Season 2011-12 Fan Articles

The Importance of Identity

By Paul   Niklas  ::  24/10/2011   81 Comments (»Last)

I spent an enjoyable day and evening in my beloved city the day of the Chelsea game. My normal Saturday routine would have been at Stamford Bridge for the game or at Goodison for any home game.

I travelled in by train arriving at Lime street about 3pm on the basis that my day out would consist of a nice meal a few drinks and a taxi home at the point I or the missus could drink no more,

We walked down towards Liverpool One and headed for the HUB restaurant. On arrival, the bar area was busy in the main with a group of about 30 Irish Liverpool supporters who had got there straight from the Man Utd game. Nothing unusual in that, you might say. We had lunch and a couple of bottles of wine by which time it was approaching 5pm. I said we needed to find a bar and watch the match so we left immediatley and headed up towards Victoria street at a pace, albeit hampered a bit by the wine.

As I was walking I began to notice many Liverpool supporters, Chinese, Spanish, various other nationalities draped in the colours Liverpool and lots of them carrying bags of merchandise.

I began to get that bitter feeling we all know and then it really hit me when I started to realise the global brand that is Liverpool FC, created mainly from its association with one of the best known cities in the world, some success on the footballing front and only enhanced by a couple of tragedies that do not need to be mentioned.

I arrived at the bar to be confronted by a number of Everton fans and more Liverpool fans, of unknown origin in most instances, to watch a game in which tactically we were appalling, but that's for another day.

I continued on into the evening to witness how different the city is when they are at home, the obvious bustle of the city, the obvious increased spend and the general feel that an occasion had happened that day.

This observation made me feel very disheartened and to be frank pretty damned pissed off with what they have become and what they now represent, which is the city of Liverpool.

This brings me to the point of my article and the question, what do we Everton Football club currently represent? Well, to be honest, I racked my brains and came up with not a lot really apart from a few things:

A suburb of Walton ?

A glorious past that ended in 1987.

and a club who's name is being dragged through the mud by a group of supporters who mean well but create completely the opposite.

The city of Liverpool belongs to all Liverpool people and equally Everton supporters, to a would-be buyer of the club the association with a well known city is attractive and something that can be built upon. Sadly Everton as a brand or a place has none of these attractions, therefore I want Everton fans to consider the unconsiderable and think what it could do if we rebranded our club and its name, wait for it,

"The city of Liverpool FC"

I know this may be hard to take and you may even think its a step to far, however in my opinion it is one of the key factors why we are not recognised as a potentially good acquisition as globally potential new support would find it difficult to make an association with us.

This city has world wide fame on many fronts and currently are neighbours exploit this to its full as do the press and the media in general when they talk about Liverpool FC, Its time for change and sometimes change requires out of the box thinking and radical if its to succeed but what have we got to lose apart from history which by definition has gone already, it wont remove are memories it might just create some potential new ones.

We would have every right to do it and nothing could stand in are way relating to trademarks and Brand identity issues, therefore its a consideration and one I would love someone at Everton Football club to look at seriously.

I await the undoubted ridicule and sentimentality argument which does not wash with me on the subject of Everton's future which does not lie in the past with Dixie Dean, the Holy Trinity or Howard Kendal, for that matter. It lies in whatever can attract investment to this club and its future.

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