ARCHIVES 2002/2003

After the struggles we've had over the last 10 years or so, it's quite something to find yourself near to tears for finishing 7th!! However, desperately disappointing it was - and it had to be THEM, didn't it?

We could blame Spurs! No, we lost it last week, really. Or we lost it when Radz got injured. But it was all in our own hands - and we didn't need to lose to Fulham. Better to be 7th than a West Ham fan though. Fancy being relegated with 42 points!

And nice to have Darren (and Duncan) back. Very stupid of efc to decide to change their website today, however - and for a minute there, it seemed like we were going to get no commentary! (Perhaps it might've been better if we hadn't!)

But there's this to look forward to! :)

THANK YOU TRILLIE for a wonderful season!

Shocking. TWO OWN GOALS at Fulham. I was embarrassed to listen (dreadful Radio City commentary - please bring back Darren for a bit of passion). And we should've had about 7 goals, but Kevin was profligate as usual ("he must score - oh he's slipped"). We had the threesome of Kevin, Rooney and Duncan on the pitch + Steve Watson for a bit of added offensive clout. Even Alessandro came on during the second half (fit at last) - but his throw-ins hardly made a difference. We are very badly missing Tomasz.

THANK GOD for West Brom! Thank you, West Brom - because of you and your equalising at Blackburn (the biggest cheer of the afternoon, from here!) we still have a chance - but it's a scary one. Blackburn are 2 points behind us and they have to go to Tottenham next week. Tottenham keep losing. But we are at home! Against Man Utd. Grrh. I think that all Arsenal fans, everywhere, are suddenly Everton fans too now - but I am praying that MU win the title before they come to our place next Sunday - that way, we have a chance. If they need to win - they probably will win. And we can't afford to lose. We can lose if Blackburn lose - but not if they draw. But if they draw, we can draw - and, if we win - they can do whatever they like!!

So, it's all down to next Sunday. It's going to be very nervewracking.

26th April

We beat the Villa 2-1 and hang on, for dear life, to that 6th spot - but goodness, that was a tight thing. Rooney to the rescue! Phew! We are just not the same team, it seems to me, without Radzinski - our forward line is abysmal (and we really and truly, therefore, should've hung onto McBride.) Where is Alessandro these days??

25th April

Apologies to anybody who might've actually been trying to access this page over the last few weeks. The domain went in limbo for a while, due to problems with hosts - but back now (although we might disappear briefly again at some stage, because the webmaster is uncertain that she's in the right place!).

Not been going so well, has it? I saw the Arsenal game and thought we were unlucky. I saw the Newcastle game and thought we were great. I saw the Chelsea game and thought we were diabolical. And now we have Blackburn on our tail for that last UEFA spot. We will do it though!

And Trilly's 40 this weekend!!

2nd March

It sounds like we should've beaten 'Boro - but might've put money on Juninho scoring past us on his return! Oh well. But we're 4th and in a Champions League position!! Still we are seemingly not worthy of more than 2 seconds on that shoddy Saturday night programme though. And why do they all sound so amazed when they remark on our position in the table? They sound SO disappointed!

22nd February

Today, at lunchtime, we were Live On Sky!! The score should've been something like 31-1, but we'll take the 2-1 and the three points! Phew! Earlier, the scMU had scored a 90th minute goal, to draw their game at Bolton. We did better than that! Thomasz equalised on 85 and scored the winner in the 93rd minute! And WHAT a goal! Trilly got so excited, you'd have thought he'd won the World Cup! ("Oh, goodie, goodie - that Trilobite book is nearly mine!", I distinctly saw him mouth).

I'm absolutely drained.

10th February

Losing is a new experience ..... How can you lose to Charlton? Oh well, at least Brian scored another and we're still 5th.

They have this on the Official site.

Evertonfc.tv has been working hard to bring Blues fans across the globe the best live audio service possible and we need your feedback to make it even better. In recent weeks we have used the commentary of Radio City 96.7 - with the likes of former Toffees’ stars Joe Parkinson and Ian Snodin giving their verdict on the day’s action. We have also used the services of club Press Officer, Darren Griffiths, who has been joined by the likes of Steve Watson, David Unsworth and Duncan McKenzie in the summariser's role. Let us know your thoughts on each one, so we can continue to make the improvements we feel Evertonians deserve.

