Agree with all that.
The level of delusion amongst their fans is what kills them every time. Even people you'd expect to be a bit more rational [or, more accurately, less irrational] succumb to it. Derek Mountfield was on Radio Merseyside last night and he's a nice guy, but blindsided about their place in the footballing world. Kevin Ratcliffe also said yesterday that he thinks lack of European football will hamper them, saying he'd love Simeone but there's no chance because they don't have Champions League to offer. Er, Kevin, the reasons Simeone would laugh in your face are far wider than not being in the CL (which itself is just a symptom of the whole host of issues at Everton that mean a proven, top quality coach wouldn't go there).
And then I had the misfortune to hear the BBC's Phil McNulty blowing smoke up their arses this morning - at one point he was saying Rafa, whilst a quality manager, wouldn't be accepted by Everton for saying 'what he said' - both McNumpty and the interviewer were skirting around the 'small club' jibe and even when they did say the actual phrase, did so in a low voice. FFS, they ARE a small club in comparison to the 'Big 6'. A small, parochial club with little reach beyond Merseyside and North Wales.
As you and others have pointed out, if they could just stop thinking they're on a par with their much more illustrious neighbours and throwing everything at trying to get one over on us, they could build something. Instead, their obsession handicaps them every step - all their thinking is about the quick fix, the shot of heroin to get them 'up there' now, the headline/signing/announcement to sock it to the RS, the desperation to be relevant and noticed.
PS - what is making me chuckle is that, now Fireman Sam and Walsh have gone and Moshi-la is strutting about, their fans are getting chippy once again, coming out fighting. The current meme is along the lines of "Sick of hearing fans of other clubs saying we should just be happy with 8th... we should be higher up than that - and not playing awful football". I've no real animosity toward them (I've a lot of mates I grew up with who are blues and there was never a hatred back then) but their venom towards us and delusion just makes me want their next manager to be an absolute car crash. With a red Xmas tree.
Yes, I'm with you there. It's not just the fans, is it? Ex-players and most who are close to the club just don't seem to understand just how low Everton's stock is in the modern era. They say
we live in the past, by my god, the last time Everton were a respected club was long ago in the last century. They have done nothing of real note for a long, long time. The world has long since moved on, football has moved on. Everton simply do not hold anything like the prestige they had all those decades ago, but for some bizarre reason, those attached to the club seem to think they are footballing royalty or something. Such staggering lack of self-awareness strikes me as rather sad, to be honest. They are like an old porn star who can't get wood anymore but still thinks he's got it going on while everyone else sniggers behind his back.
I've never really had any animosity towards them either. Why would I? They've very rarely been a real threat to us on the pitch other than a few short years in the 80s. I've lived with, been to school, work and college with blues. My nextdoor neighbour is a blue. We live amongst each other and are cut from the same cloth. Liverpool and Everton fans who live on Merseyside are so interlinked that hatred between our fanbases is not only bizarre, but utterly stupid.
I do like a bit of schadenfreude at their expense, but it's never sinister, and my only real dislike about them is my distaste at their lunatic fringe and the divisive bile they spew out. I don't like the way those types have destroyed the derby either. Thing with hate is that we basically hate what we fear. Their hate betrays the fact that they fear LFC so, so much. Sad really.
