FAN ARTICLES
We Are Everton, A Rally Call

I have read before on forum pages, in mailbag postings and by word of mouth the outrage of fellow blues at how we are portrayed by various media. I have also heard and seen much of it myself as I avidly keep up to date with anything about Everton, something I think many of us do, REAL fans of a REAL, passionate football club. It fills me with anger when our name is repeatedly dragged through the dirt with every piece of news, positive or negative. Something we have seen more than ever over the last 3 months. Speculation, drama and down-right lies.
Sarcastic MoTD comments from scum like Mark Lawrenson, completely biased match commentary by cowards like Alan Green and patronising portrayals of our club by various faceless SSN presenters. These are all a mouthpiece to the general public which is slowly brainwashing the country into believing there are only 4 teams worth knowing about in England. Worse however is the brief coverage that we do get, which in comparison to our current competition (team s like Tottenham, Villa and Portsmouth), is terrible. We are made out to be a shambles on, and more topically, off the pitch. This has implications on our affairs not only in the minds of other teams, but when purchasing players and looking for investment we need to progress in this modern money sucking game.
It is sad to see that a team with so much history have such little respect from supposed ?football people?. Recently we have been the only team to break the Sky4 monopoly, yet every year we are overlooked, looked down on and discarded as unworthy adversaries. We deserve better than this. We are a club on the move, looking forward at beating Arsenal and Liverpool (the next step), not floundering and settling for 5th and the futility of the Uefa Cup.
This is something that needs to be addressed by the club. Our recently appointed head of marketing has a huge job on his hands. We need to lose the ?chats? with Bill Kenwright sat on his sofa waxing lyrical about transfer targets and ?being confident about signings?. We need to stop the ?only a fan? comments and take a more professional stance.
Bill?s public, relaxed persona is harmful to our reputation. We need to exude confidence, which borders on arrogance. We need to GET our transfer targets whatever the cost, not ?TRY?. We were the 5th best team in the highest quality league in the world last year, we need to strive for better, demand respect and challenge those who with the help of this spin are becoming comfortable. This is not blind optimism, this is the attitude we need to win.
Nil Satis Nisi Optimum? That is what we are all about. We need to send out the message. We won?t just roll over and die. We are Everton.
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In lehmans terms would you rather him or the Swedish international Noah Baarde?
Also ,Alan Smith has a lot to prove and I think DM is the man to help him.
Tony Marsh posted a pretty dispargaging comment about him.Tony I agree with you most times but I must disagree this time.I f we had fifty million to spend then it would be a bad move.As we seem to have fuck all he is a steal.
ALAN SMITH!!!!
Another Brett Angel nice one Bill
Admittedly Alan Green is a disgrace - but those five words say it all. It’s universally acknowledged that as a commentator the man has the credibility of Jeffrey Archer. So, in the words of Peter Cook, "why bother?"
As to what I think is the Great Debate: Grand Old Team vs 21st Century - that is, and is going to be the question we should be considering for the next few years. I’m ancient enough to remember the glory years of 1970, and the mid-Eighties, and immature enough to bitterly resent the consequences of Heysel. But we move on.
And since the advent of David Moyes, we have. (I’m still coming to terms with the fact that he’s the first Everton manager younger than me - but that’s by the by) I think his presence is paramount to Everton’s progress, and I’m concerned that that contract is sitting unsigned on a desk somewhere. People have said "where would he go?".
Well, Carlos Quieroz is now installed in Portugal, and Sir Ferg is hunting for a 2iC, with a view to that 2iC taking over when Sir Ferg falls off the perch. I know Rooney’s presence might make this a little awkward, but hell, time heals all wounds (and wounds all heals, for that matter), so I’m sure something could be arranged. Which is my nightmare.
It IS a Grand Old Team, and a Grand Old Club, and after the Agent Johnson years I was pleased when it was taken over by a fan, but Mr K has now blown the gaffe by admitting that he’s a guppy in a piranha tank. The question hanging in the air is do we want to be our club to be a guppy or a piranha? Do we want our club to be a Rottweiler or a Labrador? Do we want our club to be Chelsea or Charlton? Do we want our club to be Thaksin Shinawatra or John Moores?
