Creeping Anxiety and a Social Dilemma

Isn't it strange that you never hear about that behaviour, TWENTY years before the oft-quoted, ‘banana-gate?'

Anyway…this, for me, is one of the most poignant and accurate posts I've seen for some time. Good work Lyndon, very good indeed.

My one small disagreement with the article is that the police are 'rightly' involved in a criminal matter. In an ideal world, the police would be actively involved in all criminal matters but at a time when they are demonstrably not, and barely invest any time in burglary for example, I don't think it's a given that they spend much time investigating words, however crass, ignorant and hurtful.

DCL was unfortunate to get booed. He played on with a broken cheekbone which is brave. I don't support the booing but I do understand it, in the sense we seem to have a large roll call of players, many with valid issues like DCL and Dele and for that matter the Icelander, but who give back very little to the club while taking, collectively very many tens of millions in wages. To those who don't earn much, that might seem an insult.

I suspect there is also a sense of injustice, that the magnificent support, particularly over the past 2 seasons, is being attacked and undermined by idiots on social media, and the mainstream media – one can only guess at the motives of certain journalists; who is stoking their fire?

Much of the sting and angst could be removed from the situation if the words you have used came not from a knowledgeable journalist in the USA, but from a person in command of Everton Football Club. Tragically, such a person seems not to exist, or care.

I think part of the problem is that you get someone like Gareth Bale being paid £28 million a year in Spain and holding up a banner saying "Wales, Golf, Real Madrid in that order."

Or Michael Owen saying he basically didn't bother making an effort at Stoke and hated football. Or going back further the likes of Winston Bogarde happily wasting his career as long as he was paid to do nothing.

There is a perception, fueled by some that lots of footballers are lazy, jobsworths and skivers just concerned with cash. Obviously, there are instances when that's true.

Royston Drenthe and Jo for example have both in interviews during the last year admitted they didn't bother trying much at Everton as they were both concerned with partying. Both now regret it but the fact is they were taking the piss when on the payroll.

As was Dunc the player versus Dunc the manager. Or Bilic who played for Croatia at the World Cup between seasons of being too injured to play for Everton.

However, I imagine the vast majority of players do their best and give their all. But watching with envious eyes of both the chance to play for the club, and indeed the money they make, many fans assume the worst of every player.

Look at leagues across mainland Europe – racism is endemic and kicking each other in the head is a hobby. Any place where the authorities aren't on the ball, trouble erupts.

If fans in this country weren't constantly under scrutiny, they would be at each other's throat at the drop of a hat.

In addition, the idea it's a small minority and EFC fans are better than others regarding these things is bonkers.

I appreciate people are angry about what's going on at the club but why would you ever boo a player going off in the first half which would only be due to injury? Not forgetting this is a guy that's talked about having mental health concerns in the past.

Trying to justify it even a little with the general frustrations with the club just isn't good enough, being frustrated or passionate doesn't excuse you from the expectation if being a decent human being. And neither does saying its something they might regret looking back at it.

This, along with the way players like Tom Davies have been treated in the past, makes some of the stuff that gets said on here about us being the best fans in the world really hard to justify. And it's completely self-defeating – if you're a player with no connection to the club, would you come and play here if you had other options?

I suppose what I was trying to say (and have adjusted the wording above accordingly) was that, for fans who have seen him come off time and time again and in the context of this ridiculous idea that he's either soft or not arsed because he likes his modelling, the fact that a minority chose to express their frustration in this way wasn't all that surprising.

I've read enough nonsense from so-called fans who feel that way to know that there is an element out there, however small, who doubt his commitment.

We were admonished for the Maupay abuse and it was found to be from a Fulham fan.

The few people booing when DCL came off, it’s not clear what they were booing, the ref? the goalie? maybe some idiots booing DCL out of despondency and frustration, one at two as a personalised attack?, maybe a combination ….I’ve got no idea ??

The one fan who posted a the racist remark, a complete idiot, disgusting behaviour and totally unrepresentative of the Everton fan base. Rightly given to the police to deal with.

