RandoEFC

I don't want to overstate the loss of Ronaldo, clearly this offers Real Madrid the opportunity to move into their next chapter and build a team that isn't built around him. How are they to do that if they aren't going to sign Neymar, Mbappe, Salah, Kane, Hazard or any other marquee name? Are we about to see a new type of Real Madrid where Vazquez, Isco and Asensio (spellings might be AIDs there) are actually trusted with the responsibility of carrying them forward?

@LFCMadLad you seem pretty excited after going quiet during the World Cup. Offering any £5,000 bets ahead of this season?

Bottom line is two years after the referendum Theresa May is going to have to pull some Houdini act out of her wrinkly fanny to secure any sort of positive deal and get Brexit off to any sort of successful start.

I get what you're saying but I thought the way they did the survey was pretty unprofessional because it asked for public opinion on one of their employees and I'd be pretty disgusted if my school put out a survey to parents or students asking if they had confidence in my ability to teach them maths. However in different circumstances, I'd be delighted for the club to put out a survey asking "should the capacity of our new stadium be 56,000 or 58,000 or 60,000" or "do you think it's beneficial for the club to enter the U23 team into the Johnstones Paint Trophy/whatever it's called this season?". What I wouldn't like to see AT ALL though is for the club to make those decisions based entirely on a fan survey. Taking into account, fine, brilliant, but they're there to run the club because they have the know how (well they're supposed to, it's debatable whether that is actually the case as it is with the British government and running the country but anyway) and the figures behind everything, the means to get advice from qualified experts etc. Using all of this together they can make a decision. Relating that back to the topic, I think it's a pretty clear analogy. Letting people have their say is an excellent idea but asking the public to make what is potentially the biggest economic decision the country has to make in our lifetimes and framing it as such an emotion-based decision is retarded. The public as a whole aren't qualified. The government might not be either but they have a better chance of being and are paid to make these decisions. How they get public opinion in a reliable way is difficult admittedly. Having an opinion only referendum is risky as if 52% of voters say YES BREXIT and the government go against that then people will be all over them screaming well why did you fucking ask, so yes they'd have to reframe this somehow. Perhaps the pressure of that outcome though would encourage the government to actually educate and inform the public properly about what they're voting for and against. We can dream.

Smart move, I mean if there's any position on the pitch where we need to bringing in a loan signing and promising him game time in that specific position whilst simultaneously developing a player for a club who we apparently have ambitions to compete with at some point in the near future, it's attacking midfield.

What's the point in the government if they don't want to run the country? Should every change in tax laws, interest rates, benefits, immigration rules, building new airports, train lines, changing bus timetables be put to a public vote too? The people have their say by voting for who they want to run the country. After that those people are paid a fucking lot of money to run the country so they should do it. There are plenty of exceptions but if we're realistic 90% of the people who voted in the referendum (for both Leave and Remain) have no idea which one is better for the country. It's like if Moshiri and Kenwright asked the entire population of Merseyside to vote for the next Everton manager.

I was literally thinking during about my second length, wow swimming is such nice relaxing exercise, why haven't I been doing this weekly? By the end of that same length I was leaning against the side trying to find the strength to carry on .

Said it a dozen times, why the public were given responsibility to decide on Leave or Remain is beyond me. Don't see the point in electing hundreds of MPs if they can't make decisions like that for the country, it's sort of their job that they're paid to do. The Scottish referendum makes more sense because it's more about national identity (though I imagine like Brexit when you get past that and into the actual practicalities of leaving the UK you end up realising how stupid it was to make what is in reality an economical decision based on the public's feelings of emotion and identity). Back to Brexit though, everything Remainers said (too quietly) is turning out to be true. Leaving the EU isn't as simple as it sounds, we have a weak position from which to bargain and we are getting absolutely nowhere because all Brussels have to do is sit there and make next to no compromises, the politicians have no idea what the fuck is going on and even those committed to the Leave campaign can't agree on what we should be negotiating for almost two years after the referendum. Again, when the people in Westminster have no idea how to negotiate Brexit, why was this decision handed to the public that know a fuck load less than they do (which is saying something)? Meanwhile those who backed the Leave campaign in the hope of filling the post-referendum power vacuum out of personal interest and not because they actually think Brexit is a good idea continue to squabble over positions within the cabinet, Theresa May continues to concentrate more on shoring up key positions with people that are on her side while Boris has detached himself and looks likely to be plotting a leadership challenge from the shadows. I mean, who cares about butchering the credibility of our negotiating team by undermining the leadership again if it means Boris gets a shot at becoming PM? Then you've got Farage, Daddy Brexit himself, who seems to have swanned off into the sunset whilst occasionally popping his head back up to criticise May's approach to Brexit and further portraying the UK as a country divided (which it is). From the start, the people managing Brexit have been in it for themselves. I think at this stage it would definitely be worth having a second referendum. You'd hope that the small margin of people needed to change their mind and vote Remain this time would have had their eyes opened by the absolute travesty that this process has been over the last two years. It wouldn't be shocking to see us still vote to Leave though given how little attention people seem to pay to what's actually going on beyond "yeah we want Snickers to be called Marathon bars again" in which case we'd deserve whatever mess we get left with when Brexit goes ahead. TL;DR we are a fucking stupid country.

