In my Lifetime (The Glory Days)

[MickM86]

I was born in 1986 and even I was only 9 years old when Everton won our last major trophy The FA Cup. I remember it clearly but not to the point where I could really enjoy it. My Dad was born in 48, he's seen it all since then and tells me stories of how great it was throughout the decades. A mate tells me of how we won the league at Norwich in the 80's and that everyone in the away end was partying all game. I know a lot of you on here have seen many moments of success. Rapid Vienna, Watford, beating Bayern Munich, losing out on the treble. Going to Wembley with the RS for finals, beating Sheffield Wednesday from 2-0 down in 66. Watching the best team we ever had in 85 dominating football. Winning league title after league title.

Now in my era, it's mainly consisted of relegation survival, mid table finishes and top half finishes missing out on Europe, getting into Europe, getting knocked out of Europe, aiming to finish 4th, finishing 6th etc. going the match and being wound up and frustrated, watching talented players come through and being sold, watching the club in a state of stagnation. Having a lack of funds to compete the with the big guns. Yes there's been lovely moments throughout but not compared to what Evertonians saw before my lifetime.

It worries me that I will go through my entire life and never experience league titles, continuous cup wins, getting to a European final and winning! Will I ever see any of this live? I'm 27 now so what do I have left? 20 years? (I say 20 because I want to be young enough to enjoy it, not in my fifties and sixties and not get to jump around like I could now) it seriously worries me. We won't win a league title for the foreseeable future, we aren't gonna get into the Champions League just yet, let alone win it. Fiorentina was the closest I came in the Europa league and I can't see us getting there again in the next 3-4 years. I'm hoping to win a trophy in the next year or two, that would be nice, but will I ever see the headline "Everton F.C crowned Premier League Champions!" Who knows?

 

[Shaun4658]

Patience mate. In football, as in life, all things change.

 

[efcfanwirral]

Modern football....and its only going to get worse as financial fair play cements the elite at the top (and of course returns a certain formerly elite club who play in red to the top, which will make it all the more painful).

 

[efcfanwirral]

Everton aren't the only team - I only envisage 5-6 teams winning the league again in this modern era of moneyball, that means there are around 85 teams whose fans will NEVER see success

 

[Timak]

Football has changed.

It is impossible for us to win the league again without being taken over by a billionaire.

So you may as well give up all hope now

 

[TraffordBlue]

I was born in 1986 and even I was only 9 years old when Everton won our last major trophy The FA Cup. I remember it clearly but not to the point where I could really enjoy it. My Dad was born in 48, he's seen it all since then and tells me stories of how great it was throughout the decades. A mate tells me of how we won the league at Norwich in the 80's and that everyone in the away end was partying all game. I know a lot of you on here have seen many moments of success. Rapid Vienna, Watford, beating Bayern Munich, losing out on the treble. Going to Wembley with the RS for finals, beating Sheffield Wednesday from 2-0 down in 66. Watching the best team we ever had in 85 dominating football. Winning league title after league title.

Now in my era, it's mainly consisted of relegation survival, mid table finishes and top half finishes missing out on Europe, getting into Europe, getting knocked out of Europe, aiming to finish 4th, finishing 6th etc. going the match and being wound up and frustrated, watching talented players come through and being sold, watching the club in a state of stagnation. Having a lack of funds to compete the with the big guns. Yes there's been lovely moments throughout but not compared to what Evertonians saw before my lifetime.

It worries me that I will go through my entire life and never experience league titles, continuous cup wins, getting to a European final and winning! Will I ever see any of this live? I'm 27 now so what do I have left? 20 years? (I say 20 because I want to be young enough to enjoy it, not in my fifties and sixties and not get to jump around like I could now) it seriously worries me. We won't win a league title for the foreseeable future, we aren't gonna get into the Champions League just yet, let alone win it. Fiorentina was the closest I came in the Europa league and I can't see us getting there again in the next 3-4 years. I'm hoping to win a trophy in the next year or two, that would be nice, but will I ever see the headline "Everton F.C crowned Premier League Champions!" Who knows?

I know how you feel. I'm 24 so remember Rideout's goal but being so young at the time, I didn't get any where near the enjoyment as I would now in seeing us win the FA Cup. I honestly don't think we will win the league again unless Kenwright sells to someone who can provide the manager with a decent amount of money, or we get a billionaire owner. We just can't compete. And the shame of it is, Moyes managed to turn the club around and with his unbelievable knack of getting quality players for cheap, has given us a top 6/7 squad ready to push for the top 4. In order for us to do that we need some money to buy 4/5 decent players to push us to the next level. But we have no money and it's a disgrace for a club like us to be in the position where we can only buy decent players if we sell our best players.

