FEB 2 — Being an Everton fan must be a frustrating experience.
Firstly, there’s the irritation of constantly living in Liverpool’s shadow: whatever Everton do, it is generally treated by the wider world as a minor insignificance compared with the latest goings-on a few hundred metres down the road at Anfield.
You almost feel that Everton could beat Barcelona 10-0 in the Nou Camp, but everyone outside the confines of Goodison Park would still show more interest in the most recent mumbled utterances of King Kenny or a step-by-step analysis of Stevie G’s latest ankle injury.
Then there are the long periods of monotonous mediocrity. Everton are one of those few clubs who are never quite good enough to challenge for major honours, but are always far too good to get dragged into a relegation scrap.
In the last two seasons, for example, the Toffees have finished seventh and eighth in the Premier League. The season before that, they finished fifth — a commendable effort, but still not quite good enough to qualify for the Champions League. And their current position? Ninth: another humdrum season beckons.
You can imagine the pre-season debate amongst Everton fans: “Hey... how do you reckon the boys will do this year?” “I think we’ll have a really good season and finish seventh.” “No way mate, I think we’re going to struggle and come eleventh.” “Come off it lad, we’re not that bad. We’ll be at least ninth.”
Yep, I’m afraid life as an Evertonian must be pretty dull, bogged down by the knowledge that some games will be won, some will be lost, and some will be drawn, resulting in a finish somewhere around the middle of the pile. Any truly outstanding players that might emerge will be swiftly snapped up by a bigger club (Wayne Rooney, for example) but none of the players will be bad enough to provoke real despair.
However... in fact you can scrap everything written above because any football fan knows that’s just not how the game works. That’s not how being a fan works, and Everton supporters, I am sure, wouldn’t have their club any other way.
They regard themselves as a "proper" club: one that has to work hard for success and can’t take anything for granted. There are no "boom or bust" cycles with Everton; no overpaid prima donnas destroying team spirit and failing to bond with supporters; no billionaire owners from overseas with pretensions of grandeur; no excessive and unsustainable contracts dished out to players that the club can’t afford.
When Everton sign an Argentine striker, for instance, it’s not the brilliant but petulant Carlos Tevez or the dazzling but inconsistent Sergio Aguero; it’s the technically limited but hard-working Denis Straqualursi — an honest, old-fashioned striker who arrived on a free transfer and is prepared to roll up his sleeves and get stuck in like a proper centre forward should.
There’s simply nothing flash about Everton — just a disciplined, down-to-earth Scottish manager and a disciplined, down-to-earth group of players, cheered on by a committed, good-humoured bunch of fans who are prepared to accept that defeats sometimes happen and therefore cherish the occasional famous victory even more.
And one of those famous victories came along on Tuesday night, when stuttering league leaders Manchester City suffered their third defeat in nine games with a 1-0 reverse at Goodison Park.
Former Manchester United midfielder Darron Gibson did the damage, lashing home the winner in just his fourth appearance with a deflected shot after an hour. But the identity of the scorer was almost irrelevant — this was a true team effort, with every man in blue playing a full part by giving everything for the cause. It was, you could say, a typical Everton victory: dogged, determined and low-scoring.
City’s superstars dominated possession but simply couldn’t find their way past a stubborn Johnny Heitinga-inspired defence, and upon the final whistle the victory was celebrated by hoarse Everton fans as though they’d just won the league itself.
Never mind the mid-table obscurity or the suffocating presence of neighbouring Liverpool, being an Everton fan is in many ways more rewarding, more like real life, than following Manchester United or Barcelona simply because they are perennial winners, or jumping on the Manchester City bandwagon simply because they’ve signed a few star names.
Unless you’re exceptionally lucky, real life isn’t about always winning. It’s about surviving, working hard, getting by, and enjoying occasional moments of excitement to punctuate the more usual state of thrill-free mediocrity. And so long may Everton thrive... but not too much.
* The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the columnist.
