Everton slump to 30th in in the World

The club was hollowed out by years of mismanagement and lack of investment. Then, when investment finally arrived, it was squandered mainly on dross. Our true financial state was soon exposed by the loss of our backer (and probable real owner).

The stadium is not yet complete and nowhere near paid for, but the complete lack of commercial and financial substance beyond a reasonably sizeable (but aging) fanbase is frightening.

In just over one generation, we've gone from one of the big clubs to being financial minnows with lower income than some clubs who have spent most of their history outside the top flight. That's the real legacy of that era.

‘Everton can already boast that one in six of their season ticket holders for next season will be under 18, compared to the Premier League average of one in eight.'

Maybe things on the fan side of it aren't so bleak.

That might apply to match-going figures, but is not reflective on the fanbase generally because the only way we could fill the stadium for years was to offer thousands of very cheap kids' season tickets.

By comparison, Liverpool only offer a token amount of kids tickets. Hence the reason why our matchday income is so low despite our adult ticket prices being quite high.

Until relatively recently, I had kids in 3 different schools in the city. They all say they were massively outnumbered by Liverpudlians in their classes. Reports only a decade ago said we had an ageing fanbase. That's inevitable given the complete lack of success on our part and their ability to win things even when they were relatively mediocre.