It's frustrating that we have been able to add some top class players in to the squad over the years like Rooney, Lescott, Arteta, Baines and Fellaini but are always having to consider selling them just so we can start again. That way of working will never push us on to the next level but Kenwright doesn't do anything about it.

The way I try and deal with the fact we probably won't win anything again is to just think of how lucky we are to support a club with a tradition of success with a great fanbase and how the fans have such a connection to the club. I can't think of many other clubs in Europe where the fans stand for what the club is. We haven't won anything for 18 years, yet we still manage to sell out away every week. And our support is made up with the majority of local fans, and the non locals usually have some sort of connection to the club as well.

In comparison, Arsenal is full of upper class glory fans, I doubt any Spurs fans come from the areas around Tottenham and if they did, they certainly wouldn't be able to charge the prices they do. The red ****e support is full of Irish and Norwegian glory boys (same with Man United), and the only other club that was similar to us - City, have now lost their identity and are becoming like all the other "Big" clubs of today.

Obviously it would be great to be winning things but that comes at a price when your club loses its identity like City has. Not all of them are happy with the way things have turned out. Most of our greatest moments have been at Goodison which is like no other ground in the country. Goals where the Gwladys street goes absolutely mental just wouldn't look the same in an oval ground like the Eitihad.

We could be in a far worse position. Other reasonably big clubs like Sunderland, Newcastle and Villa all want success like we do but they are all struggling to even get in the top 10 and are even under threat of relegation.

 

[BlueLlama]

One of the few plus point of being 40 is being able to remember the utter aceness of being an Everton fan mid eighties. We are a s much to blame as anyone for modern football - we pushed for the formation of the premier league along with the other big boys at the time.

The sense of knowing we will not be even close to the league for the forseeable future makes every gash cup run even more frustrating

 

[nigelcoyb]

This is why I got so narked with the Moyes/Kenwright partnership each protecting the other while expectation revolved around avoiding relegation fights, most of the arl arses (like me) after 4 to 5 years were thinking alright lads onto the next step now - it never happened.

The whole place began to stink of self interest and self satisfaction to this day you will find a thousand different reasons why we haven't been sold other than the reality - greed.

Admittedly I get pissed off with some from this generation talking up the 7th place trophy shte and I suppose I shouldn't because you know nothing else but it really isn't EFC lads - we just let it be accepting the BS about "investment", "24/7" etc etc.

 

[Groucho]

In my lifetime we've won two league titles, two FA cups and the European Cup Winners Cup.

I'd take any trophy at the moment. For a few fleeting days in 2004/2005 I actually thought we could win the league, and I don't mind admitting it.

If we don't think we can win the league one day again, there's really no point, is there? We can, and we will, one day. Maybe not in the next decade, but we will.

COYB

 

[steken1]

One great man is all it will take. I mean the proper definition of great not the crap the meeja peddle.

 

[chicoazul]

Lucky enough to remember us being boss and being a full kit [Poor language removed] watching us lift the Cup Winners Cup, I was a lid ffs.

Seems like beards ago, if that's all I'll ever get then it was amazing. I'd love to have it again though.

 

[Bungle]

I remember the 95 Cup Final well, my mum got her bag robbed in Tesco that day but she still managed to make it back with the FA Cup Single that we did. Just listened to it again now, amazing.

[video=youtube;mPrUjSrwvkc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=mPrUjSrwvkc[/video]

 

[GwladysBlue]

Count yourself lucky. I was born in 1993 so can never remember any success whilst, sitting in school and seeing Liverpool bring in their UEFA, FA and League Cups and then the Champions League! Its hard work being an Everton fan.
Even at 20 I don't think I'll ever see us win one of the Big 2 trophies (League or Champions League) even the FA Cup looks a push.

 

[uknightbreed]

i dont fall for this money is what will buy success argument.
for me a decent manager , decent facilities , decent coaching , a good youth policy ,the backing of a loyal fanbase , and team who gets on the pitch and plays with heart character and passion is enough to win success.
money helps , but isnt the most important factor or a guarantee.

 

[ijjysmith]

Had no idea I was older than you Stubbsy.