 Welcome to Toffy TV, today I am joined by Jeff Walmer all the way from Cincinnati to have a chat about Jeff's love of Everton, why he's in Evertonia, is the bearing question, and one he, like I've just said to him off camera, one he probably asked himself a lot after days like Sunday, and just to find out a little bit about how that journey began to Jeff and what it's like supporting Everton from across the pond to us. So Jeff, welcome, glad to speak to you mate. It's good to speak to you, always good to see you, and thanks for having me, I appreciate it. So come on then, how's your man from Cincinnati, and how have Evertonian the way you are, how did all that become a thing in your life? It's, I've told the story so many times, it's kind of difficult to kind of explain where, how things kind of transpired, because I didn't really anticipate this, I didn't anticipate Everton becoming such a big part of my life. I think I pursued it like so many other Americans who over the past two or three decades really kind of really started to fall in love with the sport, really started to fall in love with, with football slash soccer. And so I pursued it, I think the same way a lot of other people did where I was looking for a Premier League team to support. And you kind of go into it, looking to learn a little bit more about the league. I guess being a journalist, I took it a little more serious than maybe a lot of people did, where I kind of, I did a lot more research than maybe most. Try to learn as much as I could about English football, about English football history. And Everton kind of jumped off the page so many times. Now I was aware of Everton, obviously, because of Tim Howard, because of Landon Donovan. I didn't want to, to choose Everton because we had American players that consider that to be kind of a bonus, but I tried to kind of look past that. And as luck would have it, what kind of pushed things kind of forward for me was I have a friend in Cincinnati who I knew was from England, but I wasn't aware he was from Liverpool. And I wasn't aware that he was a generational Evertonian, his family, deep roots with his family. And he said, let's go out and he said, we'll go out for a pint or two and we'll talk about, we'll talk about Everton. And he told me story after story about Goodison Park and about friends of his who are fans and about match days. And it just sounded perfect. But even then I kind of figured, okay, well now I have a club, you know, I'll buy a kit, I'll have a club to support on Saturdays. I didn't expect Everton to do what Everton does, which is, you know, the supporters embraced, the supporters embraced me from the start. The club kind of grabs you from the start, the history grabs you from the start. And pretty soon Everton had become this huge part of my life that I didn't anticipate. And then a few years after, fortunately, was able to act, you know, to go over to Liverpool and I made it a point to spend extra time because I didn't want to just go over, go to a match, make it all be just all about Everton. So I went and I spent eight days in Liverpool and fell in love with the city, fell in love with the people. Man, I was able to tour Goodison, was able to attend a match obviously and after you experience all of that, you come back, you know, okay now, there's no turning back now. This is, you know, I'm all in on this and, you know, Everton's going to be a part of my life and I wanted to get more involved and that's kind of how everything else kind of transpired. Looking for ways to get involved with the local supporters group and looking for ways to get involved with, you know, the fans form. But yeah, I think I kind of went into it just like everybody else. But, you know, Everton, it's the Allen Ball quote, right? Yeah, that's the one. And all of a sudden you're, yeah, it's not what you expect. But, you know, good, bad or indifferent through the frustration of recent years, through the frustration of this past weekend. It's still, I wouldn't trade it for anything. I've met so many people. I've made new friends here in Cincinnati. I've made new friends in other parts of the US. I've made so many friends in Liverpool. I have friends in Dublin now. And these are people that I would have never met had it not been. And that's kind of what it means. That's where you kind of go from it being a football club to being something more than a football club. And it's because of the friends you make and the relationships you develop. And, you know, that's what makes it kind of bigger than just, you know, a football club. So, yeah. You've made a great choice. Yeah, it's been, you know, it's been a ton of fun. And, you know, it's just, I'm fortunate that Everton came into my life. And yeah, it's been, it's been great. And I look forward to more in the future. Absolutely. And hopefully some better times because we've been starved very much recently of doing anything good. So, like you say, you have made a very, very brave choice. And what's your, what's your matchday routine? Like then, as you follow the games and stuff, you have to get up very early and all of that. Yeah, we're fortunate because we're Eastern time zone in Cincinnati. So we get kind of, we're in the best situation of any of much better situation than a lot of other people in the US. I feel for the people who are working very hard to grow supporters groups in the western and mountain time zone. Where the matches are starting at 4.30 a.m. And yet they're still doing it. You know, cheers to them. Yeah, definitely. But yeah, in Cincinnati, we're really, really lucky here. And shout out to Adam Frazier, who is the founder of the Cincinnati Toffees. But being a graduate of Xavier University, I'm speaking of Adam. And having taught over in Liverpool for a while, which is how he became a blue. He came back and approached a bar owner in just off campus, just off the Xavier University campus. And asked if they would be willing to be the host pub for he was thinking of starting an Everton supporters group in Cincinnati. So we're really, really