FM13: Everton F.C. - Featuring overused toffee puns

[ReggaeBwoy]

So much unrealistic results on here. Must be cheats or supertactics. I reckon I would quit if I achieved what some people have posted in here so quickly. Might give this save a go. Seems interesting.

[Th0mazz0]

I had Fellaini at AMC Advanced Playmaker (Attack) in a deep 4231. He averaged 7.95, scored 12 and assisted 10, Making him topscorer for me that season (Jelly had 11 goals).

Still only just secured 7th in the league though, after being 9th before the last match.

[mrdorf]

After this season I feel like starting again. Finished 6th 1st season but got hammered 4-0 by Liverpool. Second season lost 4-1 at home to newly promoted Leeds; I'm also currently 9th. I could go on to win a cup or something as it's very early days but those results have annoyed me. I don't think the fans would have much confidence in me if this is real life. I certainly wouldn't, although the football has improved from Moyes' bland football.

[mrdorf]

I'd question anyone deciding to start a save with everton and being shocked at the lack of money made available when overachieving

It's everton!

I actually like the idea that you don't get much money at Everton -- although having only 2 mil after achieving a Champions League spot is a bit harsh. In previous editions I've always had much more money than I would in real life with Everton.

[Nadessico]

anyone looking for a good cheap alternative to Fellaini in the CDM/BWM/Anchor man role i'd suggest a look at Simao from Shandong Luneng. Got him for 2.5 mil after season 1 and he's been a rock for me, despite only being 3 stars. 3 Seasons in and he's had an average of 7.0 7.3 and 7.7

[ChefRobGaming]

just started a game as everton, I skipped the 1st season and then took over, hoping to rebuild the squad as alot of the older players are doing down fast.

just started pre season and david sheepshanks just took over here first thing he does is take out a 21m bank loan......

[bennceltic]

Running as Everton, but probably just in name more than anything!

First season, sold everyone I could... no one is left from the first team squad, bar a few sat in the reserves as they only got a loan deal (but they wont ever have a future here).

Raised £98m from sales, most notably Fellaini 28.5m and Baines 20m going to Man City. Other big deals included Jelavic going to Arsenal for 10.75m, Heitinga moving to Wolfsburg for 9.25m and Jagielka joining Newcastle for 8.25m.

In return I have a 14 man first team squad... yes its that small

I spent £154m creating it.... maybe could have got some better deals, but I like the feel of this lot:

GK - Yann Sommer 4.5m & Scott Carson 8m

DR -

DL - Kevin Conboy 5m & Alexander Kolarov 7.5m

DC - Charlie Mulgrew 10m, Simon Kjaer 5.5m & Davide Astori 18.5m

MC - Lee Cattermole 8m & Stefan Reinartz 6m

MR - Younes Belhanda 20m

ML - Jeremain Lens 11.25m & Gabby Agbonlahor 12.5m

SC - Wilfried Bony 20m & Moussa Sow 17.5m

Early days but bar a injury crisis I should be OK getting by with such a small squad.

[TopToffee]

Running as Everton, but probably just in name more than anything!

First season, sold everyone I could... no one is left from the first team squad, bar a few sat in the reserves as they only got a loan deal (but they wont ever have a future here).

Raised £98m from sales, most notably Fellaini 28.5m and Baines 20m going to Man City. Other big deals included Jelavic going to Arsenal for 10.75m, Heitinga moving to Wolfsburg for 9.25m and Jagielka joining Newcastle for 8.25m.

In return I have a 14 man first team squad... yes its that small

I spent £154m creating it.... maybe could have got some better deals, but I like the feel of this lot:

GK - Yann Sommer 4.5m & Scott Carson 8m

DR -

DL - Kevin Conboy 5m & Alexander Kolarov 7.5m

DC - Charlie Mulgrew 10m, Simon Kjaer 5.5m & Davide Astori 18.5m

MC - Lee Cattermole 8m & Stefan Reinartz 6m

MR - Younes Belhanda 20m

ML - Jeremain Lens 11.25m & Gabby Agbonlahor 12.5m

SC - Wilfried Bony 20m & Moussa Sow 17.5m

Early days but bar a injury crisis I should be OK getting by with such a small squad.

No offence, but it kinda looks to me like with the exception of MR and SC, you've spent £55m net making every position on the pitch weaker than it was at the start of the game

[mrdorf]

Vic Anichebe is having a cracking season in my 1st season in charge. I've started playing 442 and he's been on fire. Jelavic not so much and he lacks confidence (realistic, really) anyone know how to make him come out of his shell? Had to change to a 451 after a 4-0 thumping by them lot across the park, which made me want to quit. I'm in with a shout of champions league but not sure if that will happen and in an FA Cup semi-final. Next season Felliani is off so need a replacement for him.

[jamescrews1]

just started as everton am trying to selll jealvic who do u reckeon should replace him with ?

[EvertonblokesMobile]

I replaced him with Abel Hernandez. Awesome!

[Welshace]

For the money, you can almost get both Felipe Caicedo and Christian Benitez.. both world class.

