Dokko

I know, he's lost the plot.. Have you gone back in time Baggio? To a time before you became a compulsive liar? where's that photo of the handbag again, make it a spurs one this time mackems.gif And I thought me and you were old mates, Steve. Btw has my account been deleted on Howaythetoon? we don't delete accounts, unless they are spammers. West Ham fans? People who eat too much spam.

How do we know if anyone will fit in with their team mates? Did all those players and the others who have failed all failed simply because they didn't fit in with their team mates? Should "good guy, bit like that Jimmy Bullard fella so will probably fit in well in the dressing room" go down in the attributes section of our scouting? Will our scouts have to scout the dressing room and check on any social life these players may take in with their team mates? Doesn't seem like much of an argument to me. I bet there's a fair few on that list which haven't fitted in and has caused them problems, Shevchenko being a great example, even our own Luque wasn't thought much of simply as the clique at our club thought he didn't train hard enough. So he's got a point. And do you honestly not think Scouts don't find out as much background information as possible? Its not just about the talent on the pitch, its about the application & the temperament, people in football talk so some cases are more blatant than others. Also the initial contact with a new potential signing and his new club is a chance to get to know a person before signing, Houillier famously refused to sign Bowyer from Leeds even though he'd passed his medical because he didn't like the vibe from him. Players are people and who they are is just as important as their talent if not more, if the crack on with the lads the lads will pull through for them, or if you are another Pistone you receive a sheeps hearts for your secret Santa present and leave as soon as possible.

Have all these players fitted in with his team mates? (which was the point the lad was making)

Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich is lining up an incredible player-exchange deal for AC Milan superstar Kaka, according to La Gazeta Dello Sport

The irony is killing me it really is.

SBR fuked him over like he did Jenas trying to make them into different types of players. Well at least SBR knew the importance of Gary Speed, just neither of them two were ever going to replace him.

So then that means there is no £13m clause in his contract anymore?

The tightest billionaire football club owner in history without a doubt. Don't worry though, he gets the rounds in to keep us all happy.

Also Sven off to Mexico for the NT.

Talk of an Everton takeover EFC-related forums and websites are abuzz with rumours that Bill Kenwright and the Board are in talks with an unnamed Russian billionaire about a possible buy-out of Everton Football Club. We have, of course, been here before. A few years ago, Kenwright announced that he was in negotiations with Russian paper magnate, Boris Zingarovich, and his son, Anton, regarding the purchase of an eventual majority stake in the club. Then there was the Fortress Sports Fund "bid" co-ordinated by Geneva-based businessman, Chris Samuelson. But after leading the media and the fans on a merry dance for months, it eventually emerged that the whole thing had been a mechanism for forcing Paul Gregg out of Everton; FSF may have existed but the Board had no intention of selling up. That has remained the situation since. Rumour has it that CEO Keith Wyness — and, perhaps, Samuelson as well (it is believed that he continues to search for investment for EFC) — have brought interested investors to Kenwright's attention but he has not been interested in relinquishing control of the club he purchased from Peter Johnson seven years ago. This time it could be different. Facing unprecedented cash demands from David Moyes in order to strengthen the squad for a serious crack at Champions League qualification and another long run in next season's Uefa Cup but without the funds to provide it without a further cash injection from Robert Earl and, perhaps, Sir Philip Green — not to mention escalating projected costs for an increasingly unpopular move to Kirkby — Kenwright is believed to be considering giving up control. Long-time friend and financier Green is reportedly looking at switching his interest to Tottenham Hotspur and Earl's continued investment may have always been tied to the success of Destination Kirkby, where retail and leisure opportunities provided potential for a good return on that investment. With that project under threat by rising costs and local opposition that may force the Tesco-backed initiative to be called in by the Government, the Planet Hollywood entrepreneur may be reconsidering his options. That leaves John Woods, the most elusive of the remaining Board members, and, again, rumour has it that he could now be prepared to sell his stake in the club too. Most of this is conjecture but Kenwright is in something of a dilemma: if he doesn't come through with cash for his manager, Moyes may walk (if rumour was to be believed last August, Moyes threatened to resign then until money materialised for Yakubu and Fernandes) out of frustration. Having achieved back-to-back top-six finishes, the manager holds all the cards at the moment and if the Chairman were seen to be responsible for the loss of arguably the club's greatest asset, his position may become untenable in the face of the fans' reaction. Providing the transfer kitty necessary, though, will likely be difficult given the level of borrowing against future Sky TV revenue that has already taken place and the impression that Earl has been calling the financial shots in recent months. How real is this latest prospect of a buyout by foreign interests? If insider information is to be believed, the approach is genuine and it isn't the first but talks are still in the initial stages. Liverpool Echo reporter, Greg O'Keefe, on his Gwlad Tidings blog, was the first to mention rumours of fresh Russian interest in Everton at the beginning of the month. Then there is the story that Kenwright held a meeting with a representative of the interested party before the home game with Newcastle United and then told another Echo journalist — outed by a couple of sources on the Blue Kipper forum as John Thompson — that talks were ongoing with a Russian businessman and that said journalist immediately spilled the beans to nearby acquaintances. Finally, in an interview on Brian Reade's City Talk radio show yesterday, Keep Everton In Our City spokesman, Dave Kelly, announced the same thing live on air — that the Board were in talks with a Russian billionnaire regarding a takeover of the club. Speculation on message boards has assumed that the mystery man is Boris Berezovsky, the ex-Russian oligarch and member of Boris Yeltsin's inner circle now exiled in London due to his opposition to Vladimir Putin. A bit of piecing together of information on ToffeeWeb's part, however, leads us to believe that the man in question is Mikhail Khordovsky, the former head of oil giant Yukos and once Russia's richest man before he was jailed by the Putin regime on charges of fraud. Serving time behind bars in Siberia he may be but that hasn't stopped his partners and lieutenants from investing in various projects in Europe and there are indications that he could soon be released from prison while also receiving vast compensation from the government for improper liquidations of Yukos' assets by the Russian government two years ago. His personal fortune is believed to be £220m but he has joint interests in another company worth an estimated £3bn.

