Season 2011-12
The Mail Bag
Blue to Red?
Here's one to worry traditionalists...
Cardiff City ? known as the 'Bluebirds' for as long as I can remember ? are being pressured by their Malaysian investors to change their home kit to red.
So, folks, if the price of new ownership at Everton was we play in red and perhaps call ourselves 'Liverpool City' and play at 'New Anfield' ? is it a price you'd be willing to pay for financial stability and a crack at the Champs League?
My own opinion is, if the day ever comes when an owner dictates changes of this magnitude to our identity and tradition ? that'll be the day I retire from active participation in supporting Everton to spend more time in the alehouse developing my alcoholism and game of pool...
Kevin Sparke, Posted 09/05/2012 at 11:15:52
Comments
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849 Posted 09/05/2012 at 14:26:20
852 Posted 09/05/2012 at 14:29:50
857 Posted 09/05/2012 at 14:46:21
859 Posted 09/05/2012 at 14:46:47
As for the Everton Football Club; I say bring back the Black Watch shirt with the ruby sash (and centre partings).
863 Posted 09/05/2012 at 15:00:38
867 Posted 09/05/2012 at 15:15:41
869 Posted 09/05/2012 at 15:13:16
870 Posted 09/05/2012 at 15:22:34
Be careful what you wish for, eh!
873 Posted 09/05/2012 at 15:25:57
878 Posted 09/05/2012 at 15:31:49
They have just let Cardiff Blues (rugby) cancel the agreement to ground share, which allows them to take complete control of the ground. Plans to increase capacity are on the table and funds for a real concerted effort to get promoted after failing in the play-offs 3 years running.
The only thing I would worry about is the club badge. It for me is part of the soul of the club. I really hate red shirts, but it would be, in Cardiffs' case, a small price to pay, surely?
882 Posted 09/05/2012 at 15:39:42
Mike Iddon.... Why did you have to go and say that, are you implying the old "Better the Devil you know" line?
883 Posted 09/05/2012 at 15:48:15
The Black Watch should be our away colours.
887 Posted 09/05/2012 at 15:53:54
"...And we'll fight fight fight, with all our might for the boys in the bright red jerseys"
"We don't care what the (other) red shite say..."
"Come on you, once-used-to-be blues"
Unthinkable...
889 Posted 09/05/2012 at 16:03:12
I think I read somewhere that Liverpool also changed their kit to all-red, ditching the white shorts around the same time was it? (Under direction from Shankly.)
897 Posted 09/05/2012 at 16:18:01
I know we played in the Black Watch kit at some time and I've always liked black as an away kit but the ruby sash doesn't seem right anymore. Those days we weren't known as the Blues and we didn't have a hatred of anything red... but now? I'd be happy with a blue sash on an all black kit for the away colours.
899 Posted 09/05/2012 at 16:28:13
902 Posted 09/05/2012 at 16:43:21
906 Posted 09/05/2012 at 16:55:14
909 Posted 09/05/2012 at 16:52:51
If a new investor came along and wanted to make changes, then personally as long as I could see the reward, I'd be open to them.
Other clubs have already changed stadium names, and whilst in some cases its been self-serving, in other cases (e.g. arsenal) it's been a valuable source of income. Commercialism of the game is not something that has just crept in, its been in our faces for some time.
I know it's a bit "who stole my cheese", but we need to embrace whatever funding we can get if we want to compete, and I personally put competition over traditionalism, though I accept many won't feel the same.
912 Posted 09/05/2012 at 17:00:59
What is a football club but an organisation that exists to win the next game? If it isn't that then your tradition could see you keeping company with other traditionalists in the lower leagues.
Tradition can also be a great strength but has to be viewed appropriately - no to playing in red for example but yes to playing in a modern stadium that allows us to compete that is not called Goodison Park. Yes to playing outside of Walton but no to playing outside of the city? Who decided what is acceptable? We do.
913 Posted 09/05/2012 at 16:56:17
Nostalgia, that's the future... My grandad often referred to us as "The Midnight Dribblers" and Paul (883) I see someone's thinking along the same lines (bit too moderny red, though ? make it ruby):
http://www.footballshirtculture.com/fantasy-kit-design/fantasy-kit-design/everton-black-watch-3rd-kit-2012/13-17902.html
916 Posted 09/05/2012 at 17:08:16
Thank's Michael, just had a look and that Everton kit isn't as bad as I was anticipating, although bad enough, a darkesh red top with dark blue shorts and socks.
918 Posted 09/05/2012 at 17:09:46
"What is a football club but an organisation that exists to win the next game?"
Grab your tin hat before the "realists" start on you
920 Posted 09/05/2012 at 17:02:45
There's a point where the team you've supported since being a kid stops being that team ? eg, if Everton, due to owner pressure, were to change their name to 'Liverpool City' or 'Liverpool Athletic', I think I'd give them a miss...
Same as if we moved to a different town, say Warrington or Runcorn... or If we went from Royal Blue to Red jerseys it might have the same effect ? it wouldn't feel right shouting for 'the reds'...
All of the above has happened to other clubs (Milton Keynes Dons etc).
Only the most blinkered would suggest that increased funding isn't necessary ? it is; we can't stay the same or we'll eventually die of funding malnutrition.
However, it depends on who is doing the funding ? would you really want the Venkys at Everton? Gaydamak? Magnusson? Whyte? Al Fayed? Even the likes of Lerner?
Just securing a new owner isn't the panacea that many imagine it to be ? you're in effect playing funder roulette ? and for every success, I can show you three failures...
Whoever buys us in the future ? if they change too much about the club, they can foxtrot oscar without me...
