Comfortably Numb
Sam Allardyce is not the problem, he is the primary symptom of incompetence at the highest level.
I grew up with Pink Floyd: Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, The Wall. The above lyrics are the opening lines of Comfortably Numb, from The Wall, written in 1979. It's a hugely under-rated song, in my view, and has been widely covered by artists ranging from Van Morrison & Pearl Jam to the Scissor Sisters (my favourite version, bizarrely).
As Arsenal sauntered to a 3-0 lead inside 20 minutes on Saturday evening, and the first Everton fans began leaving, it was clear that there was nobody home in our defence, nor our midfield for that matter. Nobody capable of nodding a cross away, putting in a tackle or two. Of greater concern to me, though, is whether there is anyone at home at the top of our great Club?
I have written consistently about a cosy culture at EFC, one of buck passing and zero accountability. A culture lacking a ruthless, winning streak and most importantly where the on pitch performances reflect the laissez-faire attitude off it.
The fume post-Arsenal has reached new highs (or lows): Schneiderlin surpassed himself with a “minus 10” player rating from Ped, Mark Mosey delivered a magnificent rant on the BlueRoom Post Match Podcast having left at half-time.
I even found myself apologising to my son, Glenn, for inflicting Everton on him.
Desperate times, truly desperate times; and, before anyone says I enjoy writing negative stuff, let me tell you that I do not. I hate being down on my Club, but, like any relationship, I need to get something back.
I suppose I should be grateful that the Club have shared their Key Stadium Development Principles. Better late than never, arguably? Don't forget we have a “record” shirt sponsorship deal too, a sleeve sponsor & a beautifully clean balance sheet. However, rather than closing in on the Top 6, we are headed to the Elephant's Graveyard alongside Villa, Sunderland &Â Leeds.
According to many we should now be moving on to our 4th manager this season. Believe me our problems go a lot deeper than that. How in the name of Dixie was he ever appointed?!? The coaching staff (Lee, Shakespeare, Ferguson etc), the Director of Football, the CEO, the Chairman, the entire Board and, most importantly, Farhad Moshiri, need to take their considerable share of the blame for this unholy mess.
Allardyce is not the problem, he is the primary symptom of incompetence at the highest level.
Moshiri's investment has arguably already doubled in value, and I have no sympathy for him or any of those taking huge salaries from the Club. They do not care, they are not paid to care; but they should be paid to perform, to meet targets, to be accountable and be in fear of their jobs if they do not meet those targets.
That culture can only be infused from the top down; this is Moshiri's business now (it has been for nearly two years), he has to set the tone, define the structure and allocate targets. You don't do that by just firing another manager.
Apparently we should “write this season off”; let's file it away under “expected losses” shall we? Maybe a spot of sun in Dubai will help…..
It takes a very special combination of mismanagement, arrogance and plain stupidity to make passionate Blues like me (and you) lose our feeling for Everton. But that has been a common theme from many in the last 48 hours.
Music is a source of comfort in the saddest of times so I am going to crank up the Scissor Sisters; how appropriate are the closing lyrics…
I caught a fleeting glimpse
Out of the corner of my eye
I turned to look but it was gone
I cannot put my finger on it now
The child is grown
The dream is gone
I have become comfortably numb

Reader Comments (52)
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2 Posted 05/02/2018 at 18:48:13
I am too, comfortably numb. On Saturday, I had no emotions after 3-0 – wouldn't have made any difference if it was 7-0. I think it is lack of faith in the whole club from top to bottom.
3 Posted 05/02/2018 at 19:07:26
4 Posted 05/02/2018 at 19:08:27
I want to avoid meaningless comparisons between the men's and women's teams. Rather I would like to thank all the players and management of the women's team for brightening up an otherwise dismal weekend.
5 Posted 05/02/2018 at 19:12:24
"There'll be no more agggghhh"
"but you may feel a little sick"
"Can you stand up ?"
"I do believe its working, good"
"That'll keep you going through the show"
"Come on it's time to go"
There is no pain, You are receding . . . .
