Almost the end...

Of the season that is. I’m talking about the end because next week’s match doesn’t really matter. We are already out of contention for a spot in the Europa League, and we can’t move up or down from 8^th place in the Premier League. So you can’t really blame me for looking ahead. But I’ll write a season recap post and a post looking forward to the future next week after the season is officially over.

The last couple of weeks of the Prem League have been a little less exciting than other leagues. This is only because the three teams relegated from the Prem are already written in stone (Hull City, Burnley, and Portsmouth). Newcastle and West Brom are going to be back in the Prem with a playoff deciding the third spot (it’s between Nottingham Forest, Cardiff City, Leicester City, and Blackpool). The top of the league is a little more exciting. Chelsea is in first while Man U. is one point behind for the league title. Tottenham is in 4^th place with a spot for Champions League qualifying, but Manchester City is only a point behind with two games to play for both of them (they play each other on Wednesday).

Now back to Everton news:

- Phil Neville is enthusiastic for next season, even if we don’t bring anyone else into the club.

“Eighth position feels like a bit of a failure. I honestly can’t believe we’re there, but you get what you deserve in the league, and the poor first half of the season has cost us dearly.”

“If we were a club on the slide that wasn’t signing players or producing young players maybe you would worry, but at the moment the way we’re playing football and how we’ve improved shows we’re moving forward.”

“It doesn’t bother me if we don’t bring anyone in because we’ve got a strong squad."

That’s a lot of confidence in our current team. I like this a lot, but injuries have always been the most important factor in Everton’s failure and we need to make sure we have capable backups like the elite teams.

- Looks like we are favorites to sign Jermaine Beckford (free transfer) according to this article.

- This news was out a couple of days ago but I forgot to post it. Everton is going to tour Australia in July facing a few A-League sides. Details are on this site.