Valente's Right Peg
Player Valuation: £25k
"Nil Satis Nisi Optimum - I don't speak Latin, but nothing satisfies but the best, that sticks with me."
It is the Evertonian knack to draw strength from our past when looking to a foggy future, an ability to transcend the moment, in the belief that the future will, once again, be part of a glorious past. I think we are all aware of our passing place in a much larger history, a tapestry made rich by torment, irritation and pain interspersed with royal blue threads of joy and success. We carry our ghosts with us, every day. And they sometimes carry us to lofty heights that can nurture us for a week, a month, a year or even seemingly a generation. Some might say being an Evertonian is the triumph of hope over experience and a refusal to allow reality to interfere with allegiance.
Quite simply, still the most hotly contested derby in British football. It's Everton versus Liverpool. Blue versus Red. Good versus evil and to most on watchers in the country, David versus Goliath.
The days of Everton and Liverpool supporters chanting "Merseyside" together at Wembley may now leave nothing but a warm glow, as the cauldron of hate and bile only seems to intensify by each encounter. Another set of "Boys in Blue" have this week issued a flaw-ridden statement that warns any supporter found chanting abusive - and admittedly unsavoury - songs will open themselves up to prosecution. Although strangely, Merseyside Police did state that it would be impossible to enforce to large amounts. Call me crazy, but what was the effing point?
The odds will always be against us, but that is Everton Football Club for you - we rarely have the easy run in, we rarely do it the easy way. For me, as ambitious as I am, Everton isn't really about trophies and winning things. Somehow no words can fully do justice to what the feeling of being an Evertonian is like. It's like the love people have for their children, why is it? Well, it's science isn't it, genetics...that's just how it is. Maybe then Evertonians really are 'Born, not Manufactured'?
Everton isn't just a football team, it is a way of life. It's not just about being at the top or striving to be, it's about being part of a unique family with a unique identity. It's like your Mum buying own brand food from Marks & Spencer whilst your mates giggle at you as they drink their 'Coke'. It's all bells and whistles but as anyone who has shopped at Marks will know, their food is better than most. Better and classier than the branded stuff too.
We may not have 5 European Cups or 18 league titles in our repertoire but we are a club that still has it's soul. If a home player dives at Goodison Park he is generally chastised by his own fans. At how many grounds would that happen? None would be my guess. Liverpool fans can preen and boast as much as they like but do any of us REALLY care? No..because we are Evertonians and that alone makes us better than them.
It is only when our paths cross with Liverpool that we realise how different we really are. At Everton, we not only support our side, but we also support each other. With the glory seeking shower from across Stanley Park we see self-absorption, self-centredness and self-righteousness. This alone confirms the notion of the Everton family and what it means to be an Evertonian.
Liverpool being the team that they're - their [*@!$] never seems to stink and their toast seems to always land butter side-up - it would be foolish to suggest that their unlimited supply of luck is ever likely to change. But what we at Everton Football Club can return is passion, wholehearted belief and total commitment to the Toffee cause.
Never give in. Never, never, never give in. Be blue, but don't be dejected - their day to weep will come, as sure as we love a cold beer on a hot day. And when you see the astonishment cross those fat, fulfilled Kopite brows, stuffed with ill-gotten hardware and incapable of contemplating the day that they are "just a small side" the joy, I guess, will be just that much sweeter.
Like all true Evertonians I have felt exhilaration, joy, irritation, disappointment, anger and every extreme feeling known to the human race when we collide with Liverpool. But that's part and parcel of being a Blue. The times when we "do them", oh how they sit in your memory. You can sit for hours upon end and relish with gusto.
At other clubs across the country and around the world, success is survival. But not at Goodison Park. Here, you have to do a lot more than survive. Everton should be like Real Madrid. The fact that we are not gets everyone down - and it's that expectation that makes the football club so special.
Pure passion, fighting, skill and controversy are usually the prominent features of a Merseyside Derby. Come Monday and then Sunday, I wouldn't expect that to change. Both fixtures will be treated with trepidation, by both bands of supporters. Ultimately though, for me personally, the FA Cup is all or nothing for Everton, do or die, sink or swim, boom or bust. We are the only club in England to have won a trophy in every decade of football, we have to preserve that. Our history is forever and will always send shivers down our spine, but it is to be maintained.
Our derby dreams, my derby dreams, demand fulfilment. We're the greatest club on this planet beyond any doubt. It's about time we made it so.
Whatever Everton means to us all, at the end of the day, we are just proud and privileged to be a part of it.
Part of the greatest family there ever was.
