25 Jun 2021 15:49:32
I think it's safe to say this is the least excited Evertonians have been for a long time, even with a new stadium on the horizon, the club has felt very distant from the fans for years now. Lots of us are now just cold towards the club and have a very "who cares" mentality because it doesn't really feel like Everton anymore.

Who's fault is it that the club has distanced itself from the fans?

Is it the fans' fault? The owner? The board? The managers? The players?

1.) 25 Jun 2021
25 Jun 2021 16:37:00
How has the club distanced itself from fans?

2.) 25 Jun 2021
25 Jun 2021 16:50:29
70yrs supporting the club. Could never feel like that. If that's how you feel I suggest it's time to move on.

3.) 25 Jun 2021
25 Jun 2021 16:55:07
I don't see how they have distanced us. Surely the way they have dealt with new ground issue shows they want to keep us involved.
Also no other club looks after community projects like we do.

4.) 25 Jun 2021
25 Jun 2021 16:57:03
Honestly think its a combination of everything.

We have wanted a billionaire owner for years and years and unfortunately since having one the money has been spent really poorly in a number of transfers and the Director of Football and Manager have to be held accountable for that, particularly the tenure of Steve Walsh and Ronald Koeman who in my opinion put the club back years.

We have had five managers in as many years and I don't believe any of them have particulalry bought into 'Everton Fc' and I include Ancellotti in that even though he said all the right things up until jumping ship a few weeks back.

Finally the players. I believe there is a lot of work to do in regards our squad. I believe we lack leaders and don't feel our squad is balanced in the slightest. We have still around 4 managers worth of players all suited to different styles and tactics, however we still look extremely one dimensional when on the pitch!

On a positive note we have a great community project and a brand new stadium on the way. I just hope we have a team worthy of playing in it when its built and also a manager that has been with us for a sustained period of time. Because I believe what we all need as a club is stability moving forward.

5.) 25 Jun 2021
25 Jun 2021 17:50:41
It's the fans that are creating the distance imo. We have craved investment for years, now we have it. We have been on a promise of a new stadium since the Kirkby project fell apart, now we have it in sight.
We have an owner who is happy to splash cash but he has made mistakes. Just like any person who is slating him or the board, we're all human and mistakes happen. As someone has mentioned already, Walsh set us back a good few years with his over the top spending on positions we didn't need to fill. You know he was bad at his job when he attempts to deflect attention by blaming Koeman for not buying Haarland!
We have a strange fan base. We all want the club to be successful but we have very different ideas of how to get there. We have a section that have seen success in the 80s and even before that. Then we have those who are not old enough to remember us winning anything.
This is just my opinion and it's not a dig at anyone at all, but I find the younger generation to be less patient than those that have seen success. Not all but most. I called it the microwave generation on here years ago, they seem to want everything in an instant.
If the club was distancing itself from fans, EITC would have died a death by now.

6.) 25 Jun 2021
25 Jun 2021 18:26:59
Go and find another club to support
Everton, the board the owners the Directors of football are doing their best the appoint the right man to bring stability and success to the club and all you can say is they have distanced themselves from the supporter, wake up and smell the coffee, it’s pathetic that certain fans are critical over the current situation.

7.) 25 Jun 2021
25 Jun 2021 18:53:10
Ah I always love the “if you don’t love and agree with everything going on then you aren’t a real fan” argument

Honestly tell me you feel the same love and affection for the players and club that people felt over the years.

It doesn’t exist, the board never speak to us, we have a squad full of players who don’t care and it’s fairly obvious that what the fans want, is irrelevant. You only have to look at the Benitez appointment for that.

8.) 25 Jun 2021
25 Jun 2021 18:59:37
Also disagree that the club has distanced itself from the fans, couldn't disagree more in fact!

I think there is probably less of a connection than there once was between fans and players. But totally across the board and not limited to Everton. That's the natural result of a situation where the players earn in a week, for playing football, what most people earn in a year or more. From the moment someone signs their first professional contract with a Premier league club they will never know what it is like to be an adult with financial pressures etc, they are detached from the real world so it is hard for them to empathise with fans (normal, down to earth human beings) .
That is the way the game is, the way the players are and its as a result of us all paying whatever it costs to have sky, buy tickets, buy shirts etc.
But Everton as a club do everything not to be distant from the fans - EITC which is the envy of many clubs and something that us fans should be proud of the club for, and things like year after year freezes on season ticket prices. The footballing decisions over the last few years have, for me, bordered on the ridiculous but that is not through lack of desire to succeed and certainly does not indicate the club being distant from the fans.

9.) 25 Jun 2021
25 Jun 2021 19:10:08
Great post @ToffeeDavey. Agree completely. I think for me we need an identity again on the pitch. Under past managers teams hated coming to goodison, they knew exactly what they were going to get. Desire, fight and a hostile atmosphere. I personally haven't seen that since Martinez's first season in charge.

10.) 25 Jun 2021
25 Jun 2021 19:34:48
That’s the problem, we are a football club. Not a charity, if we want to be known as the club that won’t ever do anything on the pitch, but aren’t we great at getting good publicity for being nice, then so be it. But I can understand fans who won’t be happy with just that.

11.) 25 Jun 2021
25 Jun 2021 19:38:18
Spot on, TD.
Swan, when have the board been transparent and inform us fans of what's happening before it goes to press? Never has happened, never will. Neither should we expect then to and that is the way it should be.

12.) 25 Jun 2021
25 Jun 2021 20:18:45
We had that when the club employed Alan Myers, then they got rid of him and there it all went.

13.) 25 Jun 2021
25 Jun 2021 21:05:11
I’m pretty sure most companies don’t consult their customers when they take management decisions. Sadly, clubs are more like companies these days Swann so meeting with fans won’t make much of a difference. Plus, meeting with fans would just lead to more leaks so it’s understandable that we aren’t involved. If we want to have any integrity, we may just have to leave them to get on with it.

I don’t see a reaction like the ESL happening over our next appointment.

14.) 26 Jun 2021
26 Jun 2021 01:28:51
Uran - you're being a hypocrite. You've been on this site many times criticising and complaining about the way the club is going ot being run

For you to tell others doing exactly what you have done to 'find another club' shows a lack of class.

Maybe it's you that needs to be looking.

15.) 26 Jun 2021
26 Jun 2021 01:29:24
Do you all remember that advert IT DOES WHAT IT SAYS ON THE TIN

Above our ground we say EVERTON FOOTBALL CLUB

WE don't do the FOOTBALL part well and haven't for many years

I'm very proud of EITC and hope it grows and grows but we have to regain our focus on FOOTBALL.