Welcome back to Goodison for the rebuild – We will play through the Summer of 2027 up until opening day.
Firstly all the end of season gumph.
Of the Current players we have Dodo and Prescott in the 1st XI, Rogerio, Maresic, Aribo & Chong on the bench.
Building for the Future with Matt Harris!
Everton had a horrendous first 5 games but were in a decent spot coming up to half-way through the season, but their drop in form saw me take over with them in 13th. We did very well to get back to 9th. Goodison is 95% full on average, may need an upgrade soon.
The Board are still ahppy with a top-half finish next season. Fine. Dynamics are Good/Very Good/Very Good, and the End of Season Team Meeting sees the team happy with going for a top-half finish in 27/28.
We get a £2.6m tax bill.
Will need to get back into Europe in 28/29 – hopefully UCL!!! 279k shirts sold which is really good.
Wage Budget – £2.6M/Week (Current £2.4M). Transfer Budget £65M. Will try and break even.
What did I say! – Goodison will be expanding to 50,000 capacity, ready by the end of September!!! £38M, £3.6k per seat… That will be the 8th biggest stadium in the EPL with West Ham and Newcastle, in the Championship promotion playoff both having larger capacities.
Matt Harris set a club record with 13 assists last season. Looking for a lot more next.
Three of the lads get International call-ups for the June internationals (Euro 2028 Quallies)
Takeover Rumours not to be believed apparently… Might try and get some transfer business done relatively early just in case.
Tahith Chong and Yusuf Yazici (Not our Player, on loan from Marseille) also get international callups. And A couple of days later Jamal Lewis is called up to the Northern Ireland squad,
Three more call-ups, plus Gbamin & Aribo are going to the African Nations Cup in Mali.
James Errington came 3rd in the EPL Player of the Month award for May. I came 2nd in manager of the Month.
We are currently £42M in the black – the £38M ground expansion offset by £42M sponsorship.
One of the Kids, Stewart Ferguson (18yo DC) is called up to the Scottish U19’s.
Somehow I’m only a C+ with the board!!!
NEW SIGNING
Rafael Munoz (19yo CWB, Spanish U21 international) comes in from AA Gent in Belgium for £25M on a 5 year deal. Mad physicals for his age and 2-footed, looking forward to seeing him develop. He will be sharing time this coming season with Dodo at right back. He will come in at the start of the transfer window in a week.
We’ve had the first of the internationals – Edon Zhegrova getting a goal in Kosovo’s 4-1 win over Andorra. Tahith Chong played 64 minutes in The Netherlands 3-1 loss to Poland and Yusuf Yazici played 56 minutes in Turkey’s 8-0 win over Lithuania.
More call-ups – Garreth Cross, Obinna Ali and Stephen Garner go to the England U19’s, Matt Harris to the Germany first-team.
Dario Maresic played in Austria’s 4-1 win over Belarus and Olexandr Zinchenko played in The Ukraine’s 1-0 loss to Belgium.
NEW SIGNING
Look at the state of this Fella!! Jefferson Felliphe (18yo MR Wonderkid, Brazilian U20 caps) joins on a 5-year deal for £23M from Sao Paulo. 3* CA, 5* PA, again, mad physicals, he will be sharing the right-wing role with Mathieu Renault.
More internationals – Edon Zhegrova played 90 in Kosovo’s brilliant 0-0 with The Netherlands and Yusuf Yazici also played 90 in Turkey’s 4-0 win over Andorra.
Jamal Lewis played in Northern Ireland’s 1-0 win over Croatia – David Dallas with the goal 🙂
First 2 in – B-‘s…
Dario Maresic played 90 in Austria’s 2-1 win over Belarus and Olex Zinchenko played 64 minutes in the Ukraine’s 2-1 loss to Romania.
The Euro U21’s have started – France drawing 2-2 with Spain, Mathieu Renault played the last 24 minutes.
PLAYER LEAVING
Didn’t know much about this, 15yo left-back Andy McEvoy goes to Spurs for £3.9M going up to £7M. He has potential, but will need a lot of development to get there. 40% of the profit of the next sale as well could be nice.
Some more internationals – Jean-Phillipe Gbamin played in Cote D’Ivoire’s 1-0 win over Venezuela and Joe Aribo played in Nigeria’s 1-1 draw with South Korea.
PLAYER LEAVING
29yo Club Captain Leonardo Forcato goes to China for £25M – On 1st July.
Some Euro U21’s action. Enzo Lacoste played 7 minutes in France’s 3-1 win over Italy, Mathieu renault played 24 minutes. new signing Rafael Munoz played 29 minutes in Spain U21’s 4-1 win over Norway.Stewart Ferguson played 72 minutes of Scotland U19’s 2-2 draw with Russia and a couple of the lads played in England U19’s 2-0 win over Belgium – Garreth Cross and Stephen Garner.