As disgraceful as these actions were, the fact that the club and 99.999% of the fanbase are dragged through the mud by the media because of it is extremely disappointing, even disturbing.

There has to be some sort of counterbalance and proportionality to the coverage, otherwise the media amplification is nothing short of an agenda against any particular club which could be chosen at any time at all to denigrate.

It could also be used as a tool .. say a club was trying to sign a black player, but the selling club didn’t want to do the deal , what better time to shine a megawatt spotlight onto the buying club for racist behaviours . No matter that it was just one idiot fan from god knows where , who may or may not even actually be an Everton fan.

It’s maybe taking things too far but this stuff feels like it’s being weaponised.

I suppose in a wider context it does feel like football fandom (and society in general) is slipping back a bit in terms of behaviour and this seems emblematic of it.

Tony (9) There was absolutely no doubt the booing was aimed at DCL. I would estimate it came from two to three hundred out of the 3,000 travelling fans. It was accompanied by foul mouthed shouts of abuse from a few near where I was sitting in the upper tier.

Of course every club suffers from having a minority of thick-headed fans who behave obnoxiously. Unfortunately when a club is at a low ebb, they are the people who most attract attention in the media.

What we do need is a reporter from a mainstream paper writing a properly informed article on what is really happening to our club via Moshiri and Kenwright, and how the vast majority of our supporters are “the best” in a similar vein to Lyndon's articulate summary.

Yes, I think you're right. Supporters set a high bar, and maybe that is justified when the pay is so outrageous. It does, as you say, mean that those who fall short of at least doing their all, or perhaps more specifically, are seen to fall short, are going to get a very hard time.

In a sense, we reap what we sow when there is so much money and avarice in the game – or at least those who work in football do.

There’s some very short memories on how Dominic carried our club single-handedly four or five years ago and helped us overcome some truly diabolical recruitment. All this when he should have been having a staged introduction to Premier League football. We used him now he’s getting abused.

Maybe there’s some sort of herd mentality going on from those who booed, born out of frustration of the bigger picture. I wish they would stop and have a think about it first and ask themselves ‘is this fair?’

Hopefully there’s a bit of regret now the dust has settled and seen the extent of his facial injury.

We are the club for kicking these days, even the Premier League, refs and VARs have joined in and not just recently. Niasse is still the only player to receive a ban for diving as far as I know.

The VAR decisions to go against us when we play the so-called, top 6 are too numerous to mention. Come October, we will undoubtedly be made an example of, for overspending, whilst Man City with numerous charges just carry on.

Maybe the next time the lovable reds get an Everton player sent off, by play-acting, we will do the right thing and tell the ref "He never touched me" – I won't hold my breath. They can carry on appealing and win their appeals but forget when a wrong red card helps them out.

Is it possible for the AllTogetherNow group to issue a statement on behalf of the genuinely decent supporters to condemn what happened at the weekend and urge those involved, to stop this behaviour and stop dragging our club's name through the mud?

I was at a game a while ago, sitting behind Danny O'Neill, and a fool nearby screamed abuse at every Everton player from the kick-off. When the abuse became homophobic, he was told to shit the fuck up.

I've said on here before that I believe that Everton supporters are second to none. I also believe that some people say stuff in anger and frustration that even horrifies themselves in hindsight. However, the tiny minority of regular gobshites need to be called out and booted out.

Yet a Liverpool player receives a straight red card for going in with studs showing, intent or not, which could have seriously injured his opponent, and has his red card rescinded. And you wonder why fans of other clubs get so irate at the injustice of it all.

It is obvious from our transfer activity that we have little or no money to spend; in addition, we are simply not an attractive proposition for young talented players. In fairness to Lampard, his name was enough to attract the boy from Belgium last summer, little did he know what he was signing up to.

This season is, I am afraid, another battle for survival. Anthony Gordon was sold in the January window, it may well be that his sale keeps us afloat. The profit on his sale, given that he came through the ranks, might make a significant difference when we are up before the stewards in October. The sins of the past continue to bite us.

