Everton 2 Aston Villa 2

This does not feel like a football club in crisis; yet today there was a  protest march before the game by a group called 'Blue Union'. They complain that Everton does not have enough money; they want Mr Bill Kenwright, the owner of the club, to find a rich buyer so that the blues can compete with the premier league billionaires. Nobody it seems wants to invest millions in Everton. Personally I would rather have Kenwright as an owner than some Hedge Fund that did not care about the game or the club. Kenwright comes to every game and is an Evertonian to the core. When his face was shown on the large screen monitors the vast majority of fans applauded.

Everton dominated the game. They deserved three points, but luck was not on their side. The match was pulsating, played at an amazing pace, with skill shown by both sides. It is expensive to watch premier league football yet it is entertainment of the highest order. Somewhere recently I heard football described as opera for the common man: indeed there are villains, heroes, and the unlucky. Like opera it is played on a grand scale and emotion is often raw and visible. All this was on show today and I rather enjoyed it.

Look closely: Baines slots home Everton's second goal from the penalty spot.

Always Everton

I don't know what made me an Everton fan;whatever the cause, it began at an early age. I can remember wanting my room decorated blue and always wanting to be in on a Sunday afternoon to watch the football highlights on Granada. I  can't remember the name of the programme, but Gerald Sinstadt was the presenter. Going through some old family photographs I found this shot of me aged 6 wearing an Everton hat. Supporting a football team is a life-long thing (for better or worse).

Everton 1 Birmingham 1

This game summed up Everton's season: plenty of endeavour, but ultimately frustration. Heitinga scored an excellent goal to bring the Blues back to level terms with Birmingham. Other than that not much more can be said. It is unlikely that Everton will progress much further up the table, or that they will face the ignominy of a relegation battle. So with just nine games left the season now has little to offer Toffee fans.

Nil Satis Nisi Optimum: but tonight plenty of endeavour, but ultimately frustration.

My pitch side view.

Everton 5 Blackpool 3

The scoreboard says it all!

 This Lancastrian encounter produced a classic British football match. The skies above Goodison Park were grey and the rain was incessant. The saturated pitch made for errors and excitement from the first whistle. The scoring sequence was 1-0, 1-1, 2-1, 2-2, 2-3, 3-3, 4-3, and finally 5-3. The hero of the afternoon was Louis Saha who scored four times; although the performance of   Marouane Fellaini was outstanding.

Goodison Park is an old fashioned stadium and falls well short of the standards expected in the 21st century. Yet when it is full, as it was today, with nearly 40,000 supporters there is nothing that can match the atmosphere. Before the game I went into St Luke's Church (which actually forms part of the ground) for tea and scones. The church hall is packed  before every home game, except, quite rightly, when the fixture takes place on a Sunday.

St Luke's Church and Goodison Park.

 All in all an excellent afternoon; when is the next game?

Everton 1 Chelsea 1

FA Cup 4th round day at Goodison Park; despite appearances the temperature was only just above freezing.

This week has been one of gloom and doom for Everton supporters. Talk of financial crisis and players leaving the club fuelled fears that todays FA Cup 4th round match with Chelsea would be like 'lambs to the slaughter'. This was reflected in the thousands of empty seats all around the stadium.

The doom merchants were proved partially wrong. The vultures (other clubs) may circle around Everton's best players, but today we witnessed an excellent team performance. The statistics of possession and corners both show that Everton more than matched their multi millionaire opponents. Saha's second half headed goal allowed us to anticipate a famous victory; however, it was wiped out by a Chelsea equaliser in the last ten minutes.

Everton and Chelsea will replay the game the in three weeks at Stamford Bridge. Clearly Everton's best chance of progressing has gone, but with another performance like this (with Cahill back in the team) and all is not lost.

Everton attack the Gwladys Street end.

Everton 2 West Ham 2

We went to the game expecting an easy Everton win; after all the Hammers are proping up the league and their manager Avram Grant is expected to be sacked at any time. However things are not especially rosy at Everton these days. During the week Steven Piennar had moved on to Spurs and Yakubu was loaned to Leicester. Nevertheless the betting people had Everton has firm favourites for the three points.
The game itself was not high on quality and West Ham proved to be a tough nut to crack. In fact they probably deserved to win - the scoring pattern was 0-1, 1-1, 1-2, 2-2. Everon's final equaliser came with only seconds remaining.
Marouane Fellaini was Everton's best player; the worry is that, like Piennar, he will be tempted to take the money and play for a more successful team. Nobody played especially badly but the strikers, Beckford and Anichebe, were unable to control the ball and set up chances.
It is hard to see what the remainder of the season will bring for Everton; it may well be that there will be a struggle against relegation. One thing is for sure, the club must stick with the manager; Moyes has brought success and stability, without him Everton will face a difficult future. Next Saturday Everton face the big spenders Chelsea in the 4th round of the FA cup; they will need to do better than yesterday if they are to progress further.

The view from the Bullens Road stand as Everton warm up.