Dutch pundit's bizarre rant at Marcel Brands

I certainly felt the same this summer and we can't have many more windows like that.

You know, like Paul Merson or Phil Thompson.

Take their word as gospel also Paul?

Next...

It was Wim Kieft, that joker who broke Irish hearts with the winner at Euro 88. He may be bitter because he was an assistant coach at PSV when Brands arrived but was let go within a year.

Take their word as gospel? Odd way to look at football opinions. I don't think the dutch pundit (as you correctly put) was up in court, it was just his opinion and yes I took it as real.

I reckon he knows more about Brands than I do and I agree with his comments on our transfers this season so I take his comments on board.

Next.

I don't believe in Director of football genius either to be honest and i'd like to find some reasons why some club owners think its the right thing to do?

I don't really like the man but if I had to have someone choosing transfers in that capacity it would be Moyes.

I do think the Director of Football muddies the water in terms of accountability. Mike Walker was in charge, he signed crap players and the team played crap and he was sacked.

With a Director of Football, the coach can blame the director for bad signings, while the director can blame the coach for wasting their talents. So if things go wrong, what do you do? Fire one, fire both? If you fire one and are still useless do you bring him back and fire the other one?

You like what Wim Kieft sounded off about as it echoes your own sentiments about Marcel Brands.

And you put up Moyes as a better alternative?

I thought you were big on 'pride' at EFC?

Hmmm. 'n if you know yer 'istory, 'n all that.

Evertons Marcel Brands today.
Man U's Ed Woodward yesterday.

Not every journalist uncovers "Watergate" every year.

90% forgettable fiction, 9% pure gossip, 1% well researched, accurate truth. And even then the good stuff is rarely bloody earthshaking.

"I reckon he knows more about Brands than I do". Paul A Smith, have you ever even been in the same room as either of these men ?
No. No I bet that you haven't, so do yourself a huge favour. Talk about what you DO know. It's the very first rule of writing anything. Say what you like, but admit that it's conjecture or opinion. IF it is factual, then substantiate with evidence.

He patently ignores Brands's highly successful time with PSV and then doesn't put his time at Everton in context. When Brands and Silva came in, they were, whether we like to admit it or not, inheriting an eccentric squad. It was a bizarre mix of knee jerk buys, failed Walsh, Koeman, Allardyce's and Martinez's signings along with original Moyes players in key positions who needed replacing. We had way too many No 10 types but not enough defenders and centre midfielders.

I find it stupid to criticise Brands based on us finishing 8th after his first season following the events of the previous 3 years. Perhaps judge his role and performance next summer and remember that he's not the one who sets out the tactics or team selections. But do look at the balance of the squad, how his players have progressed.

To me it looks like Brands has three objectives. To bring in youth either to eventually play in the first team or to be sold on for profit. Secondly, to do some surgery in certain positions long term and he's addressed that in defence to some extent. Lastly, to recruit pace for the attack which he's done with Iwobi and Bernard.

The only signing we have made thus far under his leadership that has puzzled me is Delph. Which is a lot better than under Walsh where I was constantly baffled by the signings of Vlasic, Bolasie, Williams, multiple No 10s...

Sorry, couldn't resist.

He named Adam Maher and Bert Ramselaar.
I know very little about the latter, but I can say that Maher was once considered a big talent at my local team AZ Alkmaar, and even played 5 times for the Dutch national team.
It was no real surprise that PSV bought him.

It then came out that he had a suspect sexual life, often with married women in public places.
His playing days at PSV were over.
Via Osmanlispor in Turkey, he came back to our country via FC Twente, and AZ again.
He now plays for FC Utrecht.

To blame Marcel Brands for this, is a bit rich for an ex-coke addict.

It has always amazed me how that cretin Van der Meijde got away with his shambolic behaviour when at our club. Acting like a second rate George Best.
In my opinion Moyes shoulders more blame for that, than Marcel Brands for not suspecting Maher would go off the rails.

Turns out Van der Meyde was only just starting to go off the rails and he took it to new levels at Everton. So we couldn't be ready for all that happened. But alarm bells were there before we signed him and that was reflected in the price.

But you're Dutch so you probably know more about this and whether some of the above was actually incorrect.

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A funny story I remember from his time at Inter Milan, he lived on the verges of Lake Como, which is a very nice part of Italy.

Once when arriving home, he walked through the dark garage, he got licked by something. Which turned out to have been a camel..., bought by his girlfriend to surprise him.

They were building some sort of mini-zoo together.