Well, Darren already knows my feelings on the matter, as I wrote to him. I have NO problems with the commentators on Radio City, but Darren is BETTER, that's all. He comes over as more of a fan, with more feeling. What's more, I miss hearing Z-Cars as the teams come out - all we get now are loud, American-style ads booming out. I want Darren back!!

28th January

A nice away win at Bolton - our first ever win there (and two goals by Steve Watson! :S). Unfortunately, Chelsea let us down by winning when they had been losing - so denying us back our CL position.

I have written to Darren asking him where he is. I'm sure that Radio City are doing their best - but it's just not the same. (And those ads; oo-ee.)

19th January

3 goals in 2 games; you can't odds that! I talk of course of Brian McBride, who has exceeded my expectations already! Oh please can we keep him and not send him home in March?!? And Rooney has signed for us - I have to admit to be surprised at that - but must give the fella full-marks - how refreshing!

I didn't see yesterday's win against Sunderland (apart from the 2 second slot on ITV), but I did pay to watch the game against Spurs. How disappointing not to have come out of that game with something. Never mind - we're still holding a great league position - and Alessandro's back playing! Looking good! :)

4th January

I've been to Gay Meadow. Shrewsbury was, on the day I visited, shrouded in cloud and cold. The buildings seemed grey and ill at ease; the stadium itself - forlorn and depressed. Bet it wasn't like that today!!! Oh, oooooops! What on earth happened??? Now then, I love Kevin Ratcliffe and I'm happy for him. I'm happy for Shrewsbury Town - the players and the inhabitants. But how did it happen? (Why does it seemingly always happen?). Are we getting to believe that we're a "big team now" and only have to turn up? Were we tired after the Christmas/New Year amassing of 3 points? (Were we missing Kevin?)

Oh well, whatever the reason, we are out of the FA Cup and, I guess, we can now concentrate all our efforts on the league and that (almost unmutterable) goal of Europe. If Trilly gets us into Europe, I have made a pledge that I shall send him a copy of "Trilobite!" - so (if he's reading this) that will give him an even bigger incentive.

It IS possible that he reads this page because, lo and behold, has he not followed up on my biggest disappointment of 16th August and signed us Brian McBride for the rest of the season (work permit permitting)? That IS good news!! Kevin is poorly and Mighty Mauler is banned for 4 games - so it'll be McBride and Radzinsky up front next up? Could be good!

1st January 2003

What a lousy Christmas period! I was hoping that we might get 9 points and we got 3! Never mind, that's better than the 2 we would've had had Radzinsky not scored in the 90th minute today to get the draw with City. And we're still 4th!

Haven't been able to listen to any of the games. The Birmingham game: the broadcast was so cut up that they actually finished 20 minutes after time! The Bolton game: nothing (and a later apology on the website "We would like to apologise to all those who could not access the match commentary for this game due to a severe fault with our servers."). I wonder if that was the same excuse today because I got alternating "file doesn't exist" and "server saturated" messages from Real; until about 15 minutes from time, that was - and then we got something, but it wasn't Darren, so I turned it off and continued to listen to little Tone's comments on Sky.

Liverpool play Newcastle this evening, but I shan't update the table unless it's a draw! :)

22nd December

"Mr Trilly, sir - may I be Aimar today?"
"No, Kevin".
"Big Johnny Carew then?"
"No, Kevin".
"Is Wayne going to be Aimar today?"
*snigger* "Erm, no Kevin. Nobody's going to be Aimar today. I don't want you to be Valencia today - ye have te get stuck in good and strong and not give them any time on the ball. Work for 90 minutes. Close them down. The pretty stuff can wait for another day.".
"Sir, can I ask you a question?"
"Sure, Kevin"
"Can you tell the difference between Murphy, Callagher and Gerrard"?
"Aye, Kevin - that's a tough one. Chances are that they are but one and the same person".
"Clones?"
"Aye, quite possibly".
"Am I a clone, sir?"
"No there's only one of you, Kevin. Nobody else has such speed and control about the pitch. You'll soon be match fit, in my estimations."

