Paul 

Morning, good afternoon or good evening, depending on where in the world you are. What time of the day you’re listening to this post-West Ham game, podcast Talking the Blues.It wasn’t quite what I thought I was going to say, but it’s close enough. George and Andy, how are you both? 

George:: Um, literate!

Paul:  I’m glad somebody is, because I’m not. 

Andy: 

Yeah, pretty good Paul. 

Paul 

Well, where do we start, nine games unbeaten? 

Andy: 

Yep. Well, it’s still beating since Ronald Kolman was manager. 

Paul 

Yeah. What is it? I think we’re 17 points ahead of the relegation space. So relegation is no longer an issue. What did we say about today and previous games? Andy? 

Andy: 

Well, I mean, you know, a point on the road at Wolves, I guess you’d take straight from me off. I was a bit disappointed that we didn’t get the three points at Wolves, but then again, I don’t think we deserve three points at Wolves in all fairness.

 And today, I thought we had much the better of the first half, although they had the clearer chances in the first half, with the header, all right, it came off Branthwaite, and then the shot from Bowen that ticked over. 

But in the second half, I thought West Ham stepped it up and looked at the more dominant side and looked the side more likely to break the deadlock. And the irony was, I’ve just sent a text message to you both saying, I think we’ll be looking to get a point out of this and bugging me, Soucek scored in second, which was really disappointing.  

But I’ve got one big question following these two games. 

And the question I’d like to ask anybody in football, in particular, someone with an effort, and obviously that man would have to be Mr. Moyes, is what is the wisdom and the thinking behind warm weather training? Because the guys went out to Dubai or the UAE, or wherever it was, they went for three or four days, warm weather training, team bonding, whatever you want to call it. 

And I honestly thought the performance at Wolves looked flat. Both Doucoure and Beto looked extremely leggy. There were one or two others as well who didn’t appear to be 100%. And it just made me think, what is the theory behind, you know, a seven or eight hour flight to Dubai, spending two or three days in temperatures they’re not used to, right at this time of year in the UK, and then a seven and a half hour flight back. 

And then and then they go to Wolves and I mean, you can ask questions of the scheduling for an eight o’clock kickoff on a Saturday night, but I didn’t see any benefit in the performance at Wolves from having spent three or four days in a much, much warmer climate. And I didn’t see any benefit from it.

And to be honest, I didn’t see any benefit, very little benefit from it in today’s performance either. I think we were a little bit fortunate today to get the point against West Ham. Although I do have to give the team credit that when Moyesy made the changes, they did step up and they got stuck in and they earned the point today. I mean, personally, I think you know, great finish from O’Brien. 

But I think a lot. I just think there was something missing there. And I might be wrong, and I probably am wrong. But to me, I still see that going to the UAE, there’s something of a folly. I think the time would have been better spent training at home in natural, if you like, natural conditions and preparing themselves to fit the walls and then and then having another week to prepare for West Ham.

 So I think overall, there were six points up for grabs and we’ve taken two. And I honestly think there’s at least two points being dropped there. One of those games certainly should have been or could have been one had we been at peak fitness. 

Andy: 

And I don’t think we were at our peak. We certainly were at peak fitness at Molyneux. And I think there was a hangover from it today as well. 

Paul 

George. 

George: 

I think they went for a jolly. I think the club went, whoever the club is, I suspect it’s just Moyesy went right. We’re not gonna get relegated. Well done, you lot.

Come on, let’s go and have a party. Let’s go and have a few beers. Let’s go and put our feet up. They didn’t do any training. They just  had a jolly. And I think, you know, within the terms of that, they are super well paid and we’re not. 

Most of us, they kind of earned it. You’re absolutely right. There was no reckoning for it, but you know, I think the reasons are not to do with jetting off to sunnier climes at all. It’s to do with the fact that this is now two games in a row where we’ve ended up with a better team on the pitch than he started with. 

