The Everton Board Thread 2015/16 [ Not takeover related ]

[Foot Long Hot Dog]

That's what everyone is talking about in the John Stones' thread.

You mean some jarg rumour that we're trying to 'buy out' any rights Barnsley might have to any future sell on clauses that we negotiate with Chelsea?

Firstly, sounds likely that doesn't it. I mean one of the largest clubs in Europe are highly likely to move this young English player on for a massive uplift on the £40m that they'd have to pay to land him.

Secondly, isn't the boards job to try and maximise the revenue for EFC? Isn't that one of the biggest sticks that they're beaten with? So if true (which I sincerely doubt) then they'd be doing their bloody job for gods sake.

 

[Nobby Nobbs]

Have Everton not even commented on this yet 24hrs of fans frenzy and not a word, It smacks of a little kid sticking his fingers in his ears and going lalalalalalalalala hope his mum or dad would just go away and stop shouting at him.

 

[Ihaters]

There is one of the problems,the fume on here would be massive but outside in the real world,it wouldnt be

That is what I am saying, here people would punch themselves in the face, out there, its nearly all dependent on results. And with the right squad reinvestment, the results could conceivably improve.. especially on such a poor season last year.

 

[marty mcfly]

Its not though, its absolutely not that simple.. by getting a lesser CB and a better AM, RM, DM, GK etc.. with the money, you can easily improve the overall quality of the team by taking a hit elsewhere..

Its very conceivable that we sell Stones, improve on the whole, and the board get another buy despite not spending all the Stones money, let alone all the TV revenue.

But you won't have a team that can compete one-on-one. Our only chance is to have a relatively strong 1st 11 relative to the top clubs and hope we get lucky with injuries. Obviously that still requires more investment than simply just keeping Stones.

 

[marty mcfly]

You mean some jarg rumour that we're trying to 'buy out' any rights Barnsley might have to any future sell on clauses that we negotiate with Chelsea?

Firstly, sounds likely that doesn't it. I mean one of the largest clubs in Europe are highly likely to move this young English player on for a massive uplift on the £40m that they'd have to pay to land him.

Secondly, isn't the boards job to try and maximise the revenue for EFC? Isn't that one of the biggest sticks that they're beaten with? So if true (which I sincerely doubt) then they'd be doing their bloody job for gods sake.

Actually it does sound likely. It could be upwards of 4m. We jumped through hoops to screw Anderlecht over less with regards to Henen.

I think there's a certain way to behave. Technically they've done nothing wrong either by waiting until Stones hands in a request so he gets the blame but we all know it stinks.

 

[RaleighBlue]

Had the missus take a quick look at the club for us, and she has just emailed me. Summaries from the email:

• We took a £10m loan out two/three years ago against future television revenue. Bit silly as this was never guaranteed, if we were to go down then we'd go bankrupt fairly quickly without some kind of cash injection.
• The VIBRAC loan is shady, no explanation as to why it was made considering no direct investment was made from it. She seems to think it was to pay of debts from the previous owners, but this is a silly move as it would of been better to just restructure existing debt as the previous lenders would of preferred to of had it over time. Also, putting it against the stadium is dangerous - not many clubs actually do this.
  
• We've borrowed on a couple of times on "future assets", but as she pointed out - we do not own our training ground and we own no land beyond Goodison Park, which is too old and decrepit to capitalise on financially beyond tickets and match-day revenues. Future assets implies (to her) that this is against the sale of players, as this is all we have as a club - financially speaking.
  
• We're one of very few English clubs not to actually own their training complex, reducing tangible club assets to minimal levels.
• The kitbag and Chang deals are horrendously low compared to clubs with similar stature. She also believes that we are one of very few top flight clubs (she only noted the newly-promoted sides as being the other clubs) not to have any kind of real marketing operation in emerging football economies of the far east.
• Financially, we're on a tightrope. If we were to see a exodus of talent after another bad season, our value will decrease sharply and we'll have nothing to pay off the loans with - even with TV revenues.

The way forward.

