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.