I don’t know, folks. Is there a middle route out there?
This is the way ALL us blues should think...I am sure most do...lets knot roll over and die...we are THE PEOPLES CLUB....Dixie, Bally, Labby...etc...Would not stand for this!!!!
NIL SATIS NISI OPTIMUM
Does anyone know if Manny is coming back or is that dead in the water as well. Listened to Claridge on Mondays Football Daily and he reckons while EFC have great fans (and stadium!) theyre over achievers. Well we’re going to have to over achieve this season I reckons....
We have progressed from a club that battled against relegation each season, to a club that is respected as a consistent top six contender.
What do the whingers want BK to say. "We have shed loads of money and we?ll pay anything".
I believe Everton have conducted an excellent PR campaign to convince selling clubs that the finances are dire, in a bid to deter them for bumping up the prices.
Look at Liverpool. £19 million for Keane and the same for Barry. Neither are worth more than £10 million.
We?ve bought shrewd and we?ve bought well to get us where we are.
So stop the whinging and have trust and faith in the management team that has taken our club to the brink of the Champions League.
I hope so, as the useless fucker hasn?t scored in his last 37 outings.
I don?t really see what I?ve written as whinging. I applaud DM for what he has done for the club and if you read again, I am very positive about our club, just not how we are portrayed to the rest of the world.
I think this is my main point. We are proud fans, we should act like it. If we do and the club does, and conducts itself in a professional manner we are doing the best we can. We are in every competition to win, something DM referred to recently, to my delight. If we do this and strive for success rather than whinging, we may get better media coverage.
The media hate Everton because we’re honest and we’re winning games without having to splash megabucks on superstars, whose private lifestyles fill the tabiods. Our style of play is effective, efficient and bland. It works. Against the more glamorous clubs. We consistently place top6, taking a European spot with us, where the media would rather see Spurs, Newcastle, Villa who have ’star’ players.
We place other teams/managers that spend vasts amounts of money in a bad light, as we consistently beat them on a shoestring budget. Playing good old fashioned football.
We are a threat to the sky4 and preceived image that the Premier League is the most exciting and glamorous product in the world.
COYB
As for Alan Smith, if we do buy him, give the lad a chance before you start slagging him off! He has been playing in a woeful side so there’s no surprise that he hasn’t done too well there.
I can’t believe how negative some of you are. Is it any surprise that the media are negative when our own fans are.
Lets wait and see what happens with regards to transfers and then get behind the team (Smith and all if he arrives) come what may!
COYB
4th this season. onwards and upwards.
COYB
But to be fair your right. we do suffer from poor publicty and negative comments etc...
But sod all that, we are Everton and let?s not give a toss about what other people think.
Those who understand do not need explanation; those who don't understand do not matter.
I know what your saying. Along the lines of #we don’t care what the Red shite say....#. To a certain extent that is what we do, but there is a point where it’s like pissing into a stiff breeze. We need to at least to set a precedent for how we want to be regarded. I do like the single mindedness of how you see things, I just feel we as a club need to be a little more pro-active in setting an image others should fear (or have I been watching Batman too closely ;) )
Chris Kennedy
I definitely don’t want us to sell our souls like the red shite etc. I think we need investment, but agree that it should be either from those with a passion for Everton, or those who have an integrity on which we can rely.
I am looking forward to this season, and i’m not being negative about our team. I want us to be proud, to stand up and be counted, to give no one else too much respect. I am advocating Everton and hoping that the rest of us do. Enough of the ’in house’ squabbling about Kirkby, the lack of transfers etc. We need to stand and fight together, in what is a very hostile climate.
The BBC (MofTD) is full of ex red-shites and ex-players who mostly hate Everton. I refer you to the treatment Alan Shearer used to dish out (and get away with) when he played Everton. Treatment that was then defended as "good forward play" by Hansen and Lawrenson.
Lineker?s loyalty is to Leicester, then Spurs, then Walkers Crisps the anything else he can think of , followed by Everton. Sky just cant see past the "big 4" most weeks.
To be honest I have given up getting so worked up about it now. What matters is this up-coming season. That we do better than last year and hopefully get a top 4 spot. A team needs to break up this "big 4" monopoly, and I hope we do it.
