EVERTON ARE ANGRY and Goodison Park, as one English newspaper described it, will be a “bearpit” today.
It will be a change for a team who have gotten used to having their bellies tickled when they lose at home.
Their first game since an independent panel docked the club 10 points for breaching the Premier League’s Profitability and Sustainability Rules is set to galvanise the blue half of Merseyside.
There is a sense of injustice at the decision.
Vitriol abounds as Manchester United prepare to come to town.
One English MP, Labour’s Ian Byrne, even submitted a parliamentary motion “condemning the grossly unjust points deduction imposed on Everton Football Club and calls for the introduction of the long awaited Independent Football Regulator.”
Everton’s director of football, Kevin Thelwell, released a statement this week, adding: “We go into this weekend having secured six wins from our last nine outings in all competitions. The team has displayed a level of effort, camaraderie and bravery that is synonymous with this club.
“That spirit remains strong – unwavering. Sean [Dyche] and the players are fully focused on the work that lies ahead. And everybody is united.
“We know that every Evertonian is behind us. That is never taken for granted, but always hugely appreciated and valued. We feel the strength of support, and we will continue to use that backing to drive us on.”
United are the lambs to the slaughter and given their own vulnerabilities it would be no surprise at all were they to wilt under the pressure.
But if only this anger, this strength of support and backing inspired Everton players when Fulham won at Goodison on the opening day, or Wolves followed it up by inflicting a 1-0 defeat too.
Maybe the bile should have been spewing in September when Arsenal and then Luton Town tasted victory, leading to boos ringing in the ears of Dyche.
A 3-0 win over Bournemouth and a 1-1 draw with Brighton – with just 20% of possession required in that game – means Everton’s home form is the third worst in the Premier League.
They’ve claimed the same amount of points as Sheffield United and have Burnley’s miserable return to life in England’s top flight to thank for not being at the bottom.
Goodison Park is not a place to fear going to, unless you are a member of their board of directors.
It was in January of this year that The Guardian reported how Everton’s hierarchy were advised to stay away from their defeat to Southampton because of “a real and credible threat to their safety and security.”
One banner at the time of those justified protests about the manner in which the club was being run by owner Farhad Moshiri read: “A club with no structure, no vision or plan. An incompetent board overseen by one man. Now is the time for action.”
Everton fans knew their club was a rabble from top down, and this points deduction has given them all a cause to rally behind as one. “I don’t know every inch of the past, I don’t know why the commission have come out with what they have but I certainly believe in what the club put forward,” Dyche said.
“It feels disproportionate, it feels unjust and plenty of voices out there feel the same. What is done is done for now, appeal pending, and we have to get on with it.”
United are both the best and worst kind of opposition to face in such a fevered atmosphere; a side that seem capable of crumbling but one that can still produce moments of sporadic class to take a game away from their opponents in a flash.
“We have seen a turning point,” United manager Erik ten Hag reckons, on the back of four wins from the last five Premier League games.
“Now we have to build on. We go into a massive month and we are really looking forward with confidence… We play three games in six days and as a group we have to deal with that.
“We have a plan, we have studied for it. We made the players aware that they have to take responsibility, but especially it’s about co-operation.”
Goodison’s faithful will be loud but it won’t take much to silence them.
