Is there really an anti-Everton agenda in football? For better or for worse, nobody knows Everton better than Evertonians themselves but it’s always illuminating to see how the wider world regards you and of late Blues have not been feeling the love from many outsiders.
Like the global phenomenon that everyone in the next village, town or city down the road from yours are all nuts – a paranoia that your team gets a raw deal is a pretty standard state of mind for football supporters whose emotions when it comes to their team are based on deep seated passions rather than logic or reason. However, after enduring what has been a tumultuous year so far both on and off the pitch, long-suffering Goodison Park patrons could be forgiven for thinking that the world (or at least significant chunks of the footballing community) is against them.
We’re not just talking about neighbours Liverpool here, although given their huge global fanbase and legions of former players now deployed as pundits, those with affiliations to the team across Stanley Park do have considerable sway when it comes to conducting the mood music. There’s nothing abnormal or indeed wrong about a fierce local rivalry and 130 years of Blues and Reds – as they would eventually become – trying to outdo each other has to a degree helped to ensure that this city for a long time had two successful football clubs with the bar of expectation being consistently set high unlike other regions where both sides would endure substantial fallow periods like Sheffield or the North East.
