John Stones

Anaesthetic Registrar. Husband. Dad. Everton FC. Cycling. Not the Man City centre back. Views my own.

[John Stones @JohnMStones]

@badwool9 Love this

[The Bobble @ElBobble]

Everton Football Club, the senior club and don’t you forget it 🔵

[John Stones @JohnMStones]

@medicluke @LeedsHospitals Yes mate! Congrats, you'll be great.

[John Stones @JohnMStones]

@peebs1878 @Lea_EFC It was a ridiculous day, the tension was awful. I only just got in, turnstiles closed just after. Bumped into you on the Gwladys Street within minutes of getting in, then we're 2 down in 20 minutes. And we'd already bought season tickets for the next year!

[Citizens of Suburbia @CitizenSuburbia]

Cracking thread by Mike.

I'd add 5 points:

1. Corruption in the game took off at Fifa 50 years ago via Joao Havelenge/ISL. Worth reading Brian Glanville on Havelenge & watching the Netflix documentary on Fifa. UEFA & the PL looked at Fifa & thought: "we'll have abit of that". What we are seeing is copy cat manouvres. Attending a Euro or WC game shows how overpriced & commoditised everything is. This was happening long before it seeped into the PL.

2. The entry of US Private Equity has accelerated commoditisation (i.e. turning the game into a product/treating fans as consumers). It has also accelerated player wage growth, which is catching up with US Sports. Awash with cheap money from low rates during the post crash years, these guys watched the Glazers making money, saw the prestige of the sport & thought - again - "we'll have abit of that". But, many of them have experience only in US Sports, which is a massively different. US sports consumers are by far richer. The market is about the same size as the *entire top 5 Euro leagues* combined. Football club valuations are cheaper than US sports for a reason. When they do leave, there will be a mess left behind (which is why I fear 777 or any US based ownership).

3. UK based fans of the PL - bread & butter of revenues - have already been milked to the hilt. You cannot raise ticket prices significantly each year, so match day income will grow slowly. UK broadcasting rights are at peak value. Growth prospects lie in attracting + extracting overseas fans. You will attract plenty from Africa, India & Far East. But you will not be able to extract from them - they don't have the same spending power or commitment. Only US fans can match (and outspend) UK fans, but there are multiple competing popular US sports. So the PL will enjoy some growth, but will wholly be dependent on Media platforms / innovation from content providers. Amazon & Netflix know this & so hold the whip hand. Unlike Sky, they dont need the PL. So they will drive a hard bargain.

4. So, with diminishing growth prospects, rapacious US private equity that will retreat & a £1bn of annual losses, a reckoning is coming for the PL. They are held up by a pyramid: 20 club members - EFL - Non league - Grass Roots. Under Masters, the PL have fucked off each & every one of these constituencies. Masters has become a slave to the big 6. He knows the PL (& he) can kiss goodbye to supremacy the day a super league is formed. So he has alienated the game's localised community base. PSR meanwhile, was an attempt at creating a profitable & sustainable beast. But noble aspirations in theory have been botched & manipulated...whilst PL clubs have made £1bn of losses💀

5. How has the PL's transformation into a corporate villain contributed to our problems? I believe Everton have suffered from the clear clash between our ethos as a community club vs what the PL now stands for. I do not think Philip Carter, when he supported the break away (mainly due to annoyance at the BBC/ITV duopoly) for one second thought this is how the PL would end up. Post Heysel, we lacked the global appeal Utd & Liverpool had & London clout of Spurs, Chelsea & Arsenal. City won the lottery before rules changed. But, under better owners over the last 20 years, we could have turned fortune our way. Instead, we were left at the mercy of Bill & he then gleefully found a billionaire idiot to indulge him. This disastrous reign has now left on our knees, with US owners in the wings 🤦🏾‍♂️. Whether its 777, MSP or some mysterious US Bidder favoured by Esk/Josimar - we need a check & balance.

Its why I believe Fan Ownership is needed. Provided we stay up, it can make us better run, live within our means, align with the community, avoid administration & even thrive in the PL as other clubs suffer a reckoning.

Crucially, this would attract investors on *our terms* rather than begging for it.

#EFC
#Everton

[John Stones @JohnMStones]

@MaccaBill @evertonspares I'm after 2, can meet you in Newcastle tomorrow.

[John Stones @JohnMStones]

@hmcglash @evertonspares Still available? I'll take them if so

[John Stones @JohnMStones]

@Fad1878 Fantastic news, really well done.

[John Burn-Murdoch @jburnmurdoch]

NEW:

Britain’s grim winter of strikes, falling incomes and a worsening NHS crisis is not some unfortunate series of events

It’s the inevitable result of a decade of Tory austerity that steadily weakened the state’s capacity to respond to shocks

https://t.co/xJcNiCJk2b

Thread:

[David Squires @squires_david]

Here’s this week’s cartoon for @guardian_sport https://t.co/omcEqaSt20

[Reubs @ReubenPinder]

Every single father in the UK this winter

[Caitlin Moran @caitlinmoran]

Amazing line from guy on the BBC talking about the Tories, post-Boris: "The ringmaster has left the circus, and now the lions are eating the clowns."

[Michael Jacobs @michaelujacobs]

If you’re a Tory MP elected in or before 2015 your head must be spinning today. In the last seven years you’ve had to argue for compassionate conservatism, austerity, getting rid of green crap, net zero, tackling burning injustices, cutting Universal Credit, industrial strategy…

[HLTCO @HLTCO]

I actually can’t believe football has been cancelled all the way down to Grassroots this weekend.

How are 7 and 8 year old kids supposed to observe an official period of mourning? They’re children, they just want to kick a ball about in the park with their mates.

[John Stones @JohnMStones]

@lewiskeen1 @evertonspares Yours if you want it mate

[John Stones @JohnMStones]

@evertonspares 1 spare ticket for today in the Top Balcony, face value, meet outside the ground.

[John Stones @JohnMStones]

@murph_cat @evertonspares @JayLaw1987 Yes still available

[Andy Mitten @AndyMitten]

I get Everton’s joy. Football’s not just about trophies: most teams don’t win trophies, the highs come from moments. I grew up watching football behind bars. They were awful and dangerous.
These pitch invasions are usually acts of joy. But there’s always a bell who goes too far.

[John Stones @JohnMStones]

@Eightbadgers Is this still available mate?

[James Mitchinson @JayMitchinson]

Do not let this Prime Minister tell you tomorrow or the next day that he's identified the rot and cleared it out, so things will only get better. Do not for a moment avert your gaze from the root and cause of the gangrene. Those who have gone are not it. It remains.