Just what is the 'Everton Way'?
Yesterday the club revealed plans that it's a major feature at their new stadium, giving fans the chance to cement their place at the the site for posterity. But other than that it's also a footballing philosophy and a state of mind.
Alan Ball, the Blues’ greatest redhead and one of the greatest full stop, famously proclaimed: “Once Everton has touched you nothing will be the same” - and in a similar vein things felt different for the club’s latest flame-haired icon Sean Dyche as his side snatched a well-earned point at Chelsea.
READ MORE: Everton release statement after Premier League accuse club of breach of financial rules
READ MORE: 'Everton Way' plan confirmed as fans can cement their place at new stadium
After Joao Felix had broken Everton’s stubborn resistance with an effort that went in off Jordan Pickford’s left-hand post on 52 minutes, the visitors were only level for a subsequent eight more minutes of the contest but they were still good value to secure their share of the spoils. The Blues’ record-breaking wait to secure three points at Stamford Bridge for the first time since Paul Rideout’s headed winner in Joe Royle’s first away match in charge back in November 1994 goes on. But the manner in which this result was achieved certainly made it feel like a victory for those loyal but long-suffering supporters who celebrated jubilantly in the away end.
Unlike their previous away game at Nottingham Forest, where Everton went ahead twice before also drawing 2-2, this was surely a point gained rather than two points lost, although you could argue that the result at the City Ground was, too, given that 20 of the East Midlanders’ 26 points have come at home. Although Chelsea was a stern assignment in which Dyche’s men were undoubtedly having to fight a rear-guard action for long periods, it still possessed the feeling of being something of a watershed moment in the battle to avoid what would be the club’s first relegation in 72 years.
Being handed the evening kick-off slot ensured that Everton’s players and fans had to endure the emotional roller-coaster of enduring many of their rivals’ fluctuating fortunes earlier in the day. But while Bournemouth were well-beaten 3-0 at Aston Villa; Leicester City recovered from 1-0 down to draw at Brentford; Southampton hit back from a 3-1 deficit to draw 3-3 at home to Tottenham Hotspur with a stoppage-time penalty and Leeds United romped to a 4-2 away success against a Wolverhampton Wanderers side who finished the match with nine men. As one beleaguered Blue, who days before had become ‘An Everton Da’ remarked with just four points separating nine clubs at the bottom: “Wanting eight teams to lose every week is exhausting.”
Such has been Everton’s lack of firepower this season, it’s often felt like ‘first goal wins’ or at least if the Blues don’t get their noses in front then they’ve no chance. But while Dyche holds the record for steering Burnley to seventh spot and European qualification in 2017/18 – the highest-ever Premier League finish from a team averaging less than a goal a game – here his charges possessed that added resilience and character to bounce back not once but twice. That is no mean feat for a team who had, until their previous away fixture, only found the net more than once in a game on two occasions this term, in the 2-1 comeback win at Southampton and 3-0 thrashing of Crystal Palace at Goodison Park, both back in October.
With a 16-day gap in fixtures before Everton return to action at home to Tottenham Hotspur on April 3 – after everyone else has played again – it could have been a long and frustrating wait to try and put things right had substitute Ellis Simms’ late strike not denied Graham Potter’s side victory. But while the table remains ridiculously truncated – there’s a mere three-point gap between the sides placed 12th to 19th – the Blues’ direction of travel now seems to be heading in a more positive direction than many of those around them. At least on the pitch, anyway, given yesterday's revelation that the Premier League has referred the club to an independent commission for an "alleged breach" of profit and sustainability rules.
Since Dyche took charge, only four other Premier League clubs have accumulated more than Everton’s 11 points and it took him just seven matches to equal the three victories that predecessor Frank Lampard had accrued over 20 games. The 51-year-old might have inherited a squad with a chronic lack of proven goalscorers but as he declared in his first week in the job: “There are a lot of good players here.”
It might have taken the Blues to be at their lowest ebb before they brought Dyche to the club but while Farhad Moshiri initially chased blockbuster names to compete in the North West region that he dubbed “football’s new Hollywood,” a sprinkling of Tinsel Town stardust isn’t necessarily a comfortable fit for Walton, and a series of big budget flops represented shattered dreams and only saw the team go backwards despite huge investment. The hope must be that under Dyche, Everton can now avoid the ignominy of the drop as they prepare to depart the first purpose-built ground in English football for a new spectacular 52,888-capacity waterfront stadium. But while that move will signal a fresh start for the club and the way they’re viewed by the rest of the global game, they should continue to play to their strengths and ignore the traits that have made them who they are – and made them successful in the past – at their peril.
Going back through the annals of history, the Blues have been known as “The School of Science” and “The Mersey Millionaires” but in a manner appreciated by many of the salt-of-the-earth patrons who cheer them on in great numbers through thick and thin, Everton are arguably most-effective when they’re putting in a shift. Rather than arriving from one of football’s more-exotic outposts, Dyche (Burnley) cut his teeth in the dugout of a working-class Lancashire club just like all the most-effective Everton managers of recent decades: Howard Kendall (Blackburn Rovers), Joe Royle (Oldham Athletic) and David Moyes (Preston North End).
Whether it was Bayern Munich coach Udo Lattek prompting an X-rated response from the home bench when he complained, “Mr Kendall, this is not football,” as the likes of Andy Gray and Peter Reid got stuck in; Royle’s self-proclaimed ‘Dogs of War’ or Moyes’ midfield enforcer Lee Carsley quipping: “When I put that Everton shirt on, I’d hear ‘Z-Cars’ and I want to kill, I’d want to f****** take someone out,” this is a football institution that needs to be up for the fight as well as trying when possible to play the beautiful game. As Dyche himself says he wants his players to be “relentless” and that’s no bad thing. That's the 'Everton Way.'
READ NEXT:
- Former Everton player became key man at Nike working with Eric Cantona and Ian Wright
Inside story of Everton training as surprise role and nickname for Asmir Begovic revealed
Everton Shareholders Association reaffirm calls for club to reinstate the Annual General Meetings
Everton irritated for being highlighted over Premier League clubs 'setting a very bad example'
