St. Maximin

Thing is when he got sacked I thought what a silly man he was for his quotes, but it was more frustrating seeing how the narrative from social media was what a horrible bunch we all were, no doubt thanks in part to him. Fast forward a few months and he’s been shown up to everyone the fraud that he is, so he now just seems to be a laughing stock.

Correct. It may have been a penalty. It may not have. Even if there was some contact, it may not have been significant enough. Contact doesn’t equal foul. It absolutely isn’t obviously a penalty and a sign you need your eyes testing if you don’t agree. Whatever you think of VAR, it did it’s job correctly here.

I’ve watched that several times and I’m still yet to see the clear contact tbh. If anything it’s minimal and may not qualify as a penalty. If it was the other way round though VAR would have probably kept it.

Is that clear contact? It can’t have been much if so, at least from angles I’ve seen. His foot might have brushed the attacker’s foot but that’s hardly a stonewall penalty, so I think VAR was right. I’d be annoyed if something like that was given against us.

Grealish may be a massive whopper, but he’s hardly scum of the earth here. He’s just having shit banter while hammered. Nothing to get upset about.

“I thought what’s his name - Tottenham striker - stayed on the pitch too long… we really should have bought Sanchez on. He’d have changed the game” My neighbour the day after the Euros final, only he apparently happens to work for the FA, knows Chris Hughton and was “texting Gareth” after the match about his tactics.

Pretty much how I see things regarding Lampard. I think he’s an average manager who gets an easy ride in the media, but he doesn’t seem offensive - just boring imo. The Tory stuff I think is just looking for a reason to hate the bloke when he’s hardly been harping on about how much he loves their most harmful policies etc.

They were in horrendous form before he was sacked. Whatever he was doing was clearly not working and he was falling out with players causing issues with his stubbornness. I don’t think it was simply a case of getting off to a slow start and waiting for his methods to work. They weren’t any signs change was just around the corner. I mean Lampard may not have been the most inspiring of choices, but he had to take over a team in a mess rather like Howe did (albeit in differing circumstances), so his stats won’t really impress (especially initially) but I think context is important.

Got no strong feelings either way for Everton but the Rafa connection I just find irrelevant too. He no longer owes us anything and we likewise the opposite - he had a new job he chose to take and whatever else was going on, he failed and had to take ownership of it. It was a silly appointment in the first place, but in the circumstances it wasn’t a silly sacking.

Btw I’m just messing, sorry that seemed a bit blunt lads . I don’t really have any strong feelings either way for him or Everton, or Burnley for the record. Just nice it’s not us. Fair play go him though even if it’s just short term as the whole club was a mess when he took over.

He’s unavailable sadly. Luckily lots of other Tories are available for me.

Lampard did a reasonable job and kept them up after the previous guy was a disaster, irrespective of his track record. There are plenty of worse blokes in football. You don’t have to despise the guy or mind when he gets praise.

I mean for balance it isn’t true either

To be honest I completely agree mate, but the issue here with Lampard (or other Tory voters) relates to hatred towards him for his views (to which he has barely publicly mentioned) rather than the party itself. Hating a party is part of politics and there shouldn’t be complaints from me at your opinion on them, even if I didn’t agree

He has mentioned previously that he votes Tory and wanted David Cameron to win an election. I don’t think he has specifically got into depth over what he likes about them or Cameron. If that’s enough to despise the bloke then we should despise each and every Tory voter, but we all know politics is more nuanced than that and on a personal note I’d rather not be a left-leaning voter full of hatred, but each to their own.

Nah, it’s not. This started because people hate Lampard because “he’s a Tory cunt”. Not because he specifically said he has those views you referenced. Simply because he commits the crime the majority of UK voters, including people you and I might see every day, happened to do. I am sure a lot of Tory voters don’t think like that. They just might have one or two reasons that make it more appealing to them, no matter how well thought out or illogical their reasons might actually be. Also you say right-wing views are intolerant, but I think that’s a very specific set of views given a range of views on various topics can be deemed left or right.