[jamescrews1]

a ended up going for rickie lambert and adam le fondre not great strikers but are doing job since won my first league games

[EvertonblokesMobile]

just finished my 3rd season and it was a bit of a comedown after the successful 2nd season.

first 11 league games garnered just 9 points and the players started questioning me. Felli went as far as asking to leave! I didn't know what was going on as I was destroying my champions league group!

the ressies went out of the league cup to Leeds in the 3rd round and the vultures started circling. barca came in with a 28.5mil bid for felli, while Paolo di Canio started showing up at my games impressing the board with his eagerness to get into my office!

Then a 2 nil win over the dirty reds jumped me into the top half of the table, job security went up, felli asked to stay, barca bid cancelled! players had faith again!

got to the knock out stages of the CL, further than expected, but Napoli were too strong over two legs. league form improved to finish 8th, so not too bad considering the start.

our route into Europe was the FACup. beating city and arsenal in the early rounds it looked as if a final against chelski was on the cards. just championship Peterborough to beat in the semis. 30 mins in and I am 3 nil down and screaming at the laptop (how does a game make us do that?) by 60 mins its 3 all and we are bombarding them, the highlights making this one of longest games I've ever played! then in the 89th kin the winner goes in........ for Peterborough!

no Europe next season for me. Fellainis banging on my door with another transfer request, and kenwright sells him to PSG for 27mil, then imposes a transfer embargo as he sells the club to a random consortium!

I am she'll shocked, struggle through to the end of the season and start planning season 4.........

[danm2501]

Just started as Everton, gonna give it another go after not really getting going last time around. First thing I did was put a few players up for sale. Hibbert, Velios, Distin, and then made the bold choice to sell Fellaini and Jelavic. Moyes swooped in from United, and picked up Fellaini for £28.5m, with Jelavic moving to Hull for £18m (as you can probably tell, I've made a few changes on the editor). Once everyone I wanted to sell had gone, I'd made £51m from transfers, a solid boost to the transfer kitty. This allowed me to bring in Ruben Yttergard Jenssen, Gino Peruzzi, Wellington Nem, Jelle Vossen, and highly recommended youngster Mattheus. This gave me a strongest XI of:

--------------------------Howard--------------------------------

--Peruzzi---------Jags------------Heitinga------------Baines---------

-------------------Gibson---------Osman----------------------------

---Nem------------------Barkley--------------------Pienaar------------

--------------------------Mirallas--------------------------------------

Jags has taken over the captaincy from the retired Philip Neville, with Baines filling in as VC. I'm hoping the responsibility will lead him to want to stay. Fortunately Moyes hasn't been back to poach him from us yet though, decided on Adriano from Barca instead. I've read some positive stuff about Mirallas up top, so thought I'd give him a go there, especially now I've got Nem at AMR. I'm also planning on building my team around Ross Barkley. He's going to be given First Team football from the start, and hopefully that'll help him develop at a good rate. I just hope he's good enough first season to win us some games!

Have started okay. Been a bit shaky at the back, but after an early draw away against Cardiff, we've recorded wins over Newcastle, and an extra time win in a nervy game against Ipswich. Conceded 4 in 3 games though which is a tad worrying. Defended awfully in the first half against Ipswich, but luckily Vossen got a very late goal to drag the game into extra time. As long as we keep winning I don't really care how many we concede though

[DandyDon]

Just starting out on an Everton save and I've already rejected 2 transfer requests by Fellaini before August. Just wondering if anyone has had problems with him being similarly determined to leave and did he perform to a decent level if you rejected his requests?

In terms of adding to the squad the only player I've sold so far has been Hibbert. I noticed Swansea were interested and offered him out, but it was actually Stoke who came back with a £2.5 million bid so he left fairly early on in the transfer window. The only players in at the moment have been freebies and loan deals. Signed Spanish midfielder Javier Casquero on a free to provide some backup in central midfield, former Arsenal striker Eduardo and Chelsea winger Florent Malouda both came in on season long loans to add a little more depth to the squad.

[joshgo]

I didn't have any problems with him settling down after I denied his request. We had some big money offers and praising in the press, particularly from Man City, and then he asked after I rejected the offers. I denied his request and he seemed ok afterward. There wasn't any type of message on his profile about wanting to leave or anything. I think what really helped was that the season started almost immediately after his request and we had a really good run of results in the beginning. That seemed to help keep him happy.

[fivestarflash]

Not posted for quite some time but just finished my 10th season in charge with Everton. Wrapped up my 6th premier league in a row and won the champions league for the 3rd time with an 8-2 victory over Inter Milan.

Only genuine players I have in the squad that arent regens are:

Chris Smalling

Mario Goetze

Luc Castaignos

Keep mananging out the superstars at the age of 29-30 to get the one final pay off and replace them with an up and coming youngster. My team is still reletively young. Its great to have a guy who I signed at 16 as the spear head of my attack, as well as one of the best box to box players I have ever managed in all the years of this game. Have to say this is probably the best save I have ever had. Usually with United it gets boring as you have great players and never spend due to it, with this game I spend when I need to but having a long term goal of overtaking Man Utd's 19 titles keeps the game interesting.

Start of last season I signed a 19 year old striker with bags of potential and stood at 6'9 for 7.75m, ended up league top scorer as got his chance from injury and never looked back. The cycle continues as I cant wait to manage him throughout his career in the same way as my other regens.

[D0bi]

Just started a game as Everton now. Made a few changes in the database, made Moyes unemployed, set SAF to retire after a year and tried to ensure Moyes moves to United.

