Ronnie Whelan

Got to be honest our defence scares the hell out of me. Personally I think Macca and Dom will be huge players for us and give us a new found dynamism in midfield - heard a German football guy talking about the Bundesliga and he said Dom has it in him to be a world class player and is a huge loss for Leipzig. I think we'll get Lavia over the line in the coming days - we just look like absolute knobheads. Yes, a few million is not nothing, but it's evident that Southampton value the kid at a price and aren't budging. Pay up or Fuck off here. I saw him a few times and was impressed. Certainly, if we do get him, we could have an absolutely magnificent midfield in the coming years. Fabinho was a world class player, but for most of last season, he looked like a championship quality player. Hendo was a "captain" and by all accounts a great pro, but he got his kit off at the first sight of Saudi money, so again not sure if he's that big a loss behind the scenes. Millie was a great servant and a great pro - I actually would have liked him kept. Imagine what we'll give Brighton's kids in terms of showing them what professionalism look like as they get their first big contracts. Not really a loss on the playing side though. Keita is Keita and Ox is Ox so nothing more to say. We've lost numbers but look better right now and that's before we (hopefully) sign Lavia. Selling Nat is the wrong decision unless we are bringing someone in. The lad mightn't suit our system but he can defend and actually likes defending which seems to be a rare thing in defenders these days.

Lavia is meant to be a good kid. The fact he hasn't gone on strike to get the move over the line has impressed me. I mean obviously it's the bare minimum you should expect from a professional in any profession, but my expectations of modern players is so low. I think we will sign him. Him, Macca and Dom is a terrific bit of business for one summer. I've a major concern about our defence so hopefully there is a plan to get someone in after Lavia, because if we don't we'll be like Keegan's Newcastle next season.

Scott, Heighway, Smith and Whelan. Could have voted for all of them though. Scott was a funny choice in a way because I'm going on what I've heard and read rather than my own personal opinion. Heighway was one of my favourite players as a kid. Smith was clearly a nasty piece of work. There is casual racism that can be placed in a context of a period of time and then there is nastiness. Smith falls into the latter. However, on a playing aspect, he was a collosal player who played a gigantic role in our success of the 60s and 70s. That's why I voted for him. Whelan was a lovely footballer. I only liked him initially to piss of an older brother who hated him because Ray Kennedy was his idol and he hated Whelan when he broke into the team but he personified that great player we had in abundance back then who often quietly went under the radar of the media. Says it all how good he was that Sheedy who would make an Everton all time 11 and who was outstanding in his own right, wasn't on his level. All of the greats from that era who played with him loved him as did the boot room, so he gets my choice.

It's sad isn't it for lads like your son who is clearly a boss Red. I mean the likes of us have seen a lot and old age may make you get perspective about the importance of other things, but at twenty nearly all my money went on following us. I wouldn't change it for amything. My dad and mam are in their nineties. My dad a huge Evertonian and my mam a huge Red. Football is something they still love watching. I just can't see myself being like that if I'm around at their age. But hey who am I kidding. Football is a drug. I just can't see the younger generations being as arsed.

Hillarious in a dystopian way if he goes to Saudi, then they loan him to Newcastle. Think he'll end up at Real eventually, but those kind of figures are daft. He goes there and it is the beginning of the Saudi league becoming among the best in the world. The Premier League fucked it up letting the Trojan Horse in because this mongoose is going to rip the fuck out of the family of snakes and then come for the crocs as well. Fifa and Uefa will roll over for them and they'll end up in European competition. Shocking state football is in.