6 Posted 05/02/2018 at 19:59:35
7 Posted 05/02/2018 at 20:05:49
8 Posted 05/02/2018 at 20:08:53
9 Posted 05/02/2018 at 20:45:32
The difference is that most people considered elderly also recognise their own limitations. I played amateur football until I was fifty and also coached for many years. Even at an amateur level I knew when I could no longer contribute as effectively as I would like. I then reverted back to my childhood state and became, once more, a fanatical supporter of Everton. Mind you I always was, almost from the time I learned to walk.
"NUMB" is such an appropriate term to describe just how I felt after Saturday. However I refuse to let some Senile, over the hill, apology of a manager put me off even a badly organised Everton hierarchy. SOMEHOW we will overcome this dreadful season, and Senile Sam will become a blip in OUR team's history
To help me cope with my numbness I would just ask those who hired Senile Sam to forbid him from saying "ANYTHING" to the media before, in between or after matches. His unending drivel is really not good for my health. Reading your article is somewhat of a medication. Stay BLUE, even if it numbs you. You are much bigger if not Fatter than Senile Sam. You don't want to become, "Numb and Number".
[LAT]
10 Posted 05/02/2018 at 21:06:11
My father, a Man City fan, never forced me to follow his team either, but somehow I got sucked into football playing it outside as a kid and watching the solid Northern Ireland team (where I come from) of the early 1980s and flirting with Hull City and West Brom before finally succumbing to Toffeedom after years of childishly admiring the royal blue kit.
But back on topic, the commentary from Sam is becoming increasingly grievous to endure. Clint Eastwood once said, in his Dirty Harry incarnation, "A man's gotta know his limitations". It would be nice if Sam would acknowledge his next time he speaks as ours is a fanbase with a particularly low tolerance for trite managerial verbiage.
11 Posted 05/02/2018 at 21:49:05
12 Posted 05/02/2018 at 22:24:36
13 Posted 05/02/2018 at 22:38:26
I still can't believe it when ever I read a story in the paper or on the internet which begins "Everton Manager Sam Allardyce ". I simply can't take it in that the club of Dean and Lawton, Labone and Young, Kendall, Harvey and Ball should sink so low as to employ this man. It makes me sick to my stomach. Even if we won every remaining game 5 - 0, I would still want this man out of our club asap.
14 Posted 05/02/2018 at 22:42:13
I could keep going but I have to start thinking about the useless players and coaching staff.
So I will leave it there.
15 Posted 05/02/2018 at 22:48:12
16 Posted 05/02/2018 at 23:02:17
Chelsea haven't backed Conte with money and have imposed players on him.
17 Posted 05/02/2018 at 23:04:17
I was spending my time in the doldrums
I was caught in a cauldron of hate
I felt persecuted and paralyzed
I thought that everything else would just wait
While you are wasting your time on your enemies
Engulfed in a fever of spite
Beyond your tunnel vision reality fades
Like shadows into the night
To martyr yourself to caution
Is not going to help at all
'Cause there'll be no safety in numbers
When the right one walks out of the door
Can you see your days blighted by darkness?
Is it true you beat your fists on the floor?
Stuck in a world of isolation
While the ivy grows over the door
So I open my door to my enemies
And I ask could we wipe the slate clean?
But they tell me to please go fuck myself
You know you just can't win
18 Posted 05/02/2018 at 23:36:28
"Hello hello hello, is there anybody in there, just nod if you can hear me, is there anyone at home."
What I want to know is this: How the fuck can anyone who grew up listening to Pink Floyd end up listening to the Scissor Sistas?
I'm hoping this is a wind-up, Roger; otherwise, you are truly fucked.
19 Posted 05/02/2018 at 00:01:56
20 Posted 06/02/2018 at 05:24:14
21 Posted 06/02/2018 at 06:42:14
22 Posted 06/02/2018 at 07:01:30
"Happy talk
keep talkin' happy talk
Talk about things you'd like to do.
You gotta have a dream
if you don't have a dream
How you gonna have a dream come true?