Trying to build a side based on local (or at least English) talent, so I'm immediately going to build the side around Barkley, with Green, Matthew Kennedy and John Stones all looking like they have potential to step up.

Reshaping the back-room is important to me so I've let go a few and brought in some more determined, improved coaches so far.

[D0bi]

Just getting in to September now, had a solid pre-season and I've found my starting XI now, I feel. Made some changes to the backroom staff, bringing in Winsper (U18's Fitness Coach), Gian Luca Bisciotti and Elio Carravetta (Fitness Coaches) and Ze Mario (GK Coach), whilst letting go of John McKeown, Mick O'Brien and Steve Tashijan.

I didn't plan to make many changes to the first-team squad, but after the usual Fellaini demands to leave, I made the decision to sell him. Manchester City offered £28m, but I didn't particularly want him playing against us so I accepted the lower offer. Fellaini's replacement is Wanyama, who signed for £11.5m and vastly reduced wages considered against Fellaini.

I also sold Tony Hibbert, as I wanted Coleman and Stones to play more of a part in the squad. Coming in on frees were Lee Bowyer, George Boateng and Jari Litmanen, who are now tutoring Hallam Hope, Matthew Kennedy and George Green respectively.

I also brought in Adam Campbell on deadline day for a slightly high £5.5m. However Campbell has tremendous potential and I'm confident he can be a regular starter for the future.

Current Line-Up is roughly;

Jelavic

Pienaar --------------------- Mirallas

Osman - Barkley - Gibson

Baines - Heitinger - Jagielka - Neville

Howard

It's working so far, I've won all 4 of my games in charge, although not in convincing circumstances. A promising 3-1 win against Reading was followed by a last minute goal against Reading to win 1-0. We then went 2-0 down against MK Dons in the Capital One Cup before scoring 4 second half goals to win 4-2. We then had to wait for yet another last minute goal, this time against Stoke, with Leon Osman scoring in the 90th minute to secure a 1-0 win.

[whitmore23]

Well having been influenced by the real life departure of David Moyes, I thought it was about time I started a new Everton save!.

My first season I really didn't want to tweak much and generally just see what I've actually got at my disposal, with only £1.5m to spend we don't really have a choice do we to be fair! I don't understand those that have a massive exodus of players in the first season, why be Everton at all!? It defeats the object surely?.

Having read this thread first, I noticed Fellaini was causing a few problems for the majority of you all and as person that doesn't really rate him IRL, I immediately sent him down the M62 to Man City for £28.5m and purchased Victor Wanyama for £12m, Kweuke for £6m and finally Owen Hargreaves on the freebie. Loan signings during the season included Maloney from Wigan and Rosicky from Arsenal.

I adopted a 4-2-2-2 formation with this my strongest 11;

--------------------------Howard--------------------------------

--Coleman--------Jaggy------------Stones------------Baines---------

-----------------Wanyama---------Osman----------------------------

---Mirallas-------------------------------------------Maloney------------

--------------------Jelavic-----------Anichebe---------------------

Has part of the clubs philosophy I was really keen to give opportunities to as many youngsters as I could, John Stones made the CB his own with Shane Duffy coming in on many occasions and doing a solid job. George Green provided cover up front and banged in a few goals here and there.

With some outstanding performances along with the way, including a 1-0 win at the Etihad I went on to finish a superb 4th, 4pts above the chasing Arsenal in 5th place so it's Champions League football next season IF I manage to beat Ajax in the qualifiers!!

During the summer, again I didnt want to change too much as I've been guilty of that in the pass and it took another 4 or 5 months for a team to gel, so I've sold off Gibson for a nice £3m, Gueye for £2m and Bryan Oviedo for £1.5m.

TRANSFERS IN SUMMER 2013, again not really feeling like I need that much and due to the limited amount of money I have to spend, again around the £1.5m mark I decided to bring in and develop my youngers, Ross Barkley has returned from a season long loan and he's looking great, so he feels like a new signing along with one or two others from my reserves so they'll be promoted and given a chance to shine. I have made one HUGE signing and it's never happened to me before, argubably the best player I have ever signed for FREE due to his contract expiring and offering him a whopping salary of £75,000 a week...FRANK LAMPARD!. He physical stats are still great and I've got him on a one year deal, after a solid season at Chelsea I've over the moon at bringing the record goal scorer in. I've immediately set him to tutor Barkley so looking forward to seeing how that works out! Along with Lamps, Diego Forlan on loan and Fabio from Man Utd on loan. Not much else I could do due to the financial constraints, I'm hoping it's another season of just continuity and then next summer having acquired the £54m from the TV deal I'll be able to develop my squad in order to improve the 4th place. If I finish 4th again this season I'll be delighted...

I'll keep you updated, what do you think!?

[D0bi]

^That sounds like a hell of a good season, I'm currently 3rd after 9 games, but City and Spurs are ahead of me by 5 points whilst if results don't go my way and I lose the next game I could potentially go down to 9th, so I'm not holding my breath. How did you do on the goal-scoring front? I've found I'm averaging around 1.2 goals per game, which really isn't good enough for a side chasing European football, we're only winning games due to our excellent defence (less than a goal every 2 games, on average).

Wanyama is an excellent signing, he single handedly destroyed Fulham on my save, got an assist and a 9.2 rating; he just didn't let anyone pass him.

