We Are Respected Wherever We May Go

When players play against Everton, it's still meaningful – it doesn't matter if it's home or away, the fans are a reminder of what an institution the club is and the opposition raises its game.

Nice to be respected but it does mean we need a proper team to win something.

It's funny hearing your worries as you hid them very well in the build-up, as did Rob, Neil and Co.

Weirdly I was much more concerned but the day of Bournemouth I woke up totally relaxed somehow and calmly confident of a win.

I don't know why – it was a great contrast to my feelings on the prior occasions. Maybe I'd just run out of stress and anxiety so moved onto a different emotion.

2023 has been a bad year for Everton and my family. My dad died in April after a merciful short cancer battle. His last game to enjoy was Simms scoring that brilliant goal versus Chelsea.

I watched the Blues versus Leicester at Paris airport on the way home and then on the plane with the help of a friendly Moroccan lad.

Back here in Japan, the last game was with my family, visiting the eldest in Osaka. At the hotel at 2 am there was banging on the wall from angry neighbors as we screamed at the Doucouré goal.

What a bad season with ultimately a great ending. Everton has been a pain in the arse for me and my Texan wife ever since we met in '96. Please get better. Thank you to all the brilliant Evertonians in the stadiums.

Looking forward to seeing you as many games as I can get tickets for next season. I'm positive about next season and think that a couple of inspired changes could see us in the top half which would be an amazing improvement. Clear of injuries, we may just have the makings of a strong squad?

Hope to see Brent and the other amazing Blues I had the pleasure to meet this year. Come on you clappers, respected everywhere. Hope is rising from the ashes.

It's only special because of the incredible love that the people have got for our football club. When I stood on County Road, quietly watching the absolute passion of Evertonians of every different age group last Sunday, it was very hard to the fathom that the team was in a relegation battle.

A brilliant from-the-heart read, Danny, and to every single Evertonian who went through every single emotion leading up to last Sunday – You did not desert us, my Brother in Arms…💙

I can empathise with the mixed messages you got from your wife to your brother, and I guess you were even looking for positive signs from your dogs that everything would be okay.

My two sons were both convinced some weeks back that we were gone, but I reminded them that I had seen us in even worse positions and escape.

There is just something about this club and its supporters that comes together more so in adversity than in the pursuit of trophies that won't allow this club to go down.

But I do hope we don't test my theory again in the near future, as I think we would all like a very boring mid-table finish next season.

Obviously next season is going to be very emotional with us playing our last game at Goodison, and I don't think any of us could stand that and a relegation battle next season. I think we all need the close season to recharge and go again next season.

I was in the Lake District yesterday and had absolutely no interest in watching the Cup Final. I just cant' watch any football at the moment, it's amazing what following Everton can do to you.

The planning, early starts, going from station to station, throw a few air journeys in, the worry and fret this causes you before you add the worry and fret of how we are going to perform…

I know following the Blues means everything to you but, like most of us, you don't get much back in terms of joy from supporting our team. I worry and fret like yourself but from the comfort of my well-worn armchair.

I've got to put my hands up to you, Danny and would love the club to do more and show some appreciation to the fans who follow the club through thick and thin for the sheer love of Everton FC while travelling thousands of miles at all hours in all weathers, amazing the lot of you.

Where's that bleedin' rainbow at the end of this?

no need to mention the RS stadium in this thread.

It's been a nightmare of a season, we can't deny that, yet every game, home and away, is sold out. Away tickets have sometimes been sold out in a matter of hours.

Why do we do it…? Well I suppose it's in the blood, it's like a drug, we're addicted to it, it's something we can't give up, no matter how hard some may try. But the likes of me, you, Brent, Neil, John Raftery and Bill Watson, are totally addicted, and no doubt a few more we may know who do every game, will simply never give up, no matter what the future holds.

I met Derek Knox, Neil, Brian Wilkinson, Stephen Vincent, Dave Williams and one or two more in the Harlech Castle prior to the game last Sunday, having had a couple in the brick beforehand. Was great to meet a few more TW'ers.

After having a couple of drinks with them, I returned to The Brick to meet my mates. It was mental… you couldn't get in The Brick – it was that chocker, but it was even more chocker outside. You couldn't move, County Road was blocked, lads standing on bus stops, blue smoke filled the air and constant singing, it was deafening.

You'd think we were about to play a cup final, or play a game to win the league, but no, it was a game we were going to play, to try and win and avoid bloody relegation.

Quite simply, no other set of fans could generate an atmosphere like it, not even those deluded Geordies! As you say, Danny, just wait until we actually do win something.

Just to finish, I was on a MIDAS training course last Thursday. The person taking the course was a Leicester fan, no less. Obviously he was disappointed at them being relegated.