I liked Hendo the man and he was a good player and an excellent captain for us. As a player, he is nowhere near the great midfielders we had in the 70s, 80s or noughties. Still, I think he goes down as an important part of our history. I'm sure he's still a decent lad, but I just don't get why he would put money above his legacy on and off the pitch. He could still do a job for most teams in the premier league. He could try to get back to Sunderland. He could try and get to a good European team. He could stay and be a peripheral figure at one of the biggest clubs in the world and have a chance of lifting trophies. Money talks for Kev the electrician or Paul the engineer who may be tempted to work in a place like Saudi Arabia. I've heard old players like Souey say they did the same in the 80s by going to Serie A, but for me that's different as that was the best league in the world back then, even if we were the best team. A mate of mine worked with the club in the 80s and told me that after Heysel, Lawro, Jocky, Whelan, Nicol and Rush were all offered serious money by clubs in Serie A but stayed. That was a theme he told me about throughout the late 80s, with them constantly trying to get those lads and then Jan, McMahon, Barnesy and Houghton. I'm sure it was the same with a lot of the Everton players too. They stayed, with the exception of Rushy and they went up in my estimation for that because even though they were incredibly well paid for the time here, if they had gone to Italy it would have been really life changing for them. Hendo's move is just greed.

Got to be honest, I don't have a favourite player of any rival team because I want them to lose and if they're in any way good I'd rather them get five or six "non-serious" injuries a year, but it's okay to respect and secretly admire certain players. De Bruyne and Gundogan are lads that come to mind immediately. Incredible players. Kroos and Modric, Benzema as well when he was in the Madrid team. Always liked watching Messi for Barcelona and Argentina. Ronaldo is a knobhead but again a great player. I guess it's one of those things that you can put tribalism aside and admire a master craftsman. The first rival team I hated was Revie's Leeds. The Mancs were in decline and soon to be relegated. Everton were still very good but back then, we got on (apart from being a little shit to two of my older brothers who are blues and getting a slap for my troubles on derby days) with them. Never liked the London teams, but never minded Arsenal for some reason. Revie's Leeds were like Pep's City for the modern generation. It just felt at the time, if you wanted to win, you had to finish above them. Great players in abundance too and dirty as fuck. The player that stands out for me is Giles. For me, he's like the De Bruyne of his day. A rolls royce of a player who again was a dirty bastard. I heard Souey say that Giles and Bremner made him realise what being a hardman really was when he was breaking through and played against them. Giles stands out as the first player I hated (respected).

You just wouldn't have faith in any of the associations not being turned by the money. Even the media would be turned. The governments well certainly ours would be easy to buy off.They seem to have a vision of using sport for their broader goals. You would have to worry about Mo being tempted in the next 12-18 months. Certainly, FSG would be tempted to sell imo. This really will feel like the end of the road for me in terms of football. Obviously, I'll still watch our games and big games with other teams at club or international tournaments, but possibly waiting for a Saudi club to take your best player every transfer window or one of their clubs knocking us out of Europe would be football dystopia. As I said when historical clubs like AC can't keep their golden boy who was a huge boyhood fan from going to Newcastle, it's a preview of what is to come. It's been happening a while in fairness. At least, the Geordies are football mad people and they are historically a big club. The Mancs will be possibly bought by the Qataris. We may be next in a few months or years. They get influence in Serie A or La Liga and then they have Europe in their hands because who is going to buy a club off them. Football is linked to politics and people's opinions are changed by success. I have heard Newcastle fans defend Saudi laws on the radio. Laughable and horrific. At least, the ones who say they just want success at any price are honest.

This. Money talks in the dick swinging contest that is professional football. I mean Tonali left his boyhood club for Newcastle. At least, he could say he wanted Champions League football and wanted to play in the Premier League bla bla bla. Yeah right, leaving a great club like AC Milan for Newcastle. Give me a break. Only players that you would think would be guaranteed not to go there would be players worried about not making their national team or players who have a burning desire to win the biggest trophies rather than getting four times their salary. A good proportion would put professional pride of playing for a world famous club like us over going there. I think there is a real threat that this league will be ultimately admitted into European competitions and could become the biggest league in the world in terms of player quality down the line. The FA and the government let the Trojan Horse in, in terms of Saudi ownership of the Geordies and I don't really have much faith in UEFA being much better in terms of making sure the Saudis don't get in to our competitions, especially if a lot of top players go there and they get thrown a huge pot of money. You can bet they get the world cup in 2030 over the South American bid or the joint Spanish/Portuguese one.