[DandyDon]

@whitmore

Sounds like a very decent season Wanyama was transfer listed on my save and rather wishing I'd made a move for him.

I've ended up keeping hold of Fellaini during the summer transfer window, despite repeated transfer requests. So far he's played fairly well, but if he is still moaning by end of December I might cash in during the January window. Heitinga was valued at £9.25 million, so I took a cheeky gamble and offered him out for £15 million and got a bite from PSG. They offered £4.5 mill upfront and the remainder in monthly installments.

I accepted the deal and I've used some of the cash to bring in an Italian defender Giuseppe Bellusci from Catania for £4.6 mill. My major coup of the transfer window was arranging a loan deal for Nico Gaitan of Benfica (also arranged a future fee on the deal of £10 mill, but that will most likely only be used if we do indeed sell Fellaini).

I've lost Baines and Gibson for 3-4 months before we even kicked the season off, but despite that we've made a solid start to the campaign. Three league wins over Swansea, West Brom and Wigan without conceding a goal keeping us up in the top three. Played some of the youngsters in the League Cup and sneaked through on penalties against Brentford, though we should have hammered them if we'd been a bit more clinical in front of goal. Our reward there was to draw Man Utd in the next round

Largely happy with the form shown so far, especially in defence, with Oviedo deputising well for the injured Baines and Distin & Jagielka looking very solid. Still very early though and we have a run of tough games in the next few fixtures with away trips to Chelsea and Man Utd one after the other.

[D0bi]

After 10 games I'm sitting in 4th now, after a 1-1 draw at Old Trafford.

Fergie Time? Pfft! Nani had an awful game, just couldn't do anything with Pienaar and Baines all over him, I'm surprised he lasted the 90 minutes. This is the 4th time (out of only 10 games) that we've scored after the 88th minute, I just love the never-say-die attitude of some of the players; Osman in particular.

[D0bi]

How's everyone playing away from home? I'm currently 5th, although I'd be 9th if only away form was taken in to account, with just 2 wins from 10 games. Thankfully I've won 8 and drawn 2 of my 10 home games.

I just can't seem to get a tactic working away from home, just got annihilated by Stoke 3-1 at the Brittania (could have been 8-1 and would have been favourable to us)!

[EvertonblokesMobile]

finished season 4 last night, job security was fine but the season ended in disappointment, well for me, the board were happy with the season.

no real transfers of note, but a couple of young Brazilian newgens I brought in for the future got their chance and stayed in the team. Xavi a deep laying forward got in due to an injury to robin van Perdue was so good RVP was sold in march! Arilton is now rotating with Allione on the right wing, both young and both excellent.

Other sales were Duffy to the Toon in the summer, heitinga to the toon in January, and jags to........ the toon at the end of the season!

One of my newgen midfielders made the England team and went to the European Cup. James Marshall is just 19 and will be partnering Barkley in the middle of the pitch for both Everton and England for at least 10 years now!

I have a huge amount of potential stars coming through so expecting to improve year on year now without having to spend big unless I want to.

so on to season performance, league cup - ressies got to the quarters no one really cared! FA Cup, knocked put in the 5th round after a replay by championship Brighton, gutted! in the league finished 5th, so pretty happy with that improvement on last year.

But wait, I said earlier I was disappointed with the season. that's right, despite finishing 5th we still managed to miss out on Europe! this is due to chelski winning first the FACup, then the champions league. They finished 6th. This meant that 4th spot got Euro league, and FA cup runners up got the fa cup euro league spot! gutted!

[EvertonblokesMobile]

Just brought J-Rod home for 2.4mil. Hes now 25 year old though and has not prgressed very well at all. He'll be my third choice MC but I will be giving him as much game time as possible to try and bring him back to the quality I know he should be by now.

Any tips on developing players that are older but you know they have the potential, just badly developed by the AI?

[D0bi]

Just brought J-Rod home for 2.4mil. Hes now 25 year old though and has not prgressed very well at all. He'll be my third choice MC but I will be giving him as much game time as possible to try and bring him back to the quality I know he should be by now.

Any tips on developing players that are older but you know they have the potential, just badly developed by the AI?

The best ways are consistent game time and additional focus training on the important attributes, rotating every 2/3 month or so. I've looked at getting Rodwell back, though he's not interested yet.

[D0bi]

Post Season Review, Season 2012/13

Personal Targets:

 European Qualification
Quarter Finals of the FA Cup
Semi-Finals of the Capital One Cup

League:

Reading are missing in 20th, they finished with 26 points.

Comments: I was, okay, about finishing 6th. We were in 5th from the fourth game until the very last game, and Stoke pushed us all the way, they had an easy finish to the season whereas we faced Arsenal, Chelsea, Villa, Liverpool and City in our last 5 games in what was a very tough end to the season, so we lost out on 5th place after a defeat by City (who won the treble). I was glad to snatch the final European spot, which Swansea would have claimed had they won, and can look forward to Europa League football next year.

Cups:

I always strive to play a youthful team in the cups, and this perhaps reflected in how we performed. We battered MK Dons, with 2 assists for Hallam Hope before getting frustrated by Burnley, who scored early and then parked the bus in the Capital One Cup.

