While thousands of beleaguered Blues watched the nerve-racking final moments of relegation rivals Leicester City’s game at Newcastle United through their fingers or maybe even behind their couch, Dwight McNeil snubbed the Premier League action to re-watch a lockdown television favourite.
Instead of holding his breath alongside the masses while Nick Pope kept out Timothy Castagne’s stoppage time volley – an effort that almost caused a stunning smash-and-grab win for the Foxes that would have left Sean Dyche’s side back in the drop zone and struggling to find a way out with their inferior goal difference – the winger was taking in archive footage of basketball superstar Michael Jordan’s exploits but he must now hope that Sunday doesn’t bring ‘The Last Dance’ for Everton in the Premier League after 69 years of continuous top flight football.
Asked whether he tuned in to view the matches at the London Stadium and St James’ Park to see whether Everton’s fate would remain in their own hands going into their final fixture of the season at home to Bournemouth, McNeil said: “I didn’t watch any of the Leeds game. I was out with my missus for the afternoon.
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“Then on Monday I decided to watch a film and then check the result afterwards. I love watching football, I’ll usually watch any game, but those two games I just couldn’t watch.
“We watched The Last Dance with Michael Jordan on Netflix. I’ve been watching it but my missus hadn’t seen it and wanted to watch it. The way Michael Jordan is, with his persona and his personality, we really enjoyed it.”
Now 60, Jordan is widely considered to be the greatest player in NBA history and the documentary series charts his six championship-winning seasons with the Chicago Bulls in the 1990s. In many ways he’s sports ultimate Alpha personality but when quizzed whether there is a Jordan within Everton’s dressing room, McNeil said: “Not really, no. It’s different here to Burnley, the culture is a lot different, here there are more younger lads who are more chilled and everyone is down to earth and very grounded.”
Given that much of the jeopardy in the programme surrounds Jordan taking on the responsibility of shooting in pressure situations, might it have proven inspired viewing for McNeil, whose five goals since Sean Dyche’s appointment have made him the Blues’ top scorer on seven ahead of their survival showdown against the Cherries? McNeil acknowledges that he’s been deliberately trying to add to his game in the final third and said: “I feel that’s come from having a bit of confidence and getting myself in better positions to impact more games whether that’s goals or assists. I’m trying to get in the right positions at the right times.
“I’ve been trying to improve that side of my game because I know the position that I play, I need to be scoring more goals and getting more assists.”
So, if Everton need a hero on Sunday, is McNeil in a good frame of mind to take on a chance if it comes his way? The 23-year-old said: “Yeah, definitely or if someone else is on, I’ll 100% give them the ball because we’re a team and everyone is in it together.”
McNeil is one of eight members of the Everton squad to have suffered a Premier League relegation already and along with James Tarkowski, who he followed from Turf Moor last summer, his experience remains fresh in his mind having gone down with Burnley a year ago when the Blues were one of their direct rivals until a dramatic 3-2 comeback win over Crystal Palace in their penultimate fixture secured their top flight status. A mere 12 months on, the winger admits it’s not something he wants to go through again.
McNeil said: “I had never been in that situation before with Burnley. To me it was new. It did not hit me until it all happened, especially on the last day the way it all ended.
“I was not nice. I had been at the club for a long time and it is something you never want to experience.
“There is the family point of view, as well, having to take in the whole situation. As part of the squad you feel a sense of responsibility for the team going down.
“Looking back, it was not the way I wanted to end my time at Burnley, getting relegated. It was quite difficult to take that day.
“When it happened it was more like disappointment within myself. Looking back on it, because I didn’t score that season, I knew I didn’t play my best football so that’s where I found it difficult as well.”
Although McNeil now finds himself fighting for survival on the final day for the second consecutive season, he insists the current circumstances – with Everton’s fate in their own hands and his recent individual form some of the most-impressive in the division – provide him with a contrasting feel to a year ago. He said: “Being in this position again feels different. I am going into the game with more confidence.
“This season is completely different, a different environment with different players. We are taking it day by day in training to focus on getting the result we want.
“We feel relieved because it’s in our hands now and we’re at home on Sunday with our fans behind us. We’ve got to take it like it’s a normal game but we know what’s at stake and the job that needs to be done.
“There is more confidence and everyone is more relaxed. It is in our hands, it is up to us, we are at home.
“Bournemouth have had a good season, but we will focus on ourselves. We know a win means the job is done, we had a good start to the week and now we have to finish it right.”
For all McNeil’s confidence though, he acknowledges that there is much more at stake for Everton given that they have spent more seasons in the top flight than any other club and have not been relegated for 72 years. When he arrived at Goodison Park in a £20million transfer last July, he was not envisaging this but the Rochdale-born player is under no illusions about the magnitude of the task at hand.
McNeil said: “You can never predict what’s going to happen, especially in the Premier League which is the best league in the world. All season there have been results going either way, but we are in this position now and the goal is to stay up on Sunday and then come back in the summer to reflect on where we could have done better, have a good pre-season and hopefully kick on next season.
“We know that Everton is a massive club with how many trophies they’ve won in the past. It showed as well when we went to Australia, how many Evertonians were there, it was crazy, it just shows how big the club is worldwide.
“I definitely feel more responsibility than last year. That’s why we all know what the job we’re required to do is on Sunday because we want to do it for ourselves, we want to do it for the fans and we want to do it for the club.”
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