Finnegan

"Performing"

I've got you. I assume a few of you on here can be character references for my great attitude and shining personality?

... is this literally Filbert?

Yeah. The Falklands are what they bang on about when an election is due and they need some clout, not once they've already won. He's a fiscal libertarian economist that ran against the old minister of the economy in a nation with more financial problems than Everton. Highly doubt the first thing he's gonna do is posture over some irrelevant islands. (He'll save that for next year when he's not made anything better and everyone's angry.)

One thing I've definitely noticed a lot of over the last couple years of paying more attention to cricket - people over react LOADS to scores and batting "collapses" before they've seen both teams bat. It seems really common that the first team to bat will appear to struggle, they'll lose a bunch of wickets, score lower than everyone thinks and there'll be a massive over reaction. Then the second team to bat will magically also struggle. End of the day, if the conditions are making it difficult for one team then they're quite often going to make it difficult for the other no?

I pretty much refuse to argue the merits of international qualifiers with anyone arrogant enough to moan about having to play Malta or Luxembourg or whoever. They're countries. They deserve a chance to qualify. That's it. Get over it.

I feel I covered this, albeit less theatrically, with my last paragraph. But if we're expecting people to stop following their clubs, clubs they've followed all their lives, because money has gotten bad in football then I'm baffled that frankly you're STILL watching. Ketrin is such an enjoyable experience why can't you tear yourself away from soulless, billionaire owner LCFC? Because you've been preaching about wanting out since Milan Mandaric but you're still watching. And that's not an attack or a criticism. I wrestle with the same myself. The money in football is contradictory to every value I hold about the "real world." But I'm still here and I'm here because our clubs matter to us. And as annoying as some of them act on the internet, Everton's matter to them.

How about "... really should have come for the corner we conceded from after five minutes?"

Sadly.

Danny fvcking Ward

It's not tacky to seek justice. Our club have done a really good job over the summer of recognising where we went wrong and learning from it. We've hired a manager who is fostering a much better and more positive atmosphere around the whole club and we've recruited far more intelligently, putting genuine stock in to finding good personalities as well as the right players and we're doing much better. We're not blaming anyone else for our mistakes, we've acknowledged where we went wrong and we've done a good job of starting to correct it. But a significant contributor to our relegation was our not reinforcing the squad last year adequately because of FFP when a major relegation rival was busy ignoring those same regulations. We have very strong grounds to feel wronged by that. You're allowed to have two thoughts in your head at the same time, people. You're allowed nuance. You can be angry at both our club AND theirs ffs.

You don't build a squad in a year, they've been signing players for years they couldn't afford and FFP runs in rolling blocks of time. And obviously nobody can definitively prove that anything that didn't happen in the past definitely would have under other circumstances. That's a completely moronic thing to expect of someone in an argument. And it won't be what we have to prove if we do sue them. This is just another stupid post. I'm sorry I don't mean to be overly aggressive I'm just, along with @urban.spaceman I think, utterly exasperated by how apathetic and blase people are about this and how many mental gymnastics Leicester fans want to do to exonerate Everton for wronging Leicester. Objectively so. Everton broke the rules and benefited from it, I don't understand how that isn't just unbelievably obvious to people. Of course they stayed up at our expense. And that's not mutually exclusive with "we were unforgivably bad last year." So were they, just even more embarrassingly so when you consider what THEY spent over the last five years. You can be angry with Top, Rodgers, Rudkin, Whelan and the state our club got in to. You can say we deserved to go down if it helps your healing process, whatever, maybe all of those things are true. But it's still also true Everton cheated us out of our Premier League place. That's no longer up for debate they've just been punished for it.

Does he not realise how much of an own goal that sounds? Everton "working with the Premier League" to break rules, to keep themselves in the division, to avoid points deductions last year when the league had half the season to apply them when it would have sent them down only to then conveniently conclude to deduct now once it looks like they'd be safe? Nice on Jamie.

