Last season ended on such an incredible high with those jubilant scenes to celebrate Everton's Premier League survival following the win over Crystal Palace.
A relegation battle had been unthinkable at the beginning of the season. But the threat of sinking to the Championship felt very real in those final months, particularly after the Blues fell into the bottom three - and then even more so after Burnley's late comeback win against Watford.
It was the next day when Everton welcomed Chelsea to Goodison Park and, with the backing of a passionate crowd that put on its first of several player welcomes, the Blues kickstarted their escape from trouble. That ended with the win over Palace and that unforgettable night has rightly dominated the minds of Everton fans, players and coaches ever since. Now is the time to move on from that traumatic battle, however. For Everton to move forward everyone has to concentrate on the present, not dwell on the past.
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Few who were at Goodison Park for the Palace game will forget it. It was a heady, intense mix of love, hope and fear that fuelled Everton's comeback and led to such an outpouring of emotion after Dominic Calvert-Lewin's late winner. Ever since, it has been a focal point for the club. Frank Lampard and several of his backroom staff have described it as being among the highlights of their careers. New signings, including James Tarkowski, have spoken of how those scenes and wanting to be backed by such a special fanbase influenced their moves to Merseyside.
The foundation for that 3-2 win was laid just three months ago on Sunday, May 1 with the visit of Chelsea. That was the day of smoke bombs outside Goodison Park, of Richarlison hunting down Cesar Azpilicueta for the winner and of Jordan Pickford's 'save of the season'.
There are parallels between that game and this, the first day of a new campaign for Everton. Once again, thousands of Blues are set to line the streets surrounding the ground to welcome the players' coaches. Meanwhile, at the tie in May, a banner unfurled in the Gwladys Street heralded Pickford as England's number one. His sensational ability and his leadership skills were evident in the 90 minutes that followed and today, with club captain Seamus Coleman recovering from surgery, Pickford is likely to be given the captain's armband.
Everton, as a club and a fanbase, can take immense pride from the unity forged between the players and supporters during those difficult days. Ultimately, though, staying up was essential. Everton were involved in a fight the club should not have been in.
The focus now has to be about making sure that does not happen again and that new memories are made as the club moves forward. Progress may have to be slow, but signs of improvement are a necessity. The players and Lampard will take a huge amount of goodwill into this season and that must provide a platform for a new Everton to rise from the chaos of last season.
Lampard and his coaching team have been working hard since the players returned to training. Director of football Kevin Thelwell's activity in the transfer market has intensified and further additions are expected to boost a squad that suffered the blow of Dominic Calvert-Lewin's injury this week. James Tarkowski, Dwight McNeil and Ruben Vinagre are already through the door and all could get their first taste of a big game at Goodison Park this evening.
It feels like positive steps are being made and, while this season will no doubt be a challenge, Lampard and Thelwell appear to have the type of coherent strategy supporters have craved for so long. They need to be given the resources and patience to genuinely make this the start of something new.
After years of wasted spending and lurching between managers and directors of football, at the end of last season the world saw Everton could survive when the club came together. Now it has been given a second chance, the club has to show what it has the potential to achieve amid such unity.
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