And the story had a happy ending with a 0-0 draw at the red place - and we stay above them in the table - 4th!!

The lads were magnificent today, I thought! I particularly enjoyed Rooney's collision with the dainty, grass-arranging Kirkland! And we should've had a penalty (the Henchoz handball) and Gerrard should definitely have been sent off. All in all though, happy with the draw!

MERRY CHRIMBLE EVERYBODY!

15th December

We've stopped the rot! Everton 2 Blackburn 1. This sounded a very good game and Darren was doing his nut over Rooney. (I saw his goal on TV; it was good, but nothing to rupture blood vessels over!). Great to be ABOVE Liverpool coming up to the derby next week. So, Liverpool play today - but I shan't update the table! Only 3 points behind the leaders - wow!

8th December

I've just watched Wayne Rooney collect Young Sports Personality of the Year award on the Beeb!! And Trilly was there clapping him on as his bodyguard, and I don't think he was allowed to speak!! So, Young Sports Personality of the Year AND Manager of the Month! Everton sure are hitting the headlines!

But we lose 3 games in a row. We got done in, most unfairly, by Chelsea (again) yesterday. We really should've won that game - the least we deserved was a draw. But nothing would go in for us. Off posts; off lines; off sides. And they sent Unsie off. For what? Still, times are good. I had the shock of my life when they did the FA Cup draw and had Everton as one of the "Big 6"! Wow!!!!! (And, of course, they were number 14!). They picked up Shrewsbury Town away.

So, December is our slump month. We'll get over it.

4th December

Too many McFlurrys, Trill! I walked out of the front-room on 4-0, so missed our missed pen and our goal!! Thank goodness that it was at least Chelsea that did us like that - but a Petit, 2 Jimmys and a Mario says it all really - although it doesn't, because Zola was the genius behind Chelsea's romp. I can only hope that we can do 'em back at our house on Saturday.

Was it brave or was it foolish to play with the 3 up front? Well, whatever, none of them actually did anything (and it was Naysmith who scored our goal). Kevin is back to slow, slow, static and Rooney was hopeless tonight (he missed the pen) - hopefully (perhaps) he'll come down off his media-made cloud now and work a bit. Our midfield was absent; bar the Norwegian. The Chinaman was totally useless. "Jelly" the hub called him. Alessandro played and did ok, even though he was expected to defend and attack and take throw ins and play on the wrong side. Don't suppose they minded getting back on the bus for a few rounds of rummy and some gingerade. Not a good night for Unsie's 300th game.

1st December

I have such a headache! How tense was that??? It's very disappointing that we couldn't go 2nd - and even more disappointing because of the TERRIFIC way we played. And, of course, it was disappointing that the defeat came about by Shearer producing such a goal (which he ranks in his top 3; but why us?!?) and the other fluke thing what done us in completely. But we shouldn't be TOO disappointed because, what a performance that was! And, heck, we're still 5th! So, if Trilly could just now take them down to London - take in a show; a couple museums and a McFlurry or something - keep telling them they done great - then we'll be OK.

EXCELLENT performance - bum result.

24th November

WHOOEEEEEE!!! Isn't this great???? When was the last time we won 6 games in a row? We can't think that way, can we? Can we??? I think this is wonderful - not just for Everton, but for football in general. Isn't it just lovely to see Radzinsky being interviewed after the game and coming over as so genuinely delighted? None of that arrogance that has so haunted our sport over the last few years. They've WORKED to get where they are - and I'm absolutely over the moon for the players and for the fans.

10th November

Four Premiership wins in a row! Fourth spot! So many points already in November. OK, so it was only Charlton - but we're above the scummers and Tottenham - that's wonderful! :) (Congrats to Man City, btw - we all really loved it!!) My brother has Radzinski in his fantasy football team. Why?

Great win against Newcastle on Wednesday night too! Poor Alessandro and his own-goal! (I dreamt about him the other night; he was wearing my pink and green flip-flops!!! :))

Heady days!