He said to me that if someone had said to all Leicester fans 8 years ago, that they would win the Premier League, the FA Cup, Community Shield and get as far as the quarter finals in the Chmpions League, then get relegated, he said it's something most Leicester fans would have readily accepted.

Is it something we would accept? I'm not so sure?

Finally, part of the course involved driving. He asked where the new stadium was and could we go down there? We set off, going down to Riverside Drive and along the River Mersey, passing the tourist sites along the way, before getting to Bramley-Moore Dock.

He was gobsmacked, and blown away by the sheer size of the stadium, as well as the location. He took a few photos before we headed back. It's somewhere he said he will definitely visit when Leicester get back into the Premier League.

I don't think we will have the same worries at the end of next season, we played this one with one arm tied behind our backs.

We missed Calvert-Lewin a lot, we sold Richarlison and didn't replace him with anything like the same quality player; it was asking for trouble and that very nearly sank us.

It's all up in the air with the club at the moment so it's impossible to say what the strength of our squad will be, but I've every trust that Dyche will at least have us playing in the Premier League when we move into the new stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock.

I missed the games at Bournemouth, not sure if that means I was lucky but I never feel lucky missing games.

It's funny but I am always nervous before away games but rarely so when we are playing at home. However, against Bournemouth, I was a bag of nerves with my stomach churning constantly and little sleep the week before. The feeling at the end was pure relief and felt different to the Palace game. Strangely it also felt like the end of an era, hopefully meaning the worst has passed with better things to follow,

Going into the break, I was looking forward to relaxing a bit and forgetting about the traumas that supporting Everton brings. Ha! Not a chance, and find myself scanning every available outlet for news.

Also, can't wait for the new season to start, I've always been the same and don't know why I try to kid myself. The new stadium continues to make good progress and it does look like this will be our last season at Goodison. So many memories, it will be a wrench and I will be a mess at our last game but wouldn't miss it for the world.

Like so many others on here, Everton means so much, I just can't get enough of them. We are so fortunate to support such a great club and that club is so fortunate to have such great support (match-going or otherwise).

So, it will be good to meet everyone again next season plus others I haven't had the pleasure of meeting yet. Until then I hope all stay safe and keep believing.

UTFT!

I share your optimism mainly because I learned some time ago that anything is possible in a game of football. My philosophy has been that "Every game is unique, it's never been played before and will never be played again." That's why I attend games with an open mind. There have been many examples over the years, but the one I always use to get my point across is the Wigan Athletic victory over Manchester City in the FA Cup Final.

My away days are long since gone, although I've visited more than 50 grounds, many more than once, but finance and ailments have been the main reason for my absence at away fixtures. I never gave up hope this season and I am on record stating that, "When the points required outweigh the points available, I will accept that our place at the 'Top Table' is interrupted."

Along with Dave Abrahams and many others, I was old enough [13 years 2 months] to remember the last time we were relegated, not a happy memory.

"Keep the Faith, things can only get better."

As a happy clapper who only goes for the ale, I am in awe of anyone like you who can sink pints of Pinot Grigio and still write a match report.

Looking forward to Fulham and Palace etc away next season if I can get a ticket

I'm afraid that time is catching up with me. I was actually approaching 12 years 10 months old, when Everton were relegated on 5 May 1951, having been born on 15 July 1938.

They do say that "There's 'no fool like an old fool" and I think they may be right.

I believe we are moving to the new stadium at the start of the 2024-25 season so, as Danny says, next season is the last one at Goodison Park.

The move is/was delayed and the board decided they didn't want to move in the middle of the 2024-25 season so it's gonna be the start of the 2025-26 season.

The board saw fit to omit to announce the fact though.

30 seconds in at Brighton expecting bad things, Calvert-Lewin dances around Dunk and squares to Doucoure –Explosion of Joy.

Wolverhampton, 1-0 down and seconds to go and Mina scores. Total explosion of joy again and silence in the Wolves ranks.

When I say 'joy', this was genuine joy from great people who gave up everything to support the Blues when it looked bad.

Can I say one other thing to praise these wonderful fans at the games I went to. Full allocations sold, and at the destination when train traffic was cancelled but most important the wonderful families who'd come down together.

The club's never "officially" given a date for opening but I'd say in the past 4 to 6 months it was being reported that the opening would be "mid-season" 2024-25.

There was then a whisper that the club didn't want to move mid-season and would wait for the start of the 2025-26 season.

The board, and who could be surprised, didn't want to announce what may be looked at as bad news though, to go with all the other bad news going on at the time.

Either way, let's just hope we're in a much better position by the time we play there.

You are probably correct. I'm not sure we would move half-way through, but who knows with Everton? I don't recall seeing any official communication from the club, but I could be wrong and may have missed it?

The last two season have been dreadful – painful and stressful – but Goodison has never been more important to us. The atmosphere has at times been incredible, the fans have found their voice again, and – because of the existential situation we found ourselves in – there have been more memorable games across the last two years than across the two previous decades.