I then was pleased to see Hope score a hat-trick in his first start for the club against Cambridge, before being humiliated over 2 legs against Yeovil, although it was good to see Adam Campbell getting on the scoresheet. A win against Yeovil would have resulted in an easy run to the final as Huddersfield and then Charlton awaited us in the next two rounds.

Next year I'm aiming to win a trophy so I may sacrifice the fitness of some first-team players in order to do so.

Player Performance:

Jelavic was our top scorer in the league with 15 goals, whilst Naismith also contributed 7 goals and Anichebe managed 5 goals and 8 assists. Jagielka and Tim Howard played every league game this season, with Baines only missing one due to injury.

My player of the season has got to be Wanyama, who managed an average rating of 7.53 and came within the top 3 in the league for interception, tackles and, unfortunately Yellow Cards. That's to be expected though, he plays the holding role and all those who picked up similar cards (Sandro, Cattermole Yacob and Tiote) also play similar roles.

Next year I could do with more firepower, although with the £1.7m i've been given I doubt I can manage that. I'm still developing Adam Campbell, Carlos Fierro and a regen that came through who looks like a Pippo Inzaghi so hopefully they can contribute next year.

Some of the Academy Prospects:

Rupert Hollier (aka Inzaghi)

Pat Wallace (a.k.a. Balotelli on the wing)

Hollier looks amazing for his age, with all the skills to be a superb poacher. I've started training his quickness as I think his Finishing and Composure are already top class. Pat Wallace has a bit of work to do but has great potential Unfortunately his personality is temperamental and he's already rejected tutoring from Litmanen and Osman. I'll have to watch him.

Some Fun Facts:

Manchester City won the league on goal-difference for the second year running (Technically this year when Manchester United won it in reality hasn't happened in-game.)

Grant Holt was the top goalscorer in the league with 23 goals, and is now wanted by Barcelona

Bayern Munich finished 7th, but spent 6 weeks in the relegation zone throughout the mid-point of the season

Real Madrid won the title on away goals against Barcelona, after a 2-2 draw at the Nou Camp and a 1-1 draw at the Bernabeu

Malaga finished bottom and were relegated. (Isco, anyone!?)

[joshgo]

I also brought Rodwell back. It was after the third season and I had to pay about $8m. Luckily, he had actually gotten decent game time in the beginning of his Man City career, so his development has been pretty good. He got pushed out of the squad latter on as City splashed more cash, and despite scouts saying he wouldn't be interested, he came back on around $85k/week. I'd had Odijda on less than that before, but ManU came in with a $32M offer for him, so off he went. A 500% profit.

Rodwell was a bit of a sentimental gamble, but he has been paying off superbly in the first half of my fourth season. He and Felli play as the 2 MCs in my 4-2-3-1 and I let them swap positions between DLP/d and BWM/s. He seemed to pick right up and didn't really need any time to bed in.

Hope you have good luck with him.

[D0bi]

Was about to try for Rodwell, but noticed Malaga had been relegated in the first season on my game. I tapped up Isco in the press; he replied saying it would be a dream move and his agent contacted me saying Isco would love a move to my club if I want to make an offer, damn my £1.5m transfer budget!

[Mark.]

I know it seems as if everyone ends up selling Fellaini, but for anyone who still uses him, how do you find he plays best?

[D0bi]

I'd recommend Carlos Fierro to anyone! I signed him in January of the first season for £4m and he didn't get much play time, just a lot of tutoring and training, making 2 substitute appearances. I've given him a run in the team during pre-season and he's hit 7 goals in 3 games, including a hat-trick against Nordsjaelland in the Europa League!

[EvertonblokesMobile]

@ Mark I played him as a targetman support next to a poacher in my 44f2 and not only was he amazing, but since losing him my poachers performances have dropped off!

[D0bi]

After I posted the Fierro comment, he went and broke his leg! Out for 6 months.

Jelavic has continued his red-hot form from last year, he's just come off the bench to net 2 goals in a 4-0 win against Burnley, averaged a goal every 2 games for me now as an Advanced Forward.

[DandyDon]

Everton 2012/13 Season - Half Term report card

I've been making slow but steady progress so far on my Everton save. I didn't make any massive changes during the first summer, mostly working the free and loan signing market to add some extra depth to the squad. The only major deal was selling Heitinga to PSG and bringing in Bellusci from Catania in his place. Injuries have plagued us a bit in the first half of the season so far with Baines, Hitzlsperger, Osman, Malouda, Oviedo and Gibson all missing for 2 or 3 months between August and the end of December.

I was considering cashing in on Fellaini in January as he made something like 5 sepereate transfer requests early on, his form was terrible and he was constantly looking complacent or switching off during team talks. However his form has slowly improved throughout November and December and having looked at the finances it appears the board would only make 10% of any transfer income available, so I've pretty much decided there's absolutely no point in selling him as things stand.

Results so far:

I've generally playing a 4-2-3-1 formation, using Fellaini as one of the 2 central midfielders alongside whoever else is actually fit enough to play alongside him. The 3 more attacking positions ahead of that have generally filled by Gaitan or Malouda on the left, Pienaar or Barkley at AMC and Mirallas at AMR, though there has been a bit of switching about depending on injuries. Upfront Eduardo and Jelavic have rotated regularly, but the ex-Arsenal man has been in the better recent form. Our results have been pretty good without being spectacular. We've had some good wins and a couple of very bad defeats, getting knocked out the League Cup 2-0 by Tranmere was the most annoying for me since we'd already knocked out Man Utd in the previous round. We've had a few too many draws in the league in games we should have won, bit then we've also only lost 2 games so far both of those away from home.

