I hate to break it to you but we still are.

West Ham and Everton gazump us because they have more money and are prepared to chuck as much at the seller as the seller demands.

Not necessarily a bad thing for us. We are a middling sized club run prudently on sustainable grounds. You play for us if you want first team football in the premier league and get paid well. But if you want to pull our pants down, go elsewhere.

On young Donny, would have loved him to have played for us for a bit, but it was not to be.

Do you really think it might be the latter? Our summer dealings suggest to me at least that the club are not going to pay silly money for short term gain. The real business will be pencilled in for this coming summer and I suspect that DF & Co are already identifying the targets they want to bring in not to mention which of the expiring contracts they wish to renew. We knew from the start of this window that it was unlikely we would do any business unless the right type of player at the right price became available. We are fortunate that we are not in desperation straits like Newcastle and Everton.

I think the premis for a midfielder could have been instigated by Jimmy Macs extended injury whilst accepting that they are different kinds of player. We could be short of quality in that department if he struggles to regain fitness and we pick up another injury to say Schlupp who normally manages at least one injury per season.

To be fair, any loan player is short term gain. Whether it makes sense or not depends on the cost to added value ratio which no one would really know with DVdB until he joins a team. If he has a stormer at Everton we will regret it.

A, A, A, calm down, calm down.

Harsh words, harsh words but can't help but agree with the sentiment. Perhaps we should employ AJ and Yannick to consult on such moves? Always grateful for the wonga however.

Now Zaha's got a bit of green grass ahead of him here... and finds Ambrose... not a bad effort!!!!

I think there were other factors concerning DVDB going Everton.

1. Firstly, Everton is not too far away from United so he doesn't have to temporarily move homes.

2. His partner is pregnant, so she probably doesn't want to up sticks and move to London for the next 6 months.

So when Everton expressed an interest, it probably seemed easier for them.

I'm pretty ambivalent about VdB. The upside was that it would have been, for us, what these days they call a "statement signing" and I do think it would have helped our image in terms of marketing ourselves to future targets to have done this sort of deal. But that said, I'm not entirely convinced that VdB was a player it made sense to push the boat out for. Not at all proven in the Prem and a reasonable argument can be made that he's a bit too lightweight for the league. All-in-all, I can see that keeping our powder dry until the summer was a better strategy.

I do find Everton's window an act of utter desperation. It seems the main motivation behind the signings of both VdB and Alli, each of whom cost a lot of money (whether in fees or wages) and neither of whom is anywhere near top form or at this point, a proven commodity is the usual Everton strategy of putting lipstick on a pig.

Everton has no real long-term recruitment strategy; they just chuck money at a couple of names so the fans stop moaning and go back into their box. I like Lampard but you'd think Everton had brought in Klopp the way their fans are reacting. That club is seriously delusional when it comes to understanding its own importance (or the lack thereof). In six months' time Everton'll be having the same predictable post-mortem about where it went wrong with everyone pointing fingers at everyone else. We may not be a bigger club than Everton but for damn sure we're a better run one.

Sydenham by birth. Selhurst by the Grace of God.