Greetings

The week leading up to the 1st game of the season is one filled with anticipation and excitement. Allowing us to forget what happened the previous year and throw money at the bookies with audacious bets, ten pounds on Everton to win the title in 2011 could earn the lucky punter £1500! So with the betting slip safely and securely in the sock drawer until May (or March more likely, when we get a true idea of what's happening) we begin our sometimes joyous and sometimes torturous 9 month journey towards destiny.

I didn't buy the 09/10 Season Review DVD but if I did I probably would've skipped straight to November dismissing the opening third of the campaign as an extended pre-season. So caught up in our rise up the league in the middle to latter stages of the season, I remember watching Burnley getting thumped at home 6-1 by Manchester City and thought "who gets beaten 6-1 at home?" and just as I was about to say it out loud I stopped myself, recalling that terrible day last August.

But so contrasting were the months either side of Christmas, it was easy forget what a torrid Autumn we had actually had. Disrupted by want-away heroes, late incumbents and an injury list similar to that of the film Commando.

So last year really wasn't a fair reflection of what this squad can achieve if all reporting for duty from the start, which gives a great sense of optimism for the challenge ahead.

Much of the transfer budget appears to have been sacrificed in order to retain the services of our most valuable assets. Leighton Baines, Seamus Coleman, Jack Rodwell and Mikel Arteta have put pen to paper and signed along the dotted line with that famous Goodison pen, that usually goes missing until about a day before transfer deadline! Keeping hold of both established and potential talent really shows how far Everton have come, for too long, as mentioned last week, we have been too quick to cash in all our prized chips in order to keep the club afloat. This is no longer the case, not only are we a more stable ship, we are also seen as an attractive option for new players and current squad members alike to progress their careers at a club that spends more time in the top half of the Premier League than in the bottom depths. I for one, hope Mr Pienaar realises that sooner rather than later, it may be worth Davey pointing him the direction of Francis Jeffers Wikipedia page as a clear example of the grass not always being greener.

I am intrigued to see the signings that have been made in action and what they will offer the side this year. It was hard not to notice Jermaine Beckford last season, it seems his name was mentioned nearly every week with goal after goal for Leeds. His "shop window" moment came at Old Trafford in the FA Cup and he delivered. If he can handle the pace and step up in class of both colleague and opponent, adding that to his already natural goal scoring ability we could have quite a player on our hands. I'm not too knowledgeable of the other new recruits apart from Mucha played at the World Cup, Silva is the "new Pauleta" and Gueye has the makings of a decent tricky winger.

The bookies are probably there or thereabouts in predicting 7th for Everton this season, however I'm going to go for a slightly more optimistic 5th. If we look at our main and realistic competitors, our squad is more stable than Aston Villa's currently, we have a more regular starting eleven than Spurs, no one can predict Liverpool's season as it appears they have less pressure on them to succeed for quite some time but none of us have more money and pulling power than Manchester City currently, so I would expect them to take the strangely much coveted 4th place.

I'm sure fans up and down the land will all be thinking the same, this year it could all be ours, so as Saturday quickly approaches and the nerves start to creep in remember this could be a very, very good season, maybe just maybe.

Thanks for reading

Jack

Follow me on Twitter @JackDoggyDogg