Everton reporter notebook: Time has come for the club to put up, show up and speak up | Football News

As Everton’s winless run extended to eight games following the FA Cup third-round exit at the hands of Manchester United, manager Frank Lampard strode onto the pitch at Old Trafford and marched towards the 9,500 travelling supporters.

It was a show of defiance and of unity but Lampard knows he is entering a defining period of his tenure.

Ending Everton’s 28-year wait for a trophy was not his top priority this year. The Merseyside club are again hovering just above the relegation zone.

With bottom-of-the-table Southampton next up at Goodison Park on Saturday followed by a trip to West Ham a week later, Sky Sports News reporter Alan Myers sums up the mood heading into a defining period for the club…

A deathly silence from those who hold the explanations

So here we are again.

Another relegation fight being feared by the long-suffering Everton fans, financially hamstrung and a deathly silence from those who hold the explanations as to why the club has found itself in a much too familiar position.

The word “unacceptable” is an often-used description of the team’s performance and it’s been hard to argue against that with one win in 12 games.

Neither should manager Lampard be immune to criticism. He has been under pressure but has accepted that pressure in the professional and dignified manner we’ve come to expect from him.

However, unacceptable is also a word that can be used when describing Everton’s lack of silverware in 28 years and, in particular, the sheer chaos and underperformance of the last seven years.

The difference is that Lampard has stood up, faced the questions and tried to explain why things have gone so wrong but he’s on his own!

There have been no meaningful or independently arranged explanations from those at the top of the club for far too long.

Fans craving communication and accountability

Everton supporters are quite rightly exasperated at what’s going on. Contrary to some beliefs – and in my personal experience – they’re not a difficult bunch to deal with.

They’re passionate, yes, but if they weren’t it would be more concerning.

They don’t ask for much these days – as the scenes of absolute joy and relief after the Crystal Palace game last season proved – but they do want communication, they do want accountability and they do want to see people taking responsibility.

That near miss last season was the third close escape from the threat of relegation in the club’s ever-present Premier League stay.

They have had seven permanent and two temporary managers since Farhad Moshiri took control of the club in 2016, they’re on their third director of football and have spent around £500m in that time to find themselves in 18th place in the Premier League.

That is unacceptable in anyone’s book.

Yet other than a few internally produced “open letters to fans” and the odd programme notes, there has been no real discussion, explanation or insight into what may be the cause of the continued decline of one of English football’s great clubs, indeed a founding member of both the Football League and Premier League.

Escaping relegation cannot be celebrated, it cannot be what the club is seen as.

Nobody at board level can be immune to criticism

The owner and board cannot fear the fanbase. They cannot ignore the clamour for an explanation and they can’t just hope it goes away with a couple of wins. It won’t!

Ultimately, the buck stops with majority shareholder Moshiri and nobody really knows how the club has functioned or what pressures the hierarchy may have had to deal with under his leadership.

But the board of directors, including chairman Bill Kenwright and CEO Denise Barrett-Baxendale also have a responsibility, too.

With every position of office comes responsibility and accountability.

They are responsible for decisions day in, day out which contribute to the performance on the pitch, whoever initiates them.

Whilst we hear suggestions from different quarters that it is the poor judgement of Moshiri which has caused many of the issues in the last seven years, nobody at board level can be immune to both criticism and accountability.

Now is the time to stand up, put heads above the parapet and trust your gut and principles to offer an honest assessment of where the problems lie.

New stadium not enough to appease fanbase

It is no longer accepted by the fans to just concentrate on the positives, like the fantastic new stadium coming soon.

The fans have had enough. It has gone on too long and they’re sick of false dawns.

I have no doubt those on the board care for the club but so do the fans, so does Lampard, despite his relatively short association with it.

Right now, the manager and fans are the only ones being heard, the only ones standing up and being counted and that can’t continue.

There are generations of supporters that have not seen Everton win a trophy, and that was not the case prior to 1996.

Add to that an owner that has not been to Goodison Park since October 2021. The time has come for him or his board to put up, show up and speak up.

Everton face two crucial games against Southampton and West Ham – season-defining in January it seems – but even six points from those two fixtures won’t pacify, or rectify the deeper issues and concerns held by Evertonians.