NEW SIGNING
We welcome 19yo Kris de Moor (Belgian U21 international, MC Playmaker) for £25M from AA Gent (again). Another wonderkid, Kris is resolute and is just an all-around beastie of a player. Like the other 2 signings he comes in ranked as the best in the squad in his position!! He will make a formidable midfield even better with Gomes and Lacoste.
I get a B for that one 🙂
the Irish Premier Division up to 34th best league now 🙂 Just below the Slovak first division 🙂
More internationals. New-Boy Kris de Moor played in Belguim U21’s 4-1 win over Ireland, getting a goal. Tahith Chong played in The Netherlands 3-0 win over Iceland and Yusuf Yazici played in Turkey’s 1-0 loss to Ecuador.
PLAYERS LEAVING
Another kid going – striker Gary Moss to Leeds. Not too bothered by this one though, only a 47 Scout report.
33yo Emre Can off to Brighton. Good business, even though we are paying just under £20k/Wk of his wages.
18yo Mark May goes to Fulham for £3.8M. Another youngster with a bit of potential, but will need to work very hard to achieve it (47 Scout report).
And 20yo Midfielder Dean Miley is off to Huddersfield for £93k
26yo Nathan Ferguson goes to West Ham. 2.5* CA on £57k/wk – a good deal (39 Scout Rating!!)
France U21’s beat Norway 5-1 – Both Enzo Lacoste and Mathieu Renault getting sub appearances. Rafa Munoz played 58 minutes in Spain U21’s 0-0 with Italy.
PLAYER LEAVING
Alex Richardson (23yo STC) goes to AFC Wimbledon for £160k. 40 Scout rating.
James Errington played the full 90 as England U21’s beat Poland 4-0. New-boy Kris de Moor played in Belgium’s 1-0 loss to Russia.
Marco Kana (24yo DM & Belgian International) goes to Zenit for £14.25M. 49 scout rating and doesn’t fit out formation going forward.
Jean Gbamin had a shocker for Cote D’Ivoire versus Angola – 5.9 and a sending off.
Joe Aribo played 90 in Nigeria’s 3-1 win over Guinea-Bissau in the African Nations.
James Errington had some sub time in England U21’s 2-1 win over Portugal. Lacoste and renault both had time in France U21’s 2-2 with Belgium. Rafa Munoz had 17 minutes in Spain U21’s 2-0 win over Russia.
More consortium takeover rumours… glad I’ve got a good few bits done already.
PLAYER JOINING
19yo Romanian Centre-back Tiberiu Hagi joins for £1M from Dunarea Calarasi. 82 Scout Rated, 4.5* PA, very promising indeed for very little outlay.
Really solid, good attributes in the right areas.
And a B for that signing.
Enzo Lacoste and Mathieu Renault had more sub time for France U21’s in their 2-1 loss to Spain in the 1st Euro U21 Semi Final – Rafa Munoz started for Spain.
James Errington played in England U21’s 1-0 loss to Germany in the 2nd of the Euro U21 Semi Final.
Fixtures released – We start at home to West Brom, my first Merseyside Derby is in mid-September 🙂 We get £95.1M for TV Rights for the coming season. The main issue why English teams are a bit OP in FM. I notice we get that in dribs and drabs though, so it doesn’t help at the moment.
Joe Aribo played in Nigeria’s 1-0 win over DR Congo, getting an assist.
Matt Harris’ 7.51 average from 43 appearances is a new Everton record.
Jean Gbamin played in Cote D’Ivoire’s 3-0 win over Burkina Faso.
(Some of) the players are now back in training at the start of pre-season.
Kris De Moor scored in Belgium U21’s 3-1 win over Denmark and Rafa Munoz played in the U21 Final for Spain, losing 1-0 to Germany.
We are in Hong Kong for a 10-day Training Camp – Just arranged a couple of friendlies.
Joe Aribo played in Nigeria’s 1-0 loss to The Gambia.
PLAYER LEAVING
20yo ML Sean Fox is moving to Rotherham – He will be out of contract at the end of the game day so is valued at £170 🙂
A few other players released.
C+ with the board – they don’t like that we’ve spent money to get the wonderkids in the door.
PLAYER SIGNING
20yo Belgian U21 GK Matteo Rossi joins from St. Truidense for £21M. Already rated higher than Rogerio Matteo has 5* Potential – Another massive building block in for the future.
PLAYER LEAVING
31yo Jean Gbamin off to Valencia. 40 Scout Rated.
30yo Lucas Tousart off to St. Petersburg. 49 Scout Rated.
So we now have £43M in the bank, a Transfer Budget of £66M but are £13k/Week over wage budget. Need to get rid of a few more of the oldies.
And we reach our first friendly – The John Stones Testimonial versus newly-crowned Champions of Europe Man City.