3rd November

They're calling him Roonaldo!!!! Well, I don't know about that, but he sure has some appetite for the game! And we can't stop winning! I saw the game against West Ham last week and, although I was pleased with the result and with the performance, there wasn't an awful lot to comment on. I didn't see today's game, but listened to it on the Real thing and saw *the* goal on Sky. I'm not sure that even Trilly can believe this - 6th!!!!!!!

The comparison with Ronaldo is unfair, in my book. I watched him (Ronaldo) last night and he was, quite honestly, useless. They said he had a "swollen" knee. Nope - it was just fat to match the other one. When Rooney descends into playing in silver boots, we'll know he's been coaxed away to the Red half - as have so many of our young stars already. Let's hope this one might be more loyal.

20th October

Well how about that, guys and gals!! What joy to beat the Gunners (although he was quite quiet about it - the hub that is). And they're all going to be around sniffing out Rooney, aren't they? (And will we sell? Will he want to go?) Fair to say; I am almost in love with Trilly now (although I wasn't after the scum debacle, which I couldn't speak about - 5 minutes to go and we let in 3?!?! You realise if we'd drawn with them, we'd be on the same points as them now?)

1st October

Who wants to have to travel to Turin or the likes when they can play Wrexham in the first round of the Worthington Cup??? Well, we whumped 'um 3-0! "Can't Stop Kevin" got our first - and Wayne Rooney scored the other two. History there. At 16 years of age, he is the youngest player ever to score for Everton.

28th September

Kevin keeps on scoring!! What a strange game! The most boring (sounded) imaginable and a silent Goodison Park - but 2 goals in injury time, 1st half (by the Kevin and Graveson) gave us 3 points and shoot us up the table! And we had Duncan on the bench - and it seems that he managed to come through the game unscathed, so plenty of reasons to be cheerful!

22nd September

Spent a fiver to watch that! Oh goodness - Trilly locked them in afterwards - and quite rightly! I mean, we had HOLD of the game - they were all over the place. Who was that half-wit who left his post???? Hibbert? Who's he? Don't Let Him Play Again!! I mean, when you're 2-0 down and you come back (magnificently) to 2-2 (goals from Radzinsky and Campbell *groan*) and you are running the show - you don't LOSE the game! We were top of the bottom and we could've gone 6th (or a little under with a draw), but where are we???????

I have noticed that Everton are totally back to ugly players and I am missing Alessandro very much. Rooney! Now there's a one! What a thug!!! Still, at least we haven't been blessed (or even tempted) with Crouch.

28th August

I wasn't over the moon with our 0-1 win over Sunderland on Saturday (although an away win is very nice!) - as it sounded like (a) Sunderland were very demoralised for some reason and (b) Sunderland were also hard done by, which demoralised them further. They had a goal disallowed - and a penalty saved (nice one Mr Wright). Still, 5th or 6th in the table, depending on which table you look at - and above the scummers on alphabetic order. Contentment, is the word I would use.

BUT TONIGHT - how embarrassing - and what a relief to get a POINT out of Birmingham AT HOME, when we really should've got all 3 easily. We sounded rubbish. Stern John got a penalty - Stubbs was sent off - no hero Wright to save the penalty from John (injured - Simonsen in) - so there they were 1-0 and us down to 10 men. It was no good Darren keep saying that Birmingham really needed a win, but then, I guess he was cringeing along with the rest of us, so is forgiven. Fortunately, we got an own-goal right at the death - although Unsie will, it seems, be claiming it. Well, we haven't lost yet - and that's something. The pessimism lives on.

19th August

What's with Les Ferdinand? It seems he only scores against us - and yet always scores against us!! A home draw? Certainly Kevin's as profligate as normal - and so is the webcast as disappearing as normal (I could only pick it up on Linux; why's that?) I think it's going to be a long, fretful season.

16th August

Big day tomorrow - doing the Spurs would be a great start to the season! However, hopes? Not many - relegation survival again, I suppose - and I might pencil us in for the FA Cup semis. It's disappointing (though not surprising) that we have made so few changes over the break (a couple Chinese are not going to pacify me!). And, doesn't Trilly realise that we are desperately short of strikers - not goalkeepers??????? Biggest disappointment for me was that the rumours that Brian McBride was coming to us turned out to be false. (Rated him highly in the WC). And we still have Kevin ..........

ARCHIVES 2001/02