Blue Misery Loves Company
In a piece for the BBC, Phil McNulty ponders whether there can be any joy in supporting Everton as the club's barren years wear on. The answer lies in the big Blue family and the bonds forged through pain and adversity.
You are my Everton, my only Everton
You make me happy when skies are grey…
What happens, though, when Everton themselves are the reason why skies are grey?
That’s a notion that Phil McNulty taps into in his recent article for BBC Sport where he asks: “is supporting Everton a life of unrelenting sporting misery? Or is there still joy and celebration to be had following of one the grand old English football institutions?”
He is not the first person to ponder the question, even if he does it with more sensitivity and awareness than most. Indeed, in their rather infantile — and, as such, very on-brand — talkSPORT segment recently, Jason Cundy and Jamie O’Hara became the latest media chuckleheads to ask, “what is the point of Everton?” The club that, in their eyes, just exists and has done so without doing anything of note so far in the 21st century other than just survive.
To point out that Cundy’s Chelsea did just that for decades before their revival in the 1990s and then Rouble-fuelled lift-off into the stratosphere in the 2000s, or that O’Hara’s Tottenham have, outside of their brief dalliance with Champions League glory and occasional trophy success down the years, been bedfellows of Everton in the attic of anonymity and serial under-achievement for most of the Premier League era would merely give more oxygen to their facile argument than it deserves.
But it’s worth mentioning because it speaks to the degree to which modern fandom and so much of the media coverage of the game these days overlooks the rewards and sense of belonging that comes from supporting a club beyond simply what happens on the pitch.
Dr David France, a man who has witnessed more soaring highs and crushing disappointments as a Blue than most, encapsulates the issue as only he can: "I can explain what I celebrate, even if we haven't had tangible success for so long. I celebrate being an Evertonian."
Few things have rung more true for me. Like the majority of a Blue disposition reading this, I would imagine, I have lost nights of sleep over Everton; have spent days and weeks on end with a permanent knot of anguish in my stomach during the recent relegation battles. It’s surely no coincidence that I started to lose my hair in 1994!
But some of my greatest memories in life were forged at the worst of times for Everton. The sheer rush and elation of that almost impossible escape against Wimbledon 32 years ago; dancing in the rain on the Goodison Park pitch with fellow jubilant Toffees after another nail-biting dance with oblivion in 1998 before turning our ire towards the Directors’ Box; shouting myself hoarse from the Main Stand in May 2022 when Everton again came back from 2–0 to win 3–2 in the most dramatic of fashions against Crystal Palace before retiring to a bouncing Denbigh Castle to drink the evening away in celebration. Give me a stirring, backs-to-the-wall escape from relegation over winning promotion back to the Premier League any day!
Granted, each moment may have been mired in awful context but they were a reminder of the defiance that exists within the Everton fanbase; of the determination that this club will not fall despite the incompetence of those charged with being the custodians of Everton FC and on whose actions rest the hopes and dreams of a legion of Toffees; of the notion that were the power of the fans the only requirement for success, Everton’s trophy cabinet would be full to bursting; that to be an Evertonian is to be part of something much bigger than success on the pitch can either convey or contain.
"Yes, there have been disappointments and those years without trophies, but let me tell you this — I wouldn't swap being an Evertonian for anything in the world."
— Leon Osman
As Leon Osman put it in McNulty’s piece, "It's better to be an Evertonian than to support any other club — and you mark my words, if and when we do get silverware, just you watch those celebrations. They will be something else."
Which is to acknowledge that the misery component of McNulty’s question is born precisely of the magnificent achievements of Everton’s past. The 31-year wait for a trophy hurts as much as it does because silverware is part of the club’s tradition.
Dr David France at his beloved Goodison Park, pictured by Everton Heritage Society
Dr France, meanwhile, further explains: "I'm very lucky to be part of something very special supporting Everton. It is a special community. You don't become an Evertonian to be a glory hunter do you?
"We have loyalty inbred into us. We don't just support the club, Evertonians support one another. We are a family. When I go to watch Everton, I feel like I'm among friends."
No truer words have been spoken.
What keeps the flickering flame of optimism alive in Evertonians is that even without the enormous benefits of a London location and catchment area, or the associated, now baked-in financial advantages of massive commercial revenues that the likes of Chelsea, Spurs and Arsenal enjoy, and even with the massive headwinds that the current Squad Cost Ratio spending rules represent, the potential for a return to greatness is always there.
