'Dithering Dave" Moyes

It always drives me crazy... especially as an Everton Fan. Not only do we have 'dithering Dave' as a manager, who every season seems to wait until the last moment to buy his players, as he watches what we have been told by the media are supposedly prime targets get sold to Manchester United or worse Liverpool, but then half the teams want our star players. So we are torn do we sell Lescott and Cahill? As a supporter it is clear .. hell no! As a business manager it has to be looked at as fifteen million pounds profit per player if we let them go for twenty million a piece. That would give us a tidy profit and loosen up some funds for the players we do want to bring in.
As for Everton I must say Moyes has bought in some talented players from the lower leagues, Spanish cast-offs etc and made a cohesive unit that if we can stay fit will challenge in Europe and for silverware in England again this year. Wish we just had a fairy godmother to wave a wand and buy us the 3-4 players who would make a difference.
So who goes and who stays.. it's always a jigsaw puzzle with a missing piece in frustration levels to me. Stay on top of the action at The Transfer Tavern and watch this space for more ruminations on who goes where as I get my blog bitching going for the new Season. Catch me on Facebook as I pull a Luke Garbutt (actually I correspond regularly on Facebook with several junior members of Everton's 'young lions' and you can too if you check my page out. I want to add a congratulations to Anthony Gerrard, a former youth player at Everton, who has just made the transfer from Walsall to Cardiff to secure a Championship position for this season.
By the way Only 15 days to the first pre-season game for Everton, and then they come to visit America. I had hoped to be able to visit Utah to see the game against the MLS Allstars but looks like I'll have to watch in on the boob-tube after all.

Soccerpro.com 2009 review

My friends at Soccerpro.com contacted me a few weeks back and asked if I would be interested in trying some of the gear out as I did last year and letting my readers know about them and their products here in Bollocks. Of course I was delighted to oblige and swiftly went through their online catalog and chose a couple of items as you will see below.

I should preface my comments by mentioning a couple of things. I was recently diagnosed with a bulging disk in my lower back so I have perhaps not had the opportunity to put these items through an intense training schedule, however I believe I have used them a least as hard as any member of the general public would, outside of actually playing a soccer game in the clothes. The doctor did release me for training activities last week so I hope this is sufficient as to give you a good idea of these particular items. Secondly it has been 95 degrees in Tucson this week so I have had to train indoors more than out, so that should give you a different perspective to consider.

The first item I chose was a short-sleeved T-shirt. You can view it at this link, so as you can see it is manufactured by Nike,is colored navy and is emblazoned with the words "Property of U.S. Soccer Federation, EST. 1913" in red.
I really liked this product for a number of reasons. It has no annoying tag in the back, the Nike emblem is printed on the shirt. It is 100% cotton, but has the wicking quality that many work out shirts do these days, and neck is wide and stretches without losing its shape. I took a four-mile hike up Sabino Canyon over the weekend in 90 degree temperatures and worked up a good sweat (actually since this was my first distance hike since my injury I turned around just a little before the two mile-marker, so in actual fact the shirt did better than I. I was comfortable and relatively dry and cool, the shirt did not soak up sweat like cotton shirts normally do. I also wore it work on Casual-Friday ab d it solicited a couple of comments as to being a good-looking shirt.

The second item is a training suit from the LA Galaxy. I was surprised by how heavy the material was, but impressed with the flash colorful yellow and blue. The jacket is nice enough to wear as a jacket with jeans with a nice t-shirt (or at least would be somewhere other than Arizona); perhaps the temperature might be cold enough for a couple of weeks in February! I don't know if it's ever cold enough in California for this outfit to train in, perhaps more suited to the mid-west or back East. I tried on the pants and have to say if you have nice long muscular legs - like my wife who immediately stole them from me saying they would suit her me then me - (I did nick them back when she left the house) - but if you have calves like grapefruit from years of long distance running as I do, then they clip a little uncomfortably around the lower leg. Their is an option to pull open the zipper to mid-calf, however that looks kind of dorky when running or cycling, however the zipper does allow enough room to take the pants on and off with out removing your training shoes if you are so inclined. Adidas does have the tag in the back but it did not seem to itch or bother me at all. The material is 100% polyester, and it has two zippered side pockets voluminous to lose your car keys in.

