It is now time to switch to a new Money AM football blog as the world cup is now over and we all look to the future.....World cup 2010 is over, Bravo Espana, and Forlan, once again and bring on the new season !.....I never expected the last thread to be such a success...thanks all.... so this new one might go on for years without the need to edit the title...we shall see...

England women so close to reaching the final in what was a fairly even game, although the Japanese women probably had more of the possession. Laura Bassett very unlucky to score a wicked own goal at the death.
2517

Japan got lucky imo, England had over 22 attempts on goal, hit the woodwork twice, wee bit more composure in the final third, would have won comfortably. Cruel end!

The FA

What a pleasure to watch, no spitting (that I saw), no rolling around on the pitch as if they had been hit by a Challenger tank, and no arguing with the ref.
2517

Sterling joins Manchester City for record fee

Roberto Martinez attacks Jose Mourinho over Chelsea's John Stones bid
Chelsea manager plans new move to sign defender as Everton boss hits out at London club's tactics


By Jeremy Wilson, Deputy Football Correspondent, Singapore1:11AM BST 18 Jul 2015 Comments32 Comments
Roberto Martinez has accused Jose Mourinho of operating beneath Everton’s standards after the Chelsea manager spoke publicly of his desire to buy John Stones.
Chelsea have already had a £20 million bid turned down by Everton for Stones, a 21-year-old England international who started for Martinez in Saturday’s 3-1 defeat against Arsenal in the final of the Barclays Asia Trophy.
Mourinho suggested on Saturday he would make a new bid despite Martinez having insisted that the player was not for sale.
Mourinho, who is in Montreal on Chelsea’s training camp, said: “At the moment they say: ‘We don’t accept this bid’. They don’t say: ‘We don’t accept bids; any bids’. While they say, ‘We don’t accept this bid’ until Sept 1, we can improve the bid: £1 more, £10 more, we can improve the bid.
“If one day Roberto Martinez or the chairman says: ‘He’s not for sale; we don’t accept any bid’, game over. So during this process, it’s clear, we don’t deny we made a bid for Stones. It means we are trying to buy.
“We made a bid, we can make it — it’s an open market until Sept 1. We didn’t make an offer on Sept 2 or in March or two days before we play against Everton. We are making the bid in the period we have to make it, which is the open market.”
Chelsea’s approach has echoes of their attempt to buy Wayne Rooney from Manchester United in 2013 and has clearly angered Martínez, who may feel that Mourinho is making a deliberate attempt to destabilise his player.
“I think one think is clear we pride ourselves in playing a certain way, educating our young players in a manner in which they will always attract attention from elsewhere, and that is a footballing compliment,” said Martinez.
“The other side is that another football club is making such a statement in the press so openly. I don't think that is the way we would do it at Everton. We wouldn't speak about a player that is at another club and there is no issue from our point of view. John Stones is an Everton player full stop.
“We are not a selling club in that respect. There is nothing to speak to John about. I always speak with the players but there is nothing to comment about. We are not a club who need to be worried about what other clubs put through the press.”



Despite Everton’s insistence that Stones is not for sale, Chelsea remain determined to make Stones the most expensive English defender in history. The current record is the £30 million that Manchester United paid Leeds United for Rio Ferdinand in 2002.
Stones, though, still has four years remaining on his contract and Everton will be well aware that there is likely to be competing interest from the two Manchester clubs. They are also adamant that it is in Stones’s best interests to stay and play regularly for Everton rather than face the prospect of being understudy at Chelsea to John Terry and Gary Cahill.
Everton are not under any financial pressure to sell and Martinez has made it clear that he would oppose the loss of such a key young player at any price.
“We are working to fulfil our potential,” said Martinez. “The last few years we have been very brave giving young players opportunities to develop and we will carry on doing that.” Martinez does not believe that the Stones situation impacted on his players in Singapore on Saturday but they were defensively suspect and ultimately well beaten by Arsenal.
Theo Walcott, Santi Cazorla and Mesut Ozil all scored as Arsenal surged into a 3-0 lead, only for Ross Barkley to score a late consolation to deny Petr Cech a clean sheet on his first outing as an Arsenal player.


Stones, Barklay, Coleman, Baines, McCarthy. Roberto you can complain as much as you like. Until the Everton board come out publicly and state any of the players above are not for sale in this transfer window so you can all foxtrot oscar. Open market.

The best comment from this article imo :-



The sooner the `top 4 clubs` are made to join a Euro super league the better . Let all the `sugar daddy` subsidised teams outbid each other for success .