I've rekindled my love affair with the Old Lady, and walking around her before the Bournemouth game I was close to tears because there really is no place like it. The fans, the ground, the history, the streets, the pubs, the shops, the church, it's simply unique.

Is it too late to change our minds?

I'm sure the new Everton Stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock will be a success, but I fear it will all be a bit 'Grandfather's Axe'.

Still, got to keep movin' on.

I agree with you, would redeveloping Goodison really have cost us a billion pounds? I'll never be convinced on that, I'm sure we could have done what the other lot did for around the same price and saved ourselves half a billion in the process.

Everton have been playing at Goodison since the Victorian Era, and the old place has an atmosphere that is irreplaceable. She has also been the difference between survival and going out of business these last 2 years.

People laugh at Goodison, the wooden seats, the obstructed views; for watching football, it's actually one of the greatest stadiums around.

After everything that's happened, Goodison is still regularly cited as the most intimidating ground to come to, with Declan Rice and Howard Webb both chiming in recently on that. Every time I think about the move, I feel a bit sick, but the reality I think is going to be worse.

People should have a look around at the things the Victorians built, even mundane stuff like Crewe Station, and realise it was done with a style and verve that the current generation wouldn't be able to come near to if it tried. At least we can say we were there.

We have filled Goodison every game this season, I think, but we were only the 10th best-attended club in the Premier League.

We needed a ground with extra capacity, arguably with a bigger capacity than the new stadium is going to have.

Of course we also need a team good enough to draw in the extra supporters.

But so many seem convinced it's going to transform us…

No, you missed nowt, mate, because nowt's been said by our ever-communicative board, well not in "public". 😉

Keep it up, lad, I just hope you don't burn yourself out!

Let's hope for better times ahead!

But on the stadium, I used to have these conversations with my mates, Everton and Liverpool, 30 years ago.

We could have redeveloped Goodison Park, but we would have had to buy up the houses opposite the Bullens Road, and, possibly controversially, bought, demolished and relocated the Gwladys Street School.

A combination between what Liverpool and Tottenham have done. Buy land and property. We would have had to have redeveloped the footprint and turned the ground 90 degrees.

We are moving now. Let's embrace it.

It's nearly time to move now, although I think the Old Lady definitely belongs in a different era, it's still going to be a very hard day watching the last game of football in a place that is littered with memories.

I've also admired your optimism. I tried not to say it too often, but did so when asked my honest opinion: I thought we were going to be one of the 3 worst teams in the league. We weren't.

We might require Goodison to do it 19 times next season, given the current circumstances and squad.

I'm a believer that it's not the bricks and mortar that makes somewhere special, it's the people within it. So, from that perspective, the new stadium could be just as intimidating and passionate as Goodison Park is and has been.

Brent, always a pleasure. I look forward to those dreaded, but welcome away trips! The last encounter I had with a Millwall supporter, he told me he was going to "smash me up". I looked him in the eye and told him he wasn't going to. He walked off to the bar and I bought him a drink to calm him down.

Mark and Martin, meet you again next season. A great double act. It wasn't a pint, just a big plastic glass that made it look like a pint!

Tony, we are special. We care so much like no other support can. The imposters across to park. The magpies who think they are as big as Real Madrid. They don't come close to us.

Brian, I couldn't accept it. I had been telling my son and brother all season it wouldn't, no matter how much they shook their heads at me. I went close to the wire and hedged my bets, but I came through.

Never stop believing.

Dave Abrahams, I just can't stop and never will. It wakes me up at night, but I sleep on the way home, sometimes smiling.

Peter Mills, thank you for your help and support. I will see you next season.

Rob Halligan, we can't help ourselves. Addiction is an understatement. Waiting for the pre-season fixtures. I'm thinking of European qualification already.

And a mention for Brian Murray. Religiously follows the blues
and religiously tells me off for being too soft!

John Senior, you've been there, seen it and done it. I always appreciate your words of wisdom.

Finally, once again, those blues who wake up at godless hours to watch and cheer us on. That takes as much effort as getting on a bus, coach, plane or train. Respect to every single one of you.

If I've missed anyone, I didn't mean to. Thank you Evertonians. Every single one of you.

Barry @ 31, I respect your posts and admire your willingness to go against the tide when you feel it necessary. What are your views on a rich takeover, I mean a really rich one?

Say a newly image-laundered regime like the Qataris or Saudis, or even an Iranian regime (not out of the question, by the way) came in and put up the mega money that you have, quite rightly, said is needed.

Would you welcome it, or would you, like me on my red wine induced high horse, think, "Nah, I'll stick with what we've got."

Genuinely interested in your thoughts.

The new Everton Stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock will have a bigger capacity than St James's Park, from what I'm reading. Only by 888 seats, but that adds perspective. And we will sell it out every week.