Can see a time in the not too distant future where Saudi Arabia has one of the best leagues in the world and their clubs compete in European club competitions. I reckon FSG must be getting a right hard on with Saudi emerging as a market to sell players to over the past few months. They'll make a few quid in the coming years. Hendo seems a really good lad. I'd be shocked if he goes there, but stranger things have happened. Fuck the Saudis trying to get him on the cheap. He's club captain of one of the biggest clubs in the world. Yeah he isn't the very good player he once was and he shouldn't be starting, but he'll be a loss. Being honest, Stevie is one of our greatest players and did so much for the club, but he never struck me as a great man away from the game. Hanging around gangland lads like that Liam Byrne fella is sad to see. Hate dealing with the Saudis, but hopefully it goes some way to funding Lavia and Colwill and then we've had a brilliant summer.

Really good window so far. Two excellent signings. The kind of signings that City would make and that's the level we need to be aiming for. Got to be honest, I'd love a boss centre half next. The Dutch kid at Wolfsburg looks good if we can't get Gvardiol. Then Caicedo, but I'll settle for Thuram or Lavia or whoever the fuck, you beautiful knobhead John.

Think I read at the world cup 13 of the England squad could have played for Ireland. I suppose not too surprising - the best players are generally working class and traditionally the Irish lived in the poorest areas and had big families. Not condoning what Rice did. He shouldn't have taken full caps if he wasn't committed to playing for Ireland. Having said that, Ireland has been mediocre for 20 odd years with pretty much no good players, so it's not like the past when they had really good players. I'm no fan of England, but from a purely logical mindset, he made the right decision. Very good signing for Arsenal, the fucking cunts.

Not saying I disagree with you Stig, but Italy and Argentina would be very close with them. In fact, I reckon nothing between the four. Italy have the edge on defenders and goalkeeper imo, Germany probably brilliant across the board (tbf they all are), Argentina have three of the best players of all time in Diego, Messi and Di Steffano with a quality supporting cast and Brazil have arguably the greatest and a fair chunk of the best ever in their positions. Keep up the great work!!

He's really good and has the potential to become elite. Could be our Gundogan.

Haven't looked at hotels for the dates yet, but if they were crazy expensive staying in somewhere out a little looks the best option. Could be hillarious in a way if we got knocked out in the quarter finals and the Mancs got to the final. All the accommodation taken up by our lot and the Mancs pissed off that Dublin is bobbins, when on the day of the game there's about 20k Scousers in the fanzone cheering on Seville or Porto. I was in Dublin first in the 80s and it was tough as anything but the people were lovely. Like here to be fair. I just remember the people all loved Scousers, because of family connections, the football teams and the Beatles etc, at a time when we were public enemy number 1 in English cities.

Agree with that. I wonder would a lot of people stay outside Dublin. It's a small country. You could have a brilliant few days in Belfast, Galway or Cork and get the train up to Dublin for the game. The west of Ireland is stunning. Would think about taking the car over.

Fair points. Pretty big operation and hard to know how many cities could handle the numbers we will bring to a major European final. Dublin isn't a major city so there will be issues you would imagine in terms of them handling those numbers. Imagine if say the Mancs dropped down to it from the Champions League. It would be a bloodfest. Having said that, in terms of people, Dublin is as close to Liverpool as you're going to get. There will be some atmosphere around the city. I wasn't in Paris, but lads I know told me all about the local scum and what they did to some of our most vulnerable fans. Dublin is a tough city to be fair from what I remember of it, but the people were really welcoming. My wife and I were staying up near Mountjoy Prison the last time I was there about 20 years ago and we ended up in a pub where there was a party for a lad getting out of prison. Just went in for one or two quiet ones but they heard our accents and wouldn't let us buy a pint for the rest of the time we were in there. Mostly Liverpool fans although the mad bastard that got out was a United fan. Basically, their mad lads are like our mad lads, rather than the scum in Saint Denis.

