Pep Guardiola is wrong when claiming “everyone in the country supports Liverpool” – as we all know there are many thousands of passionate fans on the Reds’ home turf whose allegiances lie elsewhere and they choose to follow the city’s senior club, Everton instead. This correspondent uses that word “choose” deliberately because there is a deluded misnomer among some non-Evertonians that they are made to become Blues by pushy parents and that nobody with free will would take that path given the success of their neighbours.
Some Everton supporters themselves have been guilty at times of perpetuating this myth and a few years back, a slogan emerged that stated: “Evertonians are born, not manufactured. We do not choose, We are chosen. Those who understand need no explanation, those who don't understand, don’t matter.” Many embraced this ethos and Everton themselves, like they had done with David Moyes’ “People’s Club” remark, even included the “We are chosen, we do not choose” on official signs at functions.
While such claims might make loyal but long-suffering fans feel special and every supporter wants to believe their team possess unique traits that marks them out from the rest (with their list of numerous ‘firsts’ Everton don’t need to rely on gimmicks in this respect), the truth is that many Evertonians support and love the Blues because they want to and it’s a decision that is very much consciously their own. It might be that they were brought up to support Everton and be proud to come from a long line of Blues fans, given that the club can claim to be the oldest major fanbase in England after it enjoyed the highest average attendances throughout the first decade of the Football League, but the decision to offer their support is still very much their own.
