Everton Banter Archive February 27 2014

 

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27 Feb 2014 18:13:25
The club has announced that Alan Myers has resigned as Director of Communications, a role he took less than a year ago in August 2013, for personal reasons and that he informed the club that he sees his future career away from the demands of Goodsion Park.
I thought he was doing a good job in recovering the club from some PR fiascos before his time, so I imagine he'll be missed. I wish him well.

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{Ed025's Note - i second that gabriel..

Whats with him and blackburn, looks like there's more to this than meets the eye

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27 Feb 2014 11:03:00
Jagielka out of the England game with a hamstring problem. Doesn't sound too serious, but he'll miss the West Ham game, too.

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Our players do seem prone to these sort of injuries, but are we any worse (statistically speaking) than other clubs and, if we are, what are the club's medical/physio/performance staff doing to prevent more of these hamstring injuries in the future? Our squad is thin enough already with limited backup in depth or options for rotation - which is the major reason why, in my opinion, our form (and results) have faltered since before Christmas, as we've had to select jaded, tired and (worse) not fully fit players for so many matches. Of course, I don't see the players in training and I know that players will often play despite carrying minor knocks and perform reasonably well, but the number of hamstring injuries our squad has picked up is worrying.

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27 Feb 2014 11:01:48
. what's going on with all these frigging hamstring injuries in the squad this season. never known anything like it. is there a problem with our medical team? Training & warming up methods? Martinez had a long injury list to contend with at Wigan too, . just thought I would mention this.

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Their footballers and they are going to get injured so why blame Martinez, it's not like we never had lots of injuries under moyes was it?

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He's not blaming anyone, just pointing out an usual correlation between Martinez and hamstring injuries. It's most likely nothing, but it is possible it's something about his training that increases the likelihood of them.

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Gee.thanks AB.glad someone understands what I was trying to say. admittedly I'm no expert on the matter, but it could be that types of warming up/stretching exercises being used around the leg & hamstring areas are not helping.only a thought. probably just coincidence.

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27 Feb 2014 08:44:07
Hey Ed, I did one of my huge posts aimed at getting a bit of banter going re next season and my concerns. Any idea why it has not been published?
Cheers

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{Ed002's Note - No idea, but here it is again:

26 Feb 2014 18:12:35

I am a very worried Evertonian. You all know I have supported Moyes in the past. But I also welcomed in Martinez. Right now I am worried about the state of our beloved football club because I can see a crisis on the horizon. Maybe the last few weeks results have added to my fears, but I think I have some real longer term ones and need to get them off my chest:
1. McCarthy is brilliant defensively. However, he is pretty poor going forwards and very rarely plays a killer pass. He NEVER scores a goal. Barry (our other central midfielder) is also brilliant defensively and is better going forwards. He scores on average 1 to 2 goals a season.
2. Lukaku (the scorer of 9 of our goals this season) is on loan and may not be with us next season. This also goes for Barry...apparently Arsenal are sniffing around him.
3. Traore is injured and if we see anything from him I will be amazed. Certainly no goals next season.
4. Kone was signed as a center forward (although scores precious few) and is injured probably for the rest of the season. Even when he comes back at
30+ years will lose some pace and be next to worthless. Probably few goals next season.
5. Alcaraz was signed (ok on a free) but seems to have little pace from what I have seen. He also seems to be continually injured. From him....no goals.
6. Gibson looked great when fit, but also seems to be out through one injury after another. Goals?
7. McGeady has never been prolific, but from what I have seen, he is one of these players who goes past a defender with ease....only to cock up the next pass or cross. Few goals?
8. Osman and Pienaar have both been good servants but are coming to the end of their careers. Osman in particular is probably counting games rather than seasons. Their goal contribution has not been bad, but seems to be drying up.
9. Deloufeou scored a brilliant goal against Arsenal, but every time I have watched him he just runs into players. I have seen no other goals nor assists from him that I remember.
10. Distin is no spring chicken. How long can he continue?
11. Oviedo? Was just looking good and bang. Who knows how he will be poor lad?
I know some of you will slag me off for this, but that is 7 or 8 or even more players that are likely to be gone at the end of the season or at the best possibly the season after.
This is too much change. Look at all the clubs who have made such significant changes in one go. Sunderland, Fulham, Villa, Norwich, Crystal Palace, Cardiff, Stoke and Hull. They are 9 of the bottom 10 in the Premiership right now. Does anyone see a trend like me here? Wholesale changes of players and a drying up of goals.
I know RM has used the loan system reasonably well, but I am seriously concerned that we are entering a stage where we will need at least 5 or 6 signings and right now we seem to be signing crocks or players who do not contribute with goals. Our defensive record is as good as can be expected. We do not concede too many. However, we have only scored 37 league goals all season. Lukaku has scored 9 of these. Coleman, Naismith and Mirallas have scored 6 each. That means 10 all season from the rest of the squad. Think about what happens should Coleman be sold and Lukaku goes back. We will really be in the pile of p** then. You will all probably tell me that RM is doing a brilliant job and I am being too Moyesish. However, I really hope RM sorts it and we win everything.....but the future looks far from bright to me.
Degsypulford