I honestly think what Baggio is saying is not far from the truth. The club seems to be pulling in different directions and i'm not sure if the current lot can sort themselves out. There's always been tensions, always been signs and always been a lot of smoke. Maybe KK jumped too quickly into accepting the job to return, thinking with his heart and didn't realise he's dealing with a very strong willed businessman, not a football man and someone with different ideas to his own even if the outcome they both want is the same. Time will tell, but i'm not 100% sure the club is running how we want and need it to be. Edit: Concerned, mostly about the working relationships within the club

No one reads sticky threads.

No one reads sticky threads.

Would people say that overall Roman has spoilt football by making it ALL about how much you spend and in essence making the top 4? Or has he improved it by bringing the quality of player to the premiership that wasnt prevalent before he came to england? If it wasn't him someone else would have invested, maybe not so greatly but it was always coming. Football (English) at the time had just got over the ITV digital crisis and financially was on a poor footing, plenty of teams with massive uncertain futures, no you can say but so what, Chelsea wasn't one of them? But money filters down, and Chelsea's big spending has attracted more fans and viewers to the league, and that gives the prem better financial clout which again filters down. Overall the transfer market was dying until his money ignited it again. IMO overall he's been a good thing for the English game, a bigger positive than a negative, it's just a shame he picked the biggest bunch of twats to invest in to, if Liverpool had nailed that final CL spot on the last day of the season it would have been them he was going to buy. Don't know if that is a shame or not tbh.

Humiliated them.

Not even that, doesn't officially open until July 1st. So it isn't even open yet and people are speculating that KK is dragging his heels and therefore potentially f***ing up our chance to sign all these promising youngsters we seem to be linked with but haven't signed yet in the few days since the season ended... You couldn't make it up Commonplace for deals to be agreed well before that, but they only become official on July 1st. Suspect you were well aware of this though already, no? I'm aware clubs can sign players before then, but not many do. How many players have our rivals signed while KK has been dragging his heels, players have turned us down, and our money has suddenly disappeared? Most of our rivals only need one or two players, we need a new squad, half a new 1st team. That's IF you think the 2nd tier teams are our rivals anymore. And you expect us to sign a new squad in a matter of weeks? I beg to dffer btw. Ideally we could do with a whole new team save one or two but a handful of top quality right players could transform our team ala Bellamy and Robert a few years back. No i'm not expecting, i said we need, so really we need to get the ball rolling ASAP, we need to be looking competitive in the market. The fact we haven't sorted Taylor's, Owen's or Martins' contract out yet is comical, so no surprise were dithering about not getting players in. Most clubs leave their contract talks to the end of the season, I see no reason why we should be any different. Although I'd like them to get a move on of course and share some kind of concern over this withg you, not that I see it as a major issue... Bidding for Modric suggests we are trying to set the ball rolling ASAP btw, so we shouldn't be critical just yet. It sounds daft I know, but we should wait until the end of the wonder before writing everything off, just a thought like... I'm not writing anything off as there's a long time to go, but the new board hasn't filled me full of confidence so far in the transfer market or when its come to negotiating contracts. I can only judge them from what they've done so far in a very limited time, but it's not great. The only good thing they've done in this respect is release some utter shite and bring in some very unknown youngsters. Seems to be a lot of big talk and not so big action. This is their 3rd window, time for major investment, so far its all been very below average and if Ashley wants this club to be successful its time to start pumping some big money into the team.