Mike Iddon - you're right... anything you say on here, some will try and fit you into a pigeon hole... either for or against the board, for or against Moyes, for or against BU ? it's fucking depressing at times.
922 Posted 09/05/2012 at 17:46:08
930 Posted 09/05/2012 at 18:31:30
I agree. I didn't say I'd sell my soul - only that I'd be open if new investors wanted change, if I could see a reward. What that change would be, and the reward, are open to debate.
But I do think I there is a fear that many evertonians are reluctant to change. I would hate to see a situation develop that we push any new owner away through traditonalism or over-egging our own position.
Whether its accurate or not, the BBC reported yesterday that the rangers bidder walked away with one of the reasons being that he heard the fans shout "yank go home" or somesuch. Talk about not seeing the wood for the trees.
I'd love everything to stay the same. But the reality is that I don't expect a random uber-rich investor to come along, give us £150 million and say "spend this on some players and just entertain us". Sadly some fans seem to think thats reasonable or worse, expected. I expect our next owner to not be uber-rich, but instead a sports-minded businessman who has had to beg or borrow money and wants to manage the club as a business (as the majority of premiership clubs are) for his loan-providers.
In this scenario, I expect some changes to meet the interest payments and to make efc "viable" for the future.
Maybe I'm misguided...but then losing £5 million+ per year isn't exactly a bupa clean bill of health either.
945 Posted 09/05/2012 at 19:42:08
964 Posted 09/05/2012 at 21:26:16
983 Posted 09/05/2012 at 22:44:40
It was the team now known as Liverpool that wanted to be known as Everton Athletic; I wish they would have been given the name... I think the football league rejected it.
As for the Cardiff ideas, I think it sucks, personally yet another example of money dominating the game,
993 Posted 10/05/2012 at 01:01:28
They had to do it in the next round and won... the shorts then became the 'lucky red shorts' so the started wearing them in league games and were promptly jumped on by the league because it wasn't the colour they registered at the start of the season, so back to the white.
The club (Shankly) promptly registered the red shorts at the start of the next season and they have had them ever since.
RS ? you get exactly what it says on the tin.
002 Posted 10/05/2012 at 02:15:43
And Everton?..............well we were wearing red at that time.
003 Posted 10/05/2012 at 02:20:05
Then everyone would think they we're playing City.
005 Posted 10/05/2012 at 02:24:35
022 Posted 10/05/2012 at 08:10:27
Cardiff play in a one-club City, with their biggest rivals playing in white.
I'd accept fuckin' bin bags with plastic cocks attached if the new owner had as much cash as that mon from City.
Say what ya like, he's brought success. Fuck the colour of the kit - they're winning things.
044 Posted 10/05/2012 at 10:04:34
099 Posted 10/05/2012 at 14:18:23
102 Posted 10/05/2012 at 14:44:35
I'd be delighted if we played in that for home games for a season or two!
...and if new owners insisted we stayed that way as a caveat to investing 2 billion quid into the squad and building a replica Chinese Bird's nest stadium on the waterfront, then, yes, I could live with it. Happily.
118 Posted 10/05/2012 at 16:13:29
What's the reference to Black Watch colours?
I know they are a now disbanded Scottish Regiment but I don't get the association?
146 Posted 10/05/2012 at 18:14:30
150 Posted 10/05/2012 at 18:33:19
The news came in 5 minutes after Prince Charles presented Scotland's weather forecast
153 Posted 10/05/2012 at 18:31:29
We used to be called St Domingo's but we changed to Everton as we grew and we attracted players from other parish's.The players brought their own kits but obviously they were all different colours,black was the easiest colour to dye them all and the scarlet sash was added for decorative affect.The club was nicknamed The Black Watch after the Scotish regiment,simply because we played in black I think.
190 Posted 10/05/2012 at 21:21:30
We can all sleep safely knowing 10 years from now we'll still be wearing the royal blue...in League 1.
225 Posted 11/05/2012 at 02:46:04
262 Posted 11/05/2012 at 09:10:57
316 Posted 11/05/2012 at 13:16:43
325 Posted 11/05/2012 at 13:51:30
489 Posted 12/05/2012 at 12:41:44
Paul's spot on; a short summary here...
http://www.evertonfc.com/history/everton-the-begining.html
The best book I've read about the early years is "Football on Merseyside" by Percy M Young, a ToffeeWeb review here...
http://www.toffeeweb.com/club/stuff/books/fom.asp
As I mentioned earlier, my old grandad used to call us "The Midnight Dribblers" ? he said early Everton used to train at night under gas lamps; anyone else know of this?
I'd love to see the black and ruby kit, perhaps for the 125th FL anniversary, with 1888 or 1/12 or 'Founder Member' on our shirts.
Sounding like a right anorak, now! I wonder if the wonderful marketing machine at Everton would be bothered...
499 Posted 12/05/2012 at 15:01:34
Ah yes, wait a mo! Everton before World War I
Good memory, Phil!
503 Posted 12/05/2012 at 15:29:26
Grandad was adamant his own dad used to watch the players train at night and we really were the best local club in the country, a true focal point for the working man in Liverpool
A docker and socialist, he also told me going to the match was a prime mover behind the reduction in the working week in the 1870s to under 60 hours, so workers could get Sat afternoon free
God, I wish I'd had the sense to record my talks with him
573 Posted 13/05/2012 at 01:55:45
Oh well... we will still have Osman.
575 Posted 13/05/2012 at 04:04:15
Lets see all the so called big club / money boys beat that. I think from memory only 7 teams can claim the distinction.
576 Posted 13/05/2012 at 04:17:18
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848 Posted 09/05/2012 at 14:28:09