I have to agree degs and with our current state of funds we ain't going to be able to replace them not for a couple of seasons at least. I'm not a doom monger but I really think the old chestnut "investment" is going to bite us in the ass sooner rather than later. Hopefully not. Imwt

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The biggest knee jerk ever that has to be.

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27 Feb 2014 16:00:06
who is gone? vellios and gueye, who else will be gone at the end of the season, kone, alcaraz, mcgeady? who are these 8 players who will be gone at the end of the season, mccarthy is not poor going forward, his range of passing is very good, he can go forward, goal against southampton for lukaku?, he just has to sit back and defend because of players like barkley and osman constantly giving it away, lukaku can go back, what has he honestly done besides mope around?, as if barry is off to arsenal, are they selling gnabry, wilshere, arteta, cazorla, ramsey, rosicky, oxlade chamberlain or flamini, besides those couple of names yep they are in desperate need of another midfielder, oh add ozil in too, what you on about no goals next season, did you think traore was on trial? he is on loan, course he won't score goals here, because he is on loan!, kone can have a chance, di natale is one of the fastest players I've seen at international level, he is 35! oh and distin, carlos puyol and jan vertonhen have never been blessed with pace, are they not worth it?, he has played four games, where you expecting a four goal return? HA, for free a ball playing centre back who can also defend, for free!, gibson is injured and has been all season are you surprised he hasn't scored? he can't half hit them, give him a chance, mcgeady, meh, osman is a pile of s*te who can retire tomorrow if he wants, pienaar, meh, deulofeu, again has been injured and is 19, where you expecting 25 goals a season? distin is still going, there are other centre backs out there you know? we can buy them, there is such thing as you know, a transfer?, do you expect each player to score double figures every season? no football doesn't work like that, xavi isn't prolific, would you not sign him if you had the chance? we also have next season or did you forget that, we have the summer, if we don't do too well this season then boo hoo its not as though we have to win everything or the club goes into administration?, coleman will not be sold and again have you not heard of transfers? we can bring in players in the summer?, its not like we cannot and we are counting down the days until each of them retires and then our lives are over, why? because that would be completely pathetic, go and support united then, its not the end of the world if our players do not all score hundreds of goals while they are here, we also have one of the best if not the best youth setups in the country who can come through, stop looking at the world through your gollum tinted glasses and look what's in front of you, the future is a lot brighter now then it was when he was in charge

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I think you're perhaps being a bit overdramatic, but I can't outright disagree with any of your points. We have an old squad and simply HAD to reinforce it and prepare for next season in January, and we did nothing. We won't have a striker next season, and many players will be really scraping the barrel in terms of how much they have left. Martinez has done an excellent job so far, but if we suffer next season, he or Kenwright have to take the blame for January.

