Season 2011-12 Fan Articles

Boring Blues?

By James   Martin  ::  22/11/2011   56 Comments (»Last) I wanted to write this piece because at the moment the only thing more boring than Moyes's 4-5-1 formation is the culture of negativity hanging over the club that some fans want to endlessly perpetuate. I want to exclude from this any discussion about the non-playing side of Everton, such as the board, because frankly that's been gone over enough times to just about send anyone to sleep.

I'm talking about Moyes, his current team, and the roller-coaster ride that is supporting Everton FC. We were a mess when Moyes took us over, speaking as a young fan, he took our generation of Everton fans on a ride we had never experienced before and got us into a position where we turned up to Goodison on a Saturday knowing we had a great team who could play with the best on their day.

That team has gone now, and we're struggling at the moment in comparison to the standard of play we're used to. I, however, refuse to believe I am alone in getting excited over the prospect that Moyes could turn this around. Even a glance at the table shows that, after a horrendous run of results against the top teams, we are still looking comfortable favourites to come out behind the Money 6 (okay and perhaps maybe Newcastle this time).

Maybe not this season; maybe we have to put up with a season of turgid football... then again, maybe we don't. Maybe history will prove yet again that, more often than not, Moyes stumbles across a winning formula ? that one loan signing or youth player who changes the complexion of a season.

What is the point of going to the game if you don't have any hope that things can be turned around? After all, the 84-85 season came from nowhere, as did the 95 cup win. In 2005, we'd just sold our best player and been tipped for relegation. How are we any worse off now?

We have a good team with strong international players rather than over-the-hill old pros; we have two of English footballs best prospects and the league's best left back. Yes, we have no money at the moment, but that doesn't mean we should just throw down the white flag in the face of a challenge.

There is no achievement in just buying the world's best players, putting them in a team, then winning (although there is crippling failure, as Dogleash is demonstrating). Personally, I loved that gritty win over Wolves because it reminded me of the early Moyes years, winning the physical battles and getting the result, inching up the table and watching the optimism grow.

Every great Empire the world has known has crumbled. Try as billionaires might, you can't guarantee inevitable success. For me, that's where the joy of football has been lost. If it wasn't for the fact I want to see Everton do well, I hate the talk of 'building for success'. The idea of somehow ticking a load of boxes on a success checklist, such as new stadium, world class manager, commercial links to Asia and such. Then, with all the boxes ticked, you have your free meal pass to join the aristocratic top table and never leave.

Football shouldn't be like that; it's about that once-in-a-generation manager or player who changes everything... and from nowhere a great team is born. It's about following the ride upwards then clinging on and looking back fondly as it hurtles downwards.

Being a football 'supporter' rather than consumer means being ready to accept both success and failure, and failure shouldn't just be "Oh we didn't win the European Cup this year, oh well, let's get planning for Barcelona in the Final again next year."

Failure used to be absolutely stinking to the point of skirting with relegation. Fans used to recognise this, even have a joke and a laugh about it, then get ready for the next season and the thrill of what it might hold. Teams are only great in comparison to the rubbish that precedes or follows them. If a team wins every year then there are no more vintage teams.

I'll get roundly criticised for not being a realist in this respect; this is admittedly very idealistic. Then again, perhaps realism is looking at the history of football and the history of Moyes to see that generalised assumptions (sorry, definitive certainties on this site) about inevitable decline and never getting back to the top are wrong.

Football landscapes change if you hang in there for long enough, and Moyes has shown that he can put together a team and find players that can take us out of mediocrity and get us back to playing the football, his style of football, that's the best I've ever seen from Everton in my lifetime. Perhaps the current ride has reached the bottom of the drop and is levelling out: perhaps it might even start to inch upwards again. Perhaps the Moyesiah is leading us to the promised land (sorry, that one's especially just for you doom-mongerers).

Here's to another gritty win at Bolton and Moyes's ultra-negative 4-5-1. COYB

Reader Comments (56)

Note: the following content is not moderated or vetted by the site owners at the time of submission. Comments are the responsibility of the poster. Disclaimer

About these ads