by NANNY RED » Wed Sep 16, 2009 10:59 pm
Never mind City the bitters are looking to sign this tw,at , who i hate with a vengence . I hope if hes in town one night someone gives him a crack. He will be joinin his mate that Cahill ,
Everton throw lifeline to Lucas Neill
Published 22:31 16/09/09 By David Maddock
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Everton boss David Moyes has moved to ease his club's injury crisis by offering Lucas Neill a route back into football.
The Aussie international defender is currently without a club after turning down a new deal with his former employers West Ham in the summer.
And the fact that he is a free agent will allow the Goodison club to sign him outside the constraints of the transfer window.
Moyes made the move after losing skipper Phil Neville to a serious knee injury last weekend. Neville provided cover along all the back line positions, and was seen as playing a vital role in the Everton squad.
Neill has turned down offers from other Premier League sides, even though he is out of work, after he judged that West Ham's diminished contract was too great a reduction on his wages.
Both Sunderland and Hull made enquiries as well as Greek club Olympiacos, but Neill was reluctant to take a massive hit on the £90,000 a week he earned at Upton Park.
He was given such a huge salary because he was a free agent when he left Blackburn three years ago, and even turned down Liverpool to take the money on offer in East London.
Negotiations were continuing last night, but he is ready to agree to Everton's offer of £40,000 a week, and could sign a deal that initially takes him to the end of the season, with an option for a further year.
It is good news for Goodison boss Moyes, who is facing something of a crisis ahead of tonight's opening Europa Cup group game against AEK Athens, following Neville's injury.
Right back Tony Hibbert is suspended and new boy John Heitinga is cup tied, leaving the Scots manager to decide between youngsters Jack Rodwell and Dan Gosling as stand in cover.
It is the not the only headache for Moyes. He has been left bemused by UEFA's decision to use the tie as an experiment for their new idea of introducing two more officials to help the referee, one positioned behind each goal.
Moyes is angry at being left in the dark by the European game's governing body, who have so far not offered any guidelines despite the revolutionary new approach to officiating matches.
"It is a very big game to be using us as a guinea pig. I'm all for ideas that help produce more correct decisions, but I'm not sure yet if this will work," he said.
"I think we will see a lot more infringements pulled up, and probably more penalties, but I can't say I understand the rules that well.
"We believe we should have had a briefing and even a run through in a training match, but we have been given very little information about it. Nobody from the referees association has come in to tell us what is going to happen, we've just had a sheet showing where the officials will be standing.
"The officials will be allowed to go onto the pitch, but they won't have flags, just earpieces, and that leaves potential for confusion. I'm not sure if this is the answer because it could raise as many questions as it solves, but I'll certainly be telling my players they have to be really careful in the box, because there could be more penaltie
HE WHO BETRAYS WILL ALWAYS WALK ALONE
sh!te hasn't made a impact and is not the player that he once was at chelsea . THe only player from their defense i'd take is toure . Richards is overrated , dunne is like carra cept with less quality and lescott is just 