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{Ed025's Note - dot forget AB that there are more people on the board than bill mate, maybe these freeloaders should be first for the chop..also bobby will be told what his budget will be, and will select his targets accordingly, so i dont know why he would be in the firing line..

Inhale.

Let's deal with this one systematically.

1) Well we are agreed both are good defensively. In terms of passing what games have you been watching? Sure neither is Xavi but you see both start moves with pinpoint forward passes on a regular basis. As for the goals, I've mentioned this to you before you expect our holding midfielders to be banging goals in left right and centre? So by your rationale our holding midfielder needs to have the defence of Makalele, the passing of Xavi and the goals of Lampard? Doesn't exist mate.

2) We are both agreed Lukaku is on loan. As for his 9 goals, I actually think for our top striker this is p*** poor. I can't wait for him to go back. He can't head a ball if he is challenged and has to jump, he has an ego and turns up when he wants. He is the most overhyped player I have ever known play for Everton. People talk like he is some world beater. 9 goals? Really? Kevin Nolan does that every season. As for G Baz, expect him in a blue shirt if we even want him next season. Maybe Martinez has a target in mind. You don't know.

3) Agreed, I can't see any goals from him next season either. Basically because he is on loan and will be going back to his parent club next year. He was an afterthought. A knee jerk reaction to the stupidly timed sale of Jelavic.

4) Agreed he has been injured. But a loss of pace? A few goals? That's a bit crystal ball like. I'll judge him when he hasn't had his knee destroyed. Fingers crossed he can get back because he showed at Wigan he has ability.

5) Agreed we signed him for free. That in itself should be enough to bite your lip with regards to writing him off. He is cover and he knows the Martinez way of playing. My guess is he is also a good egg around the training ground. As for pace, he doesn't need it. He relies on reading the game. With the ball at his feet he is the most confident centre back we have. He relies on a partner to cover him. As for goals. Oh gosh we are judging our centre backs on goals? Youl be slating Howard for not popping up with another 80 yarder this season next.

6) Gibbo got a nightmare injury. Since when do we cast our players aside as soon as they get a bad injury? We have badly missed him IMO. We have had GBaz and JMac playing all season with no rest at all. We needed the additional player in there to ease the load. Him being back next season will be like a new player. As for goals, again, really? From a defensive mid? I bet given a season he pops up with at least a couple due to his natural instinct to strike it

7) From what you have seen? And what is that exactly? because he's played precious little. He also hadn't played properly for 6 months. Again, give him time. We don't know what he can do yet. He cost us buttons. Martinez has a history of getting the best out of his wingers. Let's wait until he is at least a few more months into his 4 year deal before writing him off.

8) Agreed. Both past sell by. Both need to be replaced if we want to progress. It's simple really. They are effective mid table players. But they won't unlock a champs league quality defence.

9) Again, What? He had his hamstring torn the game after that goal. He hasn't played properly for months? And why slate the kid? We don't even know if he will be here next season. I can't wait to see him playing these next few games. One of the few players we have that gets me off my seat.

10) Distin just signed a new deal. So you know the answer to that question. Minimum 1 more year he will last. He was MOTM against Chelsea and shows no signs of losing that pace. He is a marvel. We also have John Stones waiting in the wings.

11) According to Martinez he has never seen a recovery like Oviedos. I have no doubt he will be back stronger.

7 or 8 players? Firstly, we don't need that many. You know we have an academy right? Have you watched any of these kids? Clearly not. I have, we have some talent in there who will get a chance under Martinez. How I see it a striker and a centre mid is a priority. We do need goals but we have always needed goals. 20 goal a season strikers don't grow on trees. And when you do find one, like Michu or Benteke the fame goes to their head and they demand moves and become useless, or in Michu's case, injured.

