Season 2011-12 Fan Articles

A Message From A Very Concerned Evertonian

By Chris   Kearns  ::  06/08/2011   52 Comments (»Last)

The Problems of Everton FC

I am writing to express my opinion on the current problems surrounding my favourite team, Everton. For weeks I have read the fantastic work being done by certain fans groups, now collectively known and trading as the Blue Union. It is not my intention to recycle the points they have already made very articulately, but more to offer my take and hopefully provide a clearer picture of the problems as a whole, broken down into sections.

I think, when looking at Everton, the problems can be broken down into six sections, some more important as factors than others. I will now discuss these in the order I consider a priority:

The Fans

I believe the Evertonians I sit with, week-in and week-out at Goodison Park, are the biggest asset the club possess. They are relentless in their support, they travel up and down the country to watch their beloved team, and they are an ever-present wherever you find the Everton badge. That?s the positive?

The negative is that they are also in my opinion the biggest problem facing this club at present. I am 22 and have not been watching football long enough for me to see Everton win anything. However, about 90% of the fans around me at the ground are older and have seen us win trophies and league titles etc. I ask, if this is the case, why so many also are happy to go along with this current regime?? Why no ambition??

The club has no money, no status, and at this moment in time is a complete embarrassment to its extremely loyal fanbase due to the people charged with running it. Therefore, why do we sit and do nothing?? Things need to change and we need to change them! If we continue to accept what is going on, then all we are doing is abusing the history of the club that we all claim to love so much.

I appeal to the fanbase as a whole to find your voice in the first home game of the season because enough is enough. It is time the board were removed by force if necessary through the pressure the voice of the fans can provide. Do not let your team down!? you seldom do!

The Chairman & The Board

In this article I will not be listing what Bill Kenwright and the Everton Board of Directors have done wrong over the 11 years of their tenure. The list is too long, I can't be bothered, and we all know it off by heart.

I will however say that as a whole, this chairman and Board has taken on a club that is far too big for them. They?ve taken on a manager that has been far too successful for them, and they are attempting ? through the puppet that is Robert Elstone ? to take on a fanbase that has had enough? In answer to your recent blog, YES, I DO EXPECT you to answer to the fans that want your job? regardless of whether they want your job, they pay your wages, you pompous goon!

My appeal in this section is to Bill Kenwright. I don?t believe the club has been up for sale. I think you are asking too much for the club and I think the only reason you?ve been here 11 years is because you have mysteriously been given the tag as ?one of us? or an Evertonian. If you are an Evertonian, for the sake of this club, you have to let us go! I'm actually begging you on this point! And I hope you read this.

The Manager

Now I come to the point that we all seem to be afraid to make. Before I start this section, I want to stress that I like David Moyes and I wish he was working under different circumstances? However, he isn?t?

Much like the fans, there are a lot of positives to take from David as manager. He has created a team that is the best team we have had since we were winning cups and league titles. He has created an ethos of hard work at the club and I don?t doubt that he works incredibly hard himself. Again that is the positive?

I do also though have a number of problems with David. The first is that I believe, much like when Tony Blair was in charge of the country working with George W Bush, that Moyes is Kenwright's puppet. Where has your ambition gone?? And for those of you about to jump on me? look at his interviews when he took over the club and his body language then and look at it now!! It's terrible and his interviews are arrogant at best.

Two things for you: you are paid to answer those questions properly on a Friday afternoon, so please do so ? and, if you don?t like what's happening at the club, then open your mouth! You're quick enough to do it with referees or when Wayne Rooney writes something in his book that you don?t like, so why do you seem to have lost your voicebox when it comes to what is happening upstairs?

I also believe that David had the opportunity when we came 4th to go to the Board and threaten them with his position if they did not find the investment to take this club forward. He failed to do this and we failed to move forward.

I don?t like the silence we are receiving during this transfer window. I don?t really care what Steve Round has to say because he is not the manager, you are... so for god's sake will you or the chairman say something to the fans??? To use an old phrase, we would like to talk to the organ grinders ? not the monkeys! We expect both yourself and Bill Kenwright to take responsibility and stop passing the buck because it stops with both of you and these problems are happening on your watch. I appeal to the manager to speak out and demand something happens upstairs. This can't go on? you know it and we know it!

One other footnote on the manager: I am not scared of losing the manager? for those of you asking what we would do if he walked ? we would get another manager, like any other team in the Premier League! I like a lot of what Moyes has done but he is not irreplaceable? no-one is.

The Players

Now I come to the players. Cahill, Neville, Saha, Distin, Arteta? all players I love but all players who have criticised the protests taking place via their online twitter accounts.

I ask those players ? what are you criticising? It's not good enough that a club of this size has not made any signings. It's not good enough that we can't compete. And it's not good enough that you as our playing personnel think that what is going on is acceptable.

The fans you see around the ground every week, some of whom are spending their last pennies going to watch you play, are not impressed with what is going on in the boardroom. While you accept it and contine to pick up your £40,000+ per week, we as the fans do not accept it and ask you to refer to our moto, Nil Satis Nisi Optimum ? which I think used to roughly translate as "nothing but the best is good enough" ?what a joke hey? For those of you who don?t know, you will find it at the bottom of your badge on your training kit!

To Phil Neville, I want to tell him to stop telling us everything is fine, dandy and great because it blatently isn?t. You might've won everything at Manchester United and be looking forward to retirement but some of us will still be with Everton after that point and we want to win things ourselves. We are not a charity? we are a football club much like the mighty Man Utd and I for one expect our objectives ? regardless of how ambitious or unrealistic ? to be mirroring theirs. If you don?t strive for the top, what's the point in striving at all??? Which brings me nicely onto my next point:

Yakubu, Anichebe, Arteta (at times) and Bilyaletdinov? you are in a very privileged position to be playing for our football club and ? if what I am hoping happens with regards to a shift in the Board and a shift upwards in our ambition ? then your mental attitude is unlikely to be tolerated. Yakubu and Anichebe particularly, you have very good attributes but for professional footballers you have two of the worst mental attitudes I have ever seen.

Anichebe: you are a big lad? you fall over when the wind blows? get a grip of yourself and man up.

Yakubu : you are now the fattest I have ever seen you despite getting in good condition at Leicester. You should be ashamed to be picking up your wages. You're fatter than the lady that serves me in Gregg's. Get on a treadmill, you plonker, because we need a forward and you are capable. Some of the fans have lost their jobs in this economic crisis and you think it's acceptable to roll onto Goodison Park off the bench like you did last night against Villarreal? it's embarrassing! We deserve better!

My appeal to the players is to follow up what I have just said and wake up and smell the roses. We support the players fully and in return we ask that you support us. 40,000 fans can't be wrong on such a big level! Remember, they love the club and they have no alternative motives. It's cheaper for them not to go at all ? so listen and respond!

Public Perception

My last point is in relation the the terrible, hurtful, demeaning public perception of a club which was once at the forefront of English football. People see us as underdogs, hard workers, punching above our weight? Harry Redknap actually said last night that the only big club to have not spent money in this transfer window was Spurs. CHOKES AND COUGHS!!!!!

It's not his fault either? he wasn?t being rude? it is the perception we have allowed ourselves to become attached to.

In summary of this article, my closing statement would be to say that, unless the other factors change and very quickly, there is no chance that this one will in the near future.

The Fans, The Chairman & The Board, The Manager, The Players? we all have our part to play in this ? some drastically more than others. Do what you need to do for the love of the club. We need change on all fronts and it has to happen NOW before it's too late.

Your comments as fans would be appreciated!

Thank you!

An Extremely Concerned and Disillusioned Evertonian

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