The Blue Corner - Everton Podcast
The Blue Corner: A new Everton era, and Palace come to Goodison
And welcome back to the blue corner, it's me and Ali, we're back to talk all things evident and it's going to be a positive one because we finally had a positive week. Ali, how are you feeling? Very good. Some positive news isn't there to get into. Obviously we're going to talk about the Leicester game and then look forward to the Crystal Palace game. But probably the most notable news is actually off the pitch isn't it? And it's, you know, something we can actually get excited about and something that's positive. Or Ellis, without any more suspense, what is the positive news going on off the pitch? Oh, it's fantastic. The freaking group, who we've known for quite a while now, have agreed terms on a deal with Fard Machiri to take over Everton and buy the football club, buy his whole 94.1% stake in the club. And this saga has been going on for so, so long now we've had, you know, we had the period of exclusivity with 777, which was a massive worry at the time. We had murmurs of MSP, we've had the freaking group themselves, John Texta, and now the freaking group again. It's been, it's been a rollercoaster, hasn't it? And it's been so disruptive for all Everton fans. And I imagine people at the club as well. So it seems now, as long as this goes through FCA and Premier League approval, then they are going to be our new owners. So it's a massive relief for me, and I think it will be for a lot of people at the club. What do you think? Yeah, no, I completely agree with you. It seems to me that it's the light at the end of the tunnel now. And obviously we've had this saga, as you said, with 777, MSP, you know, there's been a world of different parties, potential suitors that could have taken over Everton. But I am quite happy that it is for the freaking group that are pushing forward and are going to be our new owners. Obviously, as you said, pending the FCA and the Premier League approval, of course. But you know, we've had reports from various different sources that have said that that's going to be no problem for them passing it. So, again, that's something that wasn't really confirmed with the 777 deal, and there was always a question mark whether they would be fit in proper owners and be able to take us over and actually have the necessary funds to do so. So I think it is positive that there are reports saying that the freaking group will be able to pass that with little ease. So I do think that it is just, for me, it's showing light at the end of the tunnel. I think it's showing that this saga is finally over, and it's something we can get excited about and something that we can improve the atmosphere around the club and around the fan base and something that we can just really get behind. And also, obviously, I'm hearing various rumours from Roma fans and murmurs about obviously the lack of transparency and the lack of communication that they possess, but also there's a lot of owners out there that are much worse. So I do think it is something really positive to get behind, and I'm very happy that the freaking group are pushing forward in the process. I think they were definitely the best option out of the ones around. You looked at John Techster and you felt maybe he just talks a little bit too much. He was selling as a dream, but he did talk a lot as well, and these guys, they seem a very professional corporate group really, you know, they're going to get through any sort of approval situation very easily, I think, and you know, they have got Roma at the moment, which some fans may like, some may not, but that could form a bit of an affiliation between the two clubs, which can only really be a benefit to Everton. And overall, they have improved the situation at Roma since they got in, their club attendance now is massively up, it seems like they're on an upward trajectory as a club now, Roma, but of course, they've just recently sacked Danieli De Rossi, and their fans are furious at that, but I think that might be a case of because he was such an incredible player for them when, in reality, he had one winning 14, and most managers don't keep the job if they win one in 14, so I imagine, Dan Frigg, and I'll be glad that the fan base that he'll be doing with in England, while still an extremely passionate fan base, they're not going to quite be as scary as the, the Tafosi is it in Roma? I think you can probably call them Tafosi, I've probably more associated that with F1 and watching Ferrari at Monza, but no, you can definitely call them that. I do think that, obviously, as you said, not many managers do survive one win in 40, and I, you know, I can't really think of any managers that, that survived one winning 14 at all, but nevertheless, I, I do think that they are, you know, they're not afraid to make a decision, and also also an Everton fan base there that, you know, are just happy to have anything else other than far at Macharia, I do think it is going to be a breath of fresh air, because, as you said, they are quite corporate, they seem quite proper, so I do think it's positive. I do think there's, there's not really much to be angry about, there's not really anything to be upset about. I think maybe people will be looking at the multi-club ownership, will, you know, Roma be the, the dual of the freaking group in Everton be sort of the, you know, the side piece, so to speak, so I'm not so sure, and if that's, you know, if those reports are very true, I think they might be a little bit wider than Mark, but for me, I, you know, I think an affiliation or a multi-club