FANS COMMENT

Unlucky? I think so!

Am I alone in feeling slightly aggrieved every time I hear one of our so called soccer pundits describing Arsenal, Man Utd, Liverpool and Chelsea as the Big 4? I am no history expert, but a quick browse through the records will show that we have won the title 9 times compared to the mere 3 times that Chelsea has won it. Our average attendance has been consistently larger and we probably sell more pies than them too.

Now I fully realise that history counts for very little, and it is what happens on the pitch (or in the boardroom) that really matters, but if you bear with me I would like to offer a quick explanation on how history has not once, and not twice, but three times contrived to deny us of adding to our trophy count.

In the 1914-15 season Everton won their 2nd title with a certain Bobby Parker scoring 35 goals. Things looked promising for the next season, and then what? All hell had been let loose in Europe after Archduke Franz Ferdinand had his bloody head blown off and war started the year before, but more importantly we lost the right to defend our championship for the next 4 years.

In the 1938-39 season, we won our 5th title with the best centre forward in England (Tommy Lawton) scoring 35 goals. We were acknowledged as having one of the finest teams that England had ever seen, and then guess what? Uncle Adolf decided that he liked Poland so much, he would like to send his tanks there on a nice long holiday. Chamberlain, after consulting the cabinet and no doubt studying the final league table to see who were the current champions, sent Europe into another war, thus denying us the chance yet again to defend our title. The best centre-forward in England would see the best years of his career spent square bashing instead of banging in the goals for the blues.

When we won the title in 1984-5 I was relieved that the world was at comparative peace... surely nothing could stop this team from dominating Europe in a way that lesser teams such as Aston Villa, Nottingham Forest and, dare I say it, Liverpool had done by winning the European Cup. WRONG! We all know what happened next and I don’t need to go over that bit again.

I know it is often a fruitless exercise to dwell on the past, as it can’t be changed, but understanding it makes us what we are. The ban on Everton from European football was a massive blow — just imagine if we had won the European Cup a couple of times! We may have stayed at the forefront of English football just that little bit longer, just in time for the mega-cash era of Sky TV. It still makes my blood boil when I think of the missed opportunities forced upon us by reasons out of our control.

So are we doomed to be the unluckiest club in England? Well being drawn against Arsenal twice in the last 3 years in the League Cup (or whatever they call it), Chelsea and Man Utd in the FA Cup and Villarreal in the Champions League would suggest that our luck is not about to change in the near future. But surely all this is just typical Evertonian paranoia? Poor management both on and off the pitch have to be contributing factors to the demise of this great club during the last painful 20 years. True, but even the biggest sceptic would have to admit that history has not been kind to us.

So, the next time you are sitting at Goodison and the crowd starts singing “if you know your history”, then that is probably the reason for your heart going whoa whoa whoa!

Responses:

Want to comment on this article? Drop us a line.

"Fans Comment" articles are submitted by outside contributors to ToffeeWeb. The views contained therein may not correspond with those of the site owners. Editorial policy