The top also is equipped with two zippered side pockets and two inner open pockets. It was in these inner pockets that I sequestered my car keys when I went down to the gym and rode the stationary bike for an hour - long enough to work up a slight sheen of sweat, probably because I was wearing the trainer! Somewhere over Random Hills however in this recumbent seating the keys fell out, so use the zippered pockets or spend an hour or so walking back and forth over the soccer filed mumbling cuss words as you try to find your missing car keys.

I wore the outfit to work today as it was casual Friday and the bright yellow top raised some eyebrows from a couple of the more conservative types (including my boss!) but I loved it. The top all though being long sleeved is fashioned, at least length-wise, like a bowling shirt. The only problem I encountered was that, along with the draw-string that tightens the pants, the length made standing at the urinal a little inconvenient!

As it turns out SoccerPro.com is getting serious about Facebook and Twitter and are
spending a lot more resources trying to get people informed. Check out their
Facebook page here which has various contests on a continual basis.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/SoccerProcom/28805721020

http://www.twitter.com/SoccerPro

Everton and the 2009 FA Cup

It was 5 am when I stirred feverishly in the confines of my king-sized bed. As usual the wife had managed to pull the blankets around just her so I was laying curled up in a ball, feeling the breeze from the fan making the hair on my legs move as he blades swung. Not cold mind you this is Arizona in May and the temperature outside was probably already 75 degrees.
I pulled my self up into a sitting position and hacked up a loogie; sinus problems in a dry heat make one sound like Tony Randall in the Odd Couple every morning. I yawned and stretched. Looking over my shoulder I debated on whether to wake the missus for a little pre-game celebration but decided naw.. let her sleep. She is not a soccer (football for the purists) fan at all.
I got up bent over and fished my blue t-shirt out of the bottom draw. Has the name Ball and 8 on the back in white. Stumbling out to the kitchen I went through the motions of making coffee and then headed back to my office to pull up Facebook and have a natter with my nephew Michael at Uni in Sheffield. He had played on Man U's youth squad at one time and I caught him getting ready to head off down the pub to watch the game on the telly. 2-0 to Chelsea he predicts 2-1 Everton in OT say I.. good luck and he's off.
I went out and switched on the telly so I could here the US commentators drone on about the up coping game, and grabbed a mug off coffee heading back to the computer to read what the Beeb had to say on it's pre-game notes. Everyone seems to agree that Everton is the under-dog and stands no chance; would be out-classed by Chelsea's wonder-men. Typical; no respect. Look who we knocked-off to earn the right to be in this game for the first time in 13 years, Man U, Aston Villa, Liverpool, all teams higher than us in the premier league at the time we faced them. We have a chance I told myself.
7 am and kick off. Thank God I had taken a mug of coffee with me to the sofa instead of getting one in the opening seconds 'cos Saha pops up and scores the fastest goal in FA Cup history. Just like that 28 seconds, he lashes on to Fellani's header and Chelsea are a heavy-weight on the ropes. The noise in Wembley Stadium was so overpowering that I could not hear the commentators clearly for a good five minutes. Othe r than jubilation the only thought I had was it's too early. What a terrible time to score. How the hell are we going to hold them for 90 minutes? If had been the 45 minute I would have been happier.. and then of course 20 minutes later Drogba gets on the end of a cross that Hibbert did not get at fast enough and it was all even.
The resat is history, Lampard pulled out a typical 20 yard screamer and that was all she wrote. My biggest disappointment, other than the actual score line was the way Everton's midfield men disappeared. The must have just wilted in the almost 100 degree heat that London was blessed with that day. Osman and Pienaar were not effective, Hibbert was replaced at the break by Jacobsen, more for his sin of not getting at Malouda faster than anything else, but for the rest of the lads well done. It just wasn't to be but look how far we have come.
Next year we will challenge again, and a top four league spot is open for us to take. Watch Moyes buy us a couple of replacements, get the squad fit and were ready to push Arsenal out of the way next year!