We threatened to break the glass ceiling under David Moyes Mk I in the 2000s, saw glimpses of it in 2013/14 under Robert Martinez — frustratingly, if Manchester City are found guilty of financial doping on a massive scale, their rule-breaking would have denied the Blues Champions League qualification that season — and again very briefly under Carlo Ancelotti in 2020 when, for a few short giddy weeks, anything seemed possible.
We even allowed ourselves to dream that The Friedkin Group's takeover might be the start of the kind of renaissance that occurred over Stanley Park when well-heeled American owners rode in. One day, you have to believe, our time to win a trophy will come again even if returning to the very pinnacle of the game now seems remote given the tilted competitive landscape on which we now play.
Has there been footballing pain and misery for Everton since 1995? Of course. I’m fortunate to have lived through both our last title and FA Cup triumphs and ache for those who have known nothing but failure and near-misses in the intervening three decades. But supporting this grand old team will never feel futile while the big Blue family remains intact and there is still hope that one day the sleeping giant will awaken.
Reader Responses
Selected thoughts from readers29/09/2026 07:33:18
Lyndon's response to Phil McNulty asked how we keep going without the trophies. Part of my answer, after this week, is that we've been playing on a tilted pitch, and we've also been tripping over our own feet on it.
The article names the structural stuff plainly: no London location, no catchment area, none of the "baked-in financial advantages of massive commercial revenues that the likes of Chelsea, Spurs and Arsenal enjoy." That's the landscape. PSR then locked it in. Spending is tied to revenue, revenue to historical success. Six different champions in 30 years, against fourteen between the 1950s and 80s.
And the article makes the point that matters most to me: if City are found guilty of financial doping, their rule-breaking denied us Champions League qualification in 2013/14. That's not a governance abstraction. That's us.
But here's where I part company with the more romantic reading. We weren't innocent.Kenwright &Co's precursor of self preservation and renumeration, Moshiri's eleven managerial stints and £750m spent weren't bad luck. We could have sold players like Chelsea and Villa did, but we didn't do our sums. We bought in doors on huge contracts. The Premier League money masked it. It kept the lights on while the people running the club made one bad call after another, and we never gained a competitive advantage from it, we just stayed afloat. The Burnley ruling stings because it's fair. That £19.5m probably did keep us up at their expense.
Both things are true. The pitch is tilted, and we've been our own worst enemy on it. That's the Everton condition the article is really about, not misery, but a club that keeps finding new ways to make it harder for itself. God it has been hard to watch.Watching Everton play has needed resilience, borne out of having witnessed so much. Now dependent on Dithering Dave ,give me strength.To be a Evertonian is to suffer.
29/09/2026 08:14:51
No gain wothout pain...Eternal pain anguish, well for decades whilst savouring the 80s and the following decades of making up the numbers bar 1995
But Everton and being an Evertonian is spiritual.
Nothing in football can beat it and no one can take it aeay.
29/09/2026 10:42:30
it's only dawned on me in the last few months that the footy experience as we all remember it is now gone for good. To state the obvious, we aren't playing in a fair system where we each have roughly the same chance. In this system, the law is made by the most powerful players, not the governing body. I had been waiting for us to get taken over, and move into the new ground. Then we could start competing on a 'more ' even basis. We do that, only to find that we weren't allowed to spend much money cos of the new rules, and that even if we were, the new owners aren't keen.
We've bought into a system where the billionaire owners are 'prevented' from spending money, and are forced to just sit there 'and collect the money'. How unfortunate for them.
So. if say Brian Clough took over a small club and bought some terrific players at rock bottom prices, He'd have a great few months. They'd qualify for the CL, but then the players wages would all be tripled, which means 'Brian, you're way over budget, you're gonna have to sell half the team to stay within the rules. Sell them to Tottenham, who finished fourth bottom, and then let's see how you get on'.
And he'd have to keep on selling,.
It's a rigged game, one which our owners are never going to object to, cos they're making loads of money. And I don't think it's now fixable.
29/09/2026 11:33:40
Interesting interview with Billy Kenny on his durg and alcohol issues - not sure where to put it.
He lays a lot of the blame at the feet of the drinking culture under Howard Kendall, but also states “That’s Everton for you. It’s a badly run club and that still carries on today.”
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/sep/29/billy-kenny-goodison-gazza-everton-interview
29/09/2026 11:45:36
While we are still playing in the Premier League, which is by far the best League in the World.. there is still Hope.