Talk about a moon floatin' in the sky
Lookin' like a lily on a lake;
Talk about a bird learnin' how to fly
Makin' all the music he can make.
Happy talk
keep talkin' happy talk
. . .
Let's talk about a star lookin' like a toy
Peekin' through the branches of a tree;
Talk about a girl
talk about a boy
Countin' all the ripples on the sea.
Happy talk
keep talkin' happy talk
. . .
Talk about…"
(signing off as it's lockdown time on the Ward)
23 Posted 06/02/2018 at 08:15:13
We all have differing opinions about the club but one thing that seems to be touching us all as fans is that it's this feeling of disillusionment that we all feel.
24 Posted 06/02/2018 at 10:58:34
Hopefully it will happen at Bramley Moore, but I can just imagine ROGER WATERS, playing to 50,000 people, if Kenwright never kept putting another brick in the wall.
The only consolation is it's not a new phenomenon, but my two older kids who never used to miss a game have stopped traveling away from home at the minute. I think it's better to save your money, and go and watch a few gigs in the summer, is the best advice I could have gave them.
25 Posted 06/02/2018 at 11:26:47
26 Posted 06/02/2018 at 11:39:37
27 Posted 06/02/2018 at 11:53:06
Going numb is not the answer either - in fact it plays into 'their' hands and encourages ongoing apathy by those who control our beloved club. We've been too numb for too long now. We need to get angry and mobilise that anger in ways not seen by Everton FC before on the street; in the ground; via every media outlet we can get access to .we need to make genuine, and sustained noise!
I left half way through the second half on Saturday but before I did, I came down to the pitch side and gave verbal vent to Schneiderlin - it was a waste of time I know - but its a start and may have more effect than simply posting our frustrations via e-mail .
There were more boots on the ground and verbal challenges to Kenwright et al during the KEIOC days than there are now - which I find strange - given the depths we are plumbing at present.
We either lie down and take it - or stand up and fight it.
28 Posted 06/02/2018 at 12:00:02
Get the lads to a few festivals, they will get more value for money.
Torhout in Belgium is a belter.
29 Posted 06/02/2018 at 12:04:46
Like most supporters, I was against the appointment of Allardyce, on both moral and football issues, but adopting an optimistic view, I hoped that with so-called better players to work with, he might surprise us all.
I have never called for the dismissal of any Everton manager, and I have followed Everton since the Cliff Britton reign, and still attend games as a season ticket holder in the Park End. My feelings today are, that as soon as we are safe from relegation, Allardyce and his entourage should all be paid off.
As we are not privy to what goes on in the Boardroom or the dressing room, we can only hope that the wheels are already in motion. In fairness to Farhad Moshiri he is not a football man, and he needs the guidance of someone who is, but who that someone may be, is paramount to the future of the club.
Six months ago it was a pleasure to be an Evertonian, new ground promised, money being spent on team strengthening, and a new season to look forward to, how times change.
30 Posted 06/02/2018 at 13:16:01
Some were more successful than others, but the top performing more consistent ones, had an absolutely ruthless streak when it came to employing the best Chief Executive they could find, often blatantly poaching an existing person from their closest rival.
And there I'm afraid lies the problem at Everton, we simply don't have the best personnel on board to move the club to the next level. Elstone was appointed as 'Bill's ' man at the helm, to keep a steady ship on merseyside which allowed him to carry on playing the role of lothario in the west end.
During that time period, it has to be said, Everton were mostly skint, and Elstone provided Kenwright with an effective barrier when the natives got restless.
Kenwright has in the past, described Elstone as, 'a remarkable young man', that certainly is the case now, as he has managed to keep his current role in the debacle that has been the last 12 months
Moshiri MUST act in the summer, and have the required clearout, that should have taken place in the close season. Not only to restore his status as the majority shareholder in the club, but to protect his own investment, which is slowly being poured down the drain.
There ARE good people out there, capable of turning this current situation around, but not whilst Kenwright and has long list of under achievers remain at the helm.
