FAN ARTICLES

Fan power at Goodison Park (or lack thereof)

By Rob Teo :  23/11/2010 :  Comments (26) :

I'm a Melbourne-based Everton fan. I've been a fan for the past 25 years, ever since the days of Dave Watson, Pat ven dan Hauwe, etc.

Last year, I went travelling through Europe for the first time, and while I was there, I made sure to stop by Liverpool (the city, I mean) to catch Everton's opening home game of 2009-10 against Arsenal. Imagine travelling halfway around the world to see your team live for the first time on a ground that you've only seen through the TV screen since you were a kid and feeling all excited and elated like a kid again, only for your team to let you down big time and be humiliated at home. That was one of the worst days of my life as an Everton supporter. Even my friend, who was a West Ham supporter, felt sorry for me that day.

Nonetheless, apart from the humiliation, one thing that really struck me that day was how subdued Goodison Park was. It was as if all Everton fans on that ground were meekly giving in to the scoreline, even though with every goal scored by Arsenal, it was as if a dagger was being plunged into our collective heart. That's something that has really perplexed and troubled me, and it's also an question that has been raised now and again on this website: why aren't Everton fans more demanding and vocal at Goodison Park?

I remember watching a game involving Man Utd once a few years back, where a kid was holding up a sign at Old Trafford with a simple but clear message to SAF: 'Please buy Rooney'. I'm sure it wasn't for that reason alone that SAF went on to steal Rooney from under our noses, but it was something that was caught on the TV cameras and screened halfway across the globe, and (to me) it reflected a sense that Man Utd fan, even those as young as 6 years old, were passionate enough and had the gumption to articulate (in their own way) what they as fans wanted. More importantly, it told the whole world (as well as SAF) what the fans wanted and the standards they had. (I'll get back to this point later.)

When I think about that sign and about my experience at Goodison Park (and, indeed, all the times I watched Everton games on TV or on the internet), I can't help but wonder if there's a big gulf between the supporters of other football clubs and Everton supporters. I mean, on this website alone, there has been enough rumbling and discontent and opinions raised to suggest that a large proportion of Everton supporters believe Everton could and should do better. Yet, from what I can see through the TV (and laptop) screen whenever I watch an Everton game, there's hardly any signs or banners or even angry supporters in the grounds letting Kenwright and Moyes and the players know that their 'best' is nowhere near good enough. Is there a reason for this? Is there a reason why fans seem so ready to accept football mediocrity at Goodison Park but not online?

For example, I would love to see, week-in, week-out, signs or banners held up in Goodison Park stating: 'Please buy Landon' or 'Where is the 24/7 investment, Bill?' or 'Moyes: grow some 4-4-2 balls' or 'Stop playing favourites, Moyes' or 'Make tactical subs, not clockwork subs, Moyes', etc. Instead, apart from the occasional half-time boos when the team is truly, truly shocking, most of the time, Goodison seems content to accept whatever the team dishes up so long as it's sort of acceptable or if we're not losing by too big a margin. Even the players and Moyes seem to accept this. (For example, if Man Utd had lost to Arsenal the way we did last week, I cannot imagine SAF to come up with a response as meek as that offered by our very own David Moyes ? see http://soccernet.espn.go.com/report?id=292895&league=ENG.1&cc=3436)

I truly believe that we, as supporters, need to start letting Kenwright, Moyes, Round and the players know that more, much more, is expected of them. But we need to let them know vocally and visually, both online and at GP ? especially at GP. Now, I may be wrong or there may be certain prohibitions against banners/signs at Goodison Park, or they're just not being captured on the TV screen. If so, please feel free to correct an overseas-based Evertonian who does not have the privilege of being at GP week-in, week-out to verify this and cheer his team on. But if I'm right, then it's time we stopped pussyfooting around and voicing our displeasure only on ToffeeWeb, and start letting the world know that, as Everton fans, we expect more.

NB: I'm not trying to make this another debate about whether Moyes is the right man for the job or what alternative we have. What I'm trying to raise as a question/issue is whether we as fans should be happy to accept being 14th in the league table, and, if not, whether we're actually going to do anything about it at GP. Even in Melbourne, I can see that Roy Hodgson has been under a fair amount of pressure from Liverpool supporters for his team's performances and results ? and he's only been in the job 3 months... and his fucking team is above us. If we can't generate the same kind of pressure to lay to Moyes after 9 years on the job and being 14th in the table, but are content with what we have, then we have to seriously wonder: what is the point of being an Everton supporter?

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