Stamford Bridge left behind at around 40,000 – like Goodison Park. The Etihad – only about 500 or 600 more seats at 53,400. A stadium they apparently can't fill. The "Empty-had" as Man Utd supporters like to tease them with.

We will sell out the new stadium and there will still be people on websites like this scrambling for tickets. The waiting list for season tickets remains a long wait.

Never ever underestimate the size of this club. As Rob says, wait until we next win something. The footballing world will experience something they haven't seen. Forget the falseness across the park. It will be massive.

It's going to break all of our hearts to leave Goodison for the last time. But our future is about 3 miles down the road, on the docks, and taking over the city's waterfront.

Regarding the capacity of the new stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock, when the consultations over the new ground were taking place, the vast majority of our fans wanted a capacity of over 60,000.

We were informed that, although the club had settled on 52,000 being the new capacity, we had the possibility of increasing that to 62,000 with safe standing, provided the rules changed to allow safe standing.

Well Man Utd along with a couple of other clubs are planning to introduce safe-standing areas next season, so I can't for the life of me understand why we haven't done the same.

Also we know the cost of our season tickets will rise when we move into the new stadium, so wouldn't it be a nice touch to allow those in the safe standing area, who will probably be the younger fans, reduced prices for those in the safe standing area?

I have no idea what clubs will charge for those in the safe standing areas, probably because, as I understand it, the seats will still be there, they will charge the same. But I would suggest that they offer cheaper prices.

To be honest, given the number of clubs who are going to install safe standing next season, I am amazed that Everton are not considering making a safe standing zone in the new stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock.

Football is pricing itself out of reach for some supporters so wouldn't it be a great way of getting these fans back in the ground?

We're a relic. A museum as someone famously once said. Even our new ground harps back to the past – we just can't help ourselves. As a club, and also the supporters, have pinned all our hopes on things that happened decades ago – misty-eyed nonsense that does nothing to forward the club.

Just look at the cretin who's been running the gaff for the best part of 25 years. We've been sold a dud in my opinion – sold a lie, a dewy-eyed vision of a byegone era – we even still sing the same old songs at matches from 30, 40, 50 years ago.

I for one am slightly more embarrassed at the way Everton is viewed, not respected at all. We're laughed at, mocked even for being such a bunch of old fuddy duddy's when it comes to the modern game.

My son turns 21 in a few weeks and he laughs his head off at the thought of Everton being any good (he supports Man Utd BTW). His generation only know Everton as a shit show that regularly flirts with relegation.

We're not special, all clubs and supporters think that about their team – that's why football is such big business and such a lifelong millstone for the masses. "Crack for the masses" my other half calls it, and she's right.

There is nothing 'special' about any football club, how can they all be special? It doesn't make any sense. It's just an addiction, something that harks back to long sunny summer holidays when we were all little kids banging a football against a wall somewhere, and we can't stop ourselves from feeling all those feelings we had when we were young & good looking and life was simpler.

If Everton and Everton fans can learn to drop all the 'istory stuff, and all the 'we are chosen' fantasies (maybe learn a few new songs too) this club might have a better chance of becoming a modern day, modern thinking football club that actually achieve something.

I support a team that makes me ecstatic when we win a game. Not a competition, a game.

That's how low the bar is.

The pundits can ony think of certain things to say about us. If they are trying to be nice they might mention how many years we have been in the top flight, or they might mention league titles etc. Usually they can't stop themselves making sarky comments about the aging ground, the restricted views and "toxic" support.

We have some admirers...the old school who have been around longer, who think that things were better before SKY.

The problem is that nowadays everyone is only interested in the next big match, the next title.

Even when watching any of our tv stations they tell you about the next thing even when the game you are watching is at a crucial point.

I find the whole "history" thing is simply giving the club an excuse for not making history.

Nobody gives a fig about what we did 40 years ago, nobody except us. Nobody gives a toss that Wolves were a great team in the fifties -nobody but yam-yams.

The new stadium is a new start. We need to look to the future, we need good owners, good business people in charge and we need to start making some new history.

Then the rest of the pundits, fans and heirarchy will give us more respect, but hate us just the same.

Otherwise, we've done nothing to earn respect in about 35 years – which is why any idea of a quick fix is always so laughable.

Hopefully Kenwright will be gone soon and we can enter a new era of professional club management where we gradually reclaim some respect by assembling a decent squad and doing something of note on the pitch. I want cup wins and trophies.

I'm obviously not certain, so I'm going to ask my oldest son when I see him tonight but it wouldn't surprise me if he took footballing snobbery over winning silverware.

Do a survey, Lyndon, because it's a very interesting question, imo, with my own answer being that I'd definitely take relegation simply because I want Everton to be the first team to win the top league in three different centuries!

