FANS COMMENT

The leaving of Liverpool

It is very easy to understand the emotional attachment that Everton supporters, especially those who live within the city boundaries, have towards the club remaining there. Therefore, the opposition to a move to Kirkby is entirely understandable. Who would willingly choose to depart the city if there were sensible and realistic alternatives?

One of the most stridently argued views is that existing supporters will desert because they will refuse to travel the extra distance. To that is added the claim that all potential supporters — children for example — will flock instead to the new Anfield. I claim no particular understanding of such things, and my knowledge of how locals are likely to behave in such a situation can be no more than speculation, if for no better reason than that I've lived away from the city for many years. But based upon my observations from two hundred or so miles away, I take a different view.

It seems to me that the key to Everton making a success of a move to Kirkby or anywhere else is the blindingly obvious one that they also become successful on the pitch. Why are the so-called Big Four quite so big? The answer is partly money, of course. But are they big and successful because they have the money, or do they have the money because they are so successful?

In the case of Chelsea, I would say that the former rather than the latter is the answer. To be fair, they were winning cups fairly regularly before Ambramovitch arrived, but it is his millions that have transformed them into champions and Champions League contenders. However, for the other three, I would say that the principal reasons for their wealth. and high profile that itself brings more wealth, is primarily success on the pitch.

That did not begin with the Premier League. Indeed, Liverpool, famously successful in the old Football League, have, as we know, signally failed to mirror that success in the new era. It is also true that Man Utd went many years without winning the championship — even our "small" club won it three times during United's barren spell. But Man Utd kept on winning other trophies fairly regularly, as do Arsenal and Liverpool now, and they maintained the high profile that has built their very successful brand.

The reality is that all the Big Four clubs have much better brands than the rest. Man Utd's was established in the aftermath of the Munich disaster and the massive waves of public sympathy that followed, and they have shrewdly built on that as well, but they have been pretty successful on the pitch.

Liverpool's brand was built in the 1970s and 80s, winning numerous trophies, their European exploits putting them up there alongside Real Madrid et al. The behaviour of their supporters at the Heysel Stadium should have cost them, but for some reason it did not. Hillsborough attracted a massive wave of sympathy which enhanced their already high profile, and in part at least enabled them to put Heysel behind them. They built on that very successfully.

Arsenal have not had any similar catastrophe, but they have in my lifetime always been up there near the top, consistently successful or thereabouts, and since Mr Wenger's arrival, have played terrific football, which wins admirers and increases profile and public awareness.

Twenty or so years ago, there were the "Big Five" clubs. Chelsea was not one of them, but Everton and Tottenham were. Why were they the Big five? I think it was because they were successful on the pitch, and that success attracted publicity, which raised their profile, attracted sponsors and top players, and helped make them big clubs in financial terms.

What has all this to do with Kirkby? Well, for most of my life, despite being an Evertonian through and through, I have lived in the South of England, and supported my club from afar. Critics of Man Utd and Liverpool constantly harp on about the numbers of supporters of these clubs who live huge distances away from their home territory. May I say that when Everton were successful in the eighties, there were as many blue souvenir shirts in towns in my part of the world as there were red ones. Everton were successful, their brand was strong, they were prosperous, their supporters, wherever they were, especially those outside the city of Liverpool, and there were plenty of them, didn't care a jot where their home ground was.

And in my book, nor will they in future if Everton become a power again. Man Utd fans don't care that their beloved Red Devils aren't actually in the City of Manchester. In terms of support and sponsorship, Arsenal not have been affected adversely by the move from Highbury. If they become unsuccessful, then it might change, but that would be so of any club, because sucess is what matters. Why do we think Everton would be different?

Were they to overtake Liverpool on the pitch, they would in my view have a very good chance of overtaking them off it as well. It would have to be on a much more consistent basis than previously — going fifteen years or more without a major trophy will not do it — but it could be done. Nothing stays the same, as the reduction from Big Five to differently constituted Big Four evidences. It won't be easy, and it probably won't happen, but if in ten years time Everton are winning championships and cups, regularly entertaining the likes of Barcelona, AC Milan, and Bayern Munich in the Champions League, the ground, wherever it is, Walton, Kirkby, or Timbuktu, will be full every week.

In that event, it won't be the leaving of Liverpool that grieves me, nor I suspect, many others either.

Editor's Note

Normally, we distance ourselves from the opinions of contributors to Fans Comment articles, allowing the pieces to stand or fall on their own merit. In the case of this article, comments by the author inferring the culpability for the Hillsborough disaster lay with Liverpools fans have provoked such a strong reaction — and understandably so — that we felt it necessary to remove the offending paragraph.

We would like to reaffirm that those opinions were those of the author only and were neither representative of the views of ToffeeWeb nor those of Evertonians in general.
Lyndon Lloyd

Reader Responses

Another "What does it matter?" story from the Pull Down Goodison & Leave Town brigade. What no-one of this persuasion can ever answer is this: If it doesn't matter if you move four, five or however many miles away from your traditional home, why do you think Liverpool, Manchester Utd. Arsenal, Chelsea and Newcastle Utd among others went to considerable trouble to stay in or close by their traditional centres? Are these clubs so badly mismanaged that they foolishly overlooked the advantages of moving to a neighboring community? Or did they see some advantage of staying near their base? I know what the answer of the Pull Down Goodison movement will be: silence. They never answer real questions.
Peter Fearon

[Regarding the now-removed comments above] An ignorant, ill-informed, offensive and plain wrong statement.
Jim Brown

 

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