We haven’t paled into oblivion, like the great Clubs of a bygone era, such as, Bolton, Blackburn, Preston, among others.
For senior supporters like myself, I would love to see us Challenge at the Top level and saying goodbye to to the Days, where every game is a non Banker.
People might write us off as an also ran, but we still have the best travelling Fans in the League and huge respect to them.
Also, a huge shout out and Kudos to our younger Supporters, who haven’t seen us win a Trophy… if anyone deserves something, it’s them !
Come on You Blues.. Forever !
29/09/2026 11:59:48
You don't have to be a League or a Cup winner to enjoy games, Ok titles would put icing on the cake, but I don't think I'm out of order saying most of us know as we are now that the League title is out of reach, and even winning a Cup is not likely.
We can still go to games and all that entails and enjoy it, any win can be celebrated, especially against certain teams.
It is what it is, what I will say is at the moment I think we have an optimistic looking squad with some very promising young players coming through, admittedly we have one or two weak links but I think we are going into one of our better periods.
Keeping hold of our best players is essential though.
29/09/2026 12:36:06
Steve@6 - I read that but couldn’t help thinking -it wasn’t Kendall who plied you (Kenny) with shitloads of e and coke, it was you, and then he casually mentions how Everton put him in rehab, but somehow it’s still the club to blame. There’s a lot of stuff to lay at the door of the club, but I thought he needed to look at himself a bit more before writing a book blaming everyone else for his life choices.
29/09/2026 13:01:05
One of the noteworthy aspects of the last thirty one years has been attendances. In spite of the trophy drought and the absence of any realistic prospect of ever challenging for the title attendances have increased to capacity at home games and full allocations sold for every away game.
It was not always like that. In previous eras attendances usually mirrored performances and results on the pitch. In the early ‘80s and the early ‘90s home gates not infrequently slumped to around 12,000. It could be a lonely place standing on the Street End terrace watching the team struggle to carve out a narrow win or draw but often succumbing to defeat.
Why is it so different now? Part of the explanation is the success of the Premier League brand. Like it or loathe it, the Premier League along with the Sky coverage has served to make the game fashionable. Each match is treated as an event, an experience if you like, which fans can talk about in polite company at work, with their neighbours and so on. Forty years ago that was far from the case. Going to the match was distinctly unfashionable, not to mention at times very unpleasant. Discussing the game was for the few who remained sufficiently committed to keep turning up.
Back to modern day Everton, the resilience of the fan base has been a key component in the club’s survival as a top flight club. Following in the footsteps of Howard Kendall in 1984, several managers including David Moyes and Sean Dyche have been able to tap into the strength of the support to galvanise the team, indeed the whole club to overcome adversity.
The hope now must be that fans can continue to feel the club is on an upward trajectory and that, notwithstanding many bumps along the way, at some point they will enjoy some tangible success in the form of a trophy. As Leon Osman says the celebrations will be something else.
29/09/2026 14:30:22
When you think back on all the famous faces that pulled on the Jersey for us, it becomes more of an enigma.
The likes of, Ginola, Gascoigne, Eto, Rodriguez all of course looking for a last Payday.
Sometimes, I wonder, if we start winning left and right like, Man City, Arsenal, Liverpool, United, etc, would we become apathetic, with the monotonous Rhythm of Success.
So, in the interim, with my beloved Club, it’s going to be all about the Journey and not the final destination.
Just hope that Everton gets To theirs, before I get to mine!
Strap yourselves in, Lads and Lassies!
29/09/2026 14:34:05
Those well-heeled American owners FSG, only rocked up after Liverpool, had finally got rid of those Leveraged American buyers Hicks & Gillette, Lyndon.
Hopefully we get the same good fortune as our neighbours because I don’t think TSF, fill many match going Evertonians, with much confidence.
My overriding feeling is one of boredom, so I was surprised to hear a few Liverpudlians, I speak to saying exactly the same thing. VAR - PSR - some clubs getting preferential treatment, whilst others are treated with a second class status, and after this latest news about Manchester City, maybe it will be finally acknowledged that the sport has been eating itself from within?
What a brilliant picture you have chosen below the title though Lyndon. A picture that encapsulates the raw passion of the Evertonians, perfectly mate💙
29/09/2026 14:51:50
Phil McNulty is a red. Like the rest of them he loves our current time in the wilderness. He shouldn’t be allowed to write about us. Stick to salivating over our loveable neighbours aka your club.
