Free From Permutations

Results very worrying. 
Performances concerning, to say the least. 

Never mind "where's the spin on this?" - IS there anything that could possibly be spinned on the Etihad and the Community Stadium?

Well, much has been stated and quoted on social media.  We're the butt of everyone's jokes once more.

We could discuss how what has become one of the most efficient squads in Europe, not just the Premier League, dispatch us, as soon as our biggest passing asset (Demarai Gray) had to be withdrawn after 14 minutes.

We could discuss how ordinary we looked prior to Gray's late substitution seven days later.

There may be no quick fix.

But - YES: there is a 'but', one factor that has slowly crept a hand-cuff upon our financial wrists since the gravy train departed in 2011, has not been  discussed. It's an issue that has the potential to make us, or completely obliterate any chance of medium-term progress.

FFP.
Yes, those three damn letters.

A thorough review of how the away goal in European double-legged competition has long warranted removal has eventually been realised. Sterile 1st-leg ties have long been blamed on the fear of having to score three without reply IF the away goal is conceded, creating a false atmosphere in stadiums.

As far as I'm concerned, 180 minutes is more than enough to separate two teams, and that extra-time needs to go as well (if UEFA is serious about protecting the long-term futures of athletic young humans), so we have to take that decision with a pinch of salt, as we do the introduction of the Europa Conference WITHOUT making the 'top table' tournament exclusive entrance to League winners, plus holders of the Champions' League & Europa League.

But like all professional sports, football is progressing as an athletic discipline at a rate never seen before, so I'm all in favour of the principle of change.

FFP is one issue that really needs to be got right by UEFA though...

A black hole in funding is nothing unique to European football in these very, very worrying times on planet Earth right now; yet something really needs to happen sooner, rather than later, if interest in the sport is going to niche-narrow ever further.

So how do UEFA influx more dosh into the sporting economy - without major institutions falling as a result?

Good question in some respects.

I'm no solicitor, politician or philosopher, meaning I don't know all the answers.

But I sure believe in the lateral potential of the word: TEAMWORK.

Teamwork, as in networking; bringing not just people, but organisations together in a common culture and objective.

Rather than merely trying to offer safety nets for clubs that are not necessarily mis-run, but that simply cannot keep pace with 21st-century sporting enterprise, introduce far greater networking in local, national and international communities as far as a combined personnel duty throughout sporting organisations; and link such positive performance to spending restrictions currently in place.

I'm NOT necessarily referring to charitable service.

I'm referring to greater to organisations' transparency, from accountancy documentation to long-term financial planning; helping institutions keep their feet on the ground in the form of better overall practice culture. Actions that back-up words.

Now, this all may well sound good in spoken word.
What the devil does it have to do with Everton?

The under-pinning explanation why the fourth most successful football club in England has only qualified for ANY European football competition 7 times in 31 seasons, winning just one F.A. Cup in the process, is a lack of money to bring players and commercial revenue required.  The footballing equivalent of NFL power rankings would have a very unpalatable graph of power diminution was never anyone's intention, and there would be no desire to put the long-term future of our club in peril without great reason.

Yet here we are: loads of money, but can't spend it.

So why not make all sporting bodies MAKE clubs earn the right to press fast-forward with conviction by cleaning up the culture of practice - NOT with black print on white paper-alone, but by showing greater social ambition?

Again, not necessarily charitable, but we would surely be the first to say:
"IF Mr [you-know-who] isn't going to deal with these problems, we'll set a very good example ourselves; in co-ordination with respected, transparent organisations. Bringing the best out of all, in culture of practice".

We all may have been asking ourselves many questions over the past 30-odd years. 
I'd like to see clubs and sporting bodies working with one-another, rather than fighting into a very toxic scenario that ends with far more losers than winners.

I could go on-and-on, but you surely get the picture:
Working together, bringing the best from one-another, whether it be clubs-to-clubs transfer culture (when dog-eats-dog ends)
or more mature spending programmes in all aspects prevail...

On that note, enjoy tonight's derby.  (If you haven't got to work through the match, that is!)