Like Kane, Stones should stay for at least 2 more seasons; he looked poor in his last couple of games - can bring the ball out but has a lot to learn re defending. He can do that at Everton, including more playing time. He'll still be wanted in 2 years providing he doesn't stagnate and is injury free, will still be young, and because of experience he may be better placed to make a decision re staying or going - rather than grabbing the first chocolate bar he sees at the checkout. If he decides to leave, Everton will have had some service and receive a fee at the same level or more - reduced contract time v better player.

---

Women's football shouldn't exist, it should just be football; the same with tennis - no Men's/Women's/Mixed just singles and doubles, athletics etc.

Cheers,
KidA

Yes - same with the showers! :-)

Didn't Blatter suggest that?

Cheers,
KidA

Missed the World Cup draws completely...England have a good group....difficult but they should get at least one of the two top spots.....in fact I would expect them to win the group....Scotland will not be easy to beat though !....Spain and Italy in the same group ?...nuts....France, Holland ,Sweden ?......I think England have done well to avoid that lot .......really Fifa are going to have to look at the way draws are being made : because this is crazy putting such strong soccer nations together....the Europeans are dominating the world cups yet this is what they come up with.....promoting the beautiful game (as Pele might put it) across the world is one thing but putting formidable football countries in one basket with only one outright qualifier is bonkers....

The Epitome of integrity!

FIFA passes resolution offering full support for holding 2018 World Cup in Russia

'He deserves a Nobel prize...' - comedy gold.

Meanwhile, the No Balls prize looks to be on its way to Di Maria.

Cheers,
KidA

Reports: Everton reject another Stones bid from Chelsea
29/07/2015 150 Comments [Jump to last]
"Sky sources" claim that Chelsea have made another official offer of £25m for John Stones and that Everton have rebuffed it.
If true, this second bid would still fall well below Everton's valuation of the player and the £34m - £38m figure that the media seem to have agreed between themselves would seal the deal.

Some of the national media are suggesting the Londoners' new offer is £26m, however.

Roberto Martinez was adamant earlier this month that the 21-year-old is not going anywhere and that has been reflected in a later tweet from Sky whose sources report that Everton have twice told Chelsea that Stones is not for sale.

Quotes or other material sourced from Sky Sports

Reader Comments

Second Stones bid rejected.

£25m apparently.

£25m is clearly designed to unsettle the player. He will go if they bid £30m or over

London Standard reckon they will offer £30m + add-ons. We want £34m apparantly. If there's a compromise and they pay £30m with add-ons that figure should be approaching a further £8-10m IMO.

Money aside, that would properly shaft our defence.

Take £25m plus Remy, spend it on a CB and No 10.
I see Diego Costa has a hamstring injury so presumably the Chelsea medics/trainers are crape too?

Far too much over-reaction at this point -- relax and give the squad a chance before going in hard on them!

This story has dominated the close season. I guess that if the lad wants it, he will go for c£34M as forecast.
I don't think the club has done much wrong in how they have handled the situation although the longer the uncertainty goes on the more difficult it will be to sign a decent replacement.

Most Evertonians I speak to are not enamoured of the Evans answer to the problem !

I would think that Stones, Lukaku and McCarthy will be here this season, or at least till January. Almost guaranteed they won’t be here at the start of the 2016-17 season unless we start acting like a club that wants to win things. The upside to selling them in 2016 is that we will probably get over £100 million for them.

Breaking News. Officials at Everton inform Chelsea Stones not for sale.what did Maureen say, when Everton say the player is not for sale, we won't bid again. Fuck off mourinho!!

That's scared him

but why are we even targeting a player like that (at that price) ?

Joe - Crazy money I agree. The irony is John Stones is a Man U fan, if the lad himself does have his head turned, pure press speculation by the way, chances are he will end up at Old Trafford LOL!! I won't be laughing if Jonny Evans (again press speculation) is mentioned in the same breath.

Andy Townsend grew up as a Chelsea boy and now look at him

Turncoat - and bitter with it

Still he's one of only a handful of ex-players to hold that view - most become lifelong blues once they've been with us

Twice Maureen has done that now, thrown his losers medal away, class or blatent disrespect? Don't you just love the arrogant twat (not). Reckon Arse will give them a run for their money this season now they have finally learned how to defend. LOL!!!!

Who remembers losers ?

