Spelling it out
In his programme notes, manager Frank Lampard told fans: “I feel like an Evertonian and that wasn’t a throwaway remark”. So if the boss is now a true Blue he’ll understand the blunt single-word summary one supporter delivered to this correspondent after the final whistle. Sometimes football journalist pontificate over hundreds of words when delivering their assessment of events that unfolded on the pitch but this particular Goodison Park veteran – clearly long enough in the tooth to remember the glory days of the club’s title-winning years - was rather more succinct and to the point.
As this correspondent walked down the stairs of the Main Stand along the concourses between the Press Box and Media Room, on spotting the laptop computer I was carrying, he enquired: “Do you know how to spell s****?” Appointed on January 31, Lampard will have long since learned that passionate Evertonians do not tend to mince their words but after overcoming a hat-trick of defeats to opponents likely to finish above them this term, the Blues had bounced back with four points from their previous two fixtures and this seemed like a big opportunity lost.
