Bang. Bang. Bang. That was the sound of the final nail being hammered into the coffin of Everton’s claim to be a big club. The events of those few days between Saturday morning and Tuesday were not only embarrassing and small-time, but also inflicted enormous damage on the club’s reputation.
We Evertonians still like to think of ourselves as a big club, but are we really?
If you know your history?
Yes, we have historically been one of English football’s elder statesmen. Yes, we have nine league titles, five FA Cups, European silverware and one of the country’s most loyal and passionate fanbases. But, and it pains me to say this, we have done nothing in over thirty years. We’ve finished 4th once and our average Premier League placing is 11th (as shown in the graph below).
There is a stat that recurs occasionally on social media stating that this century Everton are the only club in the Premier League and Football League that haven’t had anything to celebrate. Yes, that’s a bit misleading, because who wants to celebrate promotions? What it does show, though, is that this century, barring a 4th-placed finish and a couple of relegation scrapes, Everton have largely done nothing. Football doesn’t award status based on what happened forty years ago.
The uncomfortable truth is that Everton have occupied a strange position in English football for much of the last decade. Too large to be considered a small club, yet increasingly unable to compete with the clubs we see as our peers. While Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester City, Chelsea and even Tottenham have established themselves as regular challengers for honours, Everton have drifted from one failed plan to the next.
Once, we looked towards Liverpool, Manchester United and Arsenal. Now they aren’t even in our galaxy. A few years ago, Everton fans would have sneered at being considered in competition with Bournemouth, Brentford and Brighton. Even now, most will consider us to be bigger than those clubs. That still might be the case, but we are light-years behind them in terms of how a football club should be run.
This is not a club that has spent decades fighting relegation. That would be an exaggeration. For much of the period, Everton have simply been stuck in football’s version of purgatory: neither good enough to challenge at the top nor bad enough to go down. Mid-table mediocrity, punctuated by the occasional flirtation with disaster, has become the norm.
The problem is that big clubs don’t define themselves by avoiding relegation. They define themselves by competing for things. Everton supporters still think like a big club. The away followings, the attendances, the expectations and the emotional investment are all proof of that. In many ways, the fanbase remains one of the biggest in the country. The club itself, however, too often behaves like a smaller one.
What unfolded between Saturday and Tuesday was merely the latest example. The confusion, the public setbacks and the impression of a club struggling to control events were not the hallmarks of an institution operating from a position of strength. They were the actions of a club reacting rather than leading.
That, more than any league position, is why Everton’s status is now open to question. A big club is not defined by its history alone. It is defined by its ability to attract players, compete consistently, conduct its business professionally and remain relevant at the highest level of the game. Everton still have the history. They still have the support. They still have the name.
What we lack is the substance behind it.
Perhaps the new stadium will help change that. Perhaps years of instability are finally coming to an end. Perhaps this is the bottom of a long decline rather than the continuation of it.
But until Everton start acting like a big club on and off the pitch, the claim itself looks increasingly difficult to defend. Because there comes a point when history stops being a badge of honour and starts becoming an excuse.
Words and pictures by John Wharton
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2 responses
Great piece, BlueRoomAdmin. Painful but fair. The “history versus reality” tension you’ve captured is something every Evertonian grapples with in private but rarely admits in public. That line about history becoming an excuse rather than a badge of honour really hit home. The fanbase absolutely still operates at a “big club” level—the away followings and Goodison atmosphere prove that every week—but you’re right that the institutional dysfunction has eroded any claim beyond sentiment. Here’s hoping the stadium move and fresh start can finally bridge that gap between what we were and what we could still be. Thanks for writing this—needed to be said.
You’re a fat nonce Wharton, you utter shithouse