ownership with, with Everton and Rome, we're involved in it, I think it can only be positive and seeing that the clubs work together in unison, I think it can only, you know, strengthen both clubs because you'll have a dual academy system there with, you know, talent coming in from Rome and also from Liverpool, so I think it is a positive thing and, you know, better together, in my opinion. And you know, there's talk of Roma being sold themselves to Arab owners and also, even if they stayed in, you could actually argue that the Premier League club, the historic Premier League club with the brand new stadium might actually be something they need to put more of the time into that Roma, so I don't think necessarily we're instantly going to be number two here, I don't think, and I know some people have mentioned about their communication or they don't say a lot, and my take on that is, you know, if you're doing a good job, you don't always have to say a lot, I'd hope that they're just very classy in what they do in the sense they, the employee experienced operators, people who they've said themselves, they want to employ the best in class, and that's what we want, isn't it? We don't want it to be. Like the reason we've needed so much communication off FireMashire is because we've not had a clue what's going on, whereas hopefully they'll settle this situation a lot more, where we don't need to hear from them every week, if we get perhaps like a quarterly update from, say, the chief exec or whatever, that'd be kind of what you'd expect. We don't need them mouthing off to the media, so that might actually be a welcome change compared to FireMashire, we know has been on Sky Sports, he's been on Talks, but sometimes you want your owners to just stay away from all that media coverage. No, definitely, I think, as you said, it's spot on there that, you know, maybe we as a fan base are more expecting of transparency and communication because of the FireMashire years, you know, because we've had such a difficult time in terms of listening to FireMashire, we go on Sky Sports News, as you said, rather than, you know, actually doing proper interviews through club channels, for example, I think, you know, because as a fan base, we've had so much of that in the last 10 years or so. I think, you know, if we were to see an upturn in improvements around the club and also on the pitch, I don't think we need to hear from them, as you said, I think if they're showing that they can do a proper job by, obviously, running the stadium properly, for example, if the things are running smoothly with that one, but also the football and the pitch, if that's going well, we don't need to hear from them, so to speak. So I do massively agree, I think you spot on others as a fan base, we have been kind of been through the wars with FireMashire over the last few years and been through the wars in terms of transparency and communication, but yeah, your spot on, we won't need it if jobs are done properly, if things are done right and the freaking group come in, make the necessary changes and run the club properly, we won't need any transparency, we won't need any communication because the communication will be there to see on the pitch or around the stadium, for example, so yeah, your spot on there, others. It could be the start of a new dawn, really, I think it could be the chance to finally have a bit of hope as ever Tony and I'm certainly feeling now that this could be the start for us, we're moving into that new stadium, we've got an ownership group who seem to be long term as well, it's not just like the ones when we talked about MSP at the time, it seemed like it might just be one or two years and then flip us, these guys seem like they want to be here for the long run, so that's a massive positive and it's only going to make all the fans feel a lot better and we're going to go to some Saturday against Crystal Palace with maybe a bit of a spring in our step and it could have been an even bigger spring in our step had we won against Leicester and in that game, I don't really know exactly what to make of it because I thought we played well in sports but then the way that we just retreated and ended up getting a draw, I think it's one of those games where you could do the lack of three points there, what did you make of that game? Mix the motions really because I think on the one hand, yeah, it's great to come away with our first point of the season, I'm glad to see Lemon and Jai got on the score sheet, I think yes, Balinstram had a positive first start in the Premier League in an Everton shirt, so I think there the positives to take out of the game but as you said, it does feel like two points dropped rather than a point gained and unfortunately that for me comes on the in game management from the manager and I know it's very easy to point fingers and be quick to blame and especially because of the current run we're on and Jai seems to be getting the bulk of the criticism but I do think some of the subs were a little bit interesting for me, I think Jack Harrison didn't come on at the greatest time, all of left Linstramani was causing a lot of issues for Leicester's defence getting in behind and I do think once he becomes a little bit more match ready and becomes a little bit more polished, I do think he will continue to create chances for us, I have no doubt in my mind about that, I do think he is a decent player but also taking a lemon and Jai off, I do think that was a little bit of a mistake because as we saw against Bournemouth where we were tuning a lot, we're talking a lemon and Jai off and we lost the game