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Rumour: De Boer’s agent hints at possible Everton role? via NSNO

The agent of Frank De Boer has hinted that the current Ajax manager might be open to taking over at Everton, according to Dutch news outlet NOS.
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Sign O’ The Times via GrandOldTeam

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What was that like?

In probably the most patronising day in the recent history of Everton we suffered a 3-1 defeat at the hands of Leicester City. I don’t care if they’re champions, they’re guff and we should have beat them.
Ok not beat them maybe, but at least tried. Is that too much Everton?

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The guard of honour thing is daft, like the handshake before the game, it’s unnecessary ceremony and there was little Everton getting their head patted as pretty bridesmaids for the day. The world’s TV cameras were on Everton and to further belittle us the team put out an insipid display where Leicester won at utter ease. Everton looked like the team with the title wrapped up and who’d been on it all week rather than the other way round.

It’s clear that changes need to made and has been for some time now, I hope we rush towards that moment soon as the bit inbetween is painful to watch.

Evertonians don’t like a team that fail to show up, or in local terms: shithouses. I can’t mind read footballers but it looks very much like a team that’s not putting itself out there for the manager.

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Folly to speculate on this but if that’s the case then we need to address some wider issues than just the manager and coaching staff in the summer. There’s a whole host of players who are being made into millionaires on the back of playing for Everton. If they find that Everton’s ambitions don’t match their own then seriously, [Poor language removed] them. If they find that being paid in a week what most of the paying fans do in a week is not enough to make them compete at the best of their cardio and will then again, [Poor language removed] them.

This isn’t a deflection from the Manager issue, I presume that will get dealt with sooner rather than later but the whole package being served up right now is pathetic, and all of them have culpability rather than just the figurehead.

We’re in a dangerous era now and it’s a sign o’ the times where pretty much all the power is with the players as they know their financial value to the club is a lot more than the Manager. The player power thing reduces the effect of a hard disciplinarian being able to generate success, take for instance a Catterick figure. The players would down tools and agitate until the club is forced into a change.

I hope we’re not seeing something like that from the players now. That won’t wash at Everton.

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Not that it’s a unique situation. Remember the back end of the 03/04 season when flip flops were out in March? Moyes at a later date referenced having to adapt his management style although I’m not sure if it was directly related to this particular era.

Martinez won’t have the grace of time to adapt his approach as it seems a chronic situation with a crowdswell too difficult to win back, it’s been two years in the making so limited sympathy there.

Not too far ago I wrote about this talented young team that had serious potential and been given the environment to reach that. I’m thinking I was wrong and that I’ve overhyped them as much as maybe their own Manager has. Do you see Lukaku as a player looking to stay beyond this summer? This is how it is and we are going to have to deal with it like all our competitors but it goes back to that earlier point of someone earning tens of thousands off the club a week too distracted or unmotivated to put a shift in. It condescends those struggling in normal working jobs saving up to afford the match and a pint on the weekend.

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So perhaps it is revolution and not evolution that is needed. I’m not sweating it too much as we seem to have owners now to facilitate the change needed, even if I doubt they have the money needed to move us to levels that we aspire to.

In many ways maybe this period will be a blessing as it’s given a mandate for the wider change needed to make Everton competitive again. There can be little sentimentality over a Manager that had Kenwright gushing over him a matter of weeks ago.

There’s a few things demanded at Everton and effort is one of them. While the Manager position will rightfully be a priority, the players shouldn’t be forgotten too easy when it comes to decide who’s staying along for the ride.

Hopefully somewhere in the midst of it all we will find an Everton team with genuine guts that will energise the crowd through action and intent, and no small smattering of skill. Imagine that? Or even one of them snapping every ligament of Jamie Vardy’s very rat like being. That’s something to aim towards, in the near future hopefully.

In the meantime the lap of appreciation next week is going to be fun.

The post Sign O’ The Times appeared first on GrandOldTeam.

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Frank De Boer “would love” to manage club like Everton via Royal Blue Mersey

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Agent quotes sparks speculation of managerial change at Goodison

Ajax coach Frank De Boer "would love" to manage a club like Everton, according to his agent.

Roberto Martinez looks increasingly likely to be sacked at the end of what has been a tortuous season, with speculation now abound as to who will replace him.

