Column

A Generation thing?

I'll be honest, I hate watching Everton these days. I've said it before on this site, but I'm embarrassed to be associated with the Wimbledon-esque style of play we so often revert to under Moyes. I've lived down South for nearly 10 years now and at first I was quite of proud telling people I supported Everton ? not because we were successful (because we haven?t been that good in the past decade) but because of our traditions of trying to play good football no matter how poor the players were. I can't honestly say we do that now.

Of course, you could say that they are playing the best style of football they can given their lack of talent, but then I start wondering why has Moyes spent so much money on this small collection of workhorses when surely he could have plucked any old player from the championship or Spanish 2nd Division side (a la Da Silva) and spent half as much for the same end-product.

However, in this day and age I'm not allowed to say these sort of things as I'm being a bad Evertonian. Someone else mentioned the word 'Jihadist' to describe some of our supporters ? the ones that will not allow any dissenting voices to be heard ? and I think its a very apt description. None of us are bad Evertonians, but some of us certainly expect more from the club. As far as I know, the club only has one 'commandment' and that is roughly translated into 'Nothing but the best is good enough'.

To me, this not only applies to the standard of football produced, but also to the standards that we as Evertonians should accept. In my eyes, its what made us different in the past even when our neighbours were winning everything. It's tough being an Evertonian, and it probably always will be but just because the Manager and Chairman have let standards drop it doesn?t mean we should also drop them.

Some of you might not have been lucky enough to see us win the title in the past but I don?t really think that matters, you should still expect more from this club at the moment because, if you accept what?s on offer, nothing will improve.

There is a lethargy about Everton FC which is spreading throughout all facets of the organisation including David Moyes himself. We accept second best. We can't even organise our own post and if you do get inside the ground the catering is a shambles and that's because we have outsourced just about everything. How can Wyness, expect to create a brand 'The Everton Way' if the club is just a collection of self-serving outsourced business units?

Moyes has stabilized the club, there is no question about that, but despite getting the club into a position of strength to allow him to improve the quality of the squad and dramatically change the style of the team he has failed... twice... despite spending what for us is now a considerable amount of money. He has proved that he learned nothing from his last venture into Europe and he proves it season after season that his tactics are still as Neanderthal as Graham Taylor?s back in the 80s.

To sum up, I suppose the big question is, 'what do I want from Everton?' If you want to keep the status quo and finish mid- to upper-table two seasons out of every three and cringe every time we appear on national TV, or maybe you just like hurling abuse at Neville and Hibbert at Goodison because it makes you feel better, then continue the Jihad. However, if you want to have an enjoyable experience when you go to Goodison or watch them on TV and you want to be able to get back some pride and actually look forward to watching the team have a go at out-THINKING the opposition or using a bit of creative guile from more than one player, then perhaps.... you need to take up Buddhism, because it maybe along time coming.

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