Wow, what have I started? I don’t have any issue with resentment towards the Tories, but that wasn’t the issue here. It’s the resentment for anyone who has a different viewpoint and yes the left has to accept they can be responsible. There’s no need to argue with that viewpoint - you can hold left-wing views and have a general hatred for right-wing views, but surely an intolerance for someone just for voting for a right-wing party is ridiculous and indefensible? As we all know politics is complex and voting for a party doesn’t mean you support all their views. You don’t need to look far to see how much Labour has been divided in recent years. Each to their own if you don’t rate Lampard or things he’s said annoy you, but this “he’s a Tory cunt” attitude is just tribalistic and doesn’t reflect well on the left.

Well my mate I spoke too yesterday said he didn’t expect Lampard to do well initially, but thinks survival is good enough and he expects better from him next year, with a fresh start and new players. Some fans of course treated Rafa terribly from the start. Most of them hated him in the end because he was terrible.

I’m going by what Everton fans have said to me, albeit a limited sample. They follow their team more than us and we get criticised for our opinions on our managers. I wasn’t pretending he has done a brilliant job as a manager, but the comments from that journalist seem pretty reasonable. PFM is a silly term and I don’t really care who a manager voted for. Lots of people vote Tory as you know. I don’t agree with them but they certainly aren’t all tossers. Though I realise anything remotely in defence of them is prohibited here and makes me one too so I’ll shut up.

They have a long way to go but those comments seem reasonable though. Even if they are still pretty crap, there seems to be a lot more fight and positivity around than the time before Rafa was sacked. Not really sure why people dislike Lampard anyway but each to their own.

He is right though. Speaking to Everton fans, they are a lot happier with how they’ve been playing since Lampard came in and feel he’s helped transform the team morale. Rafa before was a disaster and Lampard had to pick up a mess, so the transformation won’t come without struggles.

Fair, I think you’ve summed this up very well 👍 To be honest I know this might make me sound like a Saudi apologist, but quite ironically we shouldn’t see things in black and white. The PIF has over 1000 people and I’m sure many have good intentions and don’t support all of the kingdom’s actions. When people talk about us having the most evil owners possible, they’re clearly being selective over who they’re specifically referring to to suit their opinion, rather than as a whole (same the other way when referring to Staveley and co). It’s perfectly reasonable to see Saudi Arabia in some positive lights while acknowledging there are horrendous human rights issues that can’t be ignored. That this is now happening doesn’t mean the latter gets replaced - almost like some morally superior people want us to hate everything about the country. As has been raised before people are selective over what angers them when it comes to sport. Sky Sports is showing tourism adverts for Saudi Arabia - this is far less subtle rebranding than a short the team will barely ever wear and will barely sell here. Good excuse for some online attention though.

I don’t think journalists explain why sportswashing is effective because it isn’t really. I always hear them talking about “the latest disgraceful example of sportswashing” or the like without them really explaining how it’s working or is expected to. The clearest signs of it to me are the minority of Saudi apologists in our fanbase, but in the grand scheme of things their impacts are minimal and I doubt the main target of the takeover. Sure we would effectively be advertising their ‘brand’ through this, whether we like it or not (I’d rather not), but it’s done for economic purposes.

The sportswashing claims were always going to occur, but as you’ve mentioned it’s to have economic impacts and really that’s what supposed sportswashing attempts are about. I’m pretty sure they aren’t to ‘please’ us worthy westerners while finding some mysterious way to disguise their human rights abuses - they ultimately need to diversify their economy while competing with the other economies in their region. Won’t stop the morally superior journalists from complaining though. For the record I do feel uncomfortable about the blatantly obvious KSA links, but we’re 80% owned by them so can’t really be in denial over the links.

I think he isn’t tbh. You get strikers playing in mid table teams that don’t have his goal record, yet he consistently plays for a terrible team that finishes bottom. Same with Mitrovic. I’m sure most of these ‘Championship strikers’ would score plenty with reasonable service.