I think you’ve got to talk turkey now. Doucoré is not worth the pick. And frankly, although if you were picking people on effort, better would be in every team you’d ever picked. If you were picking people on class and their ability to do the job possibly, I don’t think he’d get in. He wouldn’t get on the pitch for me.

 And so I think in terms of us not beating Wolves and not beating West Ham, we’re not going to because neither of those two players are good enough to do the job that they should be doing.And I think he’s, you know, I mean, he’s obviously going to take his time because relegation is behind us and he’s got the room now to go, woof, chill your boots, calm down, everybody. I’m going to give everybody half an hour and maybe I’ll give them 40 minutes or something. 

His substitutions are creeping earlier and earlier. But, you know, frankly, I would rather he started Broja and Timothy than Doucoré and Beto. And the other big point from today’s games, from today’s game, and it does feed onto the United game and the Wolves game and is when N’daye is back, this is a potential top-six team. He’s got, if he can hang on to the people we’ve got on loan, he’s got the makings of a really good squad here. The difference between West Ham and us today was that we had nobody at Bowen’s class in Bowen’s position and the guy took the goal beautifully

And so did  Bowen. But those are the differences to me. I don’t think it’s got too much to do with a club going, we’ve got out of jail again, let’s go and have a party. That’s my take on it. 

Paul 

Mm-hmm. 

Andy: 

Well, and I kind of agree with the, with the, with the thought I could as on Doucoure and that’s all, but for all his effort, and he does put a grand effort in, that’s all. He’s not the polished article, it’s somewhat agricultural. 

George: 

He deserves all the work he gets for the input he puts in. You couldn’t fault the man. You really couldn’t. 

Andy: 

I completely agree that, you know, you cannot fault his effort. He runs, he works his socks off and he puts himself about and, you know, at the end of the day he wants players to be involved, as involved in the game as the poster can and he does do his level best. I’ll give him all the credit in the world for that.It’s just that, it’s just that degree of quality that he hasn’t got in his game and, as you rightly said, if you look at his first touches against the first touch of Jared Bowen, for example, that was the difference today. Bowen was able to kill a ball at times and, I mean, the pass he gave Soucek for the opening goal.

 I mean, there were five blue shirts between him and Soucek and he threaded the ball perfectly for Soucek to put his shot into the far post. 

That was, you know, it was a great ball from Bowen and a well-taken goal from Soucek, but there were five blue shirts that basically never made an effort to close him down or get in the way and that was disappointing for me. I think in the last couple of weeks we’ve not been as solid at the back as we have been for most of the season. I think we’re getting a little bit looser at the back at times and that may be because he’s encouraging, the gaffer is encouraging,O’Brien and Mykolenko. Has anyone seen Mykolenko as far up the pitch in one game as he was today?

 He was basically playing as a winger almost and O’Brien too was putting down that right flank like nobody’s business and, you know, proof of the pudding, he was in the area for the goal. I mean, he puts himself about, but I just think that, I mean, it’s a fine line, isn’t it? 

You know, you want a rock solid defence and precious little wit going forward or do you sacrifice a little bit of that solidity at the back in order to give us that little bit of wit and a few options going forward because Mykolenko and O’Brien gave us more options up front today because why? Then either Harrison, or Lindstrom did. 

Paul 

Well, under Moyesy, obviously, he is going to be, to a degree, a defensive manager, you know, he’s built his reputation, built his career on that, on the solidity of, of the team, but listening to what you just said, Andy, I think, I think there’s um, because we’re now in a much stronger position than we were when Moyesy arrived 10, 10, 10 games ago. 

There’s an element of freedom about it. And obviously, that freedom is not being expressed on the pitch. But nevertheless, there’s an opportunity for players to show what they can do. And it’s clear that you know, Moyesy wants to operate on a back five with, with, you know, the two wide defenders pressing as far up the pitch as possible.