The most consistent performers have been in defence overall with Jagielka the star man so far, Giuseppe Bellusci has staked the claim to be his regular centre back partner. John Stones is having a very good season as well and is currently my first choice at right back while not surprisingly Baines had an immediate impact on his return from injury and managed 4 goals and 4 assists in 12 matches, his delivery from crosses and free kicks has helped us to look a lot more dangerous since he recovered.

At the start of January with just those 2 league defeats we're currently sitting in 4th position on 46 points, 6 points behind leaders Man Utd but only 2 points behind second placed Man City and equal on points to third placed Spurs. We do have the worst goal difference of all the top 6 clubs, by quite a long way, with only +14. The other 5 clubs are all comfortably over +20 with the 2 Manchester clubs have +37 and +35 GD.

My goal now will be to try and hold on to that 4th Champions League spot if possible. A little bit of luck good see us grab one of the automatic qualifying spots, but equally it wouldn't take too much bad luck to see us overhauled by the likes of Arsenal and Chelsea who currently occupy 5th and 6th positions.

[D0bi]

Good luck holding on to that 4th spot Don!

The Top 4 has so far been impossible for me to crack, in the first season I was comfortably behind the top 4 by almost 20 points despite finishing joint-5th. This season I'm pushing them closer but with 12 games to go there is a 5 point gap.

I've had absolutely no luck with injuries this second season. Knowing I'd have a punishing schedule (over 70 games potentially) due to the Europa League, PL, both Cups etc. I expanded the squad in summer but I've had so many injuries it hasn't mattered.

Defensively, Distin, Jagielka and Stones have all spent over 5 weeks out each. In the Midfield, my two holding midfielders (arguably the cornerstone of my tactic) Wanyama and Recio have been out of action for 5 months and 3 months respectively, whilst Gibson (2 months), Osman (6 weeks) and Mirallas (two periods of 3 weeks each) have been missing for crucial games.

Upfront, I've been lucky that Jelavic is seemingly indestructable, because Fierro broke his leg and was out for 7 months (just after scoring 5 goals in my first 3 competitive games), Adam Campbell (2 months) and Anichebe (5 weeks) have all missed games.

Despite the injuries I'm hanging on to 5th place, and with Wanyama, Fierro and Recio all set to return in two weeks time it could be the boost I need to push us towards 4th place.

[DandyDon]

@D0bi

Cheers, might have a decent chance of holding on to it as Man City and Arsenal are having god awful results so far in second half of the season, also we're having a good run of clean sheets which is just as well as we're not exactly taking many of our chances.

[D0bi]

Yeah City keep slipping up on my game. How is Hart doing for them on your save, he's awful on mine? In the second season I've beat them 3-0 at Goodison and drew 2-2 at the Etihad and he was at fault for most of the goals I scored.

I'm trying to make as much money as possible whilst remaining competitive which means big names have to go, like Fellaini in the first season. Wanyama has replaced him excellently though, so that wasn't too much of a loss. This year I sold Heitinga for £15m to PSG at the start of the second season (He was 30, on £50k a week [Highest Earner] and replaceable) and brought in Tomkins from West Ham for £5.25m on £32k per week. He's been so good he's now a regular in the England Squad (although never gets capped).

I've just had to sell Baines, however. He requested a transfer, which I accepted (as a rule I always do, as it means I don't have to pay any loyalty bonuses and they usually ask to be removed eventually). On deadline day Manchester United offered £20m cash for him, which I accepted as again he's nearing 30 although not as replaceable as Heitinga. Due to lack of time I've had to stick with what I've got, which at the moment has been Bidwell and Oviedo. Bidwell has come on quite well, but isn't great going forward, whilst Oviedo has looked promising but is suspect defensively.

Hopefully I can hold on in the European spots until summer, when I can replace Baines properly, until then Bidwell is getting an extended run-in. I tried for Shaw, but being deadline day Southampton wanted £37m. I'll try again in Summer.

@DandyDon; what's your youth intake been like? In the 2 years so far I've had 3 players of 4*+, all of which have been strikers! It's a nightmare as it's already my strongest position. Is that something you've seen?

[DandyDon]

Actually Hart seems to have lost his place at City, they've bought in Antonio Adan and he's played 30 games compared to 18 for Hart. Might keep my eye on that just in case.

I've only just had my first youth intake and the highest rated player was 4 star rated right back.

EDIT: Southampton seem to want some insane prices for the likes of Shaw and Clyne, haven't been able to afford either of them on any save yet

[D0bi]

I'm reasonably happy with Stones as my RB, he's improving slowly attributes wise but his performances have been brilliant. Fierro celebrated coming back from a 7 month injury by smashing a 30 yarder in against Leicester in the FA Quarter Finals, looks like he's ready to start terrorising defences again.