and then also we've taken a lemon and Jai off again here and dropped two points so I think again I would look at the substitutions and look at the in game management and the fact that we retreated so much and didn't try and take the game to Leicester and try and get a second, I do think it is a little bit disappointed but also it has to be said that we did miss quite a few big opportunities so obviously Dij can't put the ball on the net on the pitch so you have to look at that as well but for me the in game management wasn't quite there and you know that's the reason we've only got one point instead of three and it made the last five, ten minutes very cagey in my opinion. It's a bit of a draining theme that isn't it the game management because it almost feels like now we can get the performance right and some fans may argue that the players can get the performance right and then it gets undone by some poor substitutions and that's such an important part of being a manager and I think it's a real flaw we've shown that as she's game management I think it's really poor overall and we're the better side for most of the game, it was exciting seeing that front four which now suddenly flipped to mean that we actually have quite an exciting attacking line now, I've got hopeful instrum as well, I think that once he clicks and wants to get a bit more confidence the finishing will then come as well, we've seen it in his time at Frankfurt, he was some really clever finishes at the time there so I've got hope for him and Dij at the minute has been unbelievable that he is, it's so great to see how well that he's doing because it's about time we had a player who fans can just get excited to go and see, it's the kind of player that you drive down to Goodison on a Saturday morning and think oh get to see and die today, it's just a great thing to have and that attack is more promising now, they should have won the game, they absolutely should have and the way that we nearly lost it was a concern but the fact we've got that point, we had to put it behind us and the point will look a whole lot better if we go and beat Crystal Palace, if we don't beat Crystal Palace that point looks awful but if we win and it's four points in a week you can then go right okay that is okay and we move on, definitely I think to be honest I think that the point that Lester there felt very similar to the point that Sheffield United last season and obviously a team that we should on paper be absolutely destroying and unfortunately I don't want to be disrespectful to Lester but you know you look at the team that started for Rosen, the team that started for Leicester, we should be beating them on paper, there's no doubt in my mind about that so it did feel very similar to the Sheffield United game last season away from home at Bramwell Lane, that being said obviously it gives us something to build on, it is a point away from home and obviously as I said before it's our first point of the season, if we go to Gooderson on Saturday and beat Crystal Palace, as you said it's four points in a week, it's something to build on, it's something to be positive about and we move on but I don't think this point papers over the cracks for Sean Deish unfortunately I'm still a little bit, I still have a negative feeling towards him because obviously we've been so poor at the start of the season, we've not got a point, we've not got a win in the league and I think that's the large majority of that has to fall on Deish for me, but yeah to touch on your other point about Ilieman and Jai as well, so positive and I'm so happy with him, the fact he's come in and you know been so positive so early in his Everton reign, I think that's really really positive to see him, I'm really happy about that, as you said you get excited about him every time he gets on the ball, you know just the way he puts his foot on the ball and looks up and you know he's very quick with his feet, I think he's got all the characteristics of a player that I'm going to get behind for a number of seasons, going to absolutely love him, hopefully with the freaking group coming in now if he does have a good season we won't have to look to sell him to try and balance the box, hopefully he can stay for a few more seasons but the early signs of him in an Everton shirt are really really good and as you said you just look forward to going to Everton and going to good us in every week and going to watch him don't you? It reminds me of like Kevin Morales, Steven P and all them players, you just get excited about seeing even Jared Delafay to some extent them kind of exciting players and he's just his touch is fantastic, his dribbling's good and that was the problem we took off the players who can keep the ball up at the top of the pitch for us, we brought on players who give the ball away when they get it at the top of the pitch and it's not disrespect to Harrison because I think he should probably be playing on the left really but he came on and he didn't have a good game at all and I just don't think the subs were right in general to be fair, I thought Decore had a really good game in deeper and then brought a rebound on and moved Decore forward again so that was a bit peculiar but we now go to good us in on Saturday against Crystal Palace who haven't started well really overall and this time well coming to the end of last season they were on fire weren't they and it just shows people's early season predictions don't always come out right and I think they are very beatable and if we really do go on the front foot and attack them play like we did against Bournemouth bar the