Back to the motherland sounds boss to me coupled with a road trip around the west coast. Fuck it, if we are going to be building for a new era, this competition will give us a real chance of winning an important trophy and at least Dublin has a connection to most of us.

I like Mount. I do think he is a very good player. However, Mount is the kind of signing that consolidates a club being top 4, rather than scares the shite out of City. Players like Mac Callister and Caicedo are the kind of players I see being in sides that go toe to toe with City (if not signed by them) in the coming years. That is the difference. Brighton have more than a few I really like. Again, you could picture lads like Ferguson being in really top and successful sides in the future. Mount is a type of English player that has the stench of quarter final at a world cup/3rd in the league about him. Wins 70 caps and gets a gig on Sky. Give me a street tough kid like Caicedo anyday of the week. If we have Macca signed, that is a brilliant bit of business. Potentially world class player - he's already won the biggest trophy in football and being exposed to gigantic pressure playing for Argentina. He's got character. I like the idea of South Americans here. They're generally good lads who live for the game. You would always worry their ultimate dream is to play for Real, but that's a risk with all players. Can't say I've see the lad at Sporting and some of the other lads mentioned in the European leagues, but very confident that they could be big players here.

Macca looks like a good lad. Obviously a complete knobhead if he doesn't end up here.

Without sounding like one of those jackasses with the "....will save Liverpool millions" articles, I actually think that there is a fair bit to be encouraged about going into next season. Gakpo is a player. He is going to be terrific for us. Jota is a poor man's Fowler yes, but he is very good. A proper pre-season and he will be a big player for us next season. Him and Robbo are pretty much the only snides in our team - we need a few more like that. Diaz is a class act. Can't wait to see him get a run in the team. Mo is Mo. By his standards a mediocre season, but next year in a more fumctioning team, he could hit 30 goals. Nunez is a funny one. I like him in a lot of ways. I just don't think in a league where you need to be getting about 94+ points to win a title, we can afford to carry him. I'd like him to be given a little more time and I hope he can make it here. My concern is that you nearly have to fit the system to suit him, whereas say someone like Gakpo has the game intelligence to adopt. That game intelligence is what we need in our new signings. Macca is a class act. If it's a done deal, it's a great bit of business. Mount isn't world class, but he is a very good player. He works his bollox off and can play. New players with a hunger could really galvanise a squad full of quality - shite season but these are lads that have had 3 incredible seasons out of 5 and I'm reluctant to include 20/21 in there because so much went on there with injuries and we showed serious hunger to get third. Really encouraging to see Virgil say that he is excited for the season. We march on.

AZ should get the book thrown at them. Disgraceful stuff and credit to the big unit for keeping the scum at bay. However, have to laugh at the West Ham fans *like all the other Ingerlund types* who cry when anyone puts it up to them, after they probably spent the previous day wrecking a city square. I don't see too many helping out the Big Unit, but I'm sure there is multiple Danny Dyers telling the world about the big battle they had with facking thousands of tooled up Dutch lads.

Macca would be brilliant here. He's a really good player. Probably the level below world class but I think he has the potential to get there imo. I'd love him here. As others have rightly said, we just need very good players and not necessarily De Bruyne level players to be back on track. One of many at Brighton I'd love here. Caicedo and Ferguson are going to be huge players in the future. I really like watching them - if we don't make top 4 I would love if they made it. Don't get the hate for Mount. He might look like a Tory voting Essex Boy, but he's a very good player who is perfect for our system. He's homegrown too.

That crossed my mind as well. If Arsenal lose, they could understandably finish the season poorly. A young side that did so well but deflated is a recipe for a few defeats. Leeds not winning last night and Leicester still having a bit of hope was good for us as well.

Tonight feels huge. This is our hardest game left imo. We win and I'd be confident we can win all the remaining games. I expect the Blueshite to give Newcastle a very tough game. If Newcastle win, I can't see us catching them. If they lose, their arses could get a bit flappy. I'd still settle for a draw and hopefully down to seven points with some nasty enough fixtures coming up.