Everton are not very good. They haven’t been very good for a long time.
They last won a trophy in 1995, and last played in a major final back in 2009. They got everyone excited with the arrival a few years ago of Carlo Ancelotti as manager and the signing of Colombian World Cup superstar James Rodriguez… and finished 10th, with a negative goal difference.
And since Ancelotti returned to Real Madrid ahead of the fourth Champions League title of his coaching career, Everton have carried on being Everton. Except the Everton they now are is even worse than the Everton they were a decade ago.
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Between 2007 and 2014, the Toffees finished between fifth and eighth in the Premier League table in every single season. It was close enough to the Champions League spots to kid them that they were getting something right, but only once in that stretch did they finish closer than seven points away from the top four. Across those eight years, the average gap between them and fourth was 9.5 points.
They were kings of the also-rans, and because they were ‘close’ they stopped moving forward.
Since 2014 they have not finished in the top six once. Leicester City have, with regularity. Southampton have, even West Ham United have, but not Everton. This supposed ‘big club’ has been the most forgettable outfit in the Premier League. Go to any party over New Year and ask somebody to list the 20 top-flight clubs… guaranteed most of them will forget Everton until pretty late in the piece.
It doesn’t help their cause that their manager right now is Frank Lampard, a man whose coaching career highlight so far was getting sacked quickly enough at Chelsea that Thomas Tuchel could come in and take the Blues to Champions League glory. Lampard’s win percentage in the Premier League for Everton is the fourth lowest among the managers with their current clubs. And if Bournemouth and Southampton both win this weekend, the former midfielder will drop to 19th.
Nine wins in 34 games at a win rate of 26.5 percent is simply not good enough. Even taking into account the shambles Everton have been for the last 36 years since their most recent league title in 1987, this is a crisis point. They were close to relegation in 1994, being bailed out by a three-goal comeback on the final day against Wimbledon. It was a late rescue job which saved them again in 1998, and they had to wait for their final home game last season under Lampard to confirm Premier League football for another 12 months.
But that will be the extent of it if they don’t right the ship soon. They’ve won a grand total of two games away from home in the 11 months since Lampard walked in the door, and defeats at Bournemouth and at home to Wolves either side of the World Cup break have underlined just how terrible the Toffees are. They’re a Championship side playing in the Premier League in all truth.
Yes, Lampard is failing, but there is a reason Everton were kind of stuck with him back in January. It’s because they’re no better as a functioning football club than he is as a manager at this moment in time. To blame only the guy in the dugout is to overlook the utter mess being made of things behind the scenes by chairman Bill Kenwright and director Denise Barrett-Baxendale.
So, what is the answer? Probably relegation at this point. Many a club have found themselves stuck in a rut and looked better for the break after returning. Manchester City, Southampton and Aston Villa, all of them went down looking pretty rotten and returned refreshed, whether that was one, three or seven years later. Demotion is not the death knell it’s made out to be by the ‘Best league in the world’ marketing merchants.
What’s the alternative, anyway? More of the same? Bouncing from manager to manager under the same terrible board? Finishing somewhere between 10th and 17th every year and being famed only for existing rather than – you know – doing something?
Lampard’s terrible win percentage will eventually get him the sack. But what will really get Everton turning the corner? It will take more than a change of manager to alter their fortunes at this point.
*18+ | BeGambleAware | Odds Subject to Change