I travel up and down the country with followers of other clubs.

I live amongst a myriad of Chelsea, Tottenham, Arsenal, London Reds and United supporters.

Believe me there is respect and intrigue once they find out you are an Evertonian.

You are clearly entitled to your views James. You are embarrassed. I am proud.

Brian, I have made comparisons many times with Schalke's Veltin's Arena. About 54,000 capacity for International matches when it's all seating. Rises to about 62,000 for league matches when safe standing areas are introduced.

And your match ticket get's you free public transport for the day.

No chance Tony. Founding members. Played the most top flight seasons. I won't accept relegation. I just want us to compete.

If we compete, we will win trophies. But just compete. In the top flight where we belong and have done for most of our history.

To be the first team to win the league in three centuries would be a massive achievement Danny, and even worth putting up with all the shite we have had to put up with on a regular basis for years. But FIRST we have got to get rid of the CURSE.

The most top-flight games and a top-flight club for 70 years does mean something, an achievement , but it's a nostalgic indulgence and a distraction. I mean who else really cares about that? You know, great! … move on. Especially right now when it's decades since we won anything and worse still, we are fighting relegation with regularity.

What really matters is focusing on the here and now, having a great stadium, leading to increased sustainable funding and recruitment for the squad. Then incrementally building a team that is a real challenger for Europe every season.

Then the rest of the club can match up with the quality of its support.

Just because we have to occasionally remind people that we are a club that has actually won things in the past doesn't mean that we are happy it's been so long since we put a trophy in the cabinet.

In fact, the history stuff from the fans' perspective is used to constantly show the board where we'd like to be, and that we're loathe to accept the "plucky little Everton" stuff.

I think most of us are realistic and don't expect to see us win the title or qualify for the Champions League in the near or even the mid term, but that should always be the aim of the club, at the start of every season, regardless of how unrealistic that might be; cups should be there to be won too.

If we can't be proud of our past achievements, what else is there to cling on to? I can't see the argument that says "History is holding us back" when it's the history that should be used as the driving force to go on to replicate those past triumphs, even if in the present circumstances that seems unlikely.

We also have to accept that the competition is heavily weighted in favour of the now well-established clubs and even Newcastle with their funding may struggle to win actual silverware – I bet that statement comes back to bite me in 12 months.

I don't now where you live but I suppose it could have been worse regarding your son, he might have chosen to support Liverpool.

On a lighter note, if he'd been my son and supported anyone but the Blues, he'd have been supporting them from an orphanage!!

The article I meant to write! I can not disagree with a single word you wrote.

What a cracking article. As you rightly say, Everton is inbued deep in the soul. Whether near or far, match-goer or no, it's in our heart and soul. For better or worse. Life is not all smiles of course, for most of us it is more struggle than smiles a lot of the time. The trick is to smile through the struggles when we can, which in my opinion is what we are doing right now as Evertonians.

Massive relief to stay up, but massive concern about the huge off-field cloud of worry. May the board change be confirmed soon, with MSP shoring up both the finances and giving leadership to this rudderless ship, from a board perspective. First team squad massive restructuring can't be overlooked for the second season in a row.

Dyche must be given the tools needed for the coming season to set us on the right upward path heading into Bramley-Moore Dock.

UTFT!

We have a massive amount of special history. We certainly need major change off the pitch in order to get the major change needed on the pitch.

Personally, I am willing that to be the case, so we can have new real special times in the coming new royal blue dawn by the banks of the royal blue Mersey. 💙

Be proud of it, but don't live in it.

Make new history.

Get rid of that song.

Take our heritage with us and build on it.

We are respected.

That takes in the recent 20 years which we have not won anything but at least we are still here fighting.

Its now extreamely difficult for clubs outside of the usual suspects to win anything.

When its said that we need to be taken over by oil sheikhs and the like, while I wouldnt say no to that, you are now limited to what you can spend on players per season.

City, Arsenal, Utd, Chelsea, Spurs and the Reds stocked up the value of their squads which carries through to the present when there were no restrictions, we havn't now got that luxury.

Shearer on MOT day intimated much the same, that its now very difficult to challenge the most successful clubs.

Newcastle who he loves are now rolling in money but cant go out and buy the very best players because of P & S rules.

Somethings need to change because the Prem. as a competition is far from a fair one.

Day trippers spend hundreds and even thousands of pounds, to get the chance to watch a game at Anfield and Old Trafford, but the working-class people who support Man City sometimes get stick because football is now a very expensive hobby, and City don't yet have enough day-trippers to help fill their stadium every other week.

I was asking a genuine question, Brian, but because of the absolute greed attached to football nowadays, I was also probably being a bit cynical in asking such a question because it genuinely wouldn't surprise me if standing became more expensive because of the limited number of tickets.