Bollocks' EPL season reviewed club by club

How they did this year: Manchester United. League Champs

Over-rated: Rooney, sorry I’m an Everton supporter and cannot ever say anything nice here – he can do more than he does.

Under-rated: Foster; Fletcher

Best Transfer: Berbatov

Best Youth: Macheda

Player that can no longer hack playing in the Premiership: Neville, just needs to retire, faithful old injured servant.

What must they do to be successful next year: Same song, second verse. Need to continue to replace aging players, or under-performing ones.


How they did this year: Liverpool 2nd and should have done better.

Over-rated: Mascherano

Under-rated: Benayoun

Best Transfer: Kuyt

Best Youth: Babel

Player that can no longer hack playing in the Premiership: N’gog

What must they do to be successful next year: Stop the manager fron scrapping with the owners, who need to settle rumours of their financial problems so the team can settle down, and for goodness sake find Torres a better strike partner.


How they did this year: Chelsea 3rd and FA cup finalists

Over-rated: Ballack

Under-rated: Malouda

Best Transfer: Anelka

Best Youth: Mancienne

Player that can no longer hack playing in the Premiership: Chelsea have a habit of waiving defenders one they get a little long in the tooth so while Ashley Cole still has many years to play in the Prem perhaps he is no longer good enough to fir in a top-four team

What must they do to be successful next year: Find a way to get Anelka and Drogba on the field at the same time. Perhaps a new manager, as one is expected, will bring some new tactics to let this star-studded team flow a little better.


How they did this year: Arsenal 4th. They survived a period at the end of the year of losing, but knowing that neither r team below them could catch them in points, but that they could not catch the top three teams either. Fourth is not bad.

Over-rated: Amunia

Under-rated: Van Persie

Best Transfer: Arshavin

Best Youth: Walcott

Player that can no longer hack playing in the Premiership: Gallas, past his prime and too temperamental to be captain. Perhaps an up and-comer in the Championship might desire his knowledge like WBA

What must they do to be successful next year: I don’t believe they will challenge for anything more than a top ten spot in the league next year. There is a growth period coming, a lack of money to buy new and talk of Adebayor moving to Chelsea. This hard working dedicated group, susceptible to injury this past year will struggle a little, especially trying to keep up with Europe, and if they fall outside of the Big Four may just lose their manager too.


How they did this year: Everton 5th and FA cup finalists.

Over-rated: Yobo

Under-rated: Osman

Best Transfer: Fellaini

Best Youth: Rodman

Player that can no longer hack playing in the Premiership: Van der Meyde; Valente

What must they do to be successful next year: Stay healthier longer. Last two seasons have seen an interruption of flow due to injuries and the squad is too small to support that type of loss. For the last half of the season midfielders have been masquerading as strikers, reasonably successfully, so perhaps a top 4 position would have been in their grasp if the squad was stronger. Would like to see them bring in a sturdy midfielder like Huddleston from Spurs.


How they did this year: Aston Villa 6th. Switched off one too many times. Needs a little more consistency. Qualified for the Europa League.

Over-rated: Harewood

Under-rated: Barry

Best Transfer: Milner, L. Young

Best Youth: Albrighton

Player that can no longer hack playing in the Premiership: Guzman should leave to gain experience. He is doing his international status no good on the bench. There are plenty of Championship teams he can earn a living at.


What must they do to be successful next year: Keep Heskey healthy. He is worth a ton of goals. Will really miss Laurensen as captain as he is retiring. They need to find a strong leader for the back line. Perhaps Micah Richards would flourish under O’Neills tutelage, though the manager has his eyes on Lescott. I expect them to be challenging for Europe again 2010.