 And the one positive that came from today is actually how much further up the pitch we pressed than we did previously. And, and that’s great to see that the problem we have is not a defensive problem, per se, but it is the quality that we have at the top end of the pitch, both in terms of Beto and Beto. And this is not just a bashing Beto section by far from that, because he’s done fantastically in recent weeks. 

But just a general quality of play that we have at the top end of the pitch, so the wide players and Beto. And then when you might drop back a bit, and in an ideal situation, you wouldn’t have Doucoure playing game in game as well.

 But that is a reflection of the squad that we’ve got. And, you know, in a sense, we’re almost in a, like, like holding pattern until the end of the season, we’ve done what we needed to do to ensure Premier League survival.And I know, David Moyes is still not admitting to that. But, you know, it’s fairly certain that we’re going to be in the Premier League at the end of the season, we’re not going to be in the bottom three.

But he can’t really make many changes. And, you know, if you look at what’s available to him outside of the players who have played in the first 11, and those who have played, you know, been available on the bench, he doesn’t really have any options. So I think we’re going to see, you know, in the next one. 

Andy: 

I think he has got an option, Paul. I mean today, you know, he put Alcaraz in ahead of Lindstrom. Yeah. If, you know, he could, he could put a role with him in ahead of Doucoure, put him on the bench and then use him as the energy sub at 60, 65 minutes. 

Because when Doucoure plays well, he’s running around almost like an endless chicken.You can’t do that. Even as good an athlete as he probably is, he cannot do that for 90 minutes and today he visibly ran out of gas.

 Now, if he started, if he started, you know, for the rest of the season, if he started it over with him in Alcaraz in with Ghana and Ghana again, and then he’s got Doucoure to come off the bench, you know, should he need a change and should he, you know, and he could say to him, look, you’ve got 20, 25 minutes to go out there and cause mayhem and put yourself about and he’ll do that. But he can’t do it for 90 minutes. 

And I think, you know, while you’ve got younger players and possibly players who are a bit hungrier, I don’t know, but start then and use Doucoure as the impact sub. Hopefully to be the impact sub. 

George: 

That’s definitely the way forward and he needs also to, you know, form his own opinion of what Chermittii is and whether he wants to keep Broja and, you know, he has got some wiggle room. 

Andy: 

now that we’re to all intents and purposes safe he’s got the opportunity to experiment we all you know we all know he wants to finish as high as possible because every place is two to three million pound extra in Premier League payments but as we’ve said he’s got the makings of a squad particularly when a day comes back yeah so he’s got he’s got into he’s got a little bit of time now where he can for want of a better word experiment with the with the current players available to him

George: 

I’m turning it everywhere that I’m going. 

Andy: 

You know, Ghana Gueye and James Garner, I think, are fixtures in the midfield at this moment in time. I thought James Garner had a good solid game today. Gueye, well, he just keeps going. 

He just keeps going. And, you know, he was there in the 91st minute to provide the O’Brien header home. You know, would Doucoure have gotten there today, having still been on the pitch? I doubt it.

 It’s not a better knocking session. It’s not a Doucoure knocking session. I just think, personally, that Doucoure could be better utilised rather than starting in. You know, start the younger guys, and then if we need a change, and Doucoure is the right change from the bench, then bring him on and rev him up and bring him on.

But I think, you know, you’ve just said it would grow here. You know, he’s got the chance now in the remaining games to give him a run to see whether he fits the bill and whether we want to extend his loan or take up any options, such as maybe, to bring him in from Chelsea on a full time. You know, he’s got a bit… The jury, I would suspect, is still out on Jesper Lindstrom, who’s on loan from Napoli. 

You know, as can he give us what we need from someone playing out wide? I’m not so sure he can.He’s probably… You know, he works better for me. He works better defensively than he does offensively because I think he’s too lightweight and he gets too easily knocked off the ball, which unfortunately sold to Jack Harrison. 