Just went swimming for the first time in what must be literally about 4 or 5 years. Just fuck off. For someone who's reasonably in shape and exercises regularly I managed a pitiful 14 lengths and now I need to die for the rest of the evening. I think my problem is that it actually takes me effort not to go full pelt and pace myself instead. Quality exercise though, will feel that tomorrow .

Only really saw the majority of the third set. Anderson put up a decent fight in that one but overall got squashed as expected. Congratulations Novak .

Yeah don't know if it's how you took it but just to clarify that post wasn't aimed at anything you or anyone said.

Don't mind Anderson as a person but really hope he gets pasted in straight sets tomorrow. Anyone who watched the two semi finals and the comparative entertainment value of each one can see why I don't want to see a 6'7" serve bot lift the Wimbledon title and inspire another generation of Isners and Karlovics to spend an entire career hammering down aces in unwatchable matches in the next decade.

I can't put my finger on it, but I just can't like Serena Williams. Obviously I respect the hell out of her achievements but it's just the way that she speaks, it sounds so fake as if every sentence is said in a way that it can become a famous quote or be used as a line in her career documentary film. Reminds me of Lewis Hamilton.

what was the point of making that an official match? Like playing Barcelona v Forest Green on the easiest difficulty on FIFA. Apart from the own goal that was more up Football Managers alley. Inb4 Everton fans so deluded comparing their team to Barcelona because they beat some Austrian farmers 22-0.

Our front three Tosun: first half hat trick Lookman: first half hat trick Sandro Ramirez: still can't score one Didn't notice before Walcott and Bolasie also missing from the squad.

@Cannabis have you paid for the stream? Watching the goals (so basically the whole match) on this blokes Twitter: Take a look at evertonfcpics (@GoodisonPics): https://twitter.com/GoodisonPics?s=09

6-0 Lookman. Why are our fans moaning about no signings?

Our line-up for our first friendly of the summer. Pretty much full strength minus the World Cup players. Klaassen and Calvert-Lewin the most notable absentees though I don't know whether either of them are carrying knocks. I've never heard of our opponents Irdning which is saying something given my weird obsession with obscure leagues on Football Manager so this could be fun for them. Baines has already scored after 5 minutes.

Class viewing. Hope Djokovic sees Anderson off in the final.

Watched the first two sets. Missed the third set which looks like it was a bit epic. Still could go either way this afternoon.

Even if the Karius concussion story was true putting it out into the public domain was a bit of a cringey and transparent attempt to protect the goalkeeper after he cost them the Champions League final. Apparently it worked on some fans though so I guess fair enough?

Anderson and Isner now at 14-15 in the fifth set. Fuck off. None of these people want to watch this, we want to see Rafa v Novak. Feel for the fans who turned up looking forward to a marquee clash and instead have watched 5 and a half hours of what has mostly been two guys taking turns to hammer down aces and unreturnable serves with the other guy effectively superfluous while he isn't serving. I usually love the drama of the fifth set carrying on instead of being settled by a tie break but today is a significant argument against that view.

I hope he gets a chance in pre season. He looked great in pre season a couple of years back and got rave reviews from Forest in the first half of last season but appeared to fall out of favour when they changed manager. That's usually not a good sign but he gets the benefit of the doubt for me for the time being.

How has Federer been losing his serve to Anderson? Looks like a matter of time before Federer breaks to win but the way these two serve we could be looking at a 16-14 fifth set or something here.