3rd July – Friendly – Man City 2 (Sterling 36, Rodrigo 53) Everton 3 (Nketiah 15, 51, Gomes 67) Att 55,097 (2,754 Away)
Since leaving Everton in 2016 John Stones has been ever-present for man City IRL and in-game, until last season when he only played 8 times (He’s 33 in game). Just expecting a run-out this evening. But we ended up running out as winners against a strong side containing De Bruyne and the like. Very impressive, Nketiah was on fire.
Expecting 27,400 Season tickets to be sold this season, not bad.
Our star man – 5* CA.
Joe Aribo played in Nigeria’s 3-0 win over Ghana in the African Cup of Nations 2nd Round.
We are now on our training camp in Hong Kong, and we have a friendly versus Happy Valley.
7th July 2027 – Friendly – Happy Valley 0 Everton 10 (De Moor 2, Lacoste 17, Felliphe 27, Zhegrova 33, Terrier 39, Nketiah 46, Renault 50, Harris 53, Errington 67, Gomes 69) Att 3,200 (160 Away)
As expected a big win, but the extraordinary thing was it was 10 different scorers 🙂
A week now before the 2nd friendly of the Tour (Kitchee) so time to get some good training done and go and see the sights 🙂
Joe Aribo played in Nigeria’s 1-0 African Nations Quarter Final win versus hosts Mali.
Our U18’s lost 2-0 to Reading in their first friendly.
James Errington also showing improvements – not far behind Matt Harris.
Our U23’s draw 1-1 with Dartford in their first friendly – Goal from a non-player.
The Euro U19’s has now started – Obinna Ali & Garreth Cross played in England’s 4-0 loss to Spain.
Joe Aribo played in Nigeria’s 0-0 with Cote D’Ivoire and subsequent penalty loss in the African Nations Semi Final.
14th July 2027 – Friendly – Kitchee 0 Everton 16 (Prescott 3, 24, 32, De Moor 35, Errington 45+3, 66, Nketiah 47, 78, Zhegrova 50, 52, Lacoste 56, de Jong 58, Terrier 71, 73, Renault 75, 89) Att 6,374 (1,519 Away)
Our 2nd friendly in Hong Kong. A nice morale booster 🙂
PLAYER LEAVING
Tahith Chong goes to Lyon. that’s £100k wages back. and a bit of spending money. Transfer Budget now £97M, and we have £110k wages below budget.
Gavin Coyle and Garreth Cross played in England U19’s 1-0 loss to France.
We are back in the UK after our training Camp – sneaking in a home friendly as I’ve been inundated by Friendly offers from far and wide – this may be our only home friendly.
17th July 2027 – Friendly – Everton 4 (Dodo 23, Zhegrova 43, Prescott 50, Davies 66) Chorley 0 Att 16,454 (66 Away)
Chorley are in the Vanarama National in game. A solid win.
NEW SIGNINGS
19yo Mexican U20 International Fernando Trujillo (Left footed BPD/Libero) joins from Chivas for £3M. 76 rated by the scouts, gets a B+ from the fans. He has some brilliant physicals for his age – looking forward to seeing him progress.
21yo England U20 international Mitchell Douglas joins from Sporting Kansas City for £10M. He started his career at Aston Villa before moving to the MLS. A B-, but mainly another Englishman in the squad.
Solid, great passing, teamwork & work rate plus naturally fit – BBM I think.
Garreth Cross got a few minutes in England U19’s 2-1 win over Scotland.
Our U23’s beat Bolton U23’s 61- – goals from 21yo AMC Nathan Smith, a brace from 19yo Shay Walker and a hat-trick from 33yo Yussuf Poulsen.
PLAYER LEAVING (LOAN)
23yo DC Joe Smith-Dalton goes back to Eintracht Frankfurt of the Bundesliga for the season. he’s 47 rated by our scouts, so nice to get his wages covered. He played 26 times for them last season and played 34 for Rangers the season before.
21st July 2027 – Friendly – Southampton 0 Everton 2 (Aribo 84, Nketiah 90) Att 10,105 (1,521 Away)
We travel to St. Mary’s to play newly-relegated Southampton this afternoon. We ground them down and two good goals from Aribo and Nketiah got us over the line. Nketiah will be getting a fair amount of game-time this season.
An interesting piece – We are the best of the rest in matchday income after the big 6. The capacity increase to 50,000 will help narrow that gap to Liverpool.
7th favourites, so just outside the big 6, not far off of Spurs – I want top 6 this season and Europe next.
New-Boy Fernando Trujillo played 90-mins for Mexico U22’s(!) 1-0 loss against Uruguay in the 2027 Pan-American Games.
Our U18’s drew 2-2 with Notts Forest, goals from 17yo AML Sean McCulloch & 16yo MC Jimmy King.