• Consistently compete in the league. Top half finishes are imperative, season in, season out. She says that the league is becoming very much about 6 or 7 teams competing for the top 4 - and then the rest battling it out against relegation. We need to be in the first bracket.
  
• Champions League football for two seasons may be enough to get us out of this, but the gamble may not be worth it. She talked a bit about Portsmouth, and how they fell into the trap of overborrowing to compete.
• The Europa League is not worth it, if we qualify then we shouldn't make it our priority as the financial incentives aren't worth losing league performance.
• Selling key players is all the club can do right now to guarantee financially stability, but this must be kept at a minimal to ensure that the club is competitive. John Stones just has to go.
• Remain stable as a club and business.

You're missing two options:
1) Sell up - not the easiest answer

2) Find other sources of income to offset our expenditures. The complete lack of a marketing arm for emerging markets is precisely the problem. Sitting tight and selling our best players does not allow us to progress, and will eventually lead to our downfall - we can't keep getting lucky with players and managers, that's far too risky.

The business need to be self-sustaining. Everton must be a (at least) net neutral business regardless of player sales and players bought. We currently are not - we require the television money for everything we do, and apparently require player sales to survive. That is an untenable model that we should not be comfortable with.

If this board is incapable of moving the club forward, or worse keeping the club stable without selling our players year in year out, then this board must be removed and replaced with someone(s) with vision to build a brand and to put Everton on the map as a major club. That, in my opinion, has less to do with results on the pitch and more to do with public and media perception of the club. We currently lose that battle constantly, and that is unacceptable.

 

[The Esk]

Our only chance is to have a relatively strong 1st 11 relative to the top clubs and hope we get lucky with injuries.

Again completely contrary to your previously held position.

Have you changed your mind?

 

[Nobby Nobbs]

Its not though, its absolutely not that simple.. by getting a lesser CB and a better AM, RM, DM, GK etc.. with the money, you can easily improve the overall quality of the team by taking a hit elsewhere..

Its very conceivable that we sell Stones, improve on the whole, and the board get another buy despite not spending all the Stones money, let alone all the TV revenue.

Your right mate that COULD happen, but in all honesty can you see that happening because I can't, if we had sold Stones at the start of the window I still couldn't see all what you say happening. If Carlsberg done transfer windows they wouldn't go near Everton

 

[Minimeister]

Would it be fair to try and compare like for like? For instance, we can't be compared to the oil clubs but Spurs and Villa formed part of the big 6 years ago and I would say are of a similar ilk to ourselves. Have both of them moved that far away from us financially that shows we've been obviously mismanaged? Spurs have always paid out in transfer fees and wages and Levy has done a good job but they're hardly breaking down the CL door while Villa were similar too us in they had Deadly Doug but have fallen even further since he left. Just throwing it out there. Sometimes on here it's like people compare apples and pears.....

 

[jaycee]

That is what I am saying, here people would punch themselves in the face, out there, its nearly all dependent on results. And with the right squad reinvestment, the results could conceivably improve.. especially on such a poor season last year.

I know what you mean and I agree as long as we dont get relegated I dont thinkk the board would come under too much pressure,there isnt
the same outrage in the pubs ground or other social media sites as there is on here

 

[zirc]

It is a complete disaster if we sell Stones. 5 days left to get a replacement, how are we meant to get value for money in that amount of time?? We'll get done like the rs did with the Suarez money and Spurs did with the Bale money.

 

[RaleighBlue]

Would it be fair to try and compare like for like? For instance, we can't be compared to the oil clubs but Spurs and Villa formed part of the big 6 years ago and I would say are of a similar ilk to ourselves. Have both of them moved that far away from us financially that shows we've been obviously mismanaged? Spurs have always paid out in transfer fees and wages and Levy has done a good job but they're hardly breaking down the CL door while Villa were similar too us in they had Deadly Doug but have fallen even further since he left. Just throwing it out there. Sometimes on here it's like people compare apples and pears.....

Spurs are self-sustaining without sales. They have movement on a new stadium, and they are very successfully picking up new fans in (at least) the American market.