The club does not help itself: it's beyond belief that Kenwright is still in situ. The club needs to keep the support base on board more than ever over the next 9 months and yet it allows the Kenwright situation to continue. At the end of the day, only Moshiri can remove him and, given his track record since he took over the club, I would not hold out much hope of that happening. Moshiri has been an unmitigated disaster.

It's not surprising that a significant minority of the fan base have had enough: frustration at the prospect of yet another season of pure misery, playing dreadful football, trying to scrape enough points in order to survive. It has taken it's toll. Maybe we will look back at last weekend and say "That was the straw that broke the camel's back". I hope not.

Next weekend is a crunch one in my view. We need a massive reaction from the team, resulting in a much improved performance and the first win of the season. A loss next weekend and things could turn very ugly.

We need to stick together, now more than ever. If we start fighting among ourselves, we have had it.

Keep protesting in a dignified way before and after the games and never stop supporting the team!

Mindful of the difficulties Everton (as well as many other clubs) look to be having in getting deals over the line, I have been trying to keep my powder dry until deadline day is over.

After the Villa game, though, what worries me more is the seeming complete lack of spirit among the players. After the first goal went in, they looked like they expected to lose.

I don't envy Dyche trying to lift morale amongst that lot.

I think the frustration is understandable, 2 seasons avoiding relegation by the skin of our teeth and we start another season with 2 losses and still haven't scored a goal.

Also, the pre-season games against many lower league sides didn't produce many goals, so with last season's top goal scorer out injured and still no striker signed, then it shouldn't surprise anybody that the fans are angry and frustrated.

Despite the last 2 seasons, we haven't heard a word from our chairman or owner. We were told some months back that MSP were investing £125 million into the club and would get 2 seats on the board; that story has gone very quiet… I wonder why?

The vile posts on the internet to Maupay and Onana, the post to Maupay was allegedly from a Fulham fan and the police are investigating the racist post sent to Onana. These people post these things on the net because they believe it gives them the anonymity to get away with such posts.

Seems most players have their own sites where they send and receive posts, but in this world you will get people sending these posts to these sites.

I know it's become somewhat of a thing amongst players in who has the biggest following on their sites. I guess it helps them when negotiating their contracts with new clubs, but I am not sure these sites are a wise way of going about things if you rightly want to avoid these vile posts being sent.

Regarding the booing of Calvert-Lewin, I wasn't at the game but could it have been that many couldn't see how badly his cheek had swelled, and were frustrated at losing a very important player, who has missed huge chunks of the last 2 seasons, and the thought of losing him again was just supporters being frustrated?

There is no difficulty in dealing with the situation of a numpty behind a keyboard. You ignore it. Just as we don't send in the police to investigate the scrawl on the wall of the gents.

There will always be bad behaviour. I don't propose to waste any time worrying about what an anonymous clown might in future write on Twitter from his bedroom in Thailand.

Your last paragraph is pretty much spot on. During the game, we saw Calvert-Lewin collide with the Villa goalkeeper, and then receive lengthy treatment, obviously for a head injury.

Then, 20 minutes or so later, we see Calvert-Lewin slump to the ground and everyone assumes his hamstring, or whatever, has gone again. Not one of us could see any injury to his face as he walked away down the opposite touchline to the tunnel in the opposite corner.

We were receiving text messages before half-time that it looked like he had fractured his cheekbone. Hopefully he will only be out for a short while.

John Raferty has explained from his first hand experience what he saw and heard... I think that clears it up for everyone.

It happened. The media will magnify it because that's what they do.

The many (yes many PF lol) fans that booed will probably be adhamed of themselves now that the booze has worn off, and hopefully DCL will get enough messages of support to know that we aren't all gobshites.

No excuses though. Get a grip.

As always Lyndon, very well articulated. A few things to pick into.

Changes were made at the end of last summer, but it didn't go far enough Those who are still around remain silent and detached. The manager seems to be operating on his own without direction from the top. No surprise there.