24th July 2027 – Friendly – AS Monaco 0 Everton 2 (Errington 21 De Moor pen 26) Att 17,998 (899 Away)
A decent test today against a Monaco side that finished 2nd in Ligue 1 last season and got to the Europa League Quarters (Knocked out by Ajax). Monaco have a 33yo Eric Dier playing as right-back. A good win, we dominated the first half but had to tighten up in the last 10 as Tiberiu Hagi got sent off for a professional foul. Regardless a really decent win.
Almost 31,000 Season Tickets sold – Solid seeing as we only have a 34,700 capacity until late September.
PLAYER LEAVING (LOAN)
33yo Yussuf Poulsen goes to Trabzonspor for the season – Now £120k/wk under wage budget which is cool.
Our U23’s beat Plymouth 5-0 – Ricky Davies (21yo MC) With all 5 goals!
27th July 2027 – Friendly – AZ Alkmaar 2 (Koopmeiners 22, Hajib 90+1) Everton 1 (Errington 48) Att 25,211 (x Away)
We make the trip to the Netherlands to play an AZ side that finished last season 4th in the Eredivisie and had UCL football, finishing bottom of Group G. Somehow we lost a game where we had 41 shots to 4 against. Plus Harris got an upper body injury and De Jong got sent off for a gorgeous sliding tackle. Totally FM’d
Matt Harris – Broken Ribs – 5 to 8 Weeks. Fuck Off.
PLAYERS LEAVING (LOAN)
Martin Terrier goes off to Slavia Prague until the New Year – More money coming back in. £200k wage budget and £80M transfer budget left – And I have my one a beautiful Brazilian wonderkid…
Tiberiu Hagi goes off to Konyaspor to get decent amounts game time in a decent league. The next Gica (Gheorghe) Popescu apparently (Spurs and Braca in the mid 90’s)
Our U23’s lost 2-1 to Watford, 20yo STC Lee Robinson with the goal.
Fernando Trujillo played 90 in Mexico U22’s 3-0 loss to Argentina in the Pan-American Games.
32yo Yerry Mina also off to Slavia Prague until Christmas. Just under £300k/wk wages left now.
31st July 2027 – Friendly – Atlanta (ARG) 0 Everton 5 (Felliphe 1, Prescott 14, De Moor 30, Prescott 36, Nketiah 74) Att 7,182 (1,264 Away)
We make the trip to Argentina to play 2nd Division Club Atletico Atlanta (I fucked up, was positive that was Atalanta) in a testimonial for Nicolas Previtali, 32yo Playmaker. Why did they ask us? Very odd. A decent result seeing that Kris De Moor got sent off for absolutely nothing in the first half.
So that’s that for friendlies, I will run through until the morning of the first league game versus West Brom.
Dundalk – Out in the 2nd Qual Rnd of the UCL on away goals to Qarabag!!! FFS. Europa League 3rd Quallies versus Craiova for them next. Very very disappointing.
As we tick into August I’m a C+ with the board (They haven’t liked the firesale) but Dynamics are Good/Excellent/Very Good, so not been affected too much.
We lose Rogerio (Joint best Keeper with Rossi) for a few weeks with a Groin Strain.
Our U23’s beat South Shields 3-0 – Goals from 20yo DC Harry Boyle and a brace from 21yo Des Higgins.
We’re at Transfer Deadline Day – I have 1 iron in the fire currently, from Czechia (The Brazilian I mentioned above came back with a 58 Scout rating and wasn’t as good in the areas I needed as I thought he was.)
Dundalk see Colm McShane to Motherwell for £230k…
NEW SIGNING
18yo 91-Scout-Rated Wunderkind Vaclav Prochazka (D/AMC) joins from Banik Sotrava for his release fee (£11.75M).
At 6ft 5in with 20 Flair and 16 Tackling I will be training him as a BPD. And he’s a Lefty as well. Glorious.
PLAYERS LEAVING (SALE & LOAN)
16yo Brian Whelan (27 scout rated) MC goes to Leeds for £1.2M
21yo STC Des Higgins goes to Portsmouth in the Championship for the season.
We are 9th in Wages/Week in the EPL – Moneybags Bournemouth the highest outside the Top 6. Burnley bottom ay £1.1M/wk
The Transfer Window is done – we were biggest spenders overall (£120M on 8 players)
We did raise £145M to do what we needed though, really trimming the fat. Very happy with the players we have now in our 25.
Hoping that the young defenders we have brought in kick on. We are a bit reliant on Matt Harris on the left, and will be without him for the first 3 weeks of the season. And maybe in January we will have a look at a 4th striker, but apart from that all good.
A decent pre-season, The AZ game a blip and major FM-ing. 5 games in the next post – Man U will be a good test early doors, anything from that game would be superb and we have a Carabao Cup 2nd round game where some of the Kiddies will get a game. See you soon.