angelman

Naive optimism is what its all about, otherwise there is little point. I tend to flit between pessimistic optimism, and optimistic pessimism (as I am a grumpy old sod). Trying as long as possible to fend off the pessimistic pessimism.

Glasgow, you seem to have forgotten all the other staff at the club. And what about employer NIC?

Well I can either say "I told you so", or "I knew we weren't going to win but was just being positive". I can't lose.

Funny though, I think we are going to beat Spurs. There, I've said it - all this doom and gloom. Enough of being negative until 6.30 on Sunday night.

Its a bit of a Catch-22 in that if we make a toxic atmosphere, it is likely to rub off on the players and make them play (even more!!!!) badly.

I think one of the measures (and it will be way too late by then) is how many tickets are sold for the Watford game. A huge number still available.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-5278491/Theo-Walcott-joins-Everton-25m-deal-Arsenal.html £25m - there are a few places saying that, and a few others saying over £20m. Although the DM article does start....Theo Walcott insists he has joined Everton to win silverware and reignite his career after completing his £20million move from Arsenal.

Squad: 309, Starting eleven: 170, Substituted in: 100, On the bench: 39, Suspended: 0, Injured: 72, https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/theo-walcott/leistungsdatendetails/spieler/33713/plus/0?saison=&verein=11&liga=&wettbewerb=GB1&pos=&trainer_id=

Obvious embellishment to emphasise a very valid point.

Everton for Lukaku.

That does indeed seem to be the case. Anyway, if you were Walcott, who would you sign for (ignoring any perceived emotional connection).

Wrong season's figures. Our commercial arm isn't as active as it could be. Hasn't ever been that effective.

Just wait till Usmanov's sponsorship of Finch Farm appears in the next figures (I presume that they weren't there in the 15/16 accounts).

You're a ****ing genius CB. I never thought of that one, but it all makes sense now.

Really? Turnover - £171.3m vs £124.3m (sorry not 40%, 37.8%) Profit - £30m vs £5m Wages £106m vs £92m Of course I might be wrong so you can surely correct anything.

http://www.evertonfc.com/news/2017/12/22/everton-posts-record-turnover-and-30m-post-tax-profit https://southamptonfc.com/news/2017-03-15/st-marys-football-group-limited-201516-financial-results Correction that this is for the 2015/16 season the last available

Their turnover was 41% more than ours. Their profit was 500% more than ours. Their wage bill was 15% more than ours . All from 2016/17 season.

You do realise that EFC have a turnover that is at least 40% more than ours. Then look at their wage bill and profit compared to ours. If you think that we have equal financial clout as EFC then fine, we'll just have to disagree and leave it at that.

Alas, that is something that we will never know. It would have been fun for a while, but then the consequences would likely have come back and bit us on the backside. I am sure Leeds loved their run in the PL and CL.

I think you need to understand what ambition means before casting aspersions.

No, not a lot has changed since 1992. Everton were a much richer club than us then, and still are now. Or maybe you are advocating spending like Leeds did - that ended well for them, didn't it?

If you want to keep your head buried up your arsé that's your wont. But we are a smallish club, and cannot splash out £45m on players like EFC have done.

You seem to not realise that we are a small to medium sized provincial club, somewhat different to EFC. Maybe the sooner you realise that, you will understand why EFC can trump us. This sort of entitlement to finish 7th every year is somewhat misplaced (and apologies if you don't think we should be finishing top 10/top 7 or 8 every year).

Are you surprised? We seem very good at selling and **** poor at buying. Take last January - it was beyond evident that we needed goal scorers, evident from about June. When did we sign Gabiaddini? 30th January.

Bologna will take him if we let him go this month.