Everton’s dire league position is worsening by the week as dark clouds gather over one of the Premier League’s founding members. It is lost on no-one in north Liverpool that Frank Lampard’s side could be five points from safety by the time they kick off against Chelsea on Sunday.
But Everton’s fans have conjured up a unique response to their desperate situation. High-profile supporter groups are pulling together a plan to have fans line the route to Goodison Park to greet the team coach in a noisy, partisan display of their support.
It evokes the sort of welcome that Everton’s best teams – the FA Cup winners of 1995 or heroes of the Eighties – got and you could argue that this group of players hardly deserve that honour. But that’s missing the point.
“The idea is to have as many Blues as possible be there and show their support. No focus on what’s gone before, instead all the focus is on the last six games and trying to empower the only people who can get us out of this mess – the players,” says co-organiser Mark Ellis. Turning Goodison Park into a bearpit for the remaining home games is their unashamed aim.
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It is a call that reflects the unique dynamics of a fanbase horrified that a relegation they have dodged in dramatic circumstances before is now looking increasingly likely. Because Everton fans have struggled to formulate a unified response to the horror that is unfolding.
Podcaster ‘Paul the Esk’ helped found the ’27 years’ campaign earlier this year that tapped into anger among a big section of the support at the club’s recent decline.
Frustrated by what they deem mismanagement of the club – “a board that is not fit for purpose” and a “careless and meddling” owner is how Paul sums it up – their stated aim was trying to force Farhad Moshiri into listening and engaging with supporters’ concerns.
But an initial call to walk out on the 27th minute of the Arsenal game (to mark 27 years without a trophy) in December did not garner much support, for all the media coverage.
“A lot of fans said it wasn’t the time to protest. In truth, I think Everton supporters have tended to be reactive rather than proactive,” Paul admits. A change of tactic was forced upon them and protest and anger have been diverted until the denouement of their survival battle.
“This is not something a lot of Evertonians would normally be behind in all fairness,” co-organiser Jemma Birks says of the overt show of support planned for Sunday.
“But it’s come to the point where the fans are willing to do literally anything to generate the best atmosphere and support to help the players get three points.”
The battle for the drop
The Premier League table at the bottom ahead of this weekend’s fixtures:
16. Leeds – Played 33, points 34
17. Burnley – Played 33, points 31
18. Everton – Played 32, points 29
19. Watford – Played 33, points 22
20. Norwich – Played 33, points 21
Few can quite comprehend how it has come to this. “The carelessness is remarkable,” Paul says of Moshiri.
“I’m sure that he has put in more money than he ever intended to but that is because he is having to react to the mistakes he’s made that have cost the club. He is like a bad gambler having to cover his losses.”
Inside the club there are signs that the “strategic review of the football structure” may be carving a route out of the mess Everton find themselves in.
Kevin Thelwell is a good choice for the Director of Football role and has the chance to put his imprint on the youth set-up – a bone of contention for many Evertonians – with the club hunting for a new Academy director and under-23 coach after David Unsworth’s departure.
It’s understood there has been talk of recruiting along the lines of ‘Everton DNA’ rather than the reactive way that successive managers have signed players for their own particular philosophies. Few could argue that approach had borne fruit when you look at the hotchpotch of styles that has left Lampard’s squad so unbalanced.
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Everton fans sense that the rest of the football world wants to see them trip up. On Wednesday QPR striker Charlie Austin said it would be “funny” if the Toffees went down.
But Everton forms the bedrock of the community it resides in. Relegation would be catastrophic for fans.
“I can’t stress the importance of Everton Football Club to the city and its people,” says David McBride, a supporter of 40 years.
“That importance has been underestimated by those not from the City or not Evertonians but this importance and sense of ownership that Evertonians have is what sets us apart.
“We may not be the most overt of supporters, but Saturday’s action and the positive campaign is our way of demonstrating that.”
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