The Crowd

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Obviously I don’t get to games, I’m about 6000 miles away and all, but it seems like the home crowds start the game waiting for the team to dish up some crap so they can get angry and have a moan.

Also “crap” is now defined as anything less than complete perfection. Overhit a pass, they’re crap. Shot off target, crap. Other team gets a good chance, crap.
Not that simple I'm affraid.
On the whole the crowd are very understanding and appreciative when they see good football.
But when they see players under performing or have a cant be arsed attitude they are not shy on letting them know , that goes for the manager too.
Martinez's first season the crowd were fantastic actually as the football was really good , Koeman's first season the crowd were more than reasonable.
However the final season's for both turned really toxic as all their flaws manifested but both refused to change.
Big Sam ? Horrible from day one.
IMO its all down to the expectancy levels of a crowd that has had many many false dawns over the years.
But make no mistake give the crowd a hint or whiff of success it can be the best crowd in the country , thus making it the oft' professed Bear Pit Goodison can be for opposing teams.
 
Too late......
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Well, ye know, I certainly would.
 
Not that simple I'm affraid.
On the whole the crowd are very understanding and appreciative when they see good football.
But when they see players under performing or have a cant be arsed attitude they are not shy on letting them know , that goes for the manager too.
Martinez's first season the crowd were fantastic actually as the football was really good , Koeman's first season the crowd were more than reasonable.
However the final season's for both turned really toxic as all their flaws manifested but both refused to change.
Big Sam ? Horrible from day one.
IMO its all down to the expectancy levels of a crowd that has had many many false dawns over the years.
But make no mistake give the crowd a hint or whiff of success it can be the best crowd in the country , thus making it the oft' professed Bear Pit Goodison can be for opposing teams.
pretty much spot on .The one thing evertons crowd won't stand for is someone not trying and they will rightly let them know .The flip side of that thou is show us you care and that said player will have 40000 right behind him
 

As someone who has started going again this season, and I am always vocal always a singer, there's definitely a different generation of support there now but I'd say there's many reasons not least football support in general everywhere isn't as noisy. I'd say nearly all away fans will sing to home fans "your support is f*** sh*t" and "shall we sing a song for you"! Even in the Gwladys Street it is quiet. It's not dead we do get up for it sometimes!

The pre-kick off at Goodison now is terrible. In the 80's It'd be bouncing before kick off, particularly big games both sets of supporters. I can picture live Match of The Day games at Goodison (recorded as I would be there) where Jimmy Hill is in the tv box and the atmosphere is bouncing. Raucous. Now we just do the 'Everton, Everton' after the players come out. Little else before kick off. But it's not just us - just wish more would bloody sing. I think standing will improve that. So will winning games!! Let's face it we stand a lot already Lincoln were all standing. Gwladys Street was standing for ages. Standing gets you more in to it than just sitting.
 
seen that myself mate I wonder if you was the lad with black hair (see your user name ) who was giving him some stick from the lower st end .I was laughing he was the sub goalie who must of got bitched by the manager to warm up but really it was to give that message to the goalie and then he got nicked by loads in the st end giving the message to him got a bit of abuse then he tried to blag it saying no he's hurt his leg to the crowd which just made it worse
But then he had to stay for a minute still blagging he was warming up .

I was directly behind him in the Family Enclosure, was looking to see if he came back on 75mins or if they pulled some other stunt. He must think hes still in a lower league ground with nobody there to spot it.

I have no hair btw
 
The atmosphere and crowd at Goodison has been amongst the worst in the league for some time now. During the 80s, 90s, even during the Moyes days Goodison was always known as a bear pit, we were the team to avoid in the cup draw, the great Sir Alex Ferguson said it was a nightmare coming to Goodison. That crowd in the 80s won us the Bayern Munich game - where we were 1-0 down at half time might I add, the players weren't booed off and the crowd wasn't toxic towards our own players once we went behind - and in the 90s as well with the famous final game against Wimbledon. It just doesn't happen anymore, and it frustrates me so much to see the soul slowly being sucked out of our great club, if it hasn't already.

I am sick to the back teeth of matchgoers having this mentality of "sit back and wait to be entertained", and seeing shouts of "We'll wait until they start performing on the pitch before we sing". That's not being a supporter, it's being a CUSTOMER, simply another sheep feeding Farhad Moshiri's coffers. As long as people continue to adopt this "theatre mentality" then nothing will change. Having a roaring atmosphere from the off gives those players the motivation to go an extra mile and really push themselves for the cause, we'll get breaks of the ball we otherwise wouldn't have gotten, we might get some luck from the referee, opposition players will flap it and play worse. That never happens at Goodison anymore - if it's silent then that extra bit of hidden motivation isn't there, opposition players aren't intimidated, and the "home advantage" we should have isn't there. It's like we play every game away, with the home fans sucking the confidence and motivation out of our own players if they don't perform. This wholly flawed way of thinking needs badly binning off.

