Welcome to this week’s Talking the Blues with George and Andy Costigan. It’s a strange time to be an Evertonian. One would think after the close escape at the end of last season there would be a great sense of urgency to improve matters, yet we seem stuck in a seemingly endless “interim” period. Andy’s latest Grandoldteam poll featuring Bill Kenwright, gets a mention too..
As usual a forthright discussion between the three of us……
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Interesting as always fellas.
As I listen I looked back at the finishing table for 22/23 season. Just using that as a yardstick (everybody was getting better as we got worse).
11th place finished on 45 points.
10th place saw a decent jump up to 52 points.
That got me thinking that over a season, from where we finished on 36 points, 11th place represents 3 wins or a combo of wins and draws. 10th place would be another 5 wins or the same combo.
Then I thought back at some of the games, particularly our home fixtures against other bottom 6 teams and it struck me that Dyche can realistically achieve 11th place or better. And let’s not forget that’s with our poorest goals return and without out No.1 striker DCL.
So, assuming we can secure the odd loan (and I would definitely go back in for Danjuma, I don’t care what happened with Spurs in Jan.), God forbid we buy a player or two, then finishing top half with an eye on the 7 places now available for European Conference football is a real target. It has to be and that’s a measure of what Paul was suggesting – having a tilt at those reachable euro spots does set an achievable target that we should be aiming for.
Dyche’s EFC record was “reasonable” – 14 games = 19 points that equates to 1.36 points per game. 51 points over a full season. That sees us in 10th place (based on 22/23 season). So, to ask Dyche to improve 10-15% would make 7th place a target.
BILL’s LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD.
Give Bill a block of toilets on the north stand at BMD (next to the water treatment works) and you can call them Bill’s Ablutions – that’s polite enough. He can have his picture from the time line at Goodison printed on all the toilet paper – and you know what we do with toilet paper!!!
READ THE ROOM MOSHIRI and let’s get this new show on the road ASAP.
Regards
Keith.
Very interesting discussion. We didn’t seem as desperate to sell and apparently seemed to be able to hold our ground. Maybe a sign of stability kicking in? And more importantly, that we have room to move in the transfer window?
Simms on the move for the correct price? I’ll admit to not being totally convinced, but he is a young player, so I don’t want to be too judgemental. And that Chelsea goal when he shrugged off and bullied the very experienced Koulibaly was a bit special. I saw it from the opposite end of the ground but it was a great moment.
Either way, we needed a striker anyway, so if he goes, that means we need two.
I keep saying, I would like to see Warrington and Mills involved in the first team squad. I don’t expect them to start, but get them involved.
As and when the new investors come in, it should rise the ambition. That will put pressure on the manager, but pressure is good because it drives ambition and competitiveness. But a stepping stone approach is needed for the ROI.
Constant change of manager has been a chain around our neck and created instability. But I liken it to Manchester City starting with Mark Hughes (think Sean Dyche), then progressively upgrading their manager as they improved and travelled towards their ambition. Give Dyche time to stabilise things and get us competitive. Then maybe we can look at an upgrade, if that makes sense. But don’t do what we’ve been doing in the past several years and trying to instantly start at the finish line. It has to be progressive. We are all impatient, but given were we’ve been, we have to be patient.
The fixture and travel thing resonates. Night match at Newcastle. Bournemouth twice in four days. Leicester. Home games equally difficult as I travel to from London. The only way around it is a hotel, family or sleep in the station waiting for the early train back. I actually find the early kick offs the most challenging. Not getting home, just getting there in time for kick off.
Respect to global supporters getting up at ridiculous hours. Equal dedication.
On matchday revenue, I believe Everton are in the bottom 3. Take me for example. On average, I spend about £200 on attending a home match when I take travel into consideration. Everton get £49 out of me. Maybe an extra £5 if I actually manage to get served at half time.
Most spend their money and time outside of the match in their preferred locals around County Road.
Hopefully, the move to BMD will see a matchday experience that will generate more matchday revenue for the club. Similar to what Tottenham have done.
Interesting discussion about an imagined meeting with Sean Dyche and the new investors
A few things about Dyche:
– he would never put himself in a position about stating where the team will finish, there are too many variables over which he has no control, which includes the spending/development of other Premier League clubs, cup draws, refereeing decisions (Dyche’s teams can go a whole season without winning a penalty) and injuries.
– he will say that he can and will improve the clubs operational culture and the teams performance, consistency and on field discipline in terms of cards (Dyche’s teams can go multiple season’s without a red card) and tactical cohesion, year on year, and will be working on improving the stability and performance of the off field support – injury prevention/management, analysis, mentality (including concentration) and fitness
– he would be more interested in strengthening the overall financial position of the club to launch strongly in the new stadium. He has a fundamental belief in establishing a strong culture and sustainable foundations for a club from which to operate from.
Dyche, can perform miracles in the transfer market, but tends to limit his targets, he rarely appears to be willing to go for a second option – this tends to be because he spends a huge amount of time building up a profile of the player in question – going as far back (into school days if possible) as he can – he will not move until he is certain. This situation is exacerbated when he has limited funds.
I still believe he needs a Tony Loughlan type character on the coaching side and the weakness is Steve Stone (unless Stone has suddenly had a massive change in personality).
Be prepared for peaks and troughs in results (runs good and bad can be 5 – 10 games) and do not get too unsettled by them, he absolutely believes in the process. Also don’t worry about pre-season results and performances – they tend to look poor, and are usually followed by immediately strong league performances.
Interesting discussion again, especially on week when virtually nothing happened. Just for clarity, (happy to be corrected) I think you’ll find the premiership offer so many matches to the broadcaster. It is then decided by the broadcaster, premiership and police as to what dates and times the matches are played. The broadcaster will be ones requesting dates and times of their choice and they usually get what they want unless there are very strong objections, with reasons, put up by the premiership and/or the police.
Hi James, on a match by match basis, ie who will appear live on any given day then you are correct, it is down to the broadcaster but the structure of the packages offered are initiated by the PL