Yeah. His questions on players, and I think Moyesy needs to ask the question of the players and of himself, really. You know, can we make a pearl out of a sow’s ear? And that’s not… I don’t mean that against any individual person, but we’ve got the makings of a squad, but it’s still a bit disjointed for me.So what can he do with those players that we’ve currently got to offer… 

Well, what can those players he’s currently got available do to cement their place in the future of the next 12 to 18 months, whatever, in the football club? And I think there’s a lot of questions to be asked of probably four or five players. 

Paul 

I would agree totally with that, Andy. But then the challenge is to the individual players as against the manager or indeed the club, however you want to express it.

So, yeah, it is down to those individual players to present a case that says in the new episode going forward, and this is why I really talk about the, you know, in a sense we’re in a holding pattern, and the Everton that starts next season is going to be very, very different from the Everton that finishes this season. 

And who is it that’s going to be available or retained out of the current squad? You know, in that new scenario. So, in a sense, because almost it’s not academic to those that watch Everton and those that go to the game, it’s almost become academic what the results are. 

It’s now down to individual players to present their case in order to be retained in the Everton squad going forward. 

Andy: 

The problem is,I couldn’t agree more with that Pault. And I think, you know, you’ve got to be hoping that the players are realising that and realising that in the games remaining this season, they’ve actually got, you know, whilst it’s not been kind of thrown down publicly, there’s definitely a go there for them to pick up and run with.

You know, do I want to be part of this team that’s you? Yes, I do. What have I got to do? I’ve got to step up. You know, we need, you know, Moyes said he wants more, you know, he wants more production from the likes of Harrison and Lindstrom. 

You know, all right, Harrison scored at Wolves last week, good on him. But he needs to be more of a, he needs to be more of an imposing figure in each and every game now, you know, not just, not just the number 11, you know, he probably isn’t a player that’s going to strike fear into the hearts of too many defenders. 

But that’s the challenge for him. He’s got to find a way to beat a map and actually make a defender think, oh, hang on a minute. Because at the minute, I don’t think he frightened too many defenders. 

And Harrison in particular, well, and Lindstrom need to find a way to impose themselves and make defenders think that right now they’re not having to think they can just, they can just stand up and block them. And I think that’s the challenge that those two guys in particular have got to take up in their own psyche and figure out what they can do. 

You know, you assume they want to be here next season, you assume they’re playing for a place next season. Well, a little bit more meat on the bone. 

George: 

I sense it.  

Paul 

And yeah, the counter, sorry, the counter argument to that is that these players are performing at their maximum levels. 

George: 

In that case, you have to go, which I’m afraid is not good enough. 

Andy: 

Yeah. 

George: 

for where we’re going. 

Paul 

Yeah. Well, yeah, exactly.And as much as I respect that, those efforts in the current Everton side, and the previous management and now David Moyes that they’ve got to the point where we’re now safe. And realistically, many of those players don’t have a future if we’re going to advance. 

Andy: 

I mean, no one’s doubt, no one’s doubts in their effort and their willingness. No, exactly.It’s that next stage. Once you’ve got once you’ve got, if you like, work horses, you then want some thoroughbreds. And that’s what we’re short on at the moment is a couple of thoroughbreds. 

Paul 

Yeah. And the difference between David Moyes being at Everton now, as against David Moyes being at Everton under Bill Kenwright’s ownership and partial ownership, is that going into the summer transfer window, we can make the changes that we weren’t able to make previously. 

Andy: 

Thank you. 

Paul 

So perhaps actually what we’re doing now is just, you know, effectively the season is dead. Yes, it would be nice if we could go from 14th up to maybe 10th or 9th, because that adds a few million pounds to our revenues.But other than that, apart from the individual players, what is there to play for? 

George: 

I’m going to disagree with that. Well, in the sense that I think football players must know that one bad tackle and it’s all done. 