How they did this year: Fulham 7th Qualified for the Europa League

Over-rated: Konchesky

Under-rated: Murphy

Best Transfer: Schwarzer

Best Youth: Omozusi

Player that can no longer hack playing in the Premiership: Gera

What must they do to be successful next year: They took a run of luck in the Europa league to give their players some experience because the team is not strong enough, even with as wily a fox as Hodgson is as a manager, to compete for the top four in the Prem. Top ten next year is a possibility.


How they did this year: Tottenham 8th. Had a strong finish under difficult circumstances that had found them in the bottom five at one time.

Over-rated: Woodgate

Under-rated: Modric

Best Transfer: Keane

Best Youth: Huddlestone

Player that can no longer hack playing in the Premiership: Gomes; Pavlyuchenko

What must they do to be successful next year: On paper they challenge for top 7 status next year. Redknapp taking over as manager gives them the edge they were looking for, and perhaps strengthening the defense as King and Woodgate ain’t going to be strong enough next year.


How they did this year: West Ham 9th. Over-achieved

Over-rated: Green

Under-rated: Noble

Best Transfer: Tristan

Best Youth: Sears

Player that can no longer hack playing in the Premiership: Bowyer

What must they do to be successful next year: Even with Zola in charge I see this team struggling to get in the top ten. Financially they will struggle and the helpers they bought in to shore up a weakened side are slow and a year older. It will be 3-5 years before this team is able to break in to the top part of the table again.


How they did this year: Manchester City 10th but they under performed and should have been challenging the top six.

Over-rated: Benjani

Under-rated: Ireland

Best Transfer: Jo, and they loaned him out!

Best Youth: Richards

Player that can no longer hack playing in the Premiership: Vassell; Dunne; Mills: Haman

What must they do to be successful next year: Find a way to make this group of super-stars gel and get into the top six. Out of the also-rans out there they, on paper, stand the best chance. A slow start will see Hughes will get his marching orders. They need to trash their entire defense except for Bridge. Sell Richards to Arsenal for some super tutelage and get him back in the England fold. Dunne is done, Mills too... too old for the Prem. Strengthening the defense will give the elite strikers a chance to work better.



How they did this year: Wigan 11th. How often can Bruce pull a miracle out of the hat?

Over-rated: Bramble

Under-rated: Kirkland

Best Transfer: Cattermole

Best Youth: Watson

Player that can no longer hack playing in the Premiership: Koumas; Cho; Zaki

What must they do to be successful next year: Find momentum and consistency. Manager Steve Bruce seems to always find a way to shuffle players and survive, and that is all they will do next year unless they can bring in a proven striker and get a good start to the season. Sorry Wigan I peg you for bottom five next season.


How they did this year: Stoke, 12th survived their first year back with a mid-table showing and that is commendable. They have a strong manager in Pulis and until they bought in Beattie one of the tallest squads in the Prem on average.

Over-rated: Olofinjana

Under-rated: Etherington

Best Transfer: Beattie

Best Youth: Pugh

Player that can no longer hack playing in the Premiership: Tonge, needs to go back to the Championship

What must they do to be successful next year: Find away to win six more games and challenge for a mid-table spot. With rivals from the Midlands, Birmingham City and Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Prem next year they could get overshadowed.


How they did this year: Bolton 13th. Always a hard team to beat at home they felt a little short of their toughman image the last few games of the season and it probably lost them the top ten berth I thought they deserved.

Over-rated: Muamba

Under-rated: Cahill

Best Transfer: Habsi

Best Youth: Obadeyi

Player that can no longer hack playing in the Premiership: Samuel, McCann

What must they do to be successful next year: Find a proven goal scorer to take the target off of Davies' back.


How they did this year: Portsmouth 14th. Tough year with survival down to the last few weeks.

