I'm back again.
This time I'm not talking about how rubbish West Ham are. And that's not because we aren't rubbish by the way, it's more that there are more pressing matters.
So to get into it I need to talk about Everton. This one's also a bit close to my heart, anyone who read my posts from the beginning (probs not many of you, even my wife stopped years ago) will know that I have a bit of a soft spot for the Toffees.
Is Toffee's like "Hammers" in that we don't actually call ourselves that. Well I don't. I find it a bit cringe. We sing (and Hashtag, I'm down with the kids) "Come on you Irons", not "Hammers". Apologies if I've cringed you out Toffees.
Anyway back to my point, Many moons ago, genuinely a long time ago, I was married to and dated for 7 years beforehand, my Ex-Wife; Who's dad was from the Wirral and was most certainly a "Bluenose" (that's cooler than Toffee right).
When I started going out with my Ex-Wife I vividly remember having the, "What football team do you support...?" conversation. That was going to be pivotal in the success of the relationship, although ultimately it could be argued it wasn't successful; and I recall her saying to me, "Well my Dad's an Everton fan but I don't really watch football..."
Seven years, Two cat's and a New Build Flat later, and we were both Members of the Everton Supporters Club, would go to any games down south, if West Ham were playing away that weekend of course, although she did once go to Fulham without me; and would go up to Goodison a couple of times a year.
And make no mistake, I was "IN".
I LOVE FOOTBALL.
I think that sometimes I don't let on how much I love football to others so that they don't think I'm a weirdo. The World Cup Geeky thing extends to the Football League. I mean I'm going to Charlton vs Port Vale TOMORROW, with a pal from work who's from Stoke and is a Vale fan. I've got a former colleague who's a Bolton fan, who I've been to games with! I will watch anything! And that's kinda where I'm going with this post...
Back to my point (again) though, I was "IN".
I could sing about Phil Neville having more medals than Steve Gerrard, Hanging Kopites on the banks of the Royal Blue Mersey (in jest obviously, I DO NOT CONDONE ANY SORT OF FOOTBALL RELATED VIOLENCE), or singing the Blues when Everton win and Liverpool loose...
Everton were perfect, starved of success like my beloved West Ham, but with a really rich history that many fans aren't aware of. For those of you that don't know, they've won the League Title nine times, fourth most behind Man United, Liverpool and Arsenal; and the FA Cup Five times; along with the European Cup Winners Cup.
They were. They are! A proper football team. And a proper big football team.
And like West Ham they've been woefully mismanaged from above. They've finally gotten around to getting their stadium move off the ground and are now worrying about whether they'll be able to afford pay for it if they go down. And it makes you think to yourself, what will happen if they go down?
Will they become a Leeds, Sheffield Wednesday or a Sunderland i.e. a former multiple league tile winner (hence no mention of Forest, I have issues with their "History"), albeit by far the biggest and most illustrious of that group, who end up plying their trade in League One for a few seasons at some point in the future?
Will they go to the wall prompting more conversations about whether the FA does enough to ensure that owners are "fit and proper" before they acquire football clubs.
It's certainly worrying times if you are a Bluenose (I should have just gone with "Bluenose" off the bat and skipped all the mundane Hammer chat right?). And they way I see it if they go down this is a watershed moment in English Football. Everton have the second longest run in the top flight behind only Arsenal; ahead of the likes of Manchester United and their bitter rivals Liverpool; and streets ahead of "New Money" like Chelsea (I can remember them being in the 2nd division for f*cks sake!), Manchester City and Newcastle.
Here's a stat that puts the significance of their potential relegation into perspective. They're the only remaining team in the Premier League to have not made the Champions League proper (I remember the playoff with Villareal circa 2005), who are still yet to be relegated from the division.
Everton are still, in my eyes, fighting the good fight. Incompetently yes, but they're fighting.
I know they have a billionaire owner, you have to nowadays to compete at that level. But we're not talking a state funded enterprise. They are trying to do this the old school meritocratic way.
They're like Athletic Club, another club close to my heart, in my eyes.
Swimming against the tide as a huge club with an illustrious history (8 League Tiles and they've never been relegated), but ultimately being swallowed up by the modern game and having their best players picked off by the behemoths. For Wayne Rooney and Anthony Gordon see Aymeric Laporte, Kepa, Javi Martinez, Fernando Llorente and Ander Herrera.
They're us regular fan's, beacons of hope!
If Everton can't survive in the Premier League and potentially go bust, in spite of years of European Football, what hope do we have?
Do we all have to pray for some barbarous regime, intent on Sportwashing their tarnished image, to buy our club? And promise Mbappe and Champions League football?
Is that the only way your club can be immune to the, very real, perils of modern day football?
It's bleak man!
So I for one, do not want them to go down (provided we're OK, of course).
I hear tons of fans, who claim to be against the modern scourges of the game, wishing they were gotten rid of. Largely based on the peril of dropping 3 points up at Goodison on a Monday night.
They're always on on a Monday night, getting booed off and Half Time or Full Time!
F*ck it! Take 3 points off us! They often take more. I've called it the "Newton Curse", ever since I split from my wife in 2011.
The Premier League needs Everton in it, and after them Tottenham; and I'll be damned if I'm rooting for them to stay up in a few years!
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