The next five games are against the top five teams in the league. I bet you the players are going, oh, we don’t have to play Liverpool till next Wednesday because there’s an international break or whatever. The reason is the cup or something doesn’t matter.

We’re going to give these five some proper stick. And I’m expecting us to get at least eight, nine points from these next five games. 

Because I think this is what the players will do. This is their cup final. There’s plenty to play for. They’ve got Liverpool, Arsenal, Forest and City. And I’m looking forward to the next games more than more than I was today or the game at Wolves. This is going to be proper stuff now. The Derby will be amazing. 

Andy: 

Yeah, that’s the week on Wednesday in the second. 

George: 

Yeah. And then they ask. 

Andy: 

Yeah, in the early kick off. 

George: 

Yeah, falling down and whining, getting on his nerves. 

Andy: 

Yeah, that could be an interesting TTV after the game against the hospital. 

George: 

I just, if I was a football, if I was in that squad, I’d be going, nah, nah, here we come. Watch this now. Watch where we are when we finish this run. And I bet you Moyes is demanding nothing less than that.

Don’t you think the season’s over, son? It really isn’t.We’ve got to pound this pile of shite and just, you know, you know what I mean. 

Andy: 

I don’t know. 

Paul 

Look, if that happens, I will be very pleased that all I’m doing is giving my opinion of what I think is likely to happen.Yeah. And I’m pretty sure that Moyes’ view is much closer to yours than it is to mine. 

George: 

I don’t think he’d be David Moyes if he had any other attitudes than that. Yeah, totally right. 

Andy: 

Well, we’ve got eight games left now, aren’t we? 

Paul 

9 games. 

Andy: 

Nine games, thank you Bob. So that’s a possible 27 points with five of those nine games against the current top five in the league. But yeah, it’s a heck of a challenge, a heck of a challenge, but one way or the other we can maybe put a few dents in another team. It would be nice to win the dab, it would be nice to beat Arsenal.It would be nicer to get three points at Chelsea, the long goal would be three points there. 

But it doesn’t, you know, I mean, our kids right, those five games against the current top five. You know, the players should hopefully licking the lips of it at the challenge. Because we’ve said it many times before that probably no one will give us much of a prayer, but it was more of a prayer now with Moyes than under the previous manager. 

George: 

Other people’s prayers don’t matter. We’re Everton. We’re not going to make up numbers anymore.

And when he gets N’diaye back and he finally picks, I think you’re absolutely spot on about a midfield, Andy. I think that midfield should definitely be Ghana Gueye as long as he’s playing as well as he did today. And it was really good to see that he wasn’t substituted because they need him all the time, and Ghana, and Tim and Alcaraz. That’s a powerful midfield with a lot of ideas in it. And once he gets N’Daiye back, we’ve got people who’ve frightened people. And what you were saying about Lindstrom and Harrison is absolutely spot on. It’s sad, but it’s true. They don’t frighten anybody. Thank you. 

Andy: 

So that’s great. And unfortunately, because of the way this squad was either put together, or it’s, you know, suffered with injuries or whatnot, they become almost fixtures instead of fillings.And, you know, I’m trying not to to crew longer because they’re undoubtedly giving their best. But as you said, if what they’re giving is their best, and sadly, it certainly isn’t good enough for where we want to be in the future. 

George: 

No, but I reckon Moyesy, you know, is well experienced enough to know all of that. That’s all part and parcel of how experienced he is really. And we’ll start off by chunking the red shite at Anfield and Christmas will come early and it’ll be marvelous. We’ll all have a marvelous time. 

Andy: 

Beto with a last-minute winner. 

George: 

It’s got to go in off Van Dijk’s arse, Andy, I’m sorry. 

Andy: 

It’s just… 

George: 

It’s the only goal we can accept. Oh, dear Van Virgil, that was an OG, you plonker. It was a fantastically revealing moment. 

