Football fans in Liverpool are suffering badly at the moment. It doesn’t matter whether they are fans of Klopp’s Liverpool FC or city rivals Everton FC. The latter have to watch their club stagger towards relegation again. Some supporters therefore go on the attack – against the players and the board.
In May 2022, crowds of people surrounded the FC Everton bus, clouds of blue smoke obscured the view, flags were waved, the mood was exuberant and joyful. The English football club has just avoided relegation from the Premier League. In January 2023, fans will once again surround their pros’ vehicles, but the mood is aggressive and tense. Not cheering, but anger and fury are in the air. There is no sign of cohesion in Everton, the crisis dominates.
The descent is close again, it would be the first after 69 years of first class. It hit the club much harder than city rivals Liverpool, who are also in trouble, and where Jürgen Klopp is suffering badly. After the upcoming 21st match day Everton could slip to the bottom of the table, only the goal difference six goals over Southampton keeps the club from it. There is a so-called six-point game against West Ham United (4 p.m. in the ntv.de live ticker), the competitor, in turn, conceded only one goal less and is only a touch ahead of Everton in the table.
Fans ambush players
It goes there with the proud founding member of the Football League in 1888. Everton celebrated their first championship as early as 1891, when clubs like Manchester United, Chelsea FC and Liverpool FC were not even born. But of course the past doesn’t help coach Frank Lampard and his team at the moment and the present doesn’t help that the full concentration is on the games.
After the 2-1 defeat against Southampton FC last weekend, despite a 1-0 lead, several people ambushed the footballers as they drove away from the stadium in their cars, as can be seen on videos. Yerri Mina even got out of his car to speak to them, but was more rebuffed than listened to. The Colombian defender was said to be “a leader” and “show a bit of heart” after the team faltered again after Amadou Onana opened the scoring and conceded two goals from James Ward-Prowse. Mina, 29, who has been out for most of the season so far with an ankle injury, insisted he would “give his life for the club”. Left winger Antony Gordon was yelled at through the window: “Get out of our club” and more insults, and striker Ellis Simms looked shocked after his drive by the angry fans.
“Malicious and unacceptable threatening letters”
Everton sources said managing director Denise Barrett-Baxendale had to go through something similar earlier this month. She was surrounded and spat on in her car after the game against Brighton & Hove Albion. In the game against Southampton, the entire board was absent from the stadium – because of a “real and credible threat”. The club said there had been “malicious and unacceptable threatening letters”. In addition to Barrett-Baxendale, President Bill Kenwright, Chief Financial Officer Grant Ingles and Director Graeme Sharp were also affected.
However, there are some questions in relation to this as police said: “No threats or incidents were reported to the police prior to the game but we are in contact with the club to determine if any crime has occurred and to ensure that all future reports will be received via the existing channels”. And the fan group NSNOW also said: “Every fan group involved with us is clear that everything will be peaceful. We don’t know anything about any threats.” Speaking for the BBC, Mike Richards of The Unholy Trinity Everton Podcast wrote: “The media would have us believe the atmosphere was ‘tense’ ahead of the game, with attention shifting from the poor performance of the board to the fans , who are doing everything they can to save their club. There was nothing to see but pure emotion and affection, coupled with the will to get an extra percent out of every single player.”
However, NSNOW also makes it clear: “But the position of those responsible for the decline of our club who stayed away is completely untenable. Our protest will continue to grow until something changes.” In an open letter, the Everton Fan Forum even calls for “far-reaching changes at board, supervisory and management level”. Banners in the stadium also made this position clear.
New stadium to open in 2024
This means above all majority owner Farhad Moshiri, who has led the club since 2016. He was long celebrated by the fans as a savior, but now the love has grown cold. Especially to President Kenwright, who has been with Everton since 1989 and has been in office since 2004. The 77-year-old film producer is a confidant of Moshiri and, as president, is partly responsible for the sporting crisis.
Before the Iranian-British billionaire Moshiri got on board, the club had tried to work off the accumulated debt on its own by letting stars like Belgian Marouane Fellaini, current Arsenal coach Mikel Arteta or homegrown Jack Rodwell go. And that at a time when the competition had long been pumped full of investor money from Russia and Saudi Arabia, for example. The Toffees followed suit in 2016, since then Everton have invested around 560 million euros in new players, 78 million euros before this season alone.
Thanks to Moshiri, Goodison Park will soon be a thing of the past. For 860 million euros, the club is building a new arena with 53,000 seats on the Mersey River. It is scheduled to open in 2024 – as a participant in the Premier League and not the second-rate Championship.
As bad as last in 1958
Last year, Frank Lampard just managed to turn things around, on January 31, 2022 he went to the rescue, which was actually completed in May. But now things are even worse for the club. The gloomy statistics are relentlessly piling up: only three wins from 19 league games are to be found, the fewest in the club’s history. There has been no win for nine competitive games, and seven have even been lost. The four home games lost in a row in the league are also a blow – the last time there was such a long series was between April and September 1958 when you lost seven times.
Lampard’s record at Everton is manageable despite staying up. Although he managed the two important 1-0 wins against the much stronger clubs Manchester United and Chelsea at the end of last season, there have been 20 bankruptcies in 37 league games since he took office. Lampard himself put it this way: “I’m always confident about my own abilities. I know I’m not a miracle worker and I know I’m not the best coach in the world, but I know I’ll work so hard , as I can, to be as good as possible.” Moshiri recently backed him publicly.
Majority owner admits transfer error
While “The Athletic” still attested him “the magical touch and the clarity of the tactical approach” in the past season, there is not much to see anymore. The team started with determination and determination against Southampton, but missed the second goal despite good chances and became increasingly desperate after the equaliser. A lack of quality was once again evident on the pitch.
And that despite the purchases for 78 million euros in a transfer window. Now this amount has long been normal in the Premier League and does not guarantee success. But competitor Brighton & Hove Albion put together their starting eleven for the cost of a single Everton player in a 4-1 win in the duel, the “Liverpool Echo” calculated. Incidentally, Brighton are seventh in the table, ahead of Liverpool and Chelsea.
Moshiri admitted to TalkSport last week that “we haven’t always spent a lot of money wisely.” Amadou Onana, known from the Hoffenheim youth and Hamburger SV, was brought to the River Mersey for 35 million euros at the beginning of the season. England international Jordan Pickford is also in goal, Ukraine international Vitaliy Mykolenko defends on the left, and Alex Iwobi has already made a name for himself at Arsenal. He is his team’s top scorer with one goal and five assists, while Gordon and his Demarai Gray are the top scorers with three goals each – a bitter record. With the Brazilian Richarlison, however, the top striker left the club for Tottenham in the summer, Dele Alli was loaned out to Turkey, Allan moved to Saudi Arabia, former Portuguese international André Gomes to Lille, Jonjoe Kenny strengthened Hertha BSC.
“Goodison Park has become a torture”
Lampard, who was unemployed for a year before taking office, does not want to give up. “I’m lucky that I’ve been at this for a long time and you get pretty persistent about these things. It becomes your life,” said the former Chelsea coach and player. “The only thing I want is to bring success to this club.”
A success must first urgently against West Ham. It’s an away game for Lampard and company – luckily if you follow the logic of podcaster Richards. About the bad series of home defeats, he stated on the BBC: “Goodison Park has become a torture, unless you are an away team.” Richards no longer wants to guarantee anything at his club, certainly not whether Lampard will remain in office. Only one thing is clear to him: “The Evertonians will continue to support our club.” This certainly does not mean wild scenes in which players are mobbed in their cars. In any case, the jubilation of last May seems to be from a better past.