lucky because no other or few other Everton supporters groups in the country have exclusive places to go. Typically there's and we have a couple of really large football pubs here in Cincinnati and that host multiple supporters groups of multiple clubs. So if you go in there on match days, you've got, you know, you've got the United Fans over here. You've got our neighbors over there, you know, you've got Arsenal over here and you're kind of tough. You're Everton, you're kind of tucked in a corner tucked away in a corner. Well, we don't have to deal with that. We we not only have our own pub, but we have they've given us exclusivity over pretty much everything except for Xavier University's own. Like if they're basketball teams playing a game, we're not going to get the two. We'll probably have to move upstairs, but those conflicts are rare. But even during the NFL playoffs, people were coming in to watch NFL playoff games and they told them they said Everton's got these TVs. And everybody else had to watch these TVs. So it's great. So yeah, we go to Dana Gardens, which is the name of the pub on Xavier's campus. We have a growing a growing group. I think we're approaching maybe 100 members. We have a real strong core of about 2025 for the second Derby this year. We had, I think, 35, I counted there. So we have a good group and it's awesome that we have our own place. And it's even better for me because it's only about maybe a 10 minute drive down the road. But they'll open, they've opened as early as 7am for matches. They'll open during the week for us for matches. So they take really good care of us. Fantastic. That's brilliant that you've got an actual designated place to go and watch the games as well. Like I said before, sadly the season didn't quite go as it was looking at one stage like it might do. But just very briefly, what was your overriding thought on the season? I haven't looked at the table because I think I know we finished 10th and I don't need to look at the fact that we finished 10th. And I think you can look at, I almost want to kind of throw out the fact that we finished 10th. Because not making Europe is really the disappointment. That is a massive opportunity missed. European football was right there for the taking. Champions League football was right there for the taking. And because of the home form primarily and the injuries, we need to be honest with ourselves about that as well. But because of the home form and the injuries, we missed out on a massive opportunity to really kind of expedite the project that Carlo already has underway. But the fact that we missed European football, that's the disappointment. Whether we finished 8th, 9th, or 10th. But the fact remains, I think there's a big picture perspective though for this season. We finished 10 points better. We finished two spots better than in the table. I think we had four more wins in last year. That doesn't negate the fact that we missed a major opportunity. But so many things happened this season that were positive. Which is why it's hard to look and see we finished 10th. You look at the table and you think, after all that, we finished 10th. Everton that, right? We finished 10th. It's really difficult to consider that. But so many things happened. You win at Anfield, you win at Arsenal, you win at Spurs. You show tremendous character in coming back to get a result against United in that one match. There were a lot of good things that happened. We upgraded the squad, there's no question. And I truly believe that if you had Alon and Decore and Hamez in there for 25 matches this season is totally, it's completely different. How many matches did they play together? Did they even play six together? Six or seven, I think maximum, yeah. So sharp, isn't it? But we upgraded the quality of the squad. We got some of the bad contracts off. There's still some work to do in that regard. Depth was an issue. We knew that going into the season, right? The biggest concern was, we have any injuries at all. We have no cover for any injuries at all. Our bench was filled with U23s. So there's a lot of positives, but it's a big summer. It's always a big summer for us, it seems. But summer. I trust Carlo. What I feel I think best about that is that there's finally kind of a lot of good things going on. I trust Carlo. I mostly, what I feel I think best about that is that there's finally kind of a top down direction with the club. I feel like Carlo and Marcel on up to Moshery and the board. I feel like everybody's on the same page for once and I feel like Carlo knows what he needs. Everyone trusts Carlo to know what he needs. Marcel Brands, I think, is a good man to execute what, you know, go out and get those needs, fill those needs. And you've got the commitment from Moshery to do what he needs to do to make that happen. So there's so much encouraging. There really is, but... I think his fingers crossed, yeah. Definitely. I tend to be an optimist. I tend to be an optimist. I don't know how I'm going to become an epitomian being an optimist. I'm not sure. Put it this way, you're going to need that in buckets, Geoff. You're going to need that optimism to be a bloom in buckets. That just brings me on, really, to the fans forum application, which obviously you've applied for. You know, why did you want to get involved in the fans forum and, you know, being so far away? I spoke to Tony Sampson regularly who's in Chicago and he's on the fans forum as well. So, you know, why do you want to become a member of the fans forum? It's something that I thought I considered for a while and thought very hard about. Now, I've already been involved quite a bit with Tony, with North American Toffees involved in the planning of Everton USA Live. Getting involved in the soccer camps that Everton is going to be hosting here in the States, including one in Cincinnati. So, be heavily involved with that. So, been involved with the fan engagement team and been on some Zoom calls with, you know, the groups that are working to promote the Everton, to grow the