Over-rated: Campbell

Under-rated: Pennant

Best Transfer: Pennant

Best Youth: Kilbey

Player that can no longer hack playing in the Premiership: Nugent; Kanu

What must they do to be successful next year: With James injured and aging, a strong reserve ‘keeper is needed, perhaps Hart from Man City as an under-study and replacement. Most of the defense is aging and a stronger youth/reserve team is needed to draw from if they hope to stay in the Prem next year.


How they did this year: Blackburn 15th. It would have been worse if Ince had stayed as manager. He just didn’t mesh with this team (though I think he will succeed at the right team eventually). Bringing in Allardyce helped them stabilize as he is great and bringing out the best in mediocre players.

Over-rated: Roberts

Under-rated: Nelson

Best Transfer: Robinson

Best Youth: Doran

Player that can no longer hack playing in the Premiership: Tugay Kerimoglu

What must they do to be successful next year: This squad will never be more than a middle of the road, bordering on top-ten status, unless Allardyce can pull off a miracle. McCarthy is getting a little long in the tooth, and their hard-working defense needs to be shored up. Bringing back Derbyshire from on-loan at Olympk will provide some needed speed to the midfield.


How they did this year: Sunderland 16th. They were lucky to hang up through the final couple of games

Over-rated: Jones

Under-rated: Malbranque

Best Transfer: Ferdinand

Best Youth: Waghorn

Player that can no longer hack playing in the Premiership: Diouf; Yorke

What must they do to be successful next year: Get a strong manager and then find a strike force, Cisse was on loan but never was the leader they needed up front. Bottom five again next year


How they did this year: Hull 17th Needed final day failures from other teams to survive. Their fast start to the season paid off in the long run

Over-rated: Boateng

Under-rated: Zayette

Best Transfer: Bullard

Best Youth: Cooper

Player that can no longer hack playing in the Premiership: Barmby; Kilbane; Windass

What must they do to be successful next year: They can’t. Will always be a perennial bottom 5 club.


Newcastle: 18th The club needs to re-gain it's pride, get a strong youth team, hang on to the core group of players, and buy well with the talent they have to off load. They will be back next season.

Middlesbourgh: 19th It will be a long time before we see them in the top strata of football again.



West Brom: 20th. Weak. Goodbye.

Everton in the FA Cup Final

I have not written much about Everton's current success, approaching fifth in the EPL and booking a trip to the F.A. Cup finals at Wembly stadium to play the team currently sitting three places above them in the league, Chelsea. Just two weeks to June 30. Cant wait!

Not to worry. To get there we knocked off teams sitting in the first, second and fifth place, so while it will be no walk in the park I'm not stressing. We are after all the mighty Blues and we will be playing in our first team uniform while Chelsea will have to play in an all yellow strip. if you are superstitious then we have the upper hand before the whistle even blows. My prediction? 2-1 in overtime.

It has been hard to keep up with soccer because my precious spare time has been concentrating on getting my debut novel, Blood on His Hands out in print. Finally, on that day of infamy, May 8, 2009, Infinity Publishing announced the book available on their site.

My website describes the novel thus, "Blood on His Hands is one man's tale of the inner struggles that we all deal with in our lives. Mike Renton struggles between doing the right thing or doing that which will benefit himself; taking the road to righteousness or the one the one leads to deceit.
His life seems to end the moment he pulled the trigger sending his unfaithful wife and her lover into oblivion.
On the lam, his journey takes him from rural Oklahoma to the glitz of Las Vegas. He had not however, anticipated the determined tenacity of private investigator Ian Walker, who tracks him down to northern Georgia on to the Appalachian Trail just outside of the sleepy hamlet of Helen. Was the path chosen by both men the trail to redemption, forgiveness and repentance, or was it one that will eventually pull them into tempest and despair; a black hole into oblivion?
Nine months later, in the spring of the following year human remains are discovered by a hiker just off the Appalachian Trail. How will the decisions made by the White County coroner’s office affect the final outcome of the journey Mike Renton started when he killed his wife and will he be able to deal with the repercussions that come along with the choices he made? Blood on His Hands leads us from wanton despair to the promise of a new life no matter the cost."