Former Netherlands international De Boer is among those mentioned as a possible successor to the embattled Spaniard. After retiring from playing in 2006 the 45-year-old returned to his first club Ajax in 2007 as youth coach. He then stepped up to assistant manager of the senior team the following year before taking over as manager in 2010.

During his time in Amsterdam De Boer has won four Eredivisie titles, though he did miss out on a fifth on the final day of this season.

De Boer's contract at Ajax has a year left to run, though that hasn't stopped him being linked with a move away from the club.

De Boer's agent Guido Albers has further fulled those rumours, suggesting his client may well be looking for a new club.

Speaking to Dutch media outlet NOS, Albers said:


"He would love to join a club like Everton or Valencia. It's all about the right philosophy and how they play football. That is what Frank is looking for."

"I have told Ajax there is no other club and I have not held discussions with anyone.

"Frank says he now needs to focus on becoming champions, so I do not trouble him."

With the Eredivisie season now over and the Premier League season set to end next week, the managerial merry-go-round will soon be upon us.

If Martinez does go, and it is looking increasingly likely that he will, is De Boer the man to replace him? Have your say in the comments below!

Poll

Is Frank De Boer the man to take over at Everton?

  • Yes! Get him in now!
  • No, there are better alternatives out there
  • No, best sticking with Bobby for now

0 votes | Results


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Mediocrity is a disease at Everton… Fans aren’t allowed to think big via GrandOldTeam

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Mediocrity is a disease strangling the life out of Everton Football Club. Goodison Park is riddled and there is no remedy.

This once proud club is on its knees. A laughing stock, an embarrassment. It has accepted for too long. So long, England’s fourth most successful club is languishing and the world doesn’t care. It is not a shock. That is the Everton standard, now. Also-rans, strugglers, accepters.

This is how it is. ‘Nothing but the best is good enough’ is no longer part of the Everton vocabulary.

Former Everton chairman John Moores once said: ‘Everton expects success. We’ve a very good crowd and our crowd are very loyal. But, of course, they pay money and they expect to see us do well. If we don’t do well then something should be done about it and something will be done about.’


This is no longer the case. Nothing is done about it. Nothing is said, no action is taken.

Everton, a sleeping giant in such a slumber it does not need to be woken.

Failure is accepted and, you could say, expected.

The current manager boasts the worst home record in the club’s 138-year-history but keeps his job. His failure is accepted. Derby maulings, accepted. Failing to turn up for an entire half at Wembley in the biggest game of the season, accepted. Players belittling the club and later failing to put a shift in with no regard, accepted. Humiliated in front of the watching world after giving the newly-crowned champions a guard of honour. Accepted.

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We have not won a trophy in over two decades. We are not allowed our own party. We are the uninvited guests to everybody else’s celebrations. We must watch on as others strive to improve and achieve success.

Leicester City winning the title has given hope to everyone. Except for Evertonians, that is.

Supporters of this club are not allowed to dream anymore. They are not allowed to be ambitious. Winning is for other clubs, not Everton.

Roberto Martinez said as much when he was appointed Everton manager: ‘When I arrived at the club I felt like we didn’t want to show off our history; it was a bit like “We’re not allowed to win trophies now, that’s for other football clubs”.’

We do not have our own aims. We merely exist.

Leicester had a clear plan. They aimed for a top-five finish in three years – achieved it in two.

What is Everton’s plan? Finish in the top four perhaps; but we do nothing to reach our goal. We continue to employ a manager who has guided us closer to the drop zone than the European places.

We have history to cling on to, so what does the present matter? The season was over in April. Who cares if Martinez oversees a few more defeats? Why sack him now? The damage is done.

Club legends who have lifted silverware in the royal blue shirt, those who should be most upset and bewildered at Everton’s current plight, have told us this week we are not big enough to entice the biggest managers in the world. We must be careful what we wish for, careful not to aim for the top.


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— Mark Ankers (@MarkAnkers) May 5, 2016

Rather than show ambition and have a go we should know our place was the message.

This club is one of the most storied in English football. It belongs at the top. Nine league titles and five FA Cups.

The last 25 years have seen Everton stuck in a false position. However, we have been so abysmal the mentality of the club has shifted so much that terms like ‘Everton that’ and ‘typical Everton’ are the norm.

The mentality is not what is should be.

One case in point: Oumar Niasse has been a woeful signing and appears a dud. The jury is no longer out, nobody is convinced.