The main divisive figure remains. As long as he does, it will continue to divide. How they can't see it beggars belief. The blind leading the blind.

Would his stepping down or removal change things over night? Of course it wouldn't. You can't change 30 years of stagnation in one week. We know that. But you can start the process.

A step in the right direction that would go some way to removing the toxic feeling that is brewing.

Despite the heroics of the supporters of the past few seasons, tolerance has a threshold. That threshold is being broken if it already isn't.

A feeling that will remain unless they do the honourable thing. There is no going back. They cannot come back. Ever.

If they are not careful, they risk becoming even more detached than they already are from the one consistent loyalty this club has. The supporters. And it will go sour quickly. It's already heading in that direction.

I wonder if the aim is to drive down cost to make it more attractable to investors? It tends to be how a lot of businesses wanting to sell operate. And then there is October and what the outcome will be.

The challenge of going online is that people tend to get brave behind the keyboard. It would be a lively debate face to face in a pub.

Then again, some people in attendance get a bit over the top. All heat of the moment but still doesn't excuse bad behaviour. Be careful what you print and think before you hit send or say. Especially in these days of Social Media.

I once got punched in the face and knocked over a car near the Bullen's Road by a Southampton supporting grown man when I was aged about 14. I was heading towards Stanley Park. Cornered by Manchester United supporters as we left Old Trafford with police on horses keeping us in check. I saw an Everton supporter punch a horse as we got told we were Scouse barstewards by the police with batons waving. Attacked by Manchester City supporters as were let out of the ground to make our way to the coaches in that dusty car park behind the Kippax at Maine Road.

No place for it now and generally, it is fine in comparison.

On racism. Shocking if that came from our own supporters aimed at one of our own players. No place for it. When I lived in Italy for 2 years, I thought I would go and watch Lazio. I quickly switched. Institutional racism with them on a scale you can't compare to here. I preferred Roma although they were a bit handy on the hooliganism side in a different way. Both have their Ultras.

I judge players on their footballing ability, nothing else.

Anyway, Wolves at the weekend. Then Doncaster. We are going to win that League Cup at some point.

Anyone who doesn't fancy it, just let me know.

I enjoy 'ToffeeWeb', which allows the fans to express their views, but unfortunately there are some who use it to ridicule players and other posters with what I consider foul language.

It appears to be that some of these fans/ and posters claim 'frustration' for their behaviour. Most fans are as equally frustrated and disappointed but do not sink to vilifying players or fellow posters.

I know that this post won't go down so well with some but I can live with that.

The irony is that it's “the real haters” that want everyone to be outraged by the actions of a few dickheads, and if you don't agree with these dirty horrible snides, they will also try and tarnish you as well.🤷‍♂️.

Evertonians are exasperated and should take out their anger on the supposed Everton fan who tried to tarnish a whole fanbase with the help of his friends in the media, imo.

Hopefully by using the same intelligence used by the people of KEIOC, who then had to listen to the fraud tell everyone he was glad they had won because he didn't really want Everton to leave Goodison. 🤷‍♂️

Kenwright and Moshiri must go before they sink an old English institution into oblivion.

I remember a lad called Paul Reeny Leeds United, I think his name was, I won't repeat the names he was called by the Reds.

Also I knew a reds fan who said he would never attend a Liverpool game until John Barnes was sold and he said a lot of reds fans don't want black players at the club. Utter disgrace.

Agree about Kenwright and Moshiri killing the Everton institution; they already have. Big issue is: What's next?

I was in the upper tier, looked around and reckoned that it wasn't any more than ten or twelve who were booing. There were a few of us shouting "He's got concussion!"

But the boo-ers, most of whom seemed to me to be at the rear, had big lungs and I think the roof would have amplified those boos.

I don't know about the lower tier.

Overall, I don't think the number matters much, none of us agree with it, however misguided or misunderstood it was. I am still not convinced that Dom was the target either, anger at having no capable back-up could well have been the main motivation.

