Evertonians are angry. Their fury is understandable. Frank Lampard’s side are in the bottom three and the threat of relegation is real. Everton are in big trouble. And it was completely avoidable.
The Merseyside club host Chelsea on Sunday. The team need the crowd to channel their righteous anger into the sort of atmosphere that makes Goodison Park one of the most hostile stadiums in the game. The old ground can be a bear pit.
It has gone past the point where it is worth asking how a club that has spent more than half a billion in the past six seasons has come to this. The only thing that matters to Everton is survival. Those who imagine that a drop into the Championship would represent a “reset”, allowing an appallingly run business to rethink its policies and expectations and come back stronger, are delusional. Falling into the second tier of English football would be a catastrophe. The squad is poor enough now and a fire sale of the best players would leave the team underequipped for an instant return to the top flight.
The closest Everton have come to relegation in the Premier League era was in 1994, when a 3-2 home victory over Wimbledon – combined with results elsewhere – kept them up on the final day of the season. The away side led by two goals after 20 minutes and then the full Goodison effect kicked in. The hostility from the stands was so powerful that Wimbledon players feared for their safety. Even the Crazy Gang were not deranged enough to tempt fate. Everton’s late winning goal was soft, to say the least. Talk of shady business abounded in the aftermath but there was no corruption involved. Just sheer intimidation.
Lampard’s team needs a similar level of menace from the crowd for the three remaining home fixtures. Chelsea looks the most difficult of that trio of games but Everton need points now, especially if Burnley beat already-doomed Watford at Vicarage Road tomorrow.
Goodison has its flaws. It is easy to see why Farhad Moshiri, the owner, is keen to move into a shiny new stadium at the Bramley Moore dock. Everton’s traditional home is cramped and uncomfortable but the ghosts of another age stalk the structure. They can frighten footballers brought up in the era of antiseptic new-builds, luxury facilities and prawn-sandwich fans. Goodison is a throwback to another time.
If Everton do go down there is a real fear that the next three games will be the last Premier League matches at the ground that has seen continuous top-flight football since 1954. If the final seasons at Goodison were in the Championship it would be an ignominious ending for the old place. This is a depressing thought for Evertonians.
Supporters can create an uncomfortable environment for the opposition but the players need to take advantage on the pitch. That is where the doubts set in. Moshiri’s spending spree has been conducted without any clear strategy. Seven managers have been in charge since the businessman bought the club six years ago and the main symptom of the lack of coherent thinking in the boardroom has been the performances on the field. The owner, backed by Alisher Usmanov, the sanctioned oligarch who was Everton’s main sponsor until the war in Ukraine, put down the cash with the aim of challenging for the Champions League. No one contemplated what life in the Football League might be like until recently.
The club refuse to talk about contracts on grounds of confidentiality but there are disquieting suggestions that relegation clauses were not inserted into the deals signed by the players. A number of the squad are earning about £100,000 per week. This might be acceptable when Jordan Pickford and Richarlison are picking up their paycheques but less so when Yerry Mina and Andre Gomes are banking the cash.
Their biggest asset, Dominic Calvert-Lewin, has struggled with injury. Earlier in the season, Arsenal were keen on bringing the 25-year-old to the Emirates. That interest has waned. If Everton go down, the fee for selling the striker will not bail out a club that has posted losses of more than £100m for the past four years.
Moshiri is rich but not mega-wealthy like his mentor Usmanov. There has been some speculation about whether the owner can afford to carry Everton forward, especially in the event they fail to beat the drop. There is no sign that the 66-year-old is thinking of selling at the moment. That may be in part because no one in the right mind would look at making an offer until the season is over and it is known which division Everton will be playing in next year. Relegation battles mean the future is full of ifs and buts. And fear.
That terror can be harnessed and turned into a positive force by one of the most fanatical fanbases in sport. Everton should not have to rely on the crowd but they might have to over the next month. On the evidence of the past few years, only Goodison’s supporters are truly committed to the cause. The owner, the board, the managers and the players have all let the fans down.