31 Posted 06/02/2018 at 14:15:23
I can't blame Bill for this debacle though because Koeman and Walsh, have been the biggest culprits for the way this season has been?
Anyway, I didn't know it was the 60th anniversary of the Munich air disaster until I've just partaken in a minutes silence thanks to Sky Sports. Football is more than a game I know, but comfortably numb is something I would reserve for the feelings people must have had 60 years ago today.
John Mc, lighten the mood mate, give us a few tales from way back. I've even heard it said that Duncan Edwards might have become the best of all time. Or is that people just being nice, because of the terribly tragic way that his and many other lives were cut so short?
32 Posted 06/02/2018 at 15:19:19
The age of referees
There was a chap who couldn't run
whose playing days were long since done
and consequently he was free
to rule the game as referee
His vision, it must be confessed
was scarcely of the very best
but yet he, generally, could see
enough to take his weekly fee
Sometimes the ball was near to him, then
he got mixed up amongst the men
but always he preferred to stay
where he was farthest from the play
'Twas FA Cup ties and the 'lines'
on which he had his chief designs
such matches are a pleasant task
they always pay you what you ask
A referee can't be too old
while he has strength to take the gold
perhaps he cannot run or see
but all the same he'll referee.
I hope that comes out in verse...
33 Posted 06/02/2018 at 15:23:32
I still think we have the 7th best squad in the league but need somebody who can come in and take the bull by the horns, ,get a system, a starting 11 and introduce some of the great potential stars we have coming not drive them out
FS project has done everything it says on the thin,Rugby league style, run any flair players out of the place, Play the likes of schneiderlin an awful footballer/human being in every sense
Instead of blowing the money on more average players let us splash the 35million on getting Anchilotti or Conte Simeone( why not try) or somebody who at least WON something and see what happens
A manager with some trophies is required as a minimum, Hopefully our club will then be Coming back to life :)
34 Posted 06/02/2018 at 16:46:30
The answer probably lies in what Steve #30 says. Big changes through club and not just on pitch. Do they have performance indicators anywhere in football clubs?
35 Posted 06/02/2018 at 17:30:58
I'm leaving you today.
Goodbye,
Goodbye,
Goodbye.
Goodbye, all you people,
There's nothing you can say
To make me change my mind.
Goodbye.
36 Posted 06/02/2018 at 17:44:23
Eloquent both in words and lyrics. Obviously an extension to the EBM stuff. And yes whilst you are completely right, the only relief is venting at Allardyce, yes because its easy.
The question I pose is as a fanbase what actually can we do? Moshiri has given us financial security, sacking Martinz apart made a succession of poor footballing decisions.
Surely we cannot rail again the man who has brought us financial stability but cursed us with footballing mediocrity for fear of him taking his ball home with him?
How as a fanbase do we exercise our displeasure at board room level at the appalling operational shortcomings at the club?
Answer we vent and fume at the face of the club, the manager. We hope that Moshiri will get the message through our disgust of Allardyce.
Numb is right because as much as we feel little for the on pitch matters we equally hamstrung in dealing with the root of the issue.
What will make Moshiri take notice without souring the relationship he has with the club?
37 Posted 06/02/2018 at 18:59:04
You're my main man.
Bobby's all right,
Ronny's all right,
Natural born coaches
They're just outta sight.
Bobby's brown shoes,
Ron's wooden shoes.
Gimme 3D vision,
And the G P blues.
Telegram Sam, Telegram Sam,
Sure wish you were gone.
38 Posted 06/02/2018 at 19:31:53
Cant believe nobody has had a go at Jurgan Klopp for his antics either, but they say referees are like policeman, so maybe he will get his comeuppance in the next few weeks?
39 Posted 06/02/2018 at 20:13:00
What I can't understand is how people who have been involved in football all their lives, don't appreciate that everyone who has either played or watched football, has experienced instances of dubious refereeing decisions,.
To be honest I didn't think that either of the incidents were penalties, but as I've said, everyone gets a share of dubious decisions, some more so than others, and I include Liverpool in the 'some more so' category.