last three minutes then we could go and beat them and that would be huge just get that first win we've had the fantastic news in the week I wouldn't be surprised if we go and beat Crystal Palace at the weekend and go on a bit of a run now because that news it just can be transformational we saw it in Newcastle I know they also had a load of investment to come with it they had a January transfer window but it can just really flip the switch with the fans in the general feeling so I think we can go and beat palace no definitely it can kickstart a season corner and you look at Crystal Palace they will probably look at this game as an opportunity to to take the game to Everton and you know get their first major win of the season so I think it is going to be a very interesting game in terms of both teams will be desperate to win get their seasons kickstart and you know you do worry for the other team that does get beat you know where where will the points come from and but yeah as you said with Crystal Palace they were tipped for your at weren't they they were a team that were were you know looking up the league instead of looking over their shoulders and it seems that they've since they've lost Michael Elise say it you know a fantastic player he's absolutely tearing it up at Bayern Munich isn't he but you know a player like that to lose him you know it maybe has glasner you know struggled to replace him sufficiently Mattetta's not really firing as he was towards the back end of last season I know he has got a couple goals under his name this season but you know he's not really firing as he as he was in a polish at last season towards the back end of the year so I think it will be an opportunity for both teams to get their first meaningful victory of the season and and get their first you know bit of momentum under their bell and and trying to push forward and use it as a springboard but as you said with the players we've got this exciting front four that we've got you know it does seem now that we do have the ability to score goals and you know you look at Lindstrom and die Mcnail, Calvert Lewin they're all players that I'll be looking at on Saturday hoping that we can score I do really hope he doesn't start Jack Harrison again and you know uses Lindstrom after he did have a positive performance I know he didn't score and he missed a few quite quality chances but that being said I do think he created quite a lot and he was you know very instrumental in us getting that point so as I said before it's going to be an opportunity for both teams it's going to be a cagey affair I think I don't think it's going to be easy forever but as you said if we take the games and and you know look to turn the corner and take the game to Palace I don't see why we can't win yeah I think they've got some talented players haven't they Eddie and Katia he's had a quite a good start there he's a player I always quite rated at Arsenal and I think he just needed a club to go to where he becomes an important player and he obviously is Heberichie as they always seem to have quite a good game against us no silly penalties please don't get either silly penalty to him and then we've got a big boost we've got Jarrod Branfway and Nathan Patterson potentially ready to play they've been in full training this week and Vitaly Michalenko of course as well and Idrisa going a gay is now back from his um unfortunate bereavement of his dad which is terrible news and I hope that he can come back and get back to enjoying his football games he's been for a really difficult time but it's good to have all these players back and that combined with the takeover news I think we're going to go and win so if I was to go for a prediction for this game I'm going to go with a lovely free one Everton victory and hopefully the start of improvement in the league season interesting very interesting I'm probably going to go a little bit more reserved and I think we will draw one all as we did last year against Crystal Palace at goodison obviously I'm a donut on the head that we won't have him scoring from corners this year obviously with him now we've asked him for the shirt but that being said I do think we will get a point and will I be happy with that probably not what does that mean for you what do you think a point where does that leave the manager in the situation I think it especially with the news this week with the freaking group coming in I think it puts his job even in an even more precarious situation it will all depend on the complexion of the game you know if we're massively on top and we get pegged back by a late Crystal Palace equalizer and we've not killed the game but the complexion of the game is that we've massively deserved it I think I can probably cut them a little bit of slack but you know the way we played against Leicester we didn't kill the game and we sat back so if we do something similar to that if we do go one and look for example you know I'll be a little bit more angry and a little bit more upset with Sean Deish so I do think it massively depends on the context of the game and that being said I do think we will draw but I think that's probably just my little bit of a negative head on still from the the start of the season that we've had and maybe not able to properly pin down a prediction that we are going to win well that'd be five would that be five games in a row that we've took the lead and not won I think we've got the Bournemouth game where to you know Villa game we went to you know up Southampton we took the lead and didn't win Leicester we took the lead and didn't win so that cannot happen five