“Once Everton has touched you nothing will be the same.” If you love the game, which many of us do, and you want to watch at the highest level (that being the EPL) the best way to enjoy it is to follow a club (a fact that too many casual fans in the US miss, because American sports make it about the league while following soccer is about the club since it is involved in many competitions- instead of just league play).
Follow for awhile and if you are blessed with a certain disposition and come to it with a willing heart, I wholeheartedly believe this club chooses you. I believe it with all my yankee heart. It's the history, the neighborhood, the love people (Evertonians worldwide) have for the squad. It's infectious. They are not London, they are not the spoiled child of the city. They have guts, and are resillient and know how to enjoy things in a way that people who have never been down before do not. I don't want anything handed to me and I believe Everton is a club for people who feel the same. If I have any of that wrong, then maybe I have misjudged and mis-spent the past decade plus of EPL fandom- but i do not believe I have.
I agree with the precept that following a well known player is a way some come to the club, but those fans will piddle away when their boy does. There are alot of American fans, some who post in here, who will be around long after Timmay Howard hits the bricks and finishes his career with the Earthquakes or Crew. All fans should not be cast into the same lot.