I spent a considerable amount of time traipsing over the Appalachian Trail (see prior postings from the birth of this blog)and felt compelled to share with the world some of the experiences I went through to get to the end of my journey. Because so many greats have gone before me, men like Bill Bryson, David Miller, or Rick McKinney, and written their AT journey I decided rather than jostle for my place in a crowded field at Trail Days I wrote the next great American novel instead.
Loosely based on experiences I had fun for about three years patching the story together, drawing on many past experiences, to complete what I hope you will all buy. As of today it is only available at my publishers site; it takes Amazon 2-3 three months to get a self-published novel available and Barnes & Nobles almost a year, so to help establish me as a top-selling author you will need to fork out your $14,95 and buy it on line today via Infinity Publishing. This also means that it is only available to audiences in America for now. I will write again and advice you all when it comes out to all the international audience.

Totally off the subject, I have once again been asked my the good folks at SoccerPro.com to take their product and test it out and write about it here on my blog as a separate feature, so watch out for the review here shortly.

Blood on His Hands

I have finally seen my book in print. You can check it out at my website as I am reviewing and making the final edits in the initial proof. In fact I actually finished those up and e-mailed the (hopefully) totally edited proof back for publication. I believe they make the changes and send me back on final review copy after which we should be in print and ready to be purchased within 2-4 weeks. I cannot express how exciting, and nerve-wracking it is to be this close to completion.
This is the culmination of three years worth of work and I am very happy with the way it has turned out. I want to throw out a few kudos to people that have helped me along the way. if you read this you know who you are and without you I would never have gotten to where I am today, in a fictional sense anyway,
My wife, Louisa, for giving up precious time with me while I pounded away with two fingers on the keyboard at odd hours and swore at my Dell for behaving so badly.
Timur Tau who gave me a few moments in the busy gun shop to show me how a Remington 1100 actually works.
David 'AWOL' Miller the author of one of the finest Appalachian Trail books I have read, AWOL on The Trail. He has become a fine friend and confidant in the world of writing, and kindly allowed me to e-mail and call him with questions. He also is one of the fine folks that I have been able to ask to read an advanced reader copy (ARC) of Blood on His Hands and write a review.
Steve Minton, a fine mind and writing talent that inspired and encouraged me and also agreed to be a contributor by reading an ARC.
Bill Sartor; a Tucson based private investigator who without whose help I would never have completed the adventure seven years ago that led to Blood on His Hands being written. Bill, you know what you did. Thank you my friend.
My son, Brian, who gave me the "insider" tips on the oil rig scenes and who the physical description of the protagonist is based upon.
Carolyn Harvey, the best friend in the world, whose help in keeping me alive at the darkest days of my life I can never repay.
Karen Langesan and Mike McDonald for a peek at life in New Zealand so that I could write my villain in a authentic fashion.
Kay Mathena who heads up the Chamber of Commerce in Helen, GA where the body was found close to Unicoi Gap on the Appalachian Trail.
Joe Gold another Tucson author, now based in san Francisco, who allowed me to hang out and pick his literal brain, and who also is one of my ARC readers.
Katie Frazee, who filled me in on "maggot maturation" and other forensic tips.
Jana Bauer whose invaluable help in the editing process is deeply appreciated (I made the rookie error of thinking I could self-edit. Jana found well over 200 grammatical errors that I missed. Next time I will hire a professional editor and not try to scrimp on the cost). A valuable lesson learned, luckily, not too late.
Last but not least, a young lady that if anyone knows where she is please have her contact me, Tyga Hunter, who was there with sage advice out on the AT where we shared time at the hostel at Neels Gap.
I need to also mention the artistic talents of Matthias Plunkett, who is responsible for the design work on the cover of the book, James Harris my web designer and Karl Koffman whose work you can see below in the form of the YouTube video promo he put together to promote Blood on His Hands.