Everton: Still A Decent Club In An Indecent League
It's been just over a year since I made the bold pronouncement that Everton are a rare breed amongst Premier League football clubs. The post was the most commented upon piece of writing I have published thus far and on reflection, I assume a lot of the positivity that came its way was due to the fact that it was written by a supporter of another club. Writing it forced me to look beyond the parochialism that afflicts many aspects of the game and to that end, I enjoyed not having to engage in much of the self-flagellating that I regularly indulge in when writing about Spurs.
However, my good intentions did not necessarily resonate with all Evertonians. Although they were by and large embracing of my central argument, many took the opportunity in the comments section to voice some highly critical opinions on the various issues that simmer beneath the surface of the club such as the chairmanship of Bill Kenwright; matters that may not be immediately apparent from an outsider's perspective.
With that in mind and a year on, can we really continue to call Everton one of the only "decent" clubs in the league?
Before I tackle Everton specifically, perhaps it would be beneficial to define what I actually mean by the term "decent". Is it for instance, a sense of common identity that unites those occupying the plush leather swivel chairs in the boardroom filtering its way down to those enduring the plastic slabs on a matchday? Or is it just a proud and cherished tradition, replete with a list of honours and accolades garnered throughout a club's history? Maybe it's the community links that a club goes to great lengths to foster, a practice that might readily be dismissed as mere public relations in the cynical world that we inhabit?
If it's all those, then I'm sure a case could easily be made for many clubs. For me, it's a question of minutiae; the little things that a club does that make you look on as a passive interloper and think to yourself, "Wow, I wish my club did things as cool as that".
Mandatory self-flagellation begins – It's not a great time to be a Spurs fan. There's a strange mood prevalent among many a long-time follower of the club. Having accepted that AVB was probably not the right man for the job, many of us have nevertheless been left despondent by the hierarchy's willingness to lurch from one crisis to the next, seemingly without any forethought. It's finally dawned on us that the club is run as a money-making exercise and all the Champions League chest-thumping is merely a pacifier for those who pay through runny noses for their
