Emails 32

That bizarre little man Mickey Blue Eyes touched on an interesting point in his Leicester match report, but
didn't develope it. What happens on the last day of the season at Arsenal, with hopefully Everton clear of
relegation, if Arsenal need a win to pip the Pinkiesteins for the title???????? Do Everton roll over to ensure that the title doesn't go to Houllier's House of Horrors???? I mean if Everton need to win then that's obvious......but what if they have nothing to play for except pride.....and doesn't "pride" include spiting the Pinks at all junctures????? I guess some of us (me) have never got over being denied European football in 1986 by wretched Red excesses at Heysel....... Paul Daly, Dublin and New York. (20/04/02)

I miss Walter Smith. Never thought that would happen. Nothing to fear anymore Everton are in good hands. I still believe to fix the mess will take all of moyes talentsThe lack of skill in midfield is number one. Please God send us a young Alan Ball and maybe a young Roy Vernon while your there a goalkeeper who commands his area and will not panic and kill is own players I promise I will be good for the rest of my life. Honest. John Lea. (20/04/02)

I sent an Email in on the 11/01/02 about Alexandersson who was in the fishy goings (Out) on section. There was talk at the time of St. Nic going to Palace, and I emailed you with my comments. I was just recently avin a ood old browse of ya site, n ended up readin the news articles from past months, which is wen I stumbled across mine.

Gotta say tha am quite chuffed to have been proven right, considering the vast improvement of our Swedish Wizard. His form has come to life since Moyes' arrival, and just shows that by playing a more attacking style of football and using him to he strengths (on the wide right) it can pay dividends. He' had a couple of assists and scored two since Moyes came to Goodison. His vision and passing have come up to scratch, and his crosses have caused many defences problems. He has also started to beat defenders and started to scare the full backs he comes up against, (Can this be an Everton player?!?) He's just like the man that Sheffield Wednesday had in 1999. I hope that next year Moyes will 'take out the trash', so to speak (Gemmill, Pembo, Joe Piss-Poor (Pepsi-Max), """Super""" Kev) and bring in young blue blood (Zamora, Koumas, Malcolm Christie (also a possibility) and i heard that David Thompson might be on his way to the "Peoples Club" sayin that theres been some talk about Robbie Keane coming here as well, if Leeds don’t want him, I’m sure Moyes will!

"ITS ENOUGH TO MAKE YER HEART GO WOOOOO O OOO H" Sound site lads, keep up the good work! Toffee Man Dan. (20/04/02)

Greetings Blue Kipper. Have just got me a computer and the first thing I had to do was look and see what the Web had to offer us Blues.I stumbled across your fantastic site and was really impressed. That's my humble toffee girl opinion. Just a quickie question for you...if you had chance to have sex at Goodison on a Saturday would you??? Bounty xx (20/04/02)

I've just read the e-mail from Steve Williams in Melbourne about his first Everton game. Please let him and all the other exiled Evertonians that it is possible to listen to the whole game broadcast live on the internet.
The starting point is the club's official website
http://www.evertonfc.tv/index.asp Then follow the links (fairly simple) and people will find themselves at
http://www.evertonfc.tv/match/fixtures/reports/report.asp?id=97
Will need to have Real Audio. This is downloaded fairly easily. For those who do not want to get in the middle of the nigh the whole commentary can be replayed as if live. It is also posible to hear Post Match Reaction - which longfully is no longer as 'disappointing' as it used to be.
The commentator tends to get a little too over excited so that you can can be having kittens thinking we're being battered when we're not. Nontheless, he's a Blue and his heart is in the right place.
Readers may also wish to know that BBC Five Live can also be heard over the internet. The Premier do not allow them to broadcast a commentary over the internet, although the nAtionwide does, as does the SPL (I think) howevr they do have the results service and post match interviews (It's always a relief when Stuart Hall is not involved becasue you acquire more information about the game)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/ and then click on Radio Five Live to listen.
Talksport are also worth clicking on to. Each of the cup-ties was on. However, they have an irritating habit of finishing with 15 minutes to go which can be really tiresome - except off course in the Middlesborough game when it was something of a blessing. Hope this is of some help. I beleive the games against Southampton and Blackburn are on Foxtel (the Australian equivalent of Sky - but without Andy Gray and countless replays of the ball going out for a thow in or bouncing more than once)
Cheers. James (from Balmain, Sydney). (20/04/02)

I wonder if you could help me...

I have been searching the net for a source of EFC team photos etc from the mid 80s 'golden era' and 60s early 70s 'School of Science' period. Do you know where I could get my hands on these items. I am very impressed with the site and its layout features etc. I am very much an armchair blue nowadays although I have been to several matches this season. The new manager has made an immediate impact (you could even see the improvement when we got beat 6-2 on Good Friday). I don't know who started this 'new Shankly' garbage though. Keep up the good work and I hope you can help me in my quest!
If you can help e-mail Blue Kipper Phil Corns. (20/04/02)

Wind em up and set em off.....

