someone who can actually invest in the club

Our plight summed up perfectly

 

[Mikey_Fitzgerald]

Our plight summed up perfectly

Yet we'll all keep supporting The Blues

I do think supporters of the United's and Chelsea's of the world must look at us and think "why would you support a side you know has literally no chance of winning the league?"

To those that understand, no explanation is needed

For those that don't, no explanation will suffice

 

[DanEFC92]

Do you think we came close to qualifying for the Europa this year ?

tbf, we weren't that far away in the fair play table.

 

[Brendan Janus]

tbf, we weren't that far away in the fair play table.

Far too close, hence all the bookings versus the Hammers !!

 

[blue4eva77]

tbf, we weren't that far away in the fair play table.

from qualifying for it through finishing in the top 7 ?

 

[Baines' left foot]

ZAT Y U NO QUOTE PROPLEE?

In 3 seasons time those players will have an average age of 25 and played together for at least 3 seasons on the spin.

Surely the addition of 3 top players to the group as well as some squad additions puts us with a very strong side?

Baines and Jags in 3 years will have made way for Garbutt and Galloway all going to plan as well.

 

[Mikey_Fitzgerald]

Yet we'll all keep supporting The Blues

I do think supporters of the United's and Chelsea's of the world must look at us and think "why would you support a side you know has literally no chance of winning the league?"

To those that understand, no explanation is needed

For those that don't, no explanation will suffice

Bloke I sit with in the Main Stand told me an interesting story that kind of connects to this actually.

He was on his way back from an away game during the last ever Howard Kendall stint as manager. David Elleray had reffed the match and when the bloke pulled up to get petrol, he saw Elleray was filling up too. I think we'd been porked by whoever we played that day and Elleray, upon seeing the bloke supported Everton, declared "How can you support a team as bad as that?"

People used to go on about how Elleray was a clueless posho school master who didn't have an actual clue about football. I think that highlights that opinion quite well

 

[Woolly Blue]

I'm becoming very positive about the way were moving forward under Martinez. Last year was an eye opener but mainly because of several players proving that theyre not good enough and Martinez now knowing who/what he needs moving forward (as shown by the Lennon loan).

I would say he's 2 seasons into a 5 season plan to get us into the top 4 consistently and possibly even challenging for the title. He constantly talks about our 'core' of young players and if (and its a big if) we manage to sign up Garbutt and Deulofeu in the next two weeks we will go into July with this core for the next 3 years of his 5 year plan:

4-3-3
GK-- ?
LB -- Garbutt 22
CB -- Galloway 19
CB -- Stones 21
RB -- Coleman 26
DM --McCarthy 24 / Besic 22
CM-- Barkley 21 / Cleverley 25
AM -- ?
LW -- ?
CF -- Lukaku 22
RW -- Deulofeu 21

EDIT - avg age 22.3.

Obviously it's also a squad game but if we can bring through players like Ledson whilst recycling other players out (McGeady/Mirallas/Howard etc) then adding in some quality to fit into this core of 19-26 year old players then we will be some side.

If we can add in the necessary quality to this core group over the next three summers, just how far could this team go?

For me, if we could fill those 3 positions which are empty at the moment and sign Garbutt and Deulofeu up we look very strong... i dont know any other club with a young core as good as this.

Surely this is our chance with Martinez to mould the side into a top 4 club and also challenge for the title...i'd say 3 years for this side to be challenging if two players are added to this core every summer.

What do others think?

Two things need to happen for us to get Top 4

1. The players coming in need to be better than those finishing and
2. Our team has to be better than the sum of it's parts

Martinez, more or less, did the latter in his first season, but, to use your later example, Garbutt's pretty unlikely to be better than Baines and I'm not convinced that Galloway's going to be better than Jagielka, in fact, I think that's unlikely too.

Pushing for Champions League is possible, thinking we're going to be good enough to win the Premier League is another thing entirely. I applaud your optimism, but I think it's misguided.

 

[paulbefc]

I'd just be happy if we made the top 4 once in the next five years. It'd be a genuinely stunning achievement for a club with our limited financial clout. How on earth we did it in 2005 I have no idea. Still for me one of the great achievements any premier league club has pulled off, domestically in the last 10-15 years.

The money that the current top 6 have makes it unbelievably difficult to achieve anything substantial when you're not a rich club.