09Jan

Goodison: The Theatre of Disappointment

by Steve M

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Another funny old week for the supporters of Everton Football Club. It started with an unexpected victory in a mind numbing game at the Hawthorns courtesy of a late strike by Victor Anichebe. It was Big Vic’s first Premier League goal in almost two years and if you add to this Tim Cahill’s continuing barren spell of 12 months is it any wonder that goals do not feature much with Everton forwards these days? Add to this the current sorry form of Louis Saha and is it any wonder that Toffees fans spend most of their time pulling their hair out these days?

We did see a goal midweek against bottom of the pile Bolton in yet another totally forgettable match but it came from the most unlikely of sources, keeper Tim Howard who had just made two good saves to keep us in the match. His hoof from the edge of his own penalty area was taken by the wind and after a wicked bounce on the edge of the D in the opposing penalty area, the ball arced over Bogdan who had no chance. Cue amazement from the home fans.

So the fourth goal ever scored by a Premier keeper and we have seen 50% of these at Goodison and more precisely, at the Gwladys Street End. Peter Schmeichel thumped one home 10 years ago following a corner as Aston Villa sought to retrieve a three goal deficit. So Goodison doesn’t disappoint when it comes to unusual scorers but it does on a regular basis this season as the team continues to struggle and have now lost five league games at home. The defeat against Bolton followed an insipid performance by the team who now appear to have lost confidence once they crawl over the halfway line.

It was a sorry game following the very sad news of the death of one of the game’s good guys Gary Ablett. His record of winning an FA Cup winners medal with both Everton and Liverpool will surely not be equalled. He represented both clubs with distinction and was equally loved on both sides of Stanley Park which was an achievement in itself. There was another fitting tribute at Goodison Park ahead of the FA Cup tie with Tamworth all too soon since the death of another of football’s nice guys, Gary Speed.

Sadly, the performance by Everton against the resolute non-leaguers did not lift the spirits despite the unusual occurrence of a first half goal. Indeed after the fifth minute opener from Johnny Heitinga you expected the flood gates to open but all we got was a continuing diet of sterile football. I had a chat at half-time with one of the regulars who has been watching our beloved Blues for over 50 years and as we reminisced about attacking teams, when Everton truly were the School of Science, we agreed that all we wanted was to be entertained.

The current team are struggling and the lack of investment continues to hamper the manager in his attempts to overhaul an ageing and fading team. The crowds are now starting to dwindle with the first sub 30,000 crowd in David Moyes era evident against Bolton. The pathetic support of 250 from just down the road Bolton didn’t help and yesterday’s 27,000 against Tamworth was boosted by over 5,500 from the Midlands. Mind you looking at crowds around the country recently low attendances were very much in evidence. With Blackburn the next visitors to Goodison the trend of falling crowds will surely continue and the last thing the Theatre of Disappointment needs is another lacklustre display. But with injuries mounting as well you just wonder where this season is heading?

Posted by Everton fan Steve Mahon

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