Billy Kenny. Do me a favour. So he never had a drink until he joined us ?
29/09/2026 15:17:43
I think I’ve heard him say that before now Jamie.
He was the architect of his own downfall and definitely needed no encouragement once he got started, and I believe that this is when he has will have needed a much heavier hand the most?
29/09/2026 15:40:16
I agree that Kenny needs to take accountability for his own actions.
But, it was well known that Howard was a heavy drinker and players had to fit in with the culture to be accepted.
I remember walking into a hotel near Leeds where the team was staying before a game and Howard was propping the bar up at 2pm. Or the bar was propping him up.
He was a legend to me and I found it really sad to see him that way.
29/09/2026 16:30:12
The most miserable Evertonians seem to be the ones who seem to think that, because we were a massive club in the 60s, 70s and 80s, we should still be successful now.
The world has changed, there are a few clubs with a massive advantage over the rest, and we aren't one of them. I hope we can one day get back there, but until then I just enjoy the good days and grudgingly accept the bad ones.
29/09/2026 17:09:37
I find the Evertonians, who are just willing to accept their place, the ones that make me the most miserable John.
I’m also aware that nobody gives you anything in this life, success has to be earned through hard work, application, desire talent and dedication, and even then it’s not a given.
I now understand that life is definitely about enjoying the good times and I have also learned over the years, that it’s also about keeping yourself going through the bad times. Although I also believe that the only thing that should help keep us going through those bad times, is knowing that you have got the desire to turn things around by trying to get yourself back up there again.
Not everyone succeeds, but anyone who doesn’t have enough ambition or desire to begin with, will always ultimately fail, although with that much money around the professional game these days, people will probably ask - what exactly is failing!
29/09/2026 18:28:29
We're like the old champion boxer they cant knock out.
The kopites hate that we have been in the top flight longer than them. So do the Mancs (Both of them). Yoyo clubs like Villa and Newcastle want to see us suffer the same humiliation they have suffered. So do West Ham,Spurs, Chelsea and Southampton.
The going down parties. The circling vultures whenever they sense this might be the year, They have all seen us on the ropes, but we have deprived them of the pleasure of seeing us on the canvas. They wont see it. We wont let them.
Unlike all the teams those two gobshites (Cundy and O'Hara) played for. We have made sure we stayed on our feet. Upright and unbowed. Our fans were too proud to let us go down.
Osman is right. When this club eventually steadies itself to drive back these inferior clubs to reclaim the center of the ring. The celebrations will be heard in Cornwall
29/09/2026 22:44:58
I think the positive thing about this whole sorry mess is that Kenwright &Co and the Golden Goose Moshiri did get caught out, but unfortunately at a cost to the Club and at a cost to the Fans. But the dues have been paid by points deductions and stifeling of the normal avenues of progress by, recruitment restrictions, renumeration over payment and compensation.No one can say we didn't pay.
There is no doubt that TFG have been restricted by this and on my research by profligacy in other areas that are only surfacing. It was never going to as simple, as I also thought, to progress Everton forward.
Tony had hit the nail on the head, it was the Evertonians who continually said this all was unacceptable and had a influence on the Everton narrative that actually forced the Club to face the issues and never feel comfortable, beyond what they even now never imagined.This is still the case as TFG and even Moyes are aware off going forward.
What ever happens regarding the Premier League, this will be increasingly recognised and seen as a strength, which has saved the Club Evertonians supported and progressed it's future.Tuf times we have been through before and got through them. Noone can argue with that.
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29/09/2026 06:04:53
Personally, I've really enjoyed the last 18 months or so since DM returned, barring the final 6 games of last season. I've been able to relax and embrace supporting a club that has nothing to worry about, compared to the agonising days of '22/'23 when League 1 football was very much at the forefront of my mind.
We have an incredible new stadium, we have some players who you can genuinely enjoy watching and I've finally got my season ticket again after 5 or 6 years on the waiting list. My first one in 26 years!!
It seems mad that I would so excited about a st for a club that haven't won anything since I was 13 yrs old but I was honestly thrilled when I received the email!
We're a club (and fan base) like no other, our time will come again.
And, most importantly, my first child was born in July and my immediate thought was..."I can't wait to take him to his first game at Goodison". Just like my Dad took me to my first match all the way back in 1990.