I've managed to avoid Liverpool in the Semis, I've drawn Derby at Pride Park, whilst Liverpool are facing Newcastle. Could be a Merseyside derby in the FA Cup Final, although I hope not; their front 3 is Suarez, Yarmolenko and Coutinho with Gerrard just behind them. Gerrard has 16 goals from 22 games, Suarez is on 24 from 30 and Yarmolenko has 15 from 21; scary

Slowly gaining ground on Spurs in 4th, just 3 points between us now. Wanyama and Recio are back now, Wanyama is yet to go below an 8.0 rating for the last 6 games

[DandyDon]

Everton 2012/13 season - End of season report

Finished off a rather strange opening season this afternoon. Some real surprises at the top and bottom of the table, well surprising to me at least

We actually managed to hold on to a Champion's League spot, in fact we actually grabbed an automatic qualification spot by sneaking into third place in the last few weeks as Arsenal rather imploded.

Final Table:-

I was very surprised to see Spurs keep up their title challenge and in fact leapfrog Man Utd in the final three weeks, but looks like getting to another Champion's League final meant Utd rather took their eye off the ball. Things were very tight down in the relegation spots and again surprised to see West Ham and Swansea down there but depending how our transfer funds look in the summer I'm definitely hoping to take advantage of their plight. As for ourselves third place was something of an over achievement and I'm delighted with it, our performances in the domestic cups left a lot to be desired though going out to lower league opposition in both competitions.

The Results January to May:-

Again we had some very good results in the second half of the season, beating eventual champions Spurs was probably our best performance....though beating Stoke 3-0 where we also hit the woodwork 5 times was pretty good too. However we also suffered from an inability to hold onto a lead in several games, drawing several we should have won easily and almost throwing 3rd place away when we let a 3-1 lead slip against Southampton on the last day of the season.

Jagielka was my player of the season, finishing with the highest average rating in the squad, though Baines did make it into the league's Team of the Season. Fellaini finished with a good run of form that saw him almost beat Jagielka in the end, but he soured it slightly with more complaints about wanting to move to a bigger club, and getting Mirallas involved as well. Victor Anichebe had a great little run toward the end of the campaign when Jelavic's season was ended by an ankle injury.

Given the added pressure next season of European football I'll definitely be looking to add to the squad during the summer, depending on course on the finances. I may be tempted to cash in on both Fellaini and Mirallas, assuming I'd get a decent percentage of the fee to spend, after their complaints in the last few weeks. Fellaini was unwilling to accept assurances that we could meet his ambition by playing in the Champion's League by the end of next season despite the fact that at the time we were one only game away from clinching automatic qualification. If I can't raise decent money for transfers then I will look to work the loan market again and hope I can find a couple of players who had the impact Eduardo and Gaitan had.

[DandyDon]

Hmmm, only a £525,000 transfer budget and we'd only receive 10% of transfer income.....looks like loan market it is then

[D0bi]

Yeah finances are a bit tight aren't they

I have £23m in my transfer budget at the end of the second season (due to selling Heitinga and Baines), but obviously it resets come the start of the season, meaning I'll probably get around £1m again this season.

As a result I'm trying to do all my transfer dealings before the season resets, looking at Neil Taylor from Swansea (as Baines' replacement) and once again at Isco, as Malaga are about to be promoted to La Liga, so hopefully he still thinks he's in Adelante in terms of reputation.

[DandyDon]

Yeah they are pretty tight

Everton 2013/14 Season - Summer transfers

I made a couple of freebie signings and decent loan deals to start with, then I managed to do a bit of wheeling and dealing early in the transfer window to bring some money in. Those fees combined with the £53 million in TV money seemed to put our balance in a much healthier looking state, to the extent that the board were willing to reinvest 75% of transfer fees.

I'd been annoyed by Kevin Mirallas complaining about my treatment of Fellaini toward the end of the season, just because I wouldn't sell Mr Big Hair or lower his asking price, so I offered Mirallas out pretty much as soon as the transfer window opened. Eventually managed to wrangle £13.5 million out of Valencia and Lokomotiv Moscow with Mirallas opting to head to Spain. Oviedo joins him offer there after agreeeing a £3.7 million deal with Sevilla and Naismith, who'd wanted a move due to lack of games, was offloaded to Stuttgart for £4 million (Feel I should have gotten slightly better fees for those two though).

Fellaini was still unhappy and wanting a move to a bigger club, so with the balance looking a little healthier I decided to take the plunge and offer him out to clubs at £40 million to see what sort of fee I could get for him. Not surprisingly it was a couple of the oil rich clubs who came in with offers for him, Spurs had been his main suitors early on in summer, but they obviously didn't have the funs to compete. Man City came in with a £25 million bid, but PSG pushed the boat out and offered a whopping £37 mill. Obviously I was happy to accept that bid as it had the added bonus that I wouldn't be selling him to a league rival.

With all that done it meant I had a transfer budget of just under £27 million in the end, I might have gotten a larger share of the fee if I'd held on to him for a season or two, but I felt it was worth the risk to strengthen the squad overall.

First new signings of the summer were a couple of freebie deals that I'd arranged during the season. The ever popular David Ospina arriving from French club Nice to replace Jan Mucha and Italian midfielder Federico Casarini snapped up from Bologna. Before I was sure I was going to sell Fellaini I organised a couple of loan deals as well, bringing in winger Pedro Leon from Real Madrid and Federico Balzaretti to provide some experienced back up to Leighton Baines.