However, we have to laugh at ourselves or else we would cry – his performances have led to giggles in the Gwladys Street. No damning questions as to why we have spent £13.5million on a player who is seemingly not up to the job. We snigger. ‘Oh Everton, you’ve done it again?’ seems to be the general consensus because we have become immune to rubbish and being let down.

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We boast legends like Dixie Dean, Alan Ball, Howard Kendall, Bob Latchford, Neville Southall.

The club icon in 2016 who gets the loudest cheer? Tony Hibbert.

The man is idolised in jest having failed to score a single goal in 328 appearances.

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Screams of ‘shoot’ aimed at Hibbert – in the same week we are protesting against the leadership of the club because we are desperate to attempt to be the best we can be – shows the blurred mentality at the club. Of course, Hibbert is a Blue, a scouser and a model professional but should he be jokingly lauded?

Would Chelsea, United and City celebrate such a player? Definitely not.

We have fallen so far one of the club’s recent successes was naming the club shop ‘Everton two’ in Liverpool One. Very witty and funny but we are so much bigger and better than that.

This is what our long-suffering fans have been reduced to, small victories.

Watching all those around us strive for success, we have no clear plan, no clear aims. Everton are happy to amble, to exist.

Having been patronised into thinking reaching two semi-finals is an achievement – being the nearly men is something to be proud of when you have fallen as far as Everton, apparently – our rivals across Stanley Park showed some initiative earlier in the season and are now gearing up for their second final of the year. Liverpool were proactive and could find themselves playing in the Champions League when the group stages commence in September.

Meanwhile, Everton continue to employ the managerial mastermind who has amassed just 20 points at home – no Toffees boss has achieved a lower tally at Goodison.

Martinez should have been dismissed on the night of the horrendous humiliation at Anfield. After the FA Cup defeat by Manchester United. Every day that has followed is a day too late.

Some claim it is not a problem keeping Martinez until the end of the season. Rubbish.

This is a proud football club – no defeat is acceptable. Campaign over or not, no Everton team should be allowed to down tools.

There are enough coaches associated with the club – Joe Royle, David Unsworth, Duncan Ferguson, Kevin Sheedy – to keep things ticking over, buoy the fans, give us our pride back.

The events of the last few months have seen the heart and soul ripped out of the club. There is no pride left. Discontent fills matchday. Fans have no choice but to protest because they have been ignored.

It is shameful that the club have not acted and relieved Martinez of his duties. They have refused to acknowledge the manager’s failings which suggests they view the season as acceptable.

Everton have fallen way below the required standard but the club feels no need to comment, no need to acknowledge the miserable season fans have had to endure; the depressing and costly trips across the country watching the lacklustre displays Martinez and his men consistently serve up.

The self-professed People’s Club have not listened to the people. The People’s Club does not care about the people. The silence proves that.

Now, it is ‘us and them’. The club divided. Appalling.

Supporters aged 25 can barely remember our 1995 Cup triumph. Twenty-year-olds who go to the game were not even born when we last tasted success. The older followers of the club were there for the heyday but have been starved of glory since.

There are limited trophies on offer so not everybody can celebrate come May. However, the least these fans deserve is a club that wants to win something. That shows ambition. Everton do not. Everton sit and wait. They stand still which in turn sees others overtake us.

As Neville Southall, one of the few ex-Blues who has the correct mentality befitting of this great club, once said: ‘A winner doesn’t want to finish fourth or sixth, he wants to finish first.’

Currently, Everton are some way off even finishing in the top half, never mind sixth.

We should be aiming for first place, though. Players that arrive in the summer should be told, as soon as they walk through the entrance at Finch Farm: ‘You are expected to win the title.’

We have to think big. We have to act like winners. Without belief you will never achieve anything.

However, Everton do not think big. They do not act like winners. There is no belief.

Farhad Moshiri’s arrival and his billions provide some optimism but really, ask yourself, do you see us being successful? The heart will scream yes but the head, affected by years of supporting Everton and the club’s refusal to act, will be whispering no.

We’ve been badly let down. Pure and simple. The club hasn’t deserved us this season.

The badge has meant nothing. The motto is no longer the standard we are allowed to expect. We must settle for second best. That is the Everton way, these days.

For now, anything but the best is good enough.

The post Mediocrity is a disease at Everton… Fans aren’t allowed to think big appeared first on GrandOldTeam.

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