If we were to be purchased by the Middle East, they brought huge money, and were able to rename us as Petroleum Global FC, with a new sand yellow with petrol blue strip... and the new stadium had an Arabic name in Arabic typography.

A new start, with the slate wiped clean and no right or claim to the earlier honours, as part of the club name change. Then we obtained the world's best players, then we mopped up the trophies. How'd that be?

An exaggeration – but all we'd really like of the above are the money and the trophies... because the rest is Everton. This is why the move to the new stadium is a tug on the heartstrings, accepting the benefits.

I don't understand the dismissal of our history. That history is the record of all that went before, the players and fans with the exact same hopes as today. Bill Kenwright has overplayed the past in lieu of the present… but screw that – it will be over soon and the history can sit properly.

One could always simply watch Man City. If they finish 2nd, follow the winner the next season.

The history and the club are why we look to the future. Success and history.

Think about what the likes of Bury, Luton, Wigan have gone through, Brighton also. Their fans have gone through thick and thin, relegation, points deductions, administration and yet they follow their clubs up and down the land, just like our fans do.

Also regarding winning something and getting relegated, ask Wigan fans if they would have sooner stayed up instead of winning the cup? It's winning the cup every single time and I'm of the same mindset.

Watching Everton lift that FA Cup in 1984 is my favourite moment as an Everton fan especially after losing the replay in the Milk Cup Final against Liverpool.

Give me a cup any day ahead of Premier League football.

I love your optimism and will never question your love & commitment to all things Everton. Respect for that and your article. It's all opinions of course, so there's no right or wrong in my view – just differing views.

I think we're all on the same page when it comes to the current state of the club, and what we need to move forward. I'm just sick of supporting plucky old Everton relying on history to keep us relevant.

As I said on another thread the other day, quoting Jose Mourinho to a reporter last week ahead of the Europa League Final,when asked about Roma's history, he replied, "History isn't playing".

It's really only been the later Bill era that the history has been over-egged. He'll be gone soon, and his "We've had some good times" will go with him. There is perhaps one certain song I'll give you...

As I also said on that other thread, ask Mourinho about his past honours, see what he says. He's also said, all his past teams have a special place in his heart. That's history for ya!

Strangely enough, even though we have been torn apart by Kenwright and Moshiri and have been trophyless for 27 years, we have still not fallen down that table too far.

We were viewed by many of the old school supporters as a giant of the sport. Today, we are still respected by those over 50 years of age but not by many of a lesser age although that's aimed at the club and not the support.

Sadly today and due to our Chairman we are viewed as cannon fodder by the big clubs and some mid-table clubs when it comes to game day.

There is change in the air though so with the input of some bright people on the new board, a climb up the table next season, the huge move into the new stadium and hopefully some new songs we can gradually climb back to the top and bring some trophies home.

Talking of songs, there should be a competition with big prizes for whoever comes up with the best songs for the future.

Any news coming out of the club yet?

Almost everyone can see it now, so it's refreshing to hear people who have been involved speaking so honestly about Everton and how they need a complete reset.

On your travels up from London and back, you come across a wide variety of fans. Although I rarely get to a live match these days (due to geography, costs and time constraints), I have been all over the country following EFC and I've also been to lots of Pompey games as well as Forest & County when I was a student in Nottingham.

Now I don't doubt that you have had some pleasant exchanges with the vast majority of fans, but much like today's keyboard warriors, to be insulting or bad-mannered to someone's face is still beyond all but the idiotic.

However, I have always been polite, even to my Kopite relatives, and Mancs that I have played sports with. You tend to look for common ground when you talk footy with strangers. It doesn't mean that you like their clubs one little bit – it's merely good manners.

I worked overseas some years back and had to liaise with Arabs (from Lebanon, Palestine and Jordan. These guys would always agree to anything you asked. "Yes Eddie, you will have your crane tomorrow, no problem." The cranes never turned-up and the next day you would call them to hear a hearfelt apology and a promise that it would be delivered the next day etc.

Culturally, they thought it rude to say "No". They told us what they thought we would like to hear. Of course, once you got used to it, you factored in such delays.

Us Brits also try to be nice. I am nice to my QPR mate, ask him how they are getting on… Who knows what people really think?

The Premier League should do a fan survey to see which clubs are considered "most entitled", "biggest moaners", "most toxic", and which clubs are generally liked by rival fans.

The recent YouTube video by a pair of Bournemouth fans (Back of the Net) was most interesting, as they do a summary of their matchday experience. These two found our fans to be really nice despite some cretins spitting on them from the Upper Bullens. https://youtu.be/e8hjoD8GhTM

A good insight though.

James, you are fine mate. I think we are all saying the same thing, just framing it in different ways.

And we all have different ways of expressing our desire in our club. But we all have desire and belief.

As I keep saying, the difference between the ageing fool that is me and the young realism of my son and youngest brother.

