Apathy has set in at Everton

Everton’s 1-0 defeat at Watford on Saturday evening just summed up the Toffees car crash of a season. In truth, the game a poor one and there was very little difference in the two sides. A late Troy Deeney goal was enough to win it for a distinctively average Hornets side.

Watford are at the moment at best unpredictable and at worse mediocre. However, for some reason Everton boss Sam Allardyce seemed to be playing for a point at Vicarage Road when in reality it took just a bit of bravery to go for the win.

Everton apathetic to their team

I have to admit I thought I was the only Evertonian who was completely apathetic towards the result. However, when I went onto social media after the game it seems many Evertonian’s feel the same way.

I like most Evertonian’s am passionate about my football club. A decade of writing about the game has made me slightly less partisan, but I still love my club. In seasons gone by defeats would hurt for days.

This season for the first time in my 30-odd years of supporting Everton, I feel very little win, lose or draw about the result. I am just glad I am not the only one. I thought my passion for the Blues was on the wane. However, it seems a common theme amongst a lot of lifelong Evertonian’s.

Hierarchy needs to act

The apathy is worrying for the club. This is the sort of situation that sees normally loyal football fans turn their back on their club and spend their hard earned money on other activities.

Some will say they are not proper fans. However, I would argue that anybody that has to put up with the dross that the current team is producing deserves an alternative activity choice.

Simply put, this season has been a nightmare. The fact that Everton had to employ Fireman Sam in the first place is a sad indictment of the where the club is at the minute.

For all the promise of a brighter future and bigger stadium on the docks, the team are awful, woeful and shocking. They lack quality, style and more importantly fight something even the worse Everton teams in the last three decades have had in their locker.

Majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri has big plans for the club. He needs to act and make changes from top to bottom. The two main changes need to be Sam Allardyce and director of football Steve Walsh leaving the club.

They are responsible for the players that arrive and the style they play. Unfortunately, recruitment and style of play have been two of the biggest issues at the club this season.

For me, the likes of Jordan Pickford and Theo Walcott have been the only successful signings in the last two transfer windows. Icelandic star Gylfi Sigurdsson is also showing signs of form, but he needs to play in his favoured position.

The jury is still out on Michael Keane and Cenk Tosun, while Sandro and Davy Klaassen were never given enough time to prove themselves, even if their early performances for the Blues were poor.

A top-ten finish would be a decent result

While most Everton fans cannot wait for the season to end, there are still games to play. At this junction, a top-ten finish for the Blues after such a torrid season would be a decent result. The Toffees are currently odds of 2/5 to finish in the top-half of the table.

Whatever happens for the rest of the campaign, there must be major changes in the summer. Mr Moshiri must now start again this summer. If Allardyce remains in charge of the team, then the fans will vote with their feet and simply not go the game.

It seems that Everton fans have reached breaking point. The fact that so many feel such apathy towards the club is worrying and the club must address this issue before they have no fans to fill their new stadium on the docks.

Who is responsible for Everton’s current malaise?