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Paul Traill

Best Ever Premiership Start
12 September 2004

Is anyone else feeling quite proud of the Everton players at the moment?  Well, I certainly am — and this is a feeling I did not have once all last season.  I'm delighted for the players; I'm delighted for all the other Evertonians; and I'm delighted for every one of those "experts" who have written us off.  Boy, would they love us to be down there at the bottom right now!

I know I'm jumping the gun but I can't really help it; it's very nice just to be optimistic for a change.  Everyone writes us off and what do we go and do.... our best EVER start to the Premiership!  10 points from 15 is pretty damn good for anyone's standards and better than what Rooney's new club have managed so far.  Even if they win next Saturday and we loose on Sunday, we'll still be above them.

It makes me laugh to hear all my Man Utd mates (of whom I have a lot) blaming it on injuries.  Sorry, forgot that you had the biggest squad in the Premiership and more money than anyone else (Chelsea aside).

This season is, for me at least, starting to show some similarities to the 2002-03 season and we all know what happened there.  The season turned on THAT game.  When Rooney became a God in an instant and won the hearts of all Evertonians.  FOREVER.  Well I guess nothing ever lasts forever — and clearly so in this case —  but, when he scored THAT goal in THAT game, the season picked up and we went on to win our next six games — all of them 1-0.  We had a brilliant season and just missed out on Europe.  So close...

Well, I'm starting to wonder what we can achieve this time around.  Admittedly, I had us down for 17th this season (if it's good enough for Campbell...) with Man City to go down instead of us and I'd have been a bit relieved with that I imagine.  I was at Old Trafford a few weeks ago and Everton were outstanding — they really could have sneaked a win.  I'm starting to think we may look back this season at Old Trafford and think of it as THAT game this time around.  Holding Man Utd away was fantastic and I wonder if that has given the players that bit more confidence.  I think it showed yesterday at Man City and hopefully will continue to show for a while now.

The next four games are a pretty good opportunity to show it.  Three home games against Middlesbrough, Tottenham and Southampton, and an away game at Portsmouth.  Winnable?  I'd certainly like to think so...  Progress in the Carling Cup?  I'd certainly like to think so....  Safe before January?  I certainly hope so. 

10 more wins will do it.  A cash injection in January, some key players signed, and everything starts to look very very rosy again.  Impossible?  I hope not.  Blue-tinted specs?  Definitely!

Paul Traill