Honestly one of the stupidest takes you've ever posted. Nobody is suggesting we got relegated because of two games against Everton. The problem is they played 38 games with a squad they cheated to assemble whilst we played, as was plastered all over the media, 38 games with a squad we couldn't afford to reinforce because we were trying to stay within FFP. Yes, with the squad they had and the squad we had they deserved to stay up over 38 games. THAT'S THE FVCKING POINT

Soapbox time. Sorry in advance. TLDR: Man City bad, Everton worse. Something people need to remember about FFP is that it's poorly named twice over. Not only is it hilariously unfair in that it protects only the traditionally wealthy clubs, it's actual purpose and justification wasn't ever about fairness, the original justifications were about sustainability. The reason that the rules are based around spend vs sustainable income is that the point of FFP (the supposed real one, not the bit about protecting United and Liverpool) is supposed to protect fans and communities from losing their clubs because of mistreatment from reckless and irresponsible owners following in the wake of fvck ups like Portsmouth. This is where the distinction between Everton and Man City is important and why you should be madder about Everton than Manchester City if you give any fvcks at all about football fans and local communities in this country. I hate lots of things about Manchester City, not least I hate that we shamefully allow Absolute Monarchies to own British football clubs. No developed, civilised western society should ever allow that. It's vile. But 99% of Premier League titles since the inception of the league have been "bought", I couldn't give a fvck about. What I do care about is football clubs not going out of business. Manchester City might be the Evil Empire of football and you are well and truly entitled to hate them for it but you also should respect how incredibly well run they are. From top to bottom they are run by shrewd business geniuses, they make intelligent business decisions, they make intelligent footballing decisions, they are probably the best run football club on the planet. For the Nth season in a row they've just posted record profits whilst absolutely dominating on the pitch whilst their youth systems kick out a production line of superb talent to be sold off roundthe world for revenue. They're the epitome of the wrongs of modern football, yes, but they're also intensely secure. The city of Manchester and the fans of its blue half are in absolutely no risk of losing their football club, it's a paragon of good practice. Meanwhile, the blue half of Merseyside is possibly the biggest dumpster fire in English football. They spend like they're Manchester United, with none of the commercial revenue to back it up, they've posted record losses year after year after year, they've spent miles outside their means trying to buy big name players for ridiculous fees and wages all constantly piling on risk. Then, with all of this shit storm swirling around them, they've decided a smart answer is to copy Spurs in spending like half a billion or whatever on a luxury, designer giga stadium as if they're Champions of Europe. What the actual fvck is that? They're an absolute disaster waiting to happen and if they're allowed to continue unchecked then one of the most prestigious and ancient clubs, not just in English football, globally will circle and fall down the drain. Anyone claiming to love the English game, it's traditions, it's values, it's supporters, etc, should give a LOT of fvcks about that and how poorly Everton are run as a business. Their owners need a serious reality check to be held accountable for how much of a fvcking disaster they are and that's without going anywhere near my bitterness for our relegation. Seriously. Look, in a perfect world we'd have a complete revolution of top tier European football, the money would all fvck off, we'd have sensible spending caps and wage budgets and ethical owners owning ethically run teams. I get it, believe me I want that. But in the current context? What we have now? If Man City don't win the league then United or Liverpool or Chelsea will just buy it anyway, I don't give a fvck. Let's not pretend Man City are any threat to sporting integrity in that division. But Everton? Everton are a problem that seriously need solving.

Baffling to me any Leicester fan can hold this opinion.

I hate so much that it's happened now. I dont care how much mental gymnastics people want to do, they robbed us. And to make it worse then get their points deduction not only the season after but in a season where the bottom three are so fvcking terrible they'll probably still survive it.

Greed will ruin every sport eventually

Now when you say back alley...

Bit early to be on the sauce mun even for you

I still thought it was quite telling. It stood out for me too. It's still an obvious separation between himself and the players that are currently playing. I dont think Coady would have been referring to the team as "they" while he was on the sidelines watching. He very much inserted himself in to it and made himself part of the whole squad experience. I'm not trying to psycho analyze and condemn Harry Souttar over semantics but it did leap off the page to me as well tbf.

I'm glad that whenever I think I'm in danger of people believing I'm taking a topic too seriously, there's always some other weirdo going further.

Honestly the implication that I'm anything other than a lifelong, dyed in the wool, committed appreciator of the Tunnock's Caramel Wafer might be the most offensive thing anybody's ever insinuated about me. On here or otherwise. It's almost as triggering as the idea that you got to 70 or whatever and still want us to believe you've never had one. I bet if we made a thread about Fry's disgusting Chocolate Cremes vs their equally repugnant Turkish Delight you'd be frothing at the mouth because they're appropriately Southern enough for you and your Château du Pape palate.

The man is just absolutely absurd. Putting your own face on Max Payne is hilarious levels of narcissism. But that love of himself just shines out of the rest of his work. I honestly think he sees himself as some rare breed of auteur, like a gaming Tarantino. Just makes absolute twoddle.

You can spot the old toothless fvcks that can't chew in this poll can't you. Nice tea cake to gum on.