40 Posted 06/02/2018 at 20:40:39
The fact is, Klopp is a flat track bully, big smiles and hugs when things go his way, the minute a decision goes against him, you see the ugly side.
I don't think the FA will even consider his reactions post match when he sprinted onto the pitch to get at the young linesman who had the courage to award a penalty at the Kop end. Two of his own player's had to drag him away.
Pathetic really.
41 Posted 06/02/2018 at 21:08:44
42 Posted 06/02/2018 at 21:12:30
43 Posted 06/02/2018 at 21:58:27
I think it was Malcolm X, who said the squeaking hinge gets the oil, John, so he must have been a Liverpudlian as well.
Steve, that's why he's the perfect manager for Liverpool mate. Cindy Lauper's True Colours is the song that comes to mind.
44 Posted 07/02/2018 at 12:17:00
This, one thousand times this.
45 Posted 07/02/2018 at 13:14:26
I wouldn't mind if they just looked like them, but unfortunately for all of us, they have been acting like Muppets too. We can only pray for Usmanov's millions, David Dein (or someone of that quality) and a top manager. These clowns couldn't run a cake stall. Nil Satis Nisi Optimum.
46 Posted 07/02/2018 at 15:09:44
Money, get away
Get a good job with more pay and you're okay
Money, it's a gas
Grab that cash with both hands and make a stash
New car, caviar, five-star daydream
Think I'll buy me a football team
.........well okay, the last bit needs attention admittedly
49 Posted 07/02/2018 at 20:57:26
Week after week for the last few years, we Evertonians have been fed a dose of indifference, failure, insults and downright insolence from those who rule from above and their attitude of 'let them eat cake' as they count their millions, and act as if any criticism from the hoi polloi is just hot air and not worth listening to,
The comments after the Arsenal debacle by Allardyce should have got him his P45, yet the gutless morons who we are saddled with, every bleeding one of them, still continue to let him steer us towards relegation, no player worth his while can be expected to give 100% to someone to whose job it is to motivate not castigate.
Who would think that we now expect to actually lose or draw every game we play, teams now think we are a soft touch, home or away, and they are often right as we lurch from one result to another, just hoping we can survive the 90 minutes, the days of the 'School of Science' are well and truly over.
50 Posted 07/02/2018 at 21:33:39
Look at the venom Catterick got in the early 70's and even Howard endured culminating in the leaflet drop early 80's and this shower are getting away very lightly indeed given the situation we are in.
51 Posted 08/02/2018 at 19:22:37
Recently, however, I just can't get these lyrics out of my head:
Dedicated to Evertonians everywhere Two Fat Sams sing "From the heart of my bottom"
52 Posted 09/02/2018 at 19:44:20
A momentary lapse of reason.
53 Posted 09/02/2018 at 20:30:13
The Lysergic School of Dullness.
May go to a match with real thing and watch Schneiderlin kiss the clouds.😎,"Comfortably Numb is also a reference to LSD"
The Lysergic School of Dullness.
May go to a match with real thing and watch Schneiderlin kiss the clouds.😎,,,1,20:25:32,,90.204.68.80,ok,19546,02/09/2018 20:25:32,debyrne,reader,, 898650,36232,toffeeweb,09/02/2018,Tony Abrahams,antonyabrahams@icloud.com,"Fair points Darren, because if Allardyce, never had an ulterior motive against Arsenal, I'm dumbfounded, especially because we had played a lot better against Leicester, a few days before.
During the Leicester game my son said that our opponents, looked like they weren't bothered. I'm not sure I said, because they had started the game so much better than us, and once they got the pen, they pulverized us.
So we are a fragile team, and this total lack of stability isn't helping things, but I'm still glad Koeman, has gone though mate, even if he had just stated himself, that he thought that we would be better off playing direct!
54 Posted 11/02/2018 at 01:06:10
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1 Posted 05/02/2018 at 18:32:57
For me, he has been a huge let down and for 㿊 million I'm beginning to think we have signed another dud. Oh to be a blue, sigh.