Pep Guardiola is wrong when claiming “everyone in the country supports Liverpool” – as we all know there are many thousands of passionate fans on the Reds’ home turf whose allegiances lie elsewhere and they choose to follow the city’s senior club, Everton instead. This correspondent uses that word “choose” deliberately because there is a deluded misnomer among some non-Evertonians that they are made to become Blues by pushy parents and that nobody with free will would take that path given the success of their neighbours.
Some Everton supporters themselves have been guilty at times of perpetuating this myth and a few years back, a slogan emerged that stated: “Evertonians are born, not manufactured. We do not choose, We are chosen. Those who understand need no explanation, those who don't understand, don’t matter.” Many embraced this ethos and Everton themselves, like they had done with David Moyes’ “People’s Club” remark, even included the “We are chosen, we do not choose” on official signs at functions.
While such claims might make loyal but long-suffering fans feel special and every supporter wants to believe their team possess unique traits that marks them out from the rest (with their list of numerous ‘firsts’ Everton don’t need to rely on gimmicks in this respect), the truth is that many Evertonians support and love the Blues because they want to and it’s a decision that is very much consciously their own. It might be that they were brought up to support Everton and be proud to come from a long line of Blues fans, given that the club can claim to be the oldest major fanbase in England after it enjoyed the highest average attendances throughout the first decade of the Football League, but the decision to offer their support is still very much their own.
You can attempt to indoctrinate youngsters from an early age and dress kids up all you like in replica kits, even getting them to pose with silverware in the Goodison Park trophy room like that infamous photograph of a baby-faced Steven Gerrard engineered by his staunchly-Evertonian uncle but you cannot enforce a level of devotion on somebody that isn’t there. Maybe it was some kind of act of rebellion against his famous father or just an ultimate example of being contrary but one of the great Dixie Dean’s sons was a Liverpool fan.
MOMENTS MISSED: Salomon Rondon gets cheeky for Everton as Leicester City send mixed Demarai Gray message
READ MORE: Garth Crooks names two Everton players key to win over Leicester City
Unlike some other cities with two major clubs, there is no clear geographical or religious divide in Liverpool when it comes to being a Blue or a Red. Given the aforementioned head start Everton had in terms of support before their local rivals were formed some 14 years later on the back of their departure from Anfield, Liverpool’s crowds soon matched them in terms of numbers and for a long time in the late 19th and early 20th century they were very similar.
This strongly suggests that in a less tribal era when there were fewer alternative entertainments on a Saturday afternoon for working men and attending matches was much more relatively affordable, there was a significant overlap of spectators at both grounds. On the pitch there wasn’t much to choose between the teams either and 80 years after Liverpool FC had been formed, they were level with Everton – plus Arsenal and Manchester United in a four-way tie – when it came to winning the most League Championships (seven) while at the time the Blues had won three FA Cups to the Reds’ one and had the more highly-regarded stadium with Goodison having been used in the 1966 World Cup finals, including a semi-final.
The modern Liverpool trophy-winning machine went into overdrive in the 1970s though, scooping up silverware both on the domestic and European stage as those who lived through the era or have watched the film Everton Howard’s Way will need no reminder in being told. The Reds went from being like an upstart younger sibling to global phenomenon and subsequently retain to this day their huge worldwide fanbase that craves a piece of the reflected glory in following the team, in addition to their established local support.
During the mid-1980s, Howard Kendall was able to temporarily turn the Mersey tide but of course a post-Heysel ban in UEFA competitions denied his magnificent team their chance to go for the European Cup – a trophy which had been won by English clubs for seven of the previous eight seasons. Since his initial departure from Goodison in 1987, the subsequent decades have been barren for Everton with the triumph of Joe Royle’s ‘Dogs of War’ over Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United their only major success as a banner regularly displayed on the Kop with ‘1995’ scrawled on it, reminds them.
Fast forward to the present day and the 2021/22 season has produced the widest gap ever between the two team’s fortunes. While Liverpool suffered a rare setback over the weekend, losing ground on Guardiola’s Manchester City in the Premier League title race, they could still capture an unprecedented ‘quadruple’ having already lifted the Carabao Cup and having an FA Cup final next Saturday against Chelsea and Champions League final against Real Madrid to look forward to.
Almost every day is like a holiday for Reds fans, who must eagerly await each match in both hope and expectation that yet another opponent will be vanquished. In contrast, Everton’s games this term have for the large part been endured rather than enjoyed by their long-suffering supporters.
Humiliated by having their owner Farhad Moshiri choose a former Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez as Blues boss, a bright start quickly faded and the Goodison Park faithful had to put up with half a season of dire football with the man in the dugout’s previous employment at Anfield becoming a mere sideshow to what chairman Bill Kenwright admitted had become a run of form that was “unacceptably disappointing.” Here was a squad of players on what has been widely-reported as being the largest wage bill outside of the ‘Big Six’, heading downhill fast.
After reuniting a divided fanbase, Benitez’s successor Frank Lampard got the supporters onside from the start and after a difficult beginning he has gradually been able to start turning the struggling team’s fortunes around. Having been a Merseyside resident since 2004, the Spaniard claimed to know the city and what Evertonians wanted but it’s the Londoner who spent the majority of his career at Chelsea – another club where Benitez had been a largely unwelcome manager but achieved more success – who has been able to connect with the fans.
Lampard cuts a far more animated figure on the touchline and has not only bought into the emotion of the Everton crowd but been able to harness its power in a way that his predecessor never could. After witnessing their team finally drop into the bottom three – following a dramatic revival from Burnley rather than a slump of their own – Blues supporters were determined to go the extra mile to ensure their players were fully aware of just how much the club and the retention of its top flight status meant to them.
For several years now, team buses heading to Anfield have received vociferous welcomes from home fans but these have usually been occasions when big prizes have been on the line. The plumes of blue smoke and thousands of fans lining the streets outside Goodison for the visit of Chelsea knew Everton’s footballing ‘lives’ were at stake but they were no less fervent than their neighbours.
Lampard’s side responded with a hard-fought 1-0 victory over his previous employers and reigning European champions and buoyed by the results, Evertonians repeated the trick six days later, not on a matchday, but to see the team coach off from their Finch Farm training ground some 10 miles out from Liverpool city centre in Halewood. Their smiling manager seemed to appreciate the supporters’ efforts, fist-bumping young fans held aloft on parents’ shoulders through a gap in the window as the bus slowly made its way out of the tight country lane that leads to the complex which was packed with well-wishers.
Some 24 hours later and cheered on by one of the loudest travelling supports known for years, Everton had secured only their second Premier League away of the season, and first since August with Leicester City beaten 2-1. The result lifted the Blues above both Burnley and Leeds United and out of the drop zone and will also provide a massive psychological boost for Wednesday’s trip to already-relegated Watford, ahead of which supporters are already planning a similar reception despite it being a mid-week fixture.
With huge numbers of former Reds players enjoying gigs in the national media, Guardiola could be forgiven for making the mistake that “everyone in the country supports Liverpool” but he need only look a mere 800 yards from Anfield to observe a fanbase as passionate as any in the land who will certainly beg to differ. They’ve been the best in their day but while their own team’s fortunes have waxed and waned over time, their love for Everton remains just as strong, and in times of trouble, more important than ever.
Petrodollar-fuelled investment can bring many coveted ornaments, such as Premier League titles and perhaps even Erling Haaland but – like Champions Leagues so far – the kind of support that Evertonians bring to their team is one of those things that money just can’t buy. That’s something that both the Blues players and Guardiola would do well to remember.