No way do I condone the booing of Calvert-Lewin, I simply said none of us could possibly have known the injury sustained by him (unless anyone had the eyes of a shithouse rat) and therefore the minority who did boo naturally assumed it was his hamstring again.

After lengthy treatment and then playing on for a further 20 minutes or so, to suddenly just see him sitting on the ground, did make most think it was his hamstring again.

It was obviously easier for those watching on TV to see the injury he had as he walked away down the touchline, after all, there seemed to be a camera right in his face, something us away fans didn't have the luxury of.

I also agree with Mike and Neil, in that I don't think it was anywhere near 200 - 300 that John Raftery implies.

I have never booed any player in my life watching Everton, and I often have a go at people around me in the Upper Gwladys who do.

I was in the third row from the front of the away section. The booing was definitely coming from both the right and left of me as well as from the rear. I also saw a small group of fans at the very front of the lower tier waving two-fingered salutes as Calvert-Lewin walked towards the tunnel.

Whatever, I think we can agree it was from a small but very audible minority. Most definitely none of us knew the player had a fractured cheekbone. I think most around me assumed he was suffering concussion having been treated earlier for a head injury.

John (28)

You are right, it is easy for a discussion to plummet into a crude shouting match between individuals. Again, it's a small minority responsible but it's enough to bring the forum into disrepute. ‘The nutters are out on ToffeeWeb again' is the sort of observation I have heard several times over the years.

All of this is symptomatic of a club in trouble and the greater the trouble, the poorer the behaviour of some fans.

Now 4-0, and a hat trick for Watkins and a hat trick of assists for Lucas Digne.

I don't think many would disagree with the assertion that frustration among the Everton fanbase is seismic/massive/endemic. Each person can come up with their own word.

Over the summer, it was said so many times that our chances of having a half-decent season depended heavily on DCL being fit and/or the club signing a proven goalscorer.

We haven't signed one. So, possibly the sight of DCL going off injured on Sunday struck a nerve that resulted in some booing. I thought it was wrong and I was appalled.

Bear in mind that on top of his fitness battle, Dom has had to carry the weight of club expectation on his shoulders. Am almost surprised he could get off the ground in the first place.

Finally, Lyndon says something very much in line with what I've been thinking the last few days:

"there are smatterings of toxicity amid a palpable level of anxiety that could really be counter-productive if things start going south early against Gary O’Neill’s side".

I know the whole Everton situation is cracking us all up. (Seriously, I am sure it is putting a strain on the NHS in Merseyside, with blood pressure surging and people not sleeping). But on Saturday, we just have to support the team, every single one of them, and stick with them.
UTFT!

Christ we need some good news!

Dont throw the towel in just yet lads.

We are still plagued with injuries again though.

However, "ridicule" in your word cannot be compared to vile racist abuse and the sort of treatment that DCL was given at the match by some who were there say a small number and others who were there say was "many".

In terms of DCL, if he was playing and scoring goals left, right and centre, not one Evertonian could care less. However, his commitment gets questioned when he’s hardly played for last two years and sometimes has had to leave the field by half time when he does but yet we see him doing non/football marketing activities which he gets paid even more money for. People, start questioning, is he genuinely doing all he can for us or not, particularly when he is paid millions a year and us fans spend a fortune supporting Everton.

I don’t blame fans questioning this. As it happens, from just listening to him over years, he strikes me as a very determined, intelligent young man. On the pitch (except back end of Lampards firsts season when clearly he wasn’t fit so wasn’t able to) he gives his all. His individual performances against Palace and then last year against Brighton, unquestionably were a big factor in us staying up (unlike Gordon’s big ego recollections).

Personally, I don’t question his desire. I simply feel very sorry for his rotten bad luck and fact he’s has so many injuries at his young age. I hope, of course, he fully recovers. However, equally I don’t know him and can understand why others do when he’s doing a lot of non related football stuff even when not being available to play.

Whilst you can understand his dad being annoyed, referring to fans as “bitter” does not help his son.

"World" or "word" both work John!

Good health to you.

Fair comment, Rob, and yes I'm certain you would not boo an Everton player.