times in a row I think that would be a sackable offence on its own definitely definitely but it's going to be interesting hopefully we can you know be more accurate to your prediction than my prediction and get the three points and go into it and use it as a springboard for our season but fingers crossed up next after the break we're going to take a short break but up next we're going to talk about our forgotten toffees our usual segment we'll speech in a minute. Welcome back to the blue corner as promised before the break we're bringing back our usual segment of forgotten toffees this is the part of the show where we talk about an Everton player from the past maybe the recent past or maybe the more distant past and that we can look back and have fond memories on with it being the last year at good or soon we can we can look back and on their time at Everton and go through what they offered to the club. Ellis why don't we start with your forgotten toffee who is it this week and I thought we've had some great ones so far and they've had quite a lot of thought into them as well so this one's got thought in it as well and just watching Illiman and Dai seeing that maverick of a player who just picks it up and does whatever he wants excites everyone it's just such a unique player that if anybody who doesn't normally watch football watches him they'd be like oh he's good isn't he that is exactly who he is and I had to pick one who was similar to him but I'm hoping and Dai is a better Everton career than this ladad I've gone with Royston Drenfer oh wow that's an interesting one obviously young son alone didn't he for the season from Real Madrid under David boys but that is a very interesting one because he was quite excited wasn't he he was a player that you know me at the time I think I was only what seven or eight years old but you would get excited about him every time he touched the ball wouldn't you remember a goal at QPR away which he scored which was you know unreal that's the one that stands out for me I was so I think I was listening to the audio commentary with my grandad and then we watched it back on match of the day and it's a fantastic goal and he was one of them he's just such a direct runner so quick not a massive team player but an exciting one and we know we had some controversial run ins as well God knows what went on with it we won't go into them yeah we won't talk about the night before the you know the semifinal against Liverpool at then but let's not talk about that we won't go into them but as you said yeah he wasn't what he wasn't the most dependable of players was he certainly not but he's a fun one not nice but it brings me on to mine who is probably the other end of the spectrum in terms of dependability and for Everton and with it being the 10 year anniversary since a certain goal at Anfield at the Cop End this weekend I thought this would be my forgotten toffee and some will call it a bolt from the Everton blue but it's Phil Jagielka after his fantastic goal at the Cop End was 10 years ago this weekend so yeah that's my forgotten toffee a player that obviously was so dependable our club captain for many years a player that you know I loved in an Everton shirt maybe didn't leave on the best of terms obviously not offered that new contract and he has spoke about that in podcasts and various interviews since he left Everton and bought you know a player that was so dependable in his time at the club and a great captain and just a great example on and off the pitch and yeah talking about that goal as well that bolt from the Everton blue that fantastic goal at the Cop End you can't get better than that a late derby goal in equaliser at the Cop End you know what gets better than that that'll be played for years decades on M were that what an incredible goal and a great defender who wasn't appreciated enough by the rest of the league I don't think he arguably should have played a bit more for England he was in at a time where there was such fantastic England defenders that he struggled to get in but Jagielka was so dependable for us like you said him and Sylvan Distan, him and Johnny Heitinger whoever you put Jag's with you could trust him and he had some fantastic moments he had that goal in the derby can also remember the semi-final into Man United in 2009 scored the penalty didn't he and what a great guy and an adopted Everton you know I imagine still I think he still looks at the club and really loves the club although he might have not had the best ending I think he still resonates with the fans yeah I think he probably has fond memories of the club obviously being the club captain as I said before and just being as you said so connected to the fans and will resonate very hard with Everton fans I do think he is just such a great serving and was such a great player for Everton yeah make sure you tell us what you think of Phil Jagielka as well because we love him I'm sure you do as well if you want to come up with the stories of Royston Drenford if there's any that we haven't heard yet tweet us at blue corner EFC we want to hear about them and of course we want to re-score predictions tell us what you think Everton vs Crystal Palace is going to end is this finally the point where we have a bit of a turn in the season things start to get better Dutch teams are renowned for it improving later on in the year maybe they will who knows let us know drop as a follow on Twitter and now you can comment on Spotify as well so leave a comment on Spotify let us know what you think but we hope you've very much enjoyed this episode of the blue corner that's it for now