It's testament to how egregiously mismanaged we have been for the last 35 years that a move to Bournemouth can be credibly positioned as even a step sideways for an Everton number 8.
But that's the bitter truth. A genuinely great club, legitimately historical, can find itself being unfavourably compared to well-run admirable tiddler clubs like Bournemouth - and Southampton when Moshiri stupidly took Koeman from them - because we have been run into the ground...or Championship if it wasn't for the gumption of people like Dyche.
The likes of Bournemouth are having a golden age. This is their greatest-ever era. That it is about on a par with our worst-ever right now tells you all you need to know about the differences in scale of these clubs. That there is no guarantee that this will ever change also tells you everything you need to know about where we are right now, how well Bournemouth are doing (and they deserve every credit), and how some of us fans still have higher standards than any of the people actually in power at our club.