Do you read anything into the fact they're looking for investors? Did they do this at Roma, or are they just going tu get rid of us?

I thought this kind of thing was behind us and we could look forward to a brighter future! But, I am a little bit worried.

The squad isn't as bad as some make out,imo, but a few injuries and we could be in serious trouble!

If we'd kept Patterson and Aznou then, on paper, we'd have full back cover but we all know Moyes wouldn't play them anyway. But only 1 striker is baffling...we just have to get to January in decent shape.

Hopefully David can pull off another 2004/05 miracle for us.

Lee, it makes no commercial sense for them to pull out - as Robert alluded to, they weathered a much bigger storm at Roma in their first season than Everton and came through it. Seeking new investment is standard procedure, the RS just sold a wedge of shares to that prick Jeff Bezos and they’re not exactly short of cash. The money’s there, it’s the likes of Hammond and Kinnear not spending it properly.

Staying with the Italian theme for a moment, I notice that, in an ‘Everton, that….’ twist of fate, Fiorentina play Torino tomorrow, so Beto v Patterson may be on the cards for their first games in Serie A.

Good luck to them both. I wonder if we’ll see the truth of the old adage that you only know the true value of someone when they’re no longer there?

Craig, sorry, Nathan Patterson was certainly no Tommy Wright, Gary Stevens, or Seamus Coleman, but I’m one of those Evertonians who felt that, even allowing for certain deficiencies in his positional play, the team as a whole looked far better balanced when he was playing last season. It doesn’t take a genius to know that a 6’6” defender is going to be much more comfortable playing in the middle.

I think there's a good chance both Beto and Patterson will start on the bench, Tony.

Whether Patterson gets much time on the pitch this season will be interesting. He's not managed to persuade any manager yet...

Robert I think alot will be determined as to where TFG see Everton in their Multi club portfolio..With shared data and commercial deals. They have spent a considerable amount of money on Infrastructure at Roma It could be the share issues and looking a additional investor would raise £45m.for infrastructure development at Everton

I admire your confidence Robert.

What is your take on our finishing position this season?

I'm going for no better than last seasons finishing position

Robert,
I respect your football knowledge and place you head and shoulders above our so called elite recruitment team but one thing stands out to me above all else.

Dan and his sone have attended Roma's stadium numerous times but neither have attended Goodison or Bramley Moore once despite being in the UK at times.

Does this not sum up their disinterest in Everton.

It doesn't help that they employed a bunch of second rate executives to run the club either.

From a position of being delighted they took us over I now rank them firmly alongside Moshiri.

Moshiri had the will and desire but not the ability. They have the ability but apparently not the desire.

With the squad we have, I would guess anywhere between 9th and 14th, probably John.

With Balogun, it would have been more like 7th to 12th place.

Where we actually finish will depend a lot on luck with injuries.

I've said elsewhere that any new owners taking over the mess TFG inherited would probably have been looking at something like 3 seasons to return to Europe - and then assemble a squad capable of competing for the Champions League places within 5 seasons. The failed Balogun deal doesn't really change any of that but it probably kills off a lot of fan optimism before this season has really got going.

There is in physics the “Friedkin paradox”, which states that more time will always be spent agonising over relativity unimportant decisions where there is little to choose between the options, than over more critical decisions where the choices are more stark. I am beginning to feel this has characterised our transfer window, pursuing more midfielders rather than the RB or forward requirements.

Robert, you seem to contradict yourself in your article i.e. TFG don't throw money around and then Everton can expect more signings and higher volume recruitment! Somehow I don't think so. Just the reverse in fact. It's patently obvious Roma are TFG's SOCCER priority.

And the transfer market and transfer fees in serie a are quite different in value compared to the the Premier League.

Also, please don't talk about Everton and European competitions - ain't gonna happen anytime soon. I would like to be optimistic on Everton's future but experience tells me Everton will let you down!
Kinnear the corporate bullshitter and our elite recruitment team will get off scot free after the transfer window fiasco – I wouldn't trust them to buy me a Mars bar, they would probably come back with a packet of out of date crisps!

Just seen Moyes's presser and a bit of a u-turn from last Saturday as he accepts we have to sell to buy. Get him a fence panel from Terry's Timber and he can sit on that while doing these useless press conferences...

Finally is any decent manager or player is going to sign for us? The lowest spenders over the last 5 seasons. Anyway rant over (for now).

Philip # 10, high volume recruitment (as per the past two summers) doesn't need to involve spending large sums of money. One more summer of shopping heavily in the low cost / sub £30m zone should result in a much better squad - and enable us to start spending larger sums on individual players.

As for Europe, we were were two wins off qualifying for Europe last season - with a very poor, injury hit squad. With a fit Branthwaite and Grealish we would almost certainly have qualified. So no need to be too downhearted.

Are Roma TFG's priority? I'm not sure why you would think that. Isn't it simply the case that Roma are about 5 years ahead of us in terms of resolving their serious financial difficulties and building back the squad?

Robert,

Do you think an injured Grealish and Branthwaite was the reason we spiralled into 3 points from a possible 21 points form?
What position do you consider we would have finished if both had stayed fit?

John # 12 - if both those players had played the full season, I expect we would have finished 7th (6 points or so ahead of where we did finish). That would have seen us qualify for the Europa Conference League - and (as it's turned out) some first round matches against AC Milan, AZ Alkmaar and Anderlecht amongst others.

Hopefully both can stay fit this season.

We will never know Robert.
What are your thoughts on my first question?

John - why did we get 3 points from the last 7 games?

A lot of people will point the finger firmly at Moyes. He certainly played his part but in truth it's a combination of things with the injuries playing a very major part in our performance across the whole season. With a small patchy squad, it was always likely we would have an up and down season.

I'm one pointing the finger at Moyes Robert.
Imo he mismanaged the run in.
We didn't have a similar run of 3 points from 21 at any other stage of of the season we had injury issues.

I guessed, John!

Since you're crediting Moyes with the collapse - then are you also crediting Moyes with the fact a patchy and injury hit squad had held up so consistently well until the last 7 games?

I can guess the answer to that one too.

Whatever the case, the disappointing end to the window seems to increase the likelihood of a new manager being in charge next season. If Moyes were to win a cup or qualify for Europe this season, then TFG might well be under pressure to extent his contract...

I guessed your stance as well Robert,thats why I asked the question.

In answer,Moyes style of football caused me to give my ST away for 9 games last season,bored to tears watching it.
Credit where due,his away record was good.

If Moyes breaks the habit of 25 years and wins a domestic cup he will be in good position to ask for a contract extension.

Robert @ 11 the majority of us think tfg prioritise roma as they had a higher net spend over the summer window,
Plus they occasionally attend games in Rome, if
You gave them a map of the UK would they be able to pin the tail on the city of Liverpool ?
As I saw on an earlier post somewhere it feels like tfg have bought a stadium not a football club !