And the reason he threw it in this time was driven by some jeering and throwing of objects by the gooners (possibly having mistaken Jose for their own manager a la railway station incident)

But I do agree - its Arsenal most likely for me to give us a run for our money

I think Chelsea were thinking of windows 10 as they got a player sent off !.....not a good start !....

When Dinosaurs Walked the Earth!
By Dean Adams 11/08/2015

According to Sky Sports, football began 23 years ago with the start of the Premier league. Since it began, this league has been dominated by the clubs with the biggest wallets. The rest of the football clubs in the league have absolutely no chance.

It never used to be this way, every season would unearth a new contender that nobody would have expected. It made the league season unpredictable in some small way, but that has long since become an extinct distraction.

When I was a lad we were a giant in the football world. We actually were one of the big boys and nobody pushed us around. The likes of Chelsea and Man City were “wannabes”. Football was played by men who were happy to talk to the fans; they were down to earth and were paid well, but not the ridiculous wages of today. Fans could relate to their heroes. Today, the money that is paid to players is totally obscene. The league is full of prima donnas.

It has been so long since we were successful that my son who is 18 next month has never witnessed us winning a trophy. It is his generation who I pity because they have to contend with us “old buggars” constantly reminding them of the “glory days” when we were the biggest beasts strutting about as Champions and Cup winners. That of course was when dinosaurs walked the earth. That was a time when Preston North End were winning the league, even Sunderland, both Sheffield clubs and Villa.

Those days are long gone, but we are still clinging to our history, where others have lost their grip? It is over 100 years since both Sunderland and Villa won their 5th league title, something Chelsea have only just achieved and Man City have only 4 titles to their name.

Our chances of winning silverware have been extinct for years, just as many others from a bygone age. They are like the dodo, just some mythical thing from the past. We cling to our memories desperately, like alcoholics wanting just one more! We tell them that football was so much better before Sky came along and expect them to believe us without really showing them the “bigger picture”.

We are Everton, I hear from our fans. “If ya know yer history”. The problem is, with each passing year Sky are re-writing the history of football, to the point that many now believe that football actually did begin 23 years ago.

Well, if that is the new gospel I have good news for you all. That number is significant to Everton and some fans will already be reminiscing at the thought of what comes next. In my world, Everton win the league every 24 years, or at least we used to when it was the football league and I for one am hoping that the football gods haven’t gone senile watching this boring team in this boring league. ( I know that that all changed when in 2011 we did not manage to add to that run, but it is all becoming clear now. Counting stopped, re-configured, beginning again in 1992-3).

So cheer up fellow ToffeeWebbers, it is in the stars. We will win the league, not this season, but next. It is our destiny. I realise that for many of you out there it will be almost impossible to believe. Of course, it could mean that Roberto is one step ahead and is already planning for next season. It would explain our slow start again and the lack of transfer activity, simply because he is waiting for the stars to align. (Of course it would be useful if we had some!).

Our wonderful crop of youngsters will take the league by storm, Stones, Barkley, Lukaku, Mo Besic, Deulofeu, Browning, Garbutt, Galloway and McCarthy will be awesome! Some cry, “where’s the money gone” but Bill has been saving for our big push! The board have been saving for years to take us to the biggest and best stadium in the land (oh, that was Goodison!). We can all dream, it’s all we have left. Get your singing voices ready, we’re gonna win the league!

1890/91, 1914/15, 1927/28, 1931/32, 1938/39, 1962/63, 1969/70, 1984/85, 1986/87, 2016-17?



Reader Comments
Dean, unless the players start showing how good this side could become and continue to struggle against relative mediocre opponents, we may well win the Football League in 2017 or whatever it is called these days as our chances of becoming Champions of England are as remote as any of us winning the National Lottery and the Euromillions in the same week.
We'll still turn up at Goodison in our thousands, we'll still berate the manager or owner or whoever else is in the firing line, but unfortunately Everton and a few other so called 'big' clubs won't be hoisting the no.1 flag over their grounds for a good while yet. It has become a cartel in England, just like it has in Scotland, Spain and other countries if your team isn't a member of the new elite already, the chances are it never will be.

Those of us of a certain vintage can remember the glory days, but the younger element within our support base are highly unlikely to witness anything more than the odd trip to Wembley.

If Everton win the league, then brace yourselves for what will happen.
One time we won the league then World War started. One time we won the league then World War 2 started. And One time we won the league and English clubs were banned from Europe.

So that's 2x we had Championship winning teams that were unable to defend their title. And 2x we had a championship winning team that couldn't compete in Europe.

Then they wonder why Everton fans are pessimistic.