Latest quote from our leader..."You can also choose to make a team more defence minded and rely on
counter attack, but I want a team which will try and win games." Is it just me who thinks that Moyes is begining to enjoy winding-up the pinkies? Also, anyone else see Charlie Nicolas on Sky before the Celtic match? He said that Moyes was known as "Marty Feldman" in the Bhoys squad? Now theres a look-a-like for ya Good work fellas, Steve N.(12/04/02)

Stubbsy que?

Is the real reason why stubbsy got the starman against notlob and the barcodes so that you don't have to give the award to Gazza at the do. After-all he was shit against the skunks (as bad as pistone) and though he wasn't bad against big sam's boys there were plenty better (including the sadly neglected Mr Rhino of the stiff neck) Just a thought! Regards, The Blue Mc. (12/04/02)

Mickey Blue Eyes

Dear Sirs, I note with no little astonishment that in the Chelsea v Everton match report submitted by your correspondent Mr Michael Blue Eyes (incidentally, I have every reason to believe that this is NOT his real name) he refers with some disdain to the sartorial attire of our new manager, Mr David Moyes. Specifically, he somewhat disparaging about Mr Moyes' pinstriped suit. If this charlatan is the same person I think he is, then he is in no position to criticise the venerable and God-like David. To be specific, I draw your corporate attention to the appalling PURPLE COAT which the aforementioned person wore to most of our matches last season: his persistent insistence that said coat was Blue in colour drew a sustained and not very supportive response from all Evertonians unfortunate to be within range of it (and him). I demand that this person be removed from your organ forthwith. yours faithfully, Lip Wollep. (12/04/02)

kilfoyle out

If there are any blues in the walton Labour party - de-select this cunt Kilfoyle now!! Regards,
Blue Mac. (12/04/02)

You Swines!

Everyone in Dubai wants to know why Walter is coming back and if we have still got to pay him a million and that he is crap anyway!! Being on Bluekipper every day, the lads are relying on me for reliable info and now I've told them this!! I'm staying in until the next win and hopefully,they'll have forgotten about it!! I'm going to look bloody stupid, I always fall for these April fool things,remember when Billy Butler said the tide had gone and you could walk to Birkenhead!! Who wanrted to go for a long walk that day??? Lynn. (07/04/02)

Remember Amo & Preki?

Just to let you know, Amo was released by the Colorado Rapids because he was too unfit. They said he would have probably got fit but they didn't have the time. Have you ever seen MLS futty? Don't bother 'cos it's shit. Even me Dad turned it off. Preki (remeember him?) plays for somebody over here. Linny. (07/04/02)

April Fool

I enjoyed your April Fool - silly me not realising the date. My only excuse is I'm in Australia - and it's beginning to effect me. Nonetheless, isn't it just the sort of thing that you would expect Kenwright to do. If he'd had the 'courage' to do what was blindingly obvious would come sooner or later we might be a lot better off. Have you read his comments on Soccernet. He should remember that he is a Chairman before he is a fan and act accordingly. Looking forward to next year's April Fool.. Lets hope we're the only Merseyside team in a Cup Final this year. James and Dominic (Sydney) (07/04/02)

MBE

Good for you, Parisian Blue, everthing you wrote was absolutely true. Who does this MBE think he is, anyway? A few months ago, he was bragging that he jumped to his feet at the Spurs away game and screamed at some of the Blue Boys singing 'Tottenham Yids' to 'shut the fuck up'. And for a few weeks he also jumped on the anti-racist bandwagon, preaching to us all as if he were the Pope. Not only is he a fuckin' hypocrite, he should be ashamed of himself in upsetting a fellow Blue and aplogise to you. But his smug, leftie know-all ilk wouldn't know how. So, Parisian Blue, in future just ignore the pretentious prick with the knowledge that you're smarter than he is and probably living better than he ever will.
Dave Hughes, Melbourne, Oz. (07/04/02)

German Scouts

I'm currently serving in the royal green jackets in germany and have been to see the local footy side play (dortmund) , well at the last game i happened to bump into
Andy Holden and a few other faces from goodison, at the old drinks stand in the corner of the ground. They were all kitted out in Suits with blue ties on and with a german guide. Not too sure which players they were looking at but dortmund have a few decent midfielders and some good strikers.
cheers Matty. (07/04/02)

So what the hell is a securitisation?

We asked Evertonian financial whizz kid(kid? You got to be joking, )Neil Wolstenholme to give us the gen on a 'Securitisation' programme, which we thought was about £2.50 or £3 in the smoke. We were wrong. Neil explains:

Everyone knows that Everton have been crippled by an overdraft that has fluctuated around the £20m mark for quite some time. The problem with an overdraft is that it is an unsecured loan so the bank don't have any legal protection other than charging high interest rates to cover their risk and the right to demand full or partial repayment without warning at any time. If you don't comply the bank can apply to the courts to have the club
declared insolvent.