But we all want the same.

When does pre-season start?

Methinks you are not such a fool as you make out, John. The fact that you and I are old does not make us fools, eh? You are four Everton supporting years ahead of me.

"Never ever underestimate the size of this club. As Rob says, wait until we next win something. The footballing world will experience something they haven't seen. Forget the falseness across the park. It will be massive."

Danny, kids my age and older in North-west Wales followed Everton – that is until the Rising of the Shite – and then the youngsters all went like lemmings towards Shankly and his lot.

When, not if, Everton find their mojo again, the next generation will be back in droves. With the right people at the helm, nothing is unachievable – we will have the new stadium, we will hopefully have the team to compete, but more importantly, we have always had the fans, and those fans are bursting for success. It will come. I hope to see it!

How the heck did you allow your own son to support ManUtd??? Shocking!

My son is 20, born a Blue and will die a Blue, if he goes on to have children, they will all be Blues as well.

Of course everyone likes to win but the way things are at this time the League is way way out of reach and will be for the foreseeable future, a Cup of some sort I suppose is much more likely with a large dose of good fortune.

What the hell, I still enjoy most of the games, yes I would enjoy them more if we were more competitive but it is what it is.

Regarding the history of Everton FC, I don't wallow in the past, but I do feel proud of its achievements down the years. When I were a lad, any youngster living in Barnsley and interested in football would have been a Barnsley supporter, and his hero would have been centre-forward Tommy Taylor.

Since the coming of the Premier League and the money that was introduced by the Television companies, I wouldn't be surprised to see youngsters parading around Barnsley wearing the tops of Manchester United, Manchester City, Arsenal, Liverpool etc. There is no doubt in my mind that the combination of the Premier League and Television money has changed the game completely.

When Everton won the league in 1963, the attendance for the game that sealed their success was 60,578. Earlier in the season, they had home attendances of 72,488 against Liverpool; 69,500 against Manchester United; 67,650 against Tottenham Hotspur; 62,616 against Wolverhampton Wanderers. I would be stating the obvious by saying that Goodison Park would match some of those figures today if the ground was big enough.

The point I'm trying to put over is that, in the days I have referred to, it was mainly local supporters who supported their teams, for example Bury, Rochdale, etc. We attended games not because our clubs won trophies, but in the hope that they would do so. You may not be surprised to learn that over the years, I have earned the nickname of 'Johnny McFossil' but that's life.

As someone born as a Blue, it's something that's always been clear to me: being one of the ‘Blue' chosen.

I moved to North Wales at 27, but I'm nearly twice that now! I was lucky enough to go to our FA Cup win in ‘84 – it was a treasured memory to someone who was 9 when he saw Andy Gray's work then at Wembley.

Moving to Mancot, Chester, and for 6 months Rhyl – and now being married to someone who was already a Blue before we even met (she saw Everton hammer Southampton at The Dell) – it's been quite a tale.

She knows like I do that following our club can be quite an ‘emotional rollercoaster' at times. As a young boy, I would stay at grandparents for the weekend, just a few hundred yards downhill from Rupert's Tower!

At Goodison Park a few days later we just had the normal procedure getting in and I was surprised that the gate was listed as over 70,000 as it didn't seem overcrowded. Some time I can't remember what I had for breakfast but I think it was the early 60s.

James@74 and Chris@75, Spirit Of The Blues was originally a tacky 80s cup final song. But it has become iconic. You only have to be there to hear it belting out every week. It's great to watch.

Opposition supporters love it and believe me, I've sat amongst enough of them home and away. They almost join in.

Like Forever Everton, it's unique. It's Everton. No copying the Kopites and changing the words. No copying the Palace ultras.

Everton.

Just don't sing Everybody's Cheering the Blues. As catchy as it is, I never liked that.

Here We Go. That's ours. No one else's.

Goodison Gang. Not everyone's cup of tea, but I love it. Again. Unique and Everton.

We Shall Not Be Moved. That was ours and was sung loud and proud in our last European escapades. Maybe introduce a team that is marching on to Bramley-Moore Dock into it.

I'll leave that one to the older generation as to if we have copyrights on that one.

I guess it's so easy to be a glory hunter, which is what an awful lot of Man Utd and Liverpool fans are. Jeez, I've got a mate who is well older than me, was a Wolves fan for many years, until Man Utd started winning trophies on a regular basis around the start of the Premier League, then whooooooosh, he became a Man Utd fan, and claims to be one of the best, despite hardly ever going to Old Trafford.

Another mate, a close mate at the time, back in 1977, was a Blue……….Liverpool won the European Cup and that was it, he became an avid RS fan. It's so fucking easy to follow the trophies around!!

I was at Turf Moor when we trounced them and they had a really good team then with Jimmy Adamson and Ray Pointer.