For example, look at Rangers in the recent Old Firm derby victory. Ibrox was absolutely bouncing and their players responded by pouring in more passion and guts than they've showed all season, while Celtic players completely flapped it. I can name millions of other games that have been won solely because of the fans as well. Goodison doesn't even get up for big games anymore, it's always "EVERTON EVERTON EVERTON" being sung every so often, or "EEEEVERTON, EEEEVERTON" meekly being blared once we win a corner. A large number of the matchgoing crowd at Goodison will say our players "aren't arsed", when the club's own fans aren't even "arsed" themselves. Why should those players go that extra mile on the pitch for so-called "fans" who turn their back on them when they're in need of a lift? If we actually tried to generate a 'bear pit' atmosphere and performances were the same then fair enough, but we haven't done that whatsoever for ages now. We put in our best performance at Anfield in years this season despite the result, yet our end could hardly be heard all game. It's all a bit hypocritical if you ask me.

If you *only* want entertainment and high quality football then shouldn't you be watching the likes of Barcelona, Man City, dare I say it the RS? You go the game to get behind your team - win lose or draw - and if you're not going to do that then why even go? Why even follow the team if you're not going to get behind them, whether it's keeping them flying when they're doing well already or picking them up when they need a lift? I do think about if the matchgoing crowd ever wonder how Sunderland and other lower league fans get by. What a bunch of weirdos, singing and backing their team when they've been relegated twice in a row! How could they possibly be entertained by League One football, outside the so-called "best league in der werld"?!

Another point, where I may delve slightly off-course. I feel like ever since Moshiri has come in, our fans now feel a greater sense of entitlement and this notion has popped up that we have a God-given right to turn teams over simply because we have spent alot of money, when that's not how it works whatsoever, no team has any divine right to turn anyone over no matter how much money they have. I see shouts such as "he's on X a week, he cost X million so I expect to see this", again it doesn't work like that. Value in football is almost always vastly overinflated, it's the worst market in the world with many factors affecting a player's value - a transfer fee or a wage is never indicative of a player's ability. Sandro Ramirez is on more than most of the Tottenham squad for goodness' sake. That's the fault of the balloons who sanctioned his purchase. It's about spending your money wisely like we did in the Moyes days, not lazily splashing stupid amounts of cash on players not worth that amount (Mo Salah less than Sigurdsson anyone?). So far Moshiri has not done anything remotely similar to spending wisely at all, sanctioning the purchase of hundreds of millions of pounds' worth of FOTM managers and mid-table level players. The expectations of the crowd are currently outstripping the actual level of the team as a result of this way of thinking that more money = better, and that combined with said players who are largely already average on paper receiving only abuse from the crowd for not performing to the unrealistic expectations, means we are going to continue to get worse. Negativity breeds negativity and apathy breeds apathy.

Back to the main point, Goodison just doesn't feel magical anymore. I always used to go the match and it felt special, it felt like my second home, nowadays that feeling is completely gone. The ground is full of negativity and vitriol, sometimes even when we're winning. Away fans outsing us week in week out, it's become both embarrassing and sad at the same time. "Sing when you're winning" doesn't even apply to us because we don't even sing when we are winning, it's that poor.

The problem with our crowd is that we have forgotten what Everton is. We have lost our identity, and we're not getting it back unless we all start to work together as supporters in order to remember who we are again.

I apologize for this post being so long. It just frustrates me and saddens me at the same time to see the atmosphere around the club in such a sorry state, and people who are trying to get everyone to work together just being ignored or shot down. I do hope something happens in the future but for now I can't see any light at the end of this frustrating tunnel.

Magnificent post.

This should be sticky'd.
 



Anyone not happy with the crowd needs to get involved. Its all well and good saying the atmosphere is garbage and wqiting for someone to sort it out. But feel EVERYONE needs to get involved
 
Some great points raised. I oft get a scowling look from a fellow 'supporter' for talking a bit enthusiastically whilst waiting to scan my season ticket. Sets the tone for the experience- sit quietly until Lookman starts warming up and give him a clap.

Some bloke gives me the evils every week when I shuffle past my seat as I nudged him whilst he was sipping a boiling hot tea with no lid on about a year ago. The section I sit in is full of farts. Nobody says anything, nobody sings. The match going experience, results aside (first ST was Howard's final year as manager), is terrible and rarely makes me excited to make the trip over (Wool, living in Cheshire, I will turn myself in).

For context, most of my mates who regularly watch other teams say the same thing, including our lovable neighbours and both sets of mancunian weapons.
 
Some good points made in here. The main thing that's led to crowds generally being more quiet in the game these days is the lack of passion. Football has turned into a game where tackling is virtually banned, and players are so far overpaid that the majority have little or no interaction or connection with the match going fan. The game has been turned into a pass fest where the ball has to almost be walked into the net for it to be perfect. There are very few characters in the game these days, no room for wild cards and mavericks in todays beige society. This watering down of our game has remodelled the fan to accept mediocrity, and in turn sit meekly through the dross on offer. Have a good think and try to remember when you last saw a proper end to end game of footy?
 
Some good points made in here. The main thing that's led to crowds generally being more quiet in the game these days is the lack of passion. Football has turned into a game where tackling is virtually banned, and players are so far overpaid that the majority have little or no interaction or connection with the match going fan. The game has been turned into a pass fest where the ball has to almost be walked into the net for it to be perfect. There are very few characters in the game these days, no room for wild cards and mavericks in todays beige society. This watering down of our game has remodelled the fan to accept mediocrity, and in turn sit meekly through the dross on offer. Have a good think and try to remember when you last saw a proper end to end game of footy?

Bournemouth v Watford
 

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