retired_maxwell05

hey i wouldn't mind joining and being reading or so on lol

retired_kimberlysmith

I'd quite like a gold toilet but it's just not on the cards sunshine

retired_kimberlysmith

O'Neill Ousted As Learner Gets Randy For Bouchard

Just as Martin O'Neill thought it was safe in the hotseat at Aston Villa, he's been thrown out on his ear after an aparent pass at Chairman Randy Learner.

The story broke late last night as news filtered through the networks around Villa Park. Learner had spent last night discussing contract details with O'Neill over a glass of while - which the Irishman is partial to from time to time! After one too many, on conclusion of the meeting O'Neill told the American boss his feelings for him! After Learner tried to leave his desk, O'Neill cornered the 'chief' and tried make a move on him....it left the ever so straight and narrow Learner no choice but to dismiss his aproaching employee!

Before the American could attack, staff rushed into the office to escort Mr O'Neill off the premesis. Lead Security Guard Sam Bouchard was complimented by Chairman Learner for his swift approach on the situation. After a strange evening, and another meeting this afternoon - it turns out the HOS at Villa Park has been appointed the new gaffer!

Learner had this to say;

This somewhat perculiar appointment is not too strange in the Premiership this season however. Some 10 clubs have sacked their generals in hope of a big attack at the top 4 in the league. This gives Bouchard a chance to lock hornes once again with some of the players he played with during his time as a player. Mo Ilyas, Niall Murphy and of course Ben Jackson are all former players within the lower leagues and this season looks set to be one of the freshest we've had in years in the English Premier League.

Roll on the Charity Shield!

retired_kimberlysmith

Lerner ffs

retired_hollieo

With the board expecting we'll be challenging the big clubs after only two seasons the pressure is on at Goodison Park as the club attempt to improve upon David Moyes' excellent work at Everton. Early days have seen some important backroom changes with new scouts added to the club to supplement the two blokes we had responsible for scouting the whole world. Think you'll agree that is quite a workload eh. Also appointed a few new coaches to help out with the old training.

On the transfer front, we made an early impression on the market, beating Arthur O'Shea's West Ham and almost every other club to the signature of 27 year old, Russian defender, Sergey Ignashevich on a free from CSKA Moscow. We then pounced on Lille to wrap up the £6.25m (possibly rising to £8m) signing of Jean II Makoun who hopefully will mean the end of the "legend" that is Lee Carsley's playing days.

With left midfield also not being a strong position at Everton we've taken a punt on Szabolcs Huszti, a 24 year old Hungarian international who was playing for Hannover in the German first division. Scout reports were positive on this player so I'm hoping he'll turn out to be a pretty good gamble.




The biggest decision taken so far on transfer outs was the decision to offload Yakubu back to Lig's Middlesbrough for £5m. This is about half of what David Moyes paid for the player so represents a huge loss for the club. Yakubu also receives the dubious honour of being a record signing that never kicked a ball for the club.


Word is also reaching the press that Scottish hero James McFadden has been offered a contract by Wigan Athletic and could be signing for the Latics in the next few days in a £5m pounds deal.

retired_sdomagoj

With a top half finish being our season's expectation, & a 2 year plan to break into the challenging group for the premiership title; Club Chairman Eggert Magnusson has given the club a hefty £28M transfer budget.

With the long-term expectations in mind, my first priority was to strengthen the squad in all areas so injuries could not hamper our progression towards our goals.



Miguel, a season long loan signing from Atheltico Madrid was our first capture. Being very versatile in attack he will provide excellent backup to the team.

Niklas Barkroth was our next capture, the talented 15 year old was snatched from IFK Goteborg before he could sign a professional contract and will work his way through our youth system to the full team. With only paying £350k in compensation, he will be a real bargain for us in the future.

The majority of our singings were youngsters to create a talented future at Upton Park. Such signings include German Marko Marin from Gladbach - £90k, Argentinian Pablo Piatti from Estudiantes - £1M, Norwegian Per Cijan Skjelbred from Rosenborg for £1.4M. Also 2 collosal players were signed in Matthew Spiranovic from Nurnberg for £1.2M & Giorgos Samaras from Man City for £1.5M. The defender and striker duo both come in at a massive 6"4' and will dominate the air when they break into the setup.

We've had good relations with Newcastle pre-season, capturing 3 of their transfer listed players in bargains; those include Belozoglu Emre (£2.5M), Alan Smith (£2.7M) & Cacapa for a mere £200k.

