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NO doubt the vast majority of Evertonians were encouraged this week when they read that progress is being made with David Moyes's contract.

However, it might be a bit premature to then deduce that the manager must have been reassured that he has a decent transfer fund, and that in turn we can expect to see some big names doing the whole shirt-holding thing any time soon.

While we would all like to believe that the only thing that matters to the manager, or any other employee of the club, is how they can do their bit to ensure progress is made on the pitch, you can almost certainly guarantee that the delays over Moyes's new deal will have revolved around his remuneration, and not cash for players

SO, Darren Fletcher is the latest player to be measured up to see if he fits the warm indentation left in the Everton midfield settee by the departure of Lee Carsley.

Rumour has it that Goodison chiefs have actually produced a prospectus that they distribute to Manchester United squad players every summer.

The magazine and accompanying DVD have the catchy strapline, 'Everton - no need to move house'.

DAVID MOYES is apparently back at his desk this week, so once he's cleared out a load of e-mails and watered his parched plants we might begin to get more of a definite idea of where his real targets lie in the transfer market.

Every summer is filled with rumours and whispers but this one seems to have been particularly bad, with the uncertainty fuelled by the fact that the manager himself hasn't signed a new contract yet and the future of the proposed new ground seems to be somewhat in the balance.

With regards to the first point, Moyes's contract, the fact that we appear to be on the verge of recruiting him a new assistant, in the shape of Newcastle United's Steve Round, gives a fair indication that they are confident their man is going to be in situ for the start of the new season.

AS Euro 2008 enters its latter stages, any worries about the tournament being of no interest because of England's absence have proved pretty much unfounded.

It's been great, with nearly every side apart from Greece looking to come and play attacking football.

Gone, it seems, are the interminable group games that blighted the international tournaments of our youth and made the first week of a World Cup or a European Championship a bigger anti-climax than all that endless swimming at the start of the Olympics

THERE are few people who seemed to have much time for Paul Ince, the player.

Opposing fans obviously could never stand him, but even those of the clubs he played for rarely seem to have much affection for him either.

Give him his due now though, after he finished playing he chose to go about a career in management in the old-fashioned way, starting at Macclesfield Town and then moving on to the MK Dons

AARON RAMSEY'S decision to go to Arsenal comes as a bit of a surprise, although most people expected him to choose Manchester United, not Everton.

However, you can't blame David Moyes for trying, and reports that he met with the player and his family - something that Sir Alex Ferguson failed to do - shows that the Goodison manager was determined to give it his best shot.

However, the odds of Ramsey preferring the chance of first team football at Goodison, as opposed to life on the sidelines at a Champions League club, were always pretty slim.

For Everton's part though, this clearly certainly wasn't some sort of bogus bid - what's commonly referred to as a 'Shearer' by our supporters - and it's kind of refreshing to see us referred to as one of the 'top clubs in the country' for a change

I have tried to avoid the subject.

I have racked my brain for something light hearted and uplifting to say but my mind keeps falling back into the unavoidable issue generations of blues are debating and arguing over.

My attempt to ride along with the process of building a new stadium and accepting whatever the journey brings has failed miserably. I was of the mind that what will be will be and despite my reservations about the move I was willing to put my trust (although some will say I was hugely naive) in the Everton hierachy to deliver a stadium we could not afford to not move to.

IT SEEMS that David Moyes and the Everton Former Players' Association, to whom the manager has kindly donated his damages, are the beneficiaries of the manager's legal victory over statements in Wayne Rooney's book, My Story So Far.

These concern Rooney's assertion that the Everton manager breached his trust and, not surprisingly, the offending comments were removed from the paperback edition of the book, published after the instigation of Moyes's legal action. Still, anyone who has had the misfortune of reading the 'cleaned up' version will be struck by the vindictive and petty tone it adopts whenever there is any reference to Moyes.

This is in stark contrast, by the way, to the celestial glow that radiates from the page when he mentions anyone connected with Manchester United and England.

www.followeverton.com has reported that Everton will release pictures for the new kit (2008/09) on Thursday 5th June.

The club have left a teaser on the official website which suggests the words 'Grand Old Team To Play For' will be embedded into the collar thereby indicating a possible retro-look for next seasons kit. Although the precise nature of the feature is not clear - it is possible that the famous words may be visible on the outside of the kit.

HASN'T Warren Bradley got anything better to do than work on proposals for an Everton and Liverpool ground-share?

From an Everton perspective there are those vehemently opposed to a move to Kirkby, others who are keen, and yet more who probably see it as, perhaps with some regret, the best option on the table.

Councillor Bradley himself says his preference is a redevelopment of Goodison Park - and there's a plan that would get almost universal backing from the paying supporters - but that without a commitment from Everton then it can't be pursued.