Everton fans suffer another 4-0 defeat at Villa Park last weekend. Credit: PA/Nick Potts
Was there another demoralizing and unfulfilling experience in the Premier League era than supporting Everton Football Club?
They have evolved into an institution excellent at finding fresh and inventive ways let down your supporters. While there are usually ups and downs in sport that affect every other major club, Everton are in a prolonged malaise.
Whenever I focus on Everton's woes, there are those who reminds me of clubs in a much worse state. a position below the Premier League where there are far more heartbreaking events than a few high-profile relegation escapes.
This is true, but none of them were original members of the Big Five. None of them had a billionaire owner promising Champions League football or a transfer account worth more than £500m.
None of them had been in a city where the neighbors, literally across the park, celebrated victories in the Champions League and titles.
Of the original Premier League entrants, only six were ever present; Arsenal, Chelsea, Everton, Liverpool, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur.
Four have since won the Premier League, while despite for all their combined successes, the Spurs have competed for the biggest honors and have never been in danger. fall.
Everton stand out for recklessly squandering chances to be much better than they really are. Everton were champions of England five years before the start of the Premier League, just as Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester United could win the title. The club had a foundation to use the new Premier League revenues to further strengthen. The biggest reason for Everton's decline is the terrible selection of coaches and players. It has also been a major reason behind the increasingly desperate rule of Farhad Moshiri since 2015. There are so many internal divisions at Goodison due to self-inflicted wounds.
Everton fans have been clear about the hierarchy club. Photo: Reuters/Jason Cairnduff
I read some comparisons between Moshiri's Everton and the Mike Ashley era at Newcastle United — two huge clubs. desperate for someone competent to take over.
For me, this is a huge difference. Everton had a billionaire owner who they believed would take them to the next level. Unlike Newcastle at their worst, Moshiri cannot be accused of lack of ambition. He spent a fortune. What is missing is the experience to properly use these resources. Now they're suffering because he can't even buy himself out of trouble over the Premier League's spending rules. The players that Everton are associated with today are the benchmark of the championship — squad players who will not make it into the starting XI if everyone is in good shape.
The latest setback, with US MSP investors no longer buying the club's shares, was greeted not only with surprise, but also with pessimistic expectations. I said last year that Everton are one of the worst managed clubs in the country, and this news in no way disproves that argument.
Things are not going smoothly at Everton, and yet the potential still remains if they ever get their way. work together.
I pass by the new Everton stadium on the Liverpool docks every day. It is a magnificent sight and a source of hope. It's very hard to see the arena coming up and say that Moshiri doesn't care about Everton's future.
There are no such promises on the field.
In the darkest of times, it is. it's hard to see the entrance to the tunnel, let alone the light at the end. It's been this way with Everton for far too long.
Two games into the new season and we're in for another tough, hectic campaign. The next eight months promise to be the same as the last two years, with supporters deeply dissatisfied with the way the club is run, and every bad performance creates a rift between players and fans.
Saturday's home match against Wolverhampton Wanderers. – another team looking for their first point after a troubled summer – already feels like a 'must win' against relegation.
Living in the heart of Merseyside, I feel Everton's pain. As hard as it is to believe, given my loyalty to Liverpool, I can't help but sympathize.
One could write the familiar script for Everton's gloomy season. Preseason hopes evaporate as the best players don't arrive and the first few games end in defeat. A horrendous loss to Aston Villa last Sunday means Everton have lost their first two Premier League matches in two consecutive seasons. They are already playing catch-up and trying to survive the 36-game campaign.
Everton were a powerful force in 1980 's, but did not use it for success in the Premier League. Photo: Getty Images/David Cannon
Fury follows, usually in the form of demonstrations by fans against the board and accusations that the players are not taking enough care. In the first few months of each season, Goodison becomes more toxic than supportive of his team. Some insults to players on social networks are illegal. It's not that they don't care.
To be more precise, some of them are so far below the standard required to play for a club of Everton's stature — and in front of fans who still remember what a great team looks like, it's hard to believe that they are. trying their best. The responsibility lies with those who buy and select these players.
The realization is finally coming that only by putting aside grudges can the fans and the team rally to make a difference — usually after the appointment of another coach. The campaign ends, relatively speaking, at the peak of survival. And now the wheel is turning again.
This exhausting process is unsustainable. The current Everton squad can achieve nothing more than the main goal of staying in the Premier League. For those who aspire for more, this is unacceptable.
The unfortunate truth for Everton is that since the early 1970s, periods of success have been exceptional.
I have relatives and friends who are Everton players who admit that in the 50 years the club has been in existence they have only truly enjoyed seven or eight full seasons, most of them in the 1980s and then periods under David Moyes. and once under Roberto Martínez when the hope of Champions League qualification was real.
This is a sobering reality for one of England's biggest and best supported clubs. Even the only trophy they have won in the last 28 years — the FA Cup in 1995 — followed a terrible start when Joe Royle stopped the slide.
Relegation battling has become the new normal, and no matter how much fans wish it wasn't the case (and believe that with more investment and smarter executives, that can and will change), the reversal process that should was take time for Sean Dyche. .
But you know what? Despite all this, I still believe Dyche will keep Everton. Perhaps this is the point of view of someone who simply cannot imagine a world of football without Everton being a Premier League club.
There's also a sense that the people of Everton are realizing, sooner than usual, that for all their legitimate claims, the only way to save the club is to make Goodison as cool as ever. and frightening visitors at the beginning and middle of the season, as well as desperately looking for points at the end.
Everton has become a master of late recovery because of their refusal to leave without a fight. This battle has begun earlier than ever.
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