Season 2011-12 Fan Articles

My Generation

By Calum   Beardwood  ::  17/04/2012   35 Comments (»Last) Supporting Everton ? ?my generation?

I?m going to be 16 later this year and thinking about GCSEs. I love football ? playing it and watching it and totally love the club I was ?programmed? to support by my dad.

I attended my first match at Goodison in 2000 aged 3 and made one appearance for the U9 Everton academy team of which I?m very proud.

The fact is, however, that I have never seen Everton win a trophy. I don?t see how we can ever win the Premier League and we look to be a club on the slide financially ? nevertheless it?s my team and I intend supporting them forever.

In the U15s Manchester Cup Final this year we lost to a team with 7 ?academy? players (they are in the final of ESFA ? National English Schools) ? including their captain who plays for City?s under 18s. We played well, we tried hard and we were beaten by the better team; we didn?t bottle it, not try hard enough or freeze - and our manager didn?t get the tactics wrong; we just don?t have the players the opposition had.

Chelsea spent the most on wages in season 2009-10 (£174m) with Manchester City (£133m) replacing Manchester United (£132m) as the next highest spender. Liverpool at £119m and Arsenal at £106m were still more than double Everton at £54m.

Being able to choose the best players DOES matter in football. I reckon that a £150 million wage bill should be able to assemble a squad better and stronger than one with a £50 million bill. If these teams play 10 times, then the big bill should win 7, maybe draw 2 and lose 1 to the smaller bill. Some Everton fans call this ?a top 4 inferiority complex? but I think it?s a reality.

Every season before the first game I?ve talked to dad about where we hope or expect to finish. A few years ago we honestly targeted 5th or 6th ? but as each year we passes we have to adjust as City, Spurs, Newcastle, Stoke, Aston Villa etc. all get stronger and spend more on players and squads. This year I hoped we?d finish 9th as we have the 14th biggest wage bill. Next season we?ll do well do be top 10 given our resources.

In my lifetime of supporting a club that isn?t in the ?European top 20? I?ve been proud of our over performance ? for me we?ve won our league 5 out of the last 7 years. I?ll keep supporting Everton and if we pull off 7th this year above Liverpool, Villa and Sunderland then I think we will have done really well.

Walking out of Wembley on Saturday and listening to dad and his mates moaning about the way the team played was more depressing than the result. I don?t understand why so many older Everton fans think we have some God-given right to finish above teams with double the resources. History and passion count for nothing when a 20-year-old rising star is choosing his next club ? money talks.

Given the rich history of Everton, I can only assume that this once great club has been totally mismanaged for the last 20 years ? how else do you explain the opposite direction that Everton and Arsenal have gone since 1993? I don?t know what?s gone on behind the scenes for the last 20 years, but it can?t have been good.

On Saturday, a £54m wage bill played a £125m wage bill. One manager was given nothing to spend at the beginning of the new season and had three quality players sold ? the other has spent £115m on players in 18 months. However, the manager of one team has done such an amazing job of over-performing in the last 10 years that the majority of fans (certainly those on the match report thread) expected the £54m bill to win.

I think David Moyes will only be appreciated once he?s gone. I think whoever takes over has the hardest act to follow; working for a board with no strategy, no business plan and dwindling resources whilst expected to perform better than clubs with double the resources. I was devastated walking out of Wembley on Saturday but still proud of supporting Everton. Liverpool aren?t crap; Carroll won everything in the air and the midfield dominated ours. We lost to a much stronger squad.

Who do I blame? Whoever has been responsible for taking the club from League Champions before I was born (1987) to where we?ve been since 2001 when I started going ? which is going nowhere.

How can I blame a manager who has given the fans of a middle tier club hope and at least some expectation for ALL the years I?ve been watching Everton?

Once a blue, always a blue.

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