Villa have done what we've done, but with worse luck.

 

[4737carlin]

It is a complete disaster if we sell Stones. 5 days left to get a replacement, how are we meant to get value for money in that amount of time?? We'll get done like the rs did with the Suarez money and Spurs did with the Bale money.

This is my worry, who is under are radar that is really worth it? We might get more for Stones the later we hang on but so will clubs that we go to looking for players with a few hours to go.

 

[marty mcfly]

Again completely contrary to your previously held position.

Have you changed your mind?

I don't think I have although my view on the board has nosedived recently.

I'm saying there's two strategies I would be in favor off. One where we are trying to break top 4 and one where we are trying to maintain a comfortable position without having to invest anything extra in the team so we can use the extra TV money as a deposit to get the stadium built. The first is far more risky so under most circumstances I would favor the later.

If we are trying to break top 4 then it is risky but it's not that risky because all our younger and most valuable players are on long contract so we could give it a go this year. What also has changed is I didn't think we had a shot at getting Yarmolenko. I didn't even think we were in for him. I'm still not sure we have a chance but if we do get him he's a player that could get us into the top 4 this year. I think he could be a revelation. Suarez good.

 

[nsno-chris]

I think you're the one who's confused, as it's apparent that you can't even answer a simple question correctly. You even made up some whopper about Baines & Coleman & McCarthy ALL handing in last minute transfer requests (Show me evidence?).......but you've now deflected from that for some strange reason.


Probably because you're talking through MY 'arris?? .

So you’re saying that the club are telling these players to wait until the last minute and put a request in?? Quite strange as to why Baines and Coleman never left then, or even Barkley, or McCarthy or Kev.


We have assets to sell all over the shop.

Errr no I never at all, the question mark separates the initial question from the follow-up statement. Seeing as that really confused, I’ll separate it onto a new paragraph for you:


The question being, why weren’t Coleman, Barkley, Baines, Kev, McCarthy told to put in transfer requests so we could cash in on them as well as they are all valuable assets as well??

You were asked how many clubs (with the same board/chairman) have had 5 players hand in transfer requests in the final week of the window in the time kenwright has (ie since rooney).

Oh no, conspiracy….pack it in lad.


Like I said above, since Rooney left there have been plenty of opportunities for the club to cash in on all its stars (like the ones mentioned above) which would have wiped the debt clean. And we all know a business with no debt is a lot more valuable than a business with one…..maybe you didn’t, it’s hard to tell.

So that shatters that theory

The answers you gave (apart from no more than 1-2 examples from the same club) were incorrect because most of the players you mentioned were sold well before the last week of the window, and most of them didn't hand in requests but were sold anyway.

To clarify. Players handing in transfer requests in the last week of the window doesn't happen anywhere else with the same frequency as it does here.

So we come back to square one; the absolute “tin hat” approach that the players are being told to hand in transfer requests. The point I made was that all those players have forced moves, it doesn’t make any difference whether it’s the start or end of the window.

The simple fact, in all those cases (4 in 11 years because Stones is still here), is that all the opposition managers have washed their laundry in public surrounding our players; they used the media in every instance and Everton stood firm and said no; when the moves don’t go the way the player wants they then use their final card of a transfer request.

Once that’s in the player has put the club in a no win situation, the player has made it perfectly clear that his heart isn’t with the club.

The club do one of 2 things:
a) sell the player at the start of the transfer window - fans fume
b) try and hold out till the window passes - fans fume because player makes it perfectly clear he wants out

And its not like these players have had a better contract offer from Stoke FFS; they've all gone to the top 4 clubs in PL, literally challenging for the championship and playing the CL every year, of course they're going to try and force a move

Got that? Good. Now tell me why it's such a frequent event here as opposed to other clubs. And don't make up more cack. Thanks.

Hope that sinks in fella, if not I may have to draw you a picture to explain it a bit better. You're one of those that just looks for something to hit the board with, literally anything. I on the other hand accept that there is a massive issue but know to look alot more closely at the business model.

Enjoy the game and put your tin hat on…..they can read your thoughts