This is exactly what the Co-Op did every time they got cold feet meaning another player or two was sold to get them off our backs. This is no way to run a business long-term. Overdrafts are great when you have a cyclical cash requirement that means you occasionally go overdrawn (but normally have cash in the bank) but are not a good way of financing a long-term cash requirement.

In order to get stability Everton have opted to arrange a securitised loan. This is a fancy way to describe what is essentially a long-term loan with a fixed repayment schedule (that cannot be unilaterally altered by the bank demanding their money back early) with the bank receiving security against some asset or income stream (effectively legal ownership until the debt is repaid). In Everton's case we have (based on the press reports) borrowed £30m repayable (on a fixed and predictable schedule) over 25 years secured against our season ticket income over this period. If Everton were to refuse to make a repayment the lenders could go to court and the court would force Everton to hand over the money.

I've seen some people describe this as equivalent to debt consolidation when an individual takes out one big loan repayable over a longer period to repay several little ones due for earlier repayment. This does give you a bit of a feel but isn't entirely comparable as a securitisation is very long-term (more like a mortgage in that respect) and relatively cheap (typically considerably lower interest rates than an overdraft or unsecured loan).

So the main advantages for Everton are:
1. more funds available as the amount raised is greater than the existing overdraft
2. leaves the overdraft facility free for temporary one-off uses which is what it is really meant for in the first place
3. provides a stable long-term basis for financial planning as the repayment schedule is fixed in advanced (likely to be c.£2m each year including interest)
4. removes the problem of Co-Op being able to tell the club to sell players at short notice.

The key disadvantages are:
1. legal title to all (or part, depending on the precise terms of the loan) of the season ticket income is signed over to the lenders who can enforce repayments
2. Everton effectively have to repay £1.2m of capital each year (to clear £30m over 25 years) plus interest and this is likely to be up to £1m more per year in total than the current interest only payments on the overdraft

However, a c.£2m annual repayment is approximately 30-40% of Everton's current season ticket revenue so the risk is relatively low from the lender's perspective (helping keep interest rates lower). With David Moyes finally bringing an attacking philosophy back to Everton (which will hopefully maintain or improve season ticket sales) plus the always inevitable, but hopefully not exorbitant, annual price increases this percentage is likely to reduce over time.

The securitisation is not without risk, no debt is ever risk free, but it does represent a sensible and prudent reorganisation of the club's finances. Like any club we will feel the squeeze if the 2003/4 TV deal is
significantly lower than the current one (as you can bet it will be hard to get player wages down) and that would inevitably put some pressure on meeting repayments but it is something the club should now be able to plan for and manage with reduced risk (expect to see a move to offload certain high wage earners and to bring in some younger and cheaper talent in the summer for both good football and financial reasons!!).

If and when Kings Dock comes on stream then potentially EFC will finally be able to re-establish themselves at least on a par financially with the likes of Newcastle and Villa, although it is rather harder to see us ever closing the financial gap on our loveable neighbours and Manchester United given their world-wide attractiveness to millions of assorted teds, losers and nerds. With some of the securitisation money apparently earmarked for upgraded training and youth academy facilities Everton are finally looking to lay the financial and infrastructure foundations upon which we can hope to build (with good management and committed workforce on and off the park) a sustainable future as a competitive and relatively successful Premier League team. Neil Wolstenholme (06/04/02)

Photojournalist taking pictures of Everton fans in Walton.

Dear Evertonians My name is Ismar Uzeirovic and I'm London-based photojournalist. This year with a group of friends I'm organizing a photographic exibition, entitled Footballissimo, to coincide with the World Cup. Footballíssimo aims to seek out the grass roots and rediscover the very heart of football. An inspirational photographic project by a collective of photographers, Footballissimo captures the passion, the elation, the camaraderie, the fans - the universal essence of football over three continents.

With the prospect of Everton moving to a new stadium in King's Dock I wish to produce a reportage on the Goodison Park and Waltonians who grew up playing football in the shade of it. I want to speak and photograph the people to whom football is both a way of life and also part of their personal identity.

I would therefore be very greatefull if you could forward my email and help me establish contact with Everton fans living in Walton. I wish to meet and take pictures of all the different generations of supporters, and also take pictures of pubs, clubs, and streets around the stadium. I would appreciate everyone's help and I promise a picture to all I photograph.

I will be in Walton from 10th to 13th April and I would appreciate if you can contact me and arrange a meeting. You can send me an email at ismaruzeirovic@hotmail.com

or phone me on 0207 351 6804 or 0771 934 8106

Should you wish to find out more about the Footballissimo exibition please visit our website www.footballissimo.com

Many thanks for your help and I hope to see you soon!!! Ismar Uzeirovic. (03/04/02)