And so the future, it's much brighter in my eyes. Defeats away to Liverpool, Spurs and Chelsea shouldn't demand such a damning condemnation of our squad. Since when is it a given we turn up to these teams and win? This is a project. We have an innovative manager. Read about him, learn about him. He is mentioned in numerous books as a pioneer of methods now used abundantly in football. Nothing like the prehistoric, one dimensional person we used to have. We have the most technically gifted squad in our premier league history. We have some top young players coming through who are playing for numerous International under 19 and 21 teams. We have cash to spend because of the biggest TV payout known in the history of football and we might even have European football. Doesn't look too dark to me.

Exhale

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Firstly Mike/Swan, did you actually read my post? If you did I think you missed my points.and abuse along the line of telling me to support Utd etc.You have done this to me before today and I just think you are being stupidly insulting. I can be stupidly insulting too if you want? But I will try and rise above that.
My points revolve around 2 main things. wholesale changes at the end of the season. Oli and Swan. you cannot deny that we are likely to lose:
Lukaku, Traore, Deuloufou, Osman and Pienaar soon. Barry might sign for us. who knows? Distin, Alcaraz and Oviedo must also be counted as doubtfuls. who knows how long they will last? not me.and I accept and hope Oviedo might come back stronger than ever and also the other two may squeeze out another season as well. but to go past 35 is very unusual for a top class player. Period. In my maths, that is at least a possible 8 or 9 players.and that is assuming we hold on to the rest of the squad and Gibbo remains fit and we suffer no further injuries.
Now to my points:
1. 9 of the bottom 10 clubs in the premier league all recently went through a period of changing their squads. It is well understood that changes of this sort of size disrupts the balance of a squad. It takes time for players to gel together. Just look at the bottom half of the table. Really take a look. If you disagree there is nothing more I can say about it.
2. Playing Barry and McCarthy together is great defensively. McCarthy has come in and replaced Felli. As a get the ball on the ground player, McCarthy wins hands down. However, Felli used to score 8 or 9 a season for us. Ok I accept that was sometimes when he was pushed further forward. but he did contribute towards goals. Look at Barry's and Mccarthy's goal tallies in recent years. Both are abysmal. These are our two central midfielders. I expect central midfielders to contribute with goals. or at least one of the central pair. McCarthy scored 7 in 120 for Wigan and 0 in 22 for us. Barry scored 6 in 132 for Man City and 3 in 21 for us. Ever wondered why Man City wanted rid? Why they are suddenly scoring bagfulls of goals? Because all of their players are scoring. They were a top 3 side and won the league and he only scored 6 in 5 seasons. Like I say. great defensively but very poor re goalscoring. Re Mike's point about McCarthy being great going forwards.how many goals? how many attempts? I will tell you. 0 goals, 4 shots on target, 5 shots off target. Not exactly prolific.
Then my final point is the players RM has brought in. none of them are going to get more than 5 a season. Excepting Lukaku. even if you don't like him. All this adds up to me to a situation where we play lovely football knocking it all over the pitch but cannot score goals. Hey, guess what. that is exactly what is happening now.
Anyway, you guys may think it is all a bed of roses. I think RM might be able to make wholesale changes and bring in players who keep us in the top 7 as we are used to. Some of them scoring 7 or 8 goals a season However, I am concerned that he will have to replace a large number of the first team squad, get them to gel and at the same time find some goalscoring players amongst the ones he brings in. That sounds a real tough ask for me. Please feel free to respond with genuine footballing banter. if you want to insult me with Utd and Moyes quotes, go and LFC yourselves.
Degsypulford

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27 Feb 2014 22:24:00
I enjoyed that Oli J, great post mate

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{Ed025's Note - it was not as depressing as yours degsy mate, you seem to be turning into the new mike...i deleted a long post of yours yesterday by the way degs, you were not signed in, and it was so negative that i could not believe an evertonian had written it!...i thought someone was using your name which was at the bottom, signing in protects you from having people use your name to post drivel..

