ClaphamFox

Only one of those makes sense.

The man don’t give a ****. The question is, is this because: a) He knows he’s leaving; or b) He knows he’s staying and doesn’t have to prove anything to keep his job?

That would be my assumption, yes. Highly unlikely to be zero.

You would hope that there would be a relegation clause, which would enable us to do it soon. But hope can be a dangerous thing...

For about six months. He has a link with them, sure, but it's been a little overstated by some people.

Jurić sacked as soon as Southampton are mathematically relegated. If the same thing doesn't happen with us, we'll know the intention is to keep RVN next season.

I’m never going to eat an omelette again. Just in case.

I love that you actually counted them out 😂

The Russell Martin derby?

Of for the love of God it’s a just a rumour from ALAN NIXON. Please don’t give it any credibility!

Alan Nixon is a rumour factory whose produce is mainly cheap counterfeits - it’s quantity over quality with him. The fact that he may have got something right about us once does not change this.

I drew a sharp intake of breath when I first saw this story, then I saw it was by Alan Nixon and I immediately relaxed.

Where did the club state that our ambition was to finish in the top six this season?

If he knew he was leaving, why pick a fight with Winks over his commute? What would be the point? Maybe that was about stamping his authority over the squad ahead of next season?

You may well be right. The only thing that makes me question this a little is the way he’s talking in press conferences. Usually if a manager is asked about his future and he knows he’s leaving, he will give a diplomatic, non-committal answer such as, “I’m too focused on the present to worry about that” or “I’ll sit down with the chairman at the end of the season and decide”, etc. But when Ruud is asked, he will talk very specifically about the young players he intends to bring in and sounds very much like he genuinely expects to still be with us next season. And if you add into the mix that the club is clearly briefing journalists that the plan is for RVN to remain, then I don’t think it can be ruled out.

It would not surprise me if that is still currently the plan.

A common complaint among Everton fans was that Dyche had a strong preference for ageing workhorses over exciting young players. The likes of Ayew, BDCR and Coady would be the first names on the team sheet if he managed us.

Russell Brand charged with rape: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0457d02e9go

I’m with Ruud on this one.

During his first two seasons we played some of the best football I've ever seen us play. Admittedly, it did go to shit after that, mind...

I know we didn't - and look how that turned out. I know we're all down on the owners and everything, but given the utter shit show of this season, I'm just not convinced they'll adopt exactly the same policy of targeting a sub-standard manager on the basis that they're out of contract and therefore free.

We won't hear anything at all from the club until relegation is mathematically confirmed.

I have no idea whether we're likely to get Rohl or not, but I think this assumption that we won't pay any release clause is flawed. There's a good chance that our preferred targets will be in a job, so the chances are we will have to pay compensation for somebody.

100%. And after Enzo left, the two top names on our shortlist were Graham Potter and Steve Cooper - two completely different types of manager. If we'd have appointed Potter, we'd have gone in a completely different direction with transfers. The fact that our entire transfer policy hinged solely on whoever came in as manager does indeed speak volumes.

Indeed. This idea that Maresca would have just turned out to be an Italian Russell Martin has no basis in reality, but that doesn't stop people from mindlessly repeating it. Maresca is a far better and more pragmatic manager than Martin - there's no comparing them. If Maresca had stayed we'd likely have had a new DoF and other technical staff last summer, we'd have had a much better transfer window and would very likely have stayed up this season. His decision to leave for Chelsea threw us into a tailspin from which we still haven't recovered.