ooh it's a corner

Gash. And not enjoyable. Well played Iceland, always said they were a European football super-power. Sleeping giant.

Whilst I do agree with you entirely, the sticking point will be; If you want to trade with me, you must a) Contribute to the EU pot b) Allow freedom of movement for EU citizens Point b) will be the obstacle.

I blame the glory hunting web fans. It wasn't this bad in the League One days...

What is this? Is it a subtle clue that we're getting a caretaker manager?

Perhaps Les could do a video, rather than putting out a statement. We're good at that.

perhaps it's Danny Blind, just to **** off Everton and activate a release clause in Koeman's shiny new contract?

That would be a huge statement. Blood is thicker than water, but potentially ££££ are thicker than blood? Insane.

UEFA need to be even handed here. Hopefully they will issue a warning to the Ukrainian and German FA's over their fans' behaviour in Lille.

UEFA should just expel Russia from the tournament. Then we'd have 3 points on the board :-)

Good man, well done

I've known a few Russian Slutsky's. They should have been on a bonus only....

My first thought would be, "If I don't stop laughing soon, I'm going to have a coronary."

I think that is harsh on Saints. We signed Forster and VVD from a FAR bigger club than ourselves, (and for that matter Everton). I'm not sure many Europeans think Southampton is any bigger than Feyenoord (Pelle) or FC Twente (Tadic). I could go on, but the point I was trying to make, was for a piece of broadsheet journalism, it wasn't balanced. It was one sided, as you say, from a probable Everton fan.

Bigger isn't a problem for me. It's down to size. So Everton, with a bigger ground and a bigger regular average attendance ARE bigger than Saints. As are Newcastle. The thing that is starting to wind me up is the concept of "step up". It CANNOT be a step up to go from a European qualifying team to one who has failed to qualify for Europe. End of. It is a step down. You can, as Koeman has demonstrated, step down, in the belief that you can step up beyond the level of your former employer. I have no problem with Koeman stepping down to try to do this, especially when Everton have shown four million more lots of "ambition" than we were prepared to.

I'm not slating you for posting this, but when you say it is hard to argue.....it really is like reading an Everton fan's view of affairs. As for the typo, Jesus H Christ this is a professional journalist writing for a heavy-weight newspaper, "they know where they once where". It's like reading the Echo. (without the ad for the best mate's ex wife who now earns a lot working from home on her laptop)

Ginger senior citizen?

That Iranian-UK bloke, you know, the non-dom, who lives in Monaco, paid £87m for half (or just under) of EFC. So, the question in terms of bigger club, is do you think you could buy all of SFC for £175m? I don't think you could. So, we're bigger. Ner

good man Jimmy. My vote goes for Cancer Research

It's certainly up there with the bestest posts I've ever seen

Once in every generation, Everton give you a reason to hate them, just a little bit more than their big city rivals. For my Dad, it was about Bailey. Heck I even joined in with a chorus of "We hate Bailey and we hate Bailey", without even knowing who he was, or why we hated him. For me. Adrian Heath. Nothing more needs to be said. It's been a while coming, but for my children, this episode should be enough to look with a vague interest at the Everton results next year and cheer, each and every time they lose. No bitterness, just the wonderful pantomime that is football. (and whatever happened to John Bailey?)

Were you referring to Everton, or the chap who'd retired having worked for the same company for 30 years?

you don't really mean that. We may wish that he falls flat on his face and gets Everton fewer points that they got this season, but none of us mean him harm.....

The thing that I find most patronising is the "step up" thing. There is a hierarchy in football. Last season Leicester came out on top of that hierarchy, followed by a small number of teams who will be competing in the Champions League, followed by a few more in the Europa League. Everyone would agree that it is a "step up" for a team to go from not qualifying for Europe, to qualifying for Europe. Everyone would also agree it is a "step up" to go from a Europa League qualifier to a Champions League qualifier. So by definition this move is a "step down" for Koeman. Happy for him and wish him well for the future, but please please please, change the narrative to "he is taking a step down in the hope that he can take two steps up in the future". But under no footballing circumstances is he stepping up, moving from a team that has qualified for Europe 2 seasons running, to one who hasn't.

Trouble is, we'd be better served with a few million from EFC, plus a clause regarding non-poaching of staff (excluding two named coaches). Otherwise, he improves his golf handicap for a year and then comes knocking next season, with nothing to prevent him from doing so. There is clearly something holding up the process. Sounds plausible that it is this....

Don't be daft. This hurts a lot because we still haven't forgiven Everton for Adrian Heath, or John Bailey before him....