Not even that, doesn't officially open until July 1st. So it isn't even open yet and people are speculating that KK is dragging his heels and therefore potentially f***ing up our chance to sign all these promising youngsters we seem to be linked with but haven't signed yet in the few days since the season ended... You couldn't make it up Commonplace for deals to be agreed well before that, but they only become official on July 1st. Suspect you were well aware of this though already, no? I'm aware clubs can sign players before then, but not many do. How many players have our rivals signed while KK has been dragging his heels, players have turned us down, and our money has suddenly disappeared? Most of our rivals only need one or two players, we need a new squad, half a new 1st team. That's IF you think the 2nd tier teams are our rivals anymore. of course it is frustrating that we haven´t buy someone yet. But I am sure they are working at it. they now the deal as much as we know it. but if the were dragging their feet. well then you could definitely wounder what they are doing in this business. think we should wait until the august 31 before judging them. I'm going to try and remain as patient as possible, but it is not one of my strongest points. But tbh, the disappointment of the last window has made me think any signing this summer is a bonus.

Not even that, doesn't officially open until July 1st. So it isn't even open yet and people are speculating that KK is dragging his heels and therefore potentially f***ing up our chance to sign all these promising youngsters we seem to be linked with but haven't signed yet in the few days since the season ended... You couldn't make it up Commonplace for deals to be agreed well before that, but they only become official on July 1st. Suspect you were well aware of this though already, no? I'm aware clubs can sign players before then, but not many do. How many players have our rivals signed while KK has been dragging his heels, players have turned us down, and our money has suddenly disappeared? Most of our rivals only need one or two players, we need a new squad, half a new 1st team. That's IF you think the 2nd tier teams are our rivals anymore. And you expect us to sign a new squad in a matter of weeks? I beg to dffer btw. Ideally we could do with a whole new team save one or two but a handful of top quality right players could transform our team ala Bellamy and Robert a few years back. No i'm not expecting, i said we need, so really we need to get the ball rolling ASAP, we need to be looking competitive in the market. The fact we haven't sorted Taylor's, Owen's or Martins' contract out yet is comical, so no surprise were dithering about not getting players in.

Not even that, doesn't officially open until July 1st. So it isn't even open yet and people are speculating that KK is dragging his heels and therefore potentially f***ing up our chance to sign all these promising youngsters we seem to be linked with but haven't signed yet in the few days since the season ended... You couldn't make it up Commonplace for deals to be agreed well before that, but they only become official on July 1st. Suspect you were well aware of this though already, no? I'm aware clubs can sign players before then, but not many do. How many players have our rivals signed while KK has been dragging his heels, players have turned us down, and our money has suddenly disappeared? Most of our rivals only need one or two players, we need a new squad, half a new 1st team. That's IF you think the 2nd tier teams are our rivals anymore.

Another transfer than isn't going to happen. Is this the deal KK is stuttering on?

IF KK is digging his heals in and being awkward about brining in top young quality then he can piss off. No one is bigger than the club, KK isn't NUFC no matter how much some think he is.

You can believe what you like, Dave. I'm not here to convince you of anything and tbh I wouldn't want to be thought of as some sort of ITK anyway considering the shit others get on here. That's mainly because they talk shit though.

Buzzing for him.

Can anyone remember when SBR said he could go out and buy us a load of cheap South Americans that would win us the league in an instant, but he doesn't want too?

Rangers & Celtic fans are complete twats, i don't want them anywhere near where i live, scumbag tossers.