Results tagged “fixtures” from Everton Banter - Join the debate with EFC fans, staff writers and club legends

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

EVERTON'S initial reaction to playing the three newly-promoted clubs in their first three away games might be "happy days" but ideally you'd want to be facing these sides in February or March.

Eager and excited by the newness of the Premier League - particularly Stoke and Hull who haven't been there before - these kind of teams are a different animal when you come up against them in the early weeks of the season.

They're the kind of games you might go into with confidence when looking at them on paper but you'll often find the new boys play above their level at first so it's usually better to face them in the middle of the season when they haven't won for a while and a few injuries and defeats have dampened their spirits

EVERTON begin their Premier League season at home for the fifth season running with a visit from Blackburn Rovers.

The first port of call for the Blues' travelling army is the Hawthorns, West Brom a week later before FA Cup winners and fellow UEFA Cup contenders Portsmouth are at Goodison a week later.

September sees two consecutive trips to face newly-promoted sides at Stoke (13th) and Hull City (20th) before the month concludes with the Merseyside derby against Liverpool at Goodison on the 27th.