Everton's Fans' Forum has issued a rallying cry to supporters to turn Goodison Park into a cauldron when Brighton and Hove Albion visit on Tuesday.
The match is the latest fixture key to setting the tone for the Blues' season and follows back-to-back home defeats against Leicester City and Wolverhampton Wanderers. With the home crowd set to fill Goodison under the lights, those supporters are being urged to get behind Frank Lampard's side once again as the club seeks to build on an important point at Manchester City.
In a passionate open letter Barry Williams, vice chair of the influential supporter network, calls on Blues to: "Bring the noise, the energy, the encouragement, the flags and the banners. Let’s make sure the stadium and the noise we generate intimidates the opposition and helps lift our players – just like it did with the victories over Leeds, Newcastle, Chelsea, United and Palace when it mattered most last season."
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Released ahead of Everton's first game of 2023, after the players were inspired to a valuable point at Manchester City by a sensational away backing and a year in which the fans played a huge role in pulling the club to Premier League safety, this is Mr Williams' open letter, in full:
"Following Everton is a big part of my life. I travel home and away, have met some of my best mates going the match, experienced new and far-away places, the odd high and unfortunately a few too many character-building low moments. While we may not be starting 2023 in the league position we were hoping to be in, there’s one thing that unites every Blue and that is that we all want the best for Everton. Thanks to the winter World Cup in Qatar, there are still a lot of games to be played, a lot of the season left to come and therefore an opportunity for us as fans to play a very important role.
"I know we don’t pick the team, cross the white line onto the pitch to defend or attack set pieces, but we do have the ability to make a difference every matchday through the support we give, the noise we generate and the impact that has on our players and the opposition. I’m dead proud to be an Evertonian, and I get fed up of reading comments from opposition players and managers suggesting they can “quieten us down as a crowd”, suggesting they can use our own passion against our club to make “the place edgy”. Our collective response as Evertonians to those that want to do that this year should be ‘you can try, but you won’t succeed!’
"Brighton are the first side to visit Goodison in 2023. [It is] An evening game under the lights so let’s start the year as we mean to go on. Let’s try and make a difference from the stands, let’s show the players that we are playing our part in our support of them and make Goodison the bear pit we know it can be. Bring the noise, the energy, the encouragement, the flags and the banners. Let’s make sure the stadium and the noise we generate intimidates the opposition and helps lift our players – just like it did with the victories over Leeds, Newcastle, Chelsea, United and Palace when it mattered most last season. There was no way players of any of those teams were going to 'quieten us down' in those matches. This year we as fans need to make sure we read less comments like the ones from Ruben Neves after the Wolves game and more like the one from Dan James last season after the Leeds game – 'When the crowd got behind them they looked like a great team. We just didn’t deal with it well. The crowd really worked in their favour.'
"People who aren’t Evertonians don’t really understand us as fans and the power of Goodison. We don’t need the media, pundits, other fans or anyone outside the club to want us to win, like us or say nice things. We’ll be here long beyond any manager, owner, player, commentator or coach. We’re Scousers, we’re passionate and we’ve always done what we believe is right. Towards the end of last season was the most united I have ever seen our fanbase in supporting the manager and players when they needed it most and we responded. Although the circumstances last season were not as we would have wanted, I think many would agree some of those atmospheres will live long in our memory and be part of Goodison folklore.
"As a Fans’ Forum member and part of the 1878s group, we will continue to work with the club’s fan engagement team to try and enhance the atmosphere on matchdays. This isn’t something we should be doing because of league positions we find ourselves in. This is about us knowing that we can make a clear difference and something we want to take forward going into the new stadium. In the coming weeks and months we will be canvassing thoughts and ideas from supporters on how we best do that.
"In the meantime, I hope Evertonians remember that we are also a very important part of the Goodison Park matchday. When Evertonians are together... anything is possible."
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