Mexico has also provided us with some talented players, Jorge Rojas (DL) signing for £1M and full Mexican international Juan Pablo Rodriguez (MC) signing on a steal of £1.5M, Rodriguez also having a very wicked long-shot which the Hammers' faithful will be relishing seeing in action.

Luke Young was another of our captures, landing the right back in a straight-swap deal for John Pantsil to Middlesborough.

Marek Sapara was also signed from Rosenborg for £1.6M, the talented midfielder is ready to show off his abilities at Upton Park, he is our free-kick specialist and we'll be hoping to see him piledrive in a few throughout the season.

Last & certainly not least, our biggest signing so far, Romanian goalkeeper Bogdan Lobont signing from Dinamo Bucharest for £3.3M. He has forced Robert Green onto the bench and will take the #1 jersey this season.

With only Jimmy Walker leaving the club for £210k and no other departures, our transfer budget has decreased, but there has still been promises of 1 of 2 more signings with the remaining budget before the window closes at the end of August. Departures will mostly take place in the January transfer window when we can assess how much depth we'll require to finish the season.



Preparations for our first match were frantic, as we had to travel to Manchester to play Goat's Man City - not a game we were looking forward to! With Nielsen signing Rodrigo Palacio from Boca who we were interested in, we knew what to expect from them up front.

Man City vs. West Ham United (Saturday 11th August 2007)
The City of Manchester Stadium, Manchester

We tried playing defensively in this match, but the first 10 mins were all Man City bar the odd counter attack. Bogdan Lobont was in good form early on, denying Man City on several occasions breaking the deadlock. But he wasn't able to do anything on 10 mins when Fernando Belluschi latched onto a left-wing cross, and he couldn't miss from 3 yards out. 1-0 City

We managed to create a few chances against the run of play, Marek Sapara coming closest forcing Schmeichel into a great save from a 35 yard free-kick. It was on 25 mins where he had another free-kick attempt, he drilled it into the wall from 25 yards before Bellamy came crunching in on Micah Richards with 2 feet. It was an instant red for Bellamy and we were left chasing the game with 10 men.

On 51 mins we were hit again, Palacio broke through our defence and forced Lobont into a great save, however he was unable to get to the rebound and Belluschi got on the end of it to get his second and make it 2-0.

With 20 mins left we tried to make a game of it, and were given a lifeline on 77 mins when Sapara's corner was headed home from point blank range on the far post by captain Matthew Upson.

Sapara then had to come off injured 4 minutes later, being replaced by Freddy Ljunberg, who made an instant impact. Within a minute he was able to create space on the right side and cut inside the box beating a few players in the process, his cross into the 6 yard box was perfect & Ashton only needed to make contact to the ball to send the travelling fans crazy. There were still 7 mins left but we were able to hold strong to limit City to just a point. Labont was our saviour in goal and we'll be thanking him for this result with a string of fine saves

Man City 2-2 West Ham United
Belluschi 10
Bellamy s/o 25
Belluschi 51
Upson 77
Ashton 83



We face Sam's Villa at home next & are looking forward to playing in front of our home fans for the first time this season!

retired_kimberlysmith

Nice post Arthur :thup:

retired_hollieo

Everton steal the points vs Mo's Blackburn Rovers

The opening game of the season pitted two very closely matched sides in Everton and Blackburn against each other at Goodison Park. With one of the ancient regime also in charge at Ewood Park, there was a fair dose of rivalry surrounding this fixture.

As always, Mo didn't disappoint with his Blackburn Rovers putting up a composed defensive performance with some lovely moves on the counter attack to boot. On another day Mo would have walked away with all three points from the game but today, the highly rated Benny McCarthy didn't have his shooting boots on and missed a couple of glorious chances.

Everton played quite well with encouraging debuts from Ignashevich and Makoun in particular. However, our attack couldn't really click in gear and Rovers limited us to a few pops from range, comfortably dealt with by the experienced Friedal.

As the game was petering out into a 0-0 score bore Everton were awarded a penalty with four minutes left on the clock which Arteta duly converted to leave Murphy with a smile on his face and Mo empty handed.

A relatively fortunate win then for my lads and a tough looking assignment vs Steve Diprose's Newcastle at St James Park next up.

retired_espeon

Session on tonight if everyone's about .

retired_hollieo

Who do you all think has had the best of the transfer window so far?

Goat's signing of Palacio looks damn fine.