Everton brand, to build the supporter base in North America and throughout the world. But I wanted to make, I really just wanted to make a difference with Everton. I just wanted to become even more, I wanted to take my involvement with Everton to another level. I don't think we've been at a point where it's been more critical for Everton supporters, not just in L4, not just in Liverpool and England. But throughout the world, to have a close and direct connection with the club, there's so much going on right now. So many initiatives to grow the Everton brand worldwide and build some of the supporter base. We have a new stadium coming and there's going to be a ton going on with that. Everton just has so many different initiatives going on to really take the club into its next phase, into its future. And the supporters have to be a part of that. I care deeply about Everton fans worldwide. And I've always said this. It's interesting because one of the things that kind of drew me to Everton was how provincial the club was that Everton fans are in L4. Everton fans, they walk or, you know, ride public transportation to the matches. What 85% I think of ticket holders are goodness and are seasoned ticket holders. And that's a special thing. This club's commitment to the community of Liverpool, their connection and just how much of an integral part they are of the history of the city of Liverpool and the culture of the city of Liverpool. But I think it's now, I think Everton missed a big opportunity with Tim Howard. I don't think they took full advantage of the opportunity that presented itself during the decade that he was with the club. A lot of the supporters groups that kind of came out of that here in the States were grassroots efforts. And it's not that the club didn't provide any support, but it was very minimal. But I respected that about Everton, that they were so closely knit within the community of Liverpool. But now it's a big world and the world has gotten smaller because of social media, because of business interests. And there's a massive opportunity for Everton to grow the club worldwide. It's brand, whether that be finding talent, developing talent, whether it be just growing their brand, whether it's merchandising opportunities, additional revenue streams that maybe a few years ago we didn't even know exists that are out there now globally. So I thought it was important to, you know, the fans form is always going to be very, very well represented by local Evertonians and rightly so because that's where everything starts. But I thought it was important to have global, to have a global voices at this point in time. And I thought long and hard about it. I wanted to make sure that I was willing to make the time commitment and the answer was yes. So I kind of threw my hat in the ring. So I'm really excited about it. I'm excited about the whole fans form concept as a whole because not many clubs do this, not many clubs give their fans kind of that kind of voice. I think Everton legitimately cares about what their fans think and what their fans want. So that's why I've kind of not, I'm not a politician. So I don't know how to really campaign for a vote. So I've really kind of taken a different approach. I've just said, I've just kind of put out on social media how important it is that if you have an Everton supporters number, please vote for the fans form. Whether you vote for me or whether you whoever you vote for. It's important to vote because I think at this point in time it's never been more important for the club to maintain that connection with its fans. It's something we do really well as Everton. It's something we could do better at times. But yeah, so that's why I kind of threw my hat in the ring. So I'm excited to have the opportunity. Yeah, excellent. I mean, I want to kind of leave it there because I want that to be the last message on the thing because of why you wanted to do it. But I think it is important. I think you're right. I think for too long there was very much a L4, you know, intrinsic nature of our club was to be closed or not closed because I think we've always welcomed people in from everywhere. But the view is very much like we are. If you live close to the ground, we're doing this and we're doing that. But I think for the club to grow and we've seen this everywhere else as revenue streams and fans have grown throughout the world, particularly in the United States. The game is growing all the time. I think it is important that Everton look further afield and are represented on something like the fans forum by people who aren't necessarily living close to the stadium. As well as obviously people who are from Liverpool and from the UK, it's massively important that we're represented there as well. But it is good to have other representation from further afield and I think continuing to spread the good name of the club particularly in Cincinnati. Where you are a sports journalist, it's good to have that feathering in your cap as well being a sports journalist but also being an Evertonian is fantastic. Both for Jeff, why not? I'll put the link in the description here. You can go and have a read there and make it about Jeff. It's been an absolute pleasure speaking to you today all away from Cincinnati. Thank you for making the time to speak to me and we will definitely catch up another time to discuss. To see how your optimism is going with the Blues maybe ahead of next season. Good luck. A pint in Liverpool very soon. That will be lovely bonus to be able to travel again. Long overdue. Massively. Can't wait to get back. We can't wait to get you there as well and come in the studio as well of course and that'll be even cooler. Big thanks to Jeff for joining us today. Make sure you do vote in the fans forum. It is important. The link will be in the description. Give the video a thumbs up. Subscribe if you haven't and check Jeff out on Twitter as well at Jeff Warner. Great pictures of Cincinnati doing report for Cincinnati FC as well there. Thank you very much and we'll see you later.