Once the money had come in for Fellaini though I made a major recruitment drive to strengthen the squad in several areas. I mostly concentrated on younger players to help freshen things up, but did bring in a couple of older faces too. Alberto Paloschi joined for a combined fee of £2.7 million to Chievo and AC Milan, bringing in a striking option with a bit more pace. Added two young central midfielders that had been highly recommended by my scouts in Leon Goretzka from German club Bochum and Lucas Romero from Velez in Argentina. Those deals cost me about £3 million upfront, but there will be more to follow if either of them are capped. Then brought Nico Gaitan back to the club after his loan deal last season, he'd been transfer listed by Benfica for a bargain £6 million fee (well bargain in my eyes). Paid £750,000 to Spurs to bring in Scott Parker for a couple of years, providing a wise old head in central midfield and a potential tutor to the younger players.

The last three signings I made took advantage of the Monthly installment method, and I'm hoping that any Champions League income should offset those. With Swansea relegated I jumped in with a bid for Michu who'd requested a transfer, getting him for a total fee of £9.5 million. Managed to prize Nathan Clyne from Southampton for a total of £8.75 million, but they wouldn't budge under £20 mill for Shaw unfortunately. The final deal of the summer was £10 million for Belgian midfielder Kevin De Bruyne (only £2.5 mill upfront) to add some more flair and creativity to our midfield.

Pretty happy with the deals overall, we might not be quite as strong in central midfield at the moment with Fellaini, but I've got a younger squad now, with several options in most areas. Even managed to keep a little cash to dip into the transfer market in January if need be, though I doubt I will unless we have serious injury problems. Looking to the future my goal next summer will be to try and sign a long term replacement for Jagielka, and possibly Baines though I do have a very promising new left back recruit in the youth team.

[D0bi]

Great signings there DandyDon, I've had quite a busy transfer period to begin the third season. Bearing in mind I'm just starting August, and Arsenal are (annoyingly) checking out Wanyama, so there could be more dealings as of yet.

Outs -

Distan - Left at the end of his contract, and has now become a Coach with us. If you still have him Don, sign him up! [Det17, Mental20, Fit17, Def16 are his main stats]

Hallam Hope Loan to Bristol. Does look reasonably promising although hasn't developed much in the last year or so. Hopefully comes on with game time.

Victor Anichebe - He has played for Everton his whole career but I'm fighting for CL football this year so I figured he wasn't good enough for this level. Managed to get £5.25m for him.

Ins

Neil Taylor - joins for £7.5m from relegated Swansea, should be a perfect replacement for Baines, and only wanted £36k p/w in wages (which is below my £50k p/w wage cap).

Alex Grimaldo - The Barcelona trainee joined us for £1.4m, I'll be looking to convert him from a wing-back to an all out winger, much like Bale. Should develop into a strong player in time.

Ashley Cole - I saved the best til last. Having just signed Neil Taylor, you could say I don't exactly need him, but he got released from Chelsea and joined on a free with just £40k p/w wages and a clause that if he plays 20 League Games this season he gets an additional year.

I tried to sign Isco but Malaga weren't accepting less than £30,500,00 for him. When I (jokingly) accepted to pay that he wanted £98k, which I couldn't afford. I could do with another attacking player (Jelavic and Naismith are the only strikers over 20 years old) but I have that many promising, young strikers that I want to give them a chance to shine. I want to sign Fontas as he looks incredible and Barcelona only want £2.1m for him, but Fontas is refusing to even discuss terms.

[DandyDon]

Taylor is an excellent signing, I snapped him up on an earlier Newcastle save and he was Mr Reliable for me. Ashley Cole on a freebie is good business as well.

Would Barca accept a loan deal for Fontas? That's sometimes a way to get a player for a season at least when he won't talk terms on a permanent deal.....he might enoy himself so much you could buy him the following season.

[D0bi]

Taylor is an excellent signing, I snapped him up on an earlier Newcastle save and he was Mr Reliable for me. Ashley Cole on a freebie is good business as well.

Would Barca accept a loan deal for Fontas? That's sometimes a way to get a player for a season at least when he won't talk terms on a permanent deal.....he might enoy himself so much you could buy him the following season.

Unfortunately I tried a loan deal first, Barcelona accepted but Fontas declined. I suspect I need to get Champions League football before Fontas will come to me. Just signed Sejad Salihovic (subject to a Work Permit) from Hoffenheim for £775k, should hopefully give me more attacking/creative opportunities.

[DandyDon]

Unfortunately I tried a loan deal first, Barcelona accepted but Fontas declined. I suspect I need to get Champions League football before Fontas will come to me. Just signed Sejad Salihovic (subject to a Work Permit) from Hoffenheim for £775k, should hopefully give me more attacking/creative opportunities.

Ah, that's a shame. Hopefully he's still available for a good price if you get Champions League this season

Salihovic isn't the hardest of workers is he....but hell of passer and absolute beast with free kicks. Should be a fun signing, especially at that price

[D0bi]

Yeah I know which is why I don't generally look to players with a low work rate/teamwork stat, but for that price I can hopefully be strong enough defensively to let him have free reign higher up the pitch to create chances.

Fierro has continued his ridiculous run in Europe (against Odd in the Europa League Playoff First Leg) he now has 6 goals from his 3 European games, and has scored in every continental game he has played in. Mirallas is unbelievable as an Inside Forward Attack on the right hand side, so good when he cuts inside.