"And don't forget lads, one Evertonian is worth twenty Liverpudlians. That's the way I feel. I'm so bias about this club. It's the best. The biggest and the best." - Brian Labone
It is the Evertonian knack to draw strength from our past when looking to a foggy future, an ability to transcend the moment, in the belief that the future will, once again, be part of a glorious past. I think we are all aware of our passing place in a much larger history, a tapestry made rich by torment, irritation and pain interspersed with royal blue threads of joy and success. We carry our ghosts with us, every day. And they sometimes carry us to lofty heights that can nurture us for a week, a month, a year or even seemingly a generation. Some might say being an Evertonian is the triumph of hope over experience and a refusal to allow reality to interfere with allegiance.
Quite simply, still the most hotly contested derby in British football. It's Everton versus Liverpool. Blue versus Red. Good versus evil and to most on watchers in the country, David versus Goliath.
The days of Everton and Liverpool supporters chanting "Merseyside" together at Wembley may now leave nothing but a warm glow, as the cauldron of hate and bile only seems to intensify by each encounter. Another set of "Boys in Blue" have this week issued a flaw-ridden statement that warns any supporter found chanting abusive - and admittedly unsavoury - songs will open themselves up to prosecution. Although strangely, Merseyside Police did state that it would be impossible to enforce to large amounts. Call me crazy, but what was the effing point?
The odds will always be against us, but that is Everton Football Club for you - we rarely have the easy run in, we rarely do it the easy way. For me, as ambitious as I am, Everton isn't really about trophies and winning things. Somehow no words can fully do justice to what the feeling of being an Evertonian is like. It's like the love people have for their children, why is it? Well, it's science isn't it, genetics...that's just how it is. Maybe then Evertonians really are 'Born, not Manufactured'?
Everton isn't just a football team, it is a way of life. It's not just about being at the top or striving to be, it's about being part of a unique family with a unique identity. It's like your Mum buying own brand food from Marks & Spencer whilst your mates giggle at you as they drink their 'Coke'. It's all bells and whistles but as anyone who has shopped at Marks will know, their food is better than most. Better and classier than the branded stuff too.
We may not have 5 European Cups or 18 league titles in our repertoire but we are a club that still has it's soul. If a home player dives at Goodison Park he is generally chastised by his own fans. At how many grounds would that happen? None would be my guess. Liverpool fans can preen and boast as much as they like but do any of us REALLY care? No..because we are Evertonians and that alone makes us better than them.
It is only when our paths cross with Liverpool that we realise how different we really are. At Everton, we not only support our side, but we also support each other. With the glory seeking shower from across Stanley Park we see self-absorption, self-centredness and self-righteousness. This alone confirms the notion of the Everton family and what it means to be an Evertonian.
Liverpool being the team that they're - their [*@!$] never seems to stink and their toast seems to always land butter side-up - it would be foolish to suggest that their unlimited supply of luck is ever likely to change. But what we at Everton Football Club can return is passion, wholehearted belief and total commitment to the Toffee cause.
Never give in. Never, never, never give in. Be blue, but don't be dejected - their day to weep will come, as sure as we love a cold beer on a hot day. And when you see the astonishment cross those fat, fulfilled Kopite brows, stuffed with ill-gotten hardware and incapable of contemplating the day that they are "just a small side" the joy, I guess, will be just that much sweeter.
Like all true Evertonians I have felt exhilaration, joy, irritation, disappointment, anger and every extreme feeling known to the human race when we collide with Liverpool. But that's part and parcel of being a Blue. The times when we "do them", oh how they sit in your memory. You can sit for hours upon end and relish with gusto.
At other clubs across the country and around the world, success is survival. But not at Goodison Park. Here, you have to do a lot more than survive. Everton should be like Real Madrid. The fact that we are not gets everyone down - and it's that expectation that makes the football club so special.
Pure passion, fighting, skill and controversy are usually the prominent features of a Merseyside Derby. Come Monday and then Sunday, I wouldn't expect that to change. Both fixtures will be treated with trepidation, by both bands of supporters. Ultimately though, for me personally, the FA Cup is all or nothing for Everton, do or die, sink or swim, boom or bust. We are the only club in England to have won a trophy in every decade of football, we have to preserve that. Our history is forever and will always send shivers down our spine, but it is to be maintained.
Our derby dreams, my derby dreams, demand fulfilment. We're the greatest club on this planet beyond any doubt. It's about time we made it so.
Whatever Everton means to us all, at the end of the day, we are just proud and privileged to be a part of it.
Part of the greatest family there ever was.
"And don't forget lads, one Evertonian is worth twenty Liverpudlians. That's the way I feel. I'm so bias about this club. It's the best. The biggest and the best." - Brian Labone