I watched the Liverpool PSG match, which I really enjoyed. Wonderful game of football, really good.I mean, I know you’re not supposed to say that if you’re a blue, but grow up. It was a really good game, and there were two fascinating moments in it. 

One was that every substitution Slot made weakened the team. Their bench is not that interesting. And we’re the next opponents in the league. 

So that was fascinating. But the best bit was the referee who had an absolute blinder. Wow, what difference it makes when you get. I thought today’s ref was good, too, actually. Anyway. Van Dyke, there’s somebody fouled somebody, Lucas Diaz, I think. 

And Van Dyke went to tell the referee what he ought to be doing and how he ought to give a free kick and maybe a yellow card to that bloke. And the referee just stood there because I won’t listen to the the the soundtrack on because I can’t stand the commentators. I’ve got quite good at lip reading.

 This referee listened to Van Dyke telling him what to do. And Van Dyke was fascinating because he did not. He gave no subservient vibe at all. He looked the referee directly in the eyes and told him exactly what he should be doing and the referee listened for a bit and then very clearly said, you go and defend.

 I will referee an off shuffle Virgil to do his job, which he did really well. He’s a great player, but it would be nice if he slipped one in off his little ass in front of the Kop. That would be nice, too. 

Andy: 

That’s it. 

George: 

The other thing that was interesting about that game and did interest me, especially as we’re playing them next, was Slott’s comments after were classy. He held his hands up and went, well, we were unlucky. Obviously they hit the post twice and all that stuff. But they wanted it more in extra time and they got it. I thought that was classy.

And then I thought, blimey, we really got under his neck. And the match at Goodison, because the guy got a red card. And yet in a match like that, which is a far higher game than the Derby, you would think, he behaved impeccably, you know, like a class act.

 So, you know, that will all go into the mix somewhere, I think, when we tip up at Anfield on Wednesday week. 

Paul 

I think that’s a really interesting observation. I hadn’t thought about it in that context, but yeah, totally. 

George: 

Plus, the greatest quiz question I’ve ever heard, who scored an equalising goal in the 99th minute of a game in which the ball was only in play for 53 minutes? 

Paul 

Let me think about that. 

George: 

Is his first name James? It is Andy, yes. 

Paul 

Mmm 

George: 

I mean, it’s just, you know, it wasn’t me who counted the minutes as somebody else pointed it out. 53 minutes, the Derby, the ball was in play. So you kind of go, well, where were the other 45 then? And how come Tarkowski only scored in the last of the 99? Why weren’t there 135? Come on, serve it up properly.It’s ridiculous. 

Paul 

I think without going into the details that there is a move, and maybe it’s generated by all the comments that you’ve made over the years, George, to try and eliminate as much as possible time wasting. There is this proposal now that if a goalkeeper holds the ball, I think it’s for more than eight seconds.That and the referee blows the whistle and gives a corner to the

George: 

how when another two minutes will be taken up with jostle boss will be still 

Paul 

Well, yeah, but the other interesting point about that was that the publicity that was put out, I think possibly by Skye, featured a picture of Jordan Pickford as being the prime person involved in time wasting, the goalkeeper involved in time wasting. And yet when you look at the statistics, the top 10 periods of time that a goalkeeper has held the ball when in possession.

Jordan Pickford doesn’t feature in any of the top 10 times. But hey, there we go. 

Andy: 

that, you know, facts don’t fit with Sky’s agenda. 

Paul 

No, no, no, actually, you know, so 

George: 

Anyways, getting comfortable now. 

Paul 

Um, what else has been happening ever since? Dunno. Andy? 

Andy: 

Well, we have the announcement of changes within the hierarchy. 

Paul 

Yeah. 

Andy: 

Beginning with, with the director of communication, about to leave, Richard Kenyon. Other than that, I’m not not quite sure of anything.I’ve been out of the loop a little bit, but not quite sure what else of genuine noteworthy this has been happening. 

Paul 

I think it’s clear that there are going to be and there have already been massive changes in terms of the personnel who’ve run the club. 