27 Feb 2014 22:33:45
i thought you meant we are losing 8 of our OWN players not our loan players, as martinez said, when a loan goes back, someone just as good will ALWAYS come in, the comparison to man city is pointless, yaya toure, built for dominating games and scoring goals, is jagielka? is howard? I think not, next season, should kone be used, he will score more than five, he scored 13 for wigan playing right wing, he is also right footed so its not like he has the joy of cutting in like arjen robben, I guarantee you if we moved mccarrhy behind the striker he would do well, he has more assists than barkley and is a better passer, but, thankfully, martinez wants to keep him alongside barry to learn, I never said he is great going forward I said he isn't poor, don't put words in my mouth, let's also not forget chelsea got rid of mata, essien, de bruyne, bertrand, moses, lukaku, malouda and periera, while bringing in schurrle, willian, matic, etoo, atsu, schwarzer and van ginkel, that's 7 or 8 changes, are they in the bottom 10? nope, martinez has the option of loans in thensummer and buying players plus are youth players, be doesn't have to make squad disrupting, season ending changes just because our 4 loanees are heading back, with 2 or 3 of them being back next season anyway, how can you say that about bryan, shall we get rid of barkley? he broke his leg too, I think his was worse than bryans? let's not take the risk eh let's end their everton careers, let barkley be picked up for buttons by Manchester United and send oviedo back to costa rica, I mean why give them a chance after one injury?, again, its not the end of the world because you're not happy with every player scoring goals, I refer back to city, how many have zabaleta and clichy scored this season or demichellis or javi garcia? what's that? not many? well whuppy doo then, would you, if you had the choice, swap martinez for moyes? and be honest please degsy, I did not insult you, all you do is slate martinez, praise moyes and moan about how his signings haven't been good enough, have you seen uniteds signings? its not much better over their you know?

Mike-Ox Long

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{Ed025's Note - fine reposte that mike...or anti-negativity as i will call it..

27 Feb 2014 22:40:50
Think you may have the wrong Degsy Ed

Degsybluenose and not degsypulford

I forgive you though Ed

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{Ed025's Note - sorry degsy..my eyesight is not what it was mate..

Mike, you did insult me. you said, "that would be completely pathetic. Go and support united then. Stop looking through your gollum tinted glasses." I take that as an insult. However, I see your second post was a bit more constructive. Look we are all Evertonians and all I am saying is I am worried about the future. Yes perhaps I am being a bit overdramatic and saying, "what if. " But I have been involved in coaching youth teams for some years. I know for fact that too many changes does disrupt teams. I also know from the past that teams containing too many players that do not contribute to goals struggle to score when the actual normal goalscorers go through a bad patch. I can see you know players around the leagues inside out. That does not mean 11 great players can blend and be better than 11 average players. It s all about balance and teamwork. I have enjoyed RM's 1st season and will be first to say he has exceeded my expectations. But I stick with my concerns. Only time will tell, but I can foresee problems ahead whatever you all say. Perhaps my glass is half empty on this one. It comes with supporting Everton through so many seasons I guess. let's have this discussion again 10 games into next season. We will see if my concerns were valid.
Degsypulford

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Ps when ed25 says I am being negative, I guess I have to take it on the chin. Sorry Blues.

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{Ed025's Note - its just that you were only pointing the negatives out degsy, what about us being in the FA cup quarters, or the fact we have played teams like united chelsea and arsenal off the park, or that we have the best crop of yougsters coming through in the country, or that we seem to be everyones favourite second team because of the aesthetically pleasing football that we play, not to mention our fantastic support home and away?...try to enjoy it degsy mate..

Basically lads, we should just look towards the West Ham game, and hope for a win. moaning about the transfers we've made, and getting at each others throats will solve nothing. All this transfer stuff is for the end of season. We've got the FA cup, and 5th to look forward to. COYB!

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Legend of a comment QB.