I also got crushed in the return game when the gate was 75,000 or more and we lost 3-0. Amazing how we survived back then with the terraces the way they were.

No point trying to get to the toilet if you had downed a few ales.

I love Spirt Of The Blues and I've still got the original 7-inch record along with the Here We Go picture disc too.

My favourite Everton track is Home and Dry the B-side to Here We Go.

“The tide is turning, it's close at hand as we sail onwards to the promised land…"

Home and dry, you and I. As long as we're together then we always home and dry”

Brings a tear to me eye. Looking forward to the Gwladys Street belting it out on the last game before we move to the new ground.

I thought not. Couldn't be worse if they sang On the Good Ship Lollipop!

Although the history matters deeply to many ToffeeWebers, it will matter very little to kids nowadays. They want Real Madrid, Barca, etc – clubs who are synonymous with winning. At some point, it will erode our fan base.

Everton, won the first game 3-1 and although I recall the scoreline in both games, I have had to check my book to establish the goal-scorers, [Billy Bingham, Bobby Collins [pen] and Brian Harris].

I took her into the paddock for the home game, a 3-0 win for the visitors, and it was only after the game that I learned that Jimmy McIlroy had been taken off following an injury.

The Goodison game was watched by 74,867, and since that time she was a season ticket holder for some years, and attended the semi-final against Norwhich City at Villa Park, and a Final against Liverpool at Wembley plus a Charity Shield game.

The tickets for those games were my Christmas present that year. I was in the old Goodison Road terrace with my Dad who had taken a milk crate for me to stand on.

I don't wish to come across as pedantic, and I am aware that times and events can be easily ''misted'' but you weren't far from the actual score or attendance figure. After all we're discussing something that occurred over 62 years ago, and time can play tricks with the mind.

That match was my first Everton attendance – I will never forget the fathers passing the kids over the heads of those in front so that they could sit around the touchline and not be crushed in the massive crowd.

That is what sold Everton to me. I was there. It may well have been 62 years ago, John, but it is still vivid in my memory. COYBs

Sorry but it's pure bullshit if anyone thinks a change in our affectations will affect the way the club is run.

I'm also not going to take much notice of what the vast majority of 21-year-olds consider worthwhile.

I agree we aren't universally respected but that doesn't mean we can't talk ourselves up a bit. Everybody else does!

I've generally gotten very positive responses when people I've met over the years have become aware I am an Evertonian but it is harder to explain to the youngsters who don't know about much pre-millennium.

Years ago, I met a Man City fan who was very anti-Everton, apparently because of some trouble he'd had as an away fan years before.

Just recently, two blokes at my current place of work on the fringes of London said on separate occasions that they'd be happy if we got relegated. Neither knew my allegiance at the time they spoke so I made it known and asked what their particular beef with us was. Neither had any real reason and one said it was because we'd been in the top division for so long. That's just petty jealousy in my book.

At the end of the day, Evertonians celebrating what pulls them together is entirely harmless and nothing to do with the mismanagement of the club. We should now be utilising that spirit of ‘brotherhood' to gee up the expectancy and make the board face up to their failings.

I always stood on the second level in the Gwladys Street end, under the stand, looking at the goal we were to the left side of it.

Well he chose Man Utd when he was about 7 or 8, and I couldn't bring myself to force Evertonianism on him.

Let's be honest, at least he gets to see a winning team and since we don't live in Liverpool or Manchester, it's all down to peer pressure and kids are glory hunters.

To be fair, when I started following Everton, we were one of the best teams in Europe so it's not that different really.

If my family lines were to be followed, I'd be a Leyton Orient fan anyway, so me and my son both got off lightly!

We have a much better claim to “We shall not be moved” which was originally a B-side for The Seekers in 1965, it was soon picked up on our 1966 FA Cup run.

I've always been disappointed that “We'll be running ‘round Wembley with the Cup” to the tune of “She'll be coming ‘round the mountain” has never re-surfaced. Hearing that bouncing around Burnden Park in the latter stages of the ‘66 semi-final is one of my abiding boyhood memories.

I still half cringe and half smile at that appearance on the Terry Wogan show footage on Howard's Way.

Those tracksuits.

Most of the players looking awkward. But Paul Bracewell getting down with his good self and in the groove!

I'm glad that you (& the other posters obviously) have reminded me about that match at Goodison. I didn't go to the Turf Moor match (unable to get a ticket) and my transport to away games (I was only 16) couldn't either) but even though we lost what an experience it was it was. Being at a jammed Goodison, was an experience in itself. I've looked for it on the internet more recently to try and establish when it was and how many of us were there.

I was told at the time it was in excess of 75,000 and it didn't seem too packed to me but I was young and sturdy then. Couldn't mange it now! Thanks to all those of you who have reminded me and solved the mystery I had.

Just one more thing - when the hell is Kenwright going?