So all of the people that we’ve talked about in the past for the last however many years, more than five years at least, who we didn’t think were necessary of the right quality to run a Premier League club or to perform within a Premier League club are now all being released.

The one person who isn’t being released from the executive team is Colin Chong. 

I think that’s a recognition of the job that he did in making sure that the stadium was delivered on time. I might argue whether it was delivered on budget, but that’s probably not his responsibility. But nevertheless, the stadium has been delivered on time. 

But there is a big question over all the things around the stadium that should have happened but didn’t happen. 

But they are probably beyond the responsibility and control of the football club. Although now as we get into the situation where we’re a lot less than five months away from opening Bramley-Mooree, the infrastructure requirements around Bramley-Mooree are going to become more and more apparent. I think the conversation with regards to the club moves on from performance, on the field performance in terms of the boardroom to what exactly are we going to do now to make sure that the best experience is available for all of those that attend Bramley-Moore come August when there’s going to be 53,000 fans there. Thank you. 

George: 

Absolutely. 

Andy: 

Yeah, still a lot of work to be done. 

Paul 

Yeah, very much so. 

Andy: 

or rather than within government law. 

Paul 

Yeah. Yeah. And, you know, perhaps slightly, slightly unusually for this podcast. I think there’s a lot of work being done to make sure that what can be done will be done.

 There is a question mark if you want to look backwards as to why many of these things weren’t done previously, but you know, that is what it was.

And under the new ownership, I think, I think one can be fairly confident that the new ownership will ensure that what can be done will be done and try to plan for the future. 

George: 

That’s very, very good to hear. 

Andy: 

Yeah, that’s encouraging. 

Paul 

Yeah, I mean, probably, yeah. I spent most of my time on social media, criticising the club and making, you know, making what is obvious about all of the shortcomings about the club. It is a change to say that many of those shortcomings are now being addressed. That doesn’t mean that everything that needs to be done has been done

.But I do have, and I will emphasize this, I do have much more confidence in the club’s ability to address all of the issues that we have, and all of the future issues that we have going forward. 

Far more confidence than I’ve ever had, well, at least in the last decade, and probably going much before that. 

George: 

It’s very, very, very good to hear you say that too. 

Paul 

Well, first of all, thank you for saying that. But I mean, it is a genuine thought.

It’s not by any stretch buttering up the Friedkins or anybody else. It’s just saying that there is a recognition by the club that not everything that needs to be done has yet been done. But I think there’s also a recognition that they’re going to do whatever they have to do in order to make sure that those things that haven’t been done will be done.

 So I suppose at this point, that’s probably as realistically as much as we can hope for. 

Andy: 

No. 

George: 

That’s their responsibility. That’s what they got when they bought the club, isn’t it? 

Paul 

Yeah, very much so. And if you take that particular point, obviously the club have a custodian responsibility in terms of the fans.But then, having moved the stadium, having spent £800 million moving the stadium from Cuddleson Park to Bramley-Moore, it’s not just the club’s responsibility in terms of what the custodian responsibility is, there is a responsibility from the city council, from the combined authority, and also from central government to make sure that all of the infrastructure that’s required is in place for, you know, the 53,000 are going to go to watch Everton games, but beyond that, however many people are going to go and watch events, and Bramley-Moore beyond that. 

George: 

We follow this place with interest. 

Paul 

But from somebody who’s been overly negative over the years, from somebody who’s been a cynic, and not only a cynic, but has reported what the situation is, I genuinely believe that going forwards were in a much better position than we were previously. 

Andy: 

Yeah. 

Paul 

Cool. Okay. Should we move to that? Yeah, man. 

Andy: 

Yeah, I’m done. 

Paul 

Good. All right. Well, thank you very much. It’s great to be back on the airwaves. And yeah, we’ll speak to you soon. Hey, thank you guys. 

Andy & George: 

Thank you.