As for Alan Smith, I think DM could get the best out of him.
COYB...........
Your absolutely right. Thats how i prefer to see things as a supporter. but with the increasing negativity towards the club and bias shown against it. is it any wonders why say for instance a investor with no knowledge of the english game would identify everton. From a business sense we do require a much more improved image.
The championship trophy! ?What?s happened? Is Kendall still the Manager?
We have far too many sensitive and precious souls who get upset because we do not get the same amount of coverage as the mancs or the shite. So what?
On the subject of ’another Brett Angel’ maybe Smith might turn out to be another Reid or Gray or Sheedy or Power or one of numerous signings that were riduculed and turned out fairly well. In Moyes (and Kenwright) we trust.
COYB
Alan Smith Brett Angell
5’ 10" 6’ 2"
19 Eng Apps None
Leeds Man U N ’castle Stockport S’end
300 ish top flight apps None
Spot on as usual Jay!
On Alan Smith, I can see him being quite effective if he can be moulded into the Carsley role. The lad was class once and
that doesnt just disappear.
Roll on next Saturday and lets get back to talking about an actual footy match.
I’m sick and tired of all this ’woe is me’ evertonian garbage...
Any chance we could stop the tide of erroneous grief at the way we are purported to be treated in the media....its a load of bóllocks.
I don’t think that what I have written is ’woe is me’ evertonian garbage. I am disgruntled at how we are shown in the media but I think my last few paragraphs outline how I feel about Everton. I think that we are going places, if we have unity, belief and are ready to stand up and be counted.
I’m sure you will agree that a ’woe is me’ attitude would be more fitting to someone who is happy to take this rubbish and just moan about it. I will be at goodison cheering on the team next Saturday, looking forward to a winning start. We are on a level start with everyone as it’s a new season. I want to see us win as many games as we can. I do not subscribe to the attitude that we can not challenge those above us.
Your perceived paranoia about how everton are singled out is misplaced...It is a bizzarre idea that seems to have now gathered pace with the proliferation of articles giving credence to the ridiculous idea.
We are not singled out for ridicule, and the sooner you realise that the sooner you can write articles about things which are real!
Smith would be a good squad player for £2m - can cover up front and midfield.
I absolutely agree that the club needs to project a more professional outlook from a marketing perspective. I am rapidly reaching the stage where any money is good money but then that reminds me of Johnson and I have a change of mind!
You’re right; but don’t let your frustration boil over. There are certain people in the media and in the admin of the game, who seem to believe that Liverpool have some kind of divine right to be given some kind of super star status. To a degree they’ve earned a right to be respected as one of the most successful teams over the last 40years .
You’ll always get the sort of hero worship that Alan Green gives them. He is a biased little tosser.
However, we are Everton, we are THE FIRST TEAM of the city and each and every one of are an ambassador for what it is to be an Evertonian. Act with dignity and you’ll win friends. Its not easy, when we continually get the last two minutes on Match of the Day but if we want people’s respect, then we have to earn it...all of us not just the team.
So a good post with lots of good comments. I especially liked yours Marco. You’re right, the whole world isn’t against us and I enjoyed your reminiscences, Bloody Hell, I’m even older. I can remember Youngy, Roy Vernon, Bobby Collins and the rest of that wonderful team...broken up too early by Catterick IMHO. Beginning to ramble there. Gareth, your heart’s in the right place, just be proud your a Blue, we will get that respect. Well done for a good post
Ability wise they are just as bad as each other in fact they are both shite and you are making comparisons about height, weight, previous clubs ex-birds etc.
By the way Brett made several top flight appearnces for EVERTON given your vast knowledge i was surprised you left that out.
I remember all too well Brett Angel joining us on loan, to think we had all that time to look at him and we still signed him.
You just can’t compare him to Smith who is a proven top flight player who has not been quite as good as he was since a serious injury but would definately be worth a punt at £2m.
We never will and unless Moyes is given serious amounts of dosh we can expect 1 more trophy in the next 20 years if we’re lucky.
1 Posted 07/08/2008 at 17:06:17
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