The Dream that Died

I first got the Everton bug at the end of the 1993-94 season, listening to a last-minute scrap for Premier League survival against Wimbledon. Since then (foolishly some might say), I’ve been hooked. Some games have a habit of taking me back to others, Man Utd at home this season to Liverpool 2006-07(the Andy Johnson derby) simply for passion and euphoria; others have taken me back to dark days...

Stood in the Park End on Saturday at 13:20, I felt I’d travelled back in time to an FA Cup game against Mersey neighbours Tranmere in 2000 (a 0-3 defeat). Then, at half-time, after the realisation that I wouldn’t be booking my holiday to London for mid April, it hit me where I and many other blues had seen this before: Middlesbrough 2002.

Again an FA Cup Quarter Final, again an absolute horror show in which we exited the competition in limp style but one that would prove more significant in the following days; it was Walter Smith’s last game before being sacked.

As Jordi Gomez rattled in the 3rd goal, putting the game beyond the Blues and making a rout more likely than a rousing comeback, the last 11 years unrivalled inside Goodison Park. The feeling of ‘The Dream is Over’ hung around the old ground with all the anger and frustration of every Evertonian in sight. Players fighting with each other, fans as angry as ever, a manager sat slumped in the dugout, unable or unwilling to change the tide as the castle built on sand sank into the sea. Scratch the surface and it was the last 13 years unravelling in front of our eyes, The last 13 Kenwright years.

The match analysis goes much further than who didn’t mark whom; from the get-go it was clear only one team was up for it, only one team was interested in winning a cup, and only one team was playing for their fans and manager. The latter becoming a ever more worrying trend. Fellaini didn’t look interested as didn’t most of the team. The only person I would let off the hook would be Mucha; I’m not his biggest fan but he can’t really have been blamed, having played only a handful of games over the last 2 years.

For me, Fellaini’s attitude of not being interested can be traced back to the turn of the year following the intense speculation of a summer move to Chelsea. For me, he’s a great player on his day, and I’d rather he be still here next year, but the media have over-hyped him and if he isn’t interested anymore then he shouldn’t stay and milk the club. Even players who are dependable, like Mirallas and Baines, looked uninterested and uninspired; Baines seemed more interested in playing with his hair than playing for the shirt.

It is worrying, our manager couldn’t get our team up for a quarter-final game at home against a team we’ve got used to beating at home. Salt in the wound is the fact it would’ve resulted in a semi-final against a Championship club.

There are some cold hard facts with Everton: there is no Plan B. The Pienaar-Baines combo has been worked out, the tactic of long balls to Fellaini, who has so much talent playing on the deck, has become painful and slightly embarrassing. There is no tactical plan in Everton’s game; there was in Wigan’s and it showed.

The thing that really got me was dropping Gibson for Neville — Moyes has several times restated his importance in the central midfield role. On that performance, I don’t think Phil Neville should wear the blue jersey again. I think Neville has been a great servant to the club and a great ambassador, I feel that he should be kept on in a coaching capacity. It isn’t personal.

Also, the fact Anichebe was on the bench. Love him or hate him, he has been our best forward and the most effective forward at the club for the last 2 months; the fact Jelavic played instead is questionable but to play him on his own and bench Victor bewilders me.

I have season ticket in the Upper Bullens, sitting in the Park End, it struck me the anger and hostility aimed towards the players but most went to Moyes... and you know what? — I wouldn’t have a go at them. Moyes’s decision to go to the media (London-based media) and state he wouldn’t sign a deal unless we won a cup or got into Europe has back-fired spectacularly. He has disrespected the club in doing so, disrespected the fans who have backed him, and his employers who have given him free rein to run the club the way he wants.

For me, the fans who neither love him or hate him have turned against him. I think that it can be traced back to the FA Cup semi-final showing against Liverpool and the way he got it wrong — we should’ve come out for the second half like raging dogs looking to finally bury the Liverpool ghost once and for all: instead coming out already beaten, straight after his team talk.

The last fans on his side I think have been pushed to the limit recently with the dip in form, refusal to commit his future, and his lack of energy. He appears to have given up on our club; well, Davey, I for one will not. The Media going on consistently that Moyes will get one of the big jobs is getting boring, I doubt it will happen; more to the point — he already has a big job.

I don’t think Moyes is a bad man; he does want what’s best for Everton, I don’t doubt that... but maybe he has given up. I feel that and I think 99% of Evertonian’s think this; the players played like they certainly knew it and have done for a while.

I feel it goes deeper though and it goes back to Mr Kenwright and the Everton Board as a whole: Earl, Woods, Carter, Grantchester. The list goes on. The fact is, we get told we are in debt and have no money yet our board is worth collectively nearly £2 billion. Yes, that’s right... billion. Grantchester is worth around £1.5 billion alone. The "I love Kenwright" supporters will dispute this but it’s fact. Yet none of them are willing to inject much needed money for an ageing squad.

I don’t hate Moyes or blame him totally for the mess that is our club. Had the board injected some cash into the club in January, then I feel it would’ve given us the momentum to challenge for Europe and the cup, it would’ve probably meant we wouldn’t have this mess with Moyes and probably would’ve kept the ‘bigger’ players happy. Leroy Fer was never coming to Goodison. If he was, the deal would have been done on 1 January.

I do feel that Moyes has maybe taken us as far as he can. Martinez does seem a good fit but the worrying thing is Wigan are always at the bottom; at least Moyes has us near the better end of the table. Evertonians need to ask this though: Would Martinez take a job were there is an aging squad, no money, and players looking to leave? I doubt he would.

The total anti-Moyes section of the fans would argue Moyes has had funds, but there has always been sales and always been a limit to what he could do. Most of the players have been sold for profit or have gone up in value, the Yak could be argued as a special case as injury finished him.

In summarizing, there are only two to blame for Wigan: the players and ultimately the manager. His team, his selection, and his tactics failed. I fear we will go in to freefall, be managerless in the summer, lose our better players, and have no money to spend. That is Kenwright’s and his boards fault. For all the anger at Moyes over his contract, the board have allowed this situation to happen, no players in January has left us exposed.

I feel we will struggle to get someone in and may end up with someone like Steve McClaren or Dave Jones. I doubt anyone will take us further than we already are with the financial situation of the club. Do any fans really believe we will overtake Chelsea or Tottenham or Liverpool with no investment? Any fan who does, I have to admire their optimism but they should lay off the sauce.

I feel we have plateaued under Moyes, I think he has blotted his CV these last few months and is leaving a bitter taste in every fan’s mouth. The only way we can change things would be to organize a stay away from the ground, that would catch the media’s attention and focus on the issues of the board and the current ownership of the club.

The media have turned away from this issue for too long, more eager to focus on the likes of Moyes’s and Fellaini’s future. We get played by the owners, they know we love the club and want to support them at any opportunity, play on us the way they have the nerve to release the season tickets earlier and earlier, even though no fan knows who will be here next season.

Things at Everton will never change with the current board in charge, players and managers may change but nothing else will. We’ve seen the likes of the Wigan game before and will see it again sooner rather than later, the only people who can change the current ownership and course we are on are the fans; we need change and fast. One fan summed it up for me on the football phone-in after match, in all the heartbreak and finger pointing he announced:

"I don’t support Kenwright FC, I don’t support Moyes FC, I don’t support Fellaini or Baines FC, I support Everton FC>"

They should all take heed because, once the fans are lost, all will be lost — and it’s getting close to that situation now.

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