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Ed025 I respect your view. I accept the points you make, . We have played some lovely football. We have played "top" teams off the park. and that leads directly to one of the points I am making. We are dreadfully short of goals. How many teams have we played and had 60-70% posession only to draw or lose to them this season? Quite a few. I firmly believe that this is partly due to playing Barry and McCarthy. like playing two holding midfielders who don't score goals. In my negative post above, I state that my main fear now is that we are in the process of changing a number of players. Loanees returning and a couple of ageing players. Our top goalscorer will be gone soon. (as well as possible long term injuries who may or may not recover to be the players they were previously. Kone and Oviedo).
Add all these things up and we are at a critical point of time where players coming in will have to score as many goals (or more if possible) as the ones who will be leaving. Look at RM's signings to date and you do not see a bagfull of goals. let's hope his next 4 or 5 signings will. let's also hope that these new players will be able to gel VERY quickly. because from my experience, teams take time to gel.especially when more than 2 or 3 new players are added to a squad. Like I said. look at 9 out of 10 of the bottom teams. Swan pointed out Man City and Chelsea have changed loads of players. This is true, but both also sacked a few managers and struggled to bed those players in too. Man City should have wiped the floor with Utd last season with the quality of player they had. Chelsea too. The only reason both teams did not click, was the amount of new players they had. They are both the same teams this season and look at them. Never underestimate the effect of change in football. I hope that puts a more positive slant an my concerns. I guess there is nothing we can do about it but trust the board and RM to do the right things. But I did take offence at SWAN saying to go and support UTD and Gollum.
Degsypulford

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01 Mar 2014 12:17:23
Would you rather we benched mccarthy and barry then degsy and get fellaini back or start osman and begin to concede more? I thought not, those players I listed for chelsea were this season, they have sacked no one this season and those players have bedded in very well, schwarzer doing well, etoo alright, schurrle hardly played and willian has been fantastic, so have no idea what you're chatting on about there, if we get relegated we get relegated, sell all our players and have to bring loads in, but wait that's loads of changes again, then we will go down to league one, same thing, down to league 2 now, woops now we are out the football league, thankfully that wouldn't happen, because not only would that be unrealistic, but completely f*cking stupid at the same time, jack wilshere recovered from oviedos injury as did barkley, did arsenal and us give up on them? What? No? Not forgetting the fact oviedos injury was less severe than theirs and he is already on an excercise bike? Well then, oviedo may aswell stay then? Oh wait he won't score 20 plus goals a season, yep, release him from his contract now, what a terrible LEFT BACK, we have struggled to score goals because we have 2 useless strikers who have been injured most of the time, get a proper striker, problem solved, instead of blaming our lack of goals on mccarthy and barry not pulling their weight, despite the fact, scoring goals, is NOT their job, wake up smell the coffee or tea, whichever you prefer, we have NO striker, now go and play on your jungle gym or stop being so negative

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Swan - why the belligerence?
It gets you absolutely nowhere in life!
You're either deliberately missing the main points of Degsy's argument or you don't understand them.
Here's a radical thought - we bring in 2 to 3 players a season with an eye on replacing the more pressing concerns and gently introduce them, whilst also adding quality to our first team, money permitting. Then do the same the following season. It doesn't have to be all in one go does it?

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01 Mar 2014 14:22:06
I was being neither aggressive nor hostile, its called sarcasm, if you lot would stop being so sensative it might get me somewhere in life, you didn't read his posts mate, he said those changes have to be done in one go, consistency? what's that!?

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27 Feb 2014 03:44:18
A question for you eds. Is there any news on the allocation of Everton tickets for the Cup tie at the Emirates? The original and lawful allocation of 9000 was reduced to just over 5000 by Arsenal because they were concerned about standing and possible threat of flares being thrown in the upper tier.
I know that there an appeal has been launched by ESA but haven't heard anymore since last week. Can you give any updates please?

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{Ed025's Note - its still just over 5000 davey, the safety advisory group have made this decision not the FA, im afraid it will not be appealed as the SAG usurp the FA, andy burnham has written to greg dyke to try to get it overturnedbut i dont hold out much hope, i know it sucks but we will out sing them again and hopefully roar the lads on to victory mate..

27 Feb 2014 00:18:51
15 year old Stephen Kinsella signs, despite interest from Utd & RS

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