Everton FC

While catching the train into Manchester the other night with my erstwhile yet misguided colleague and Liverpool editor Adam Yates, the inevitable discussion of the derby came up. I'd taken umbrage to the fact that Yatesy had described Everton in his previous post as being 'an average team?' Now I'm all for rhetorcal questions but not when they are simply fucking ridiculous. An average team we are not. By the same token a big team we are certainly not, particularly in the current climate (just who do you think you are City?), but to lump us in with the truly average teams in the Prem like your Boltons or your West Hams, does us a huge disservice. Plus, when you compare our operating budget to teams like Spurs, Newcastle or even Fulham, yet see that we've outperformed them with relative ease the past 5 seasons or so, I think it's both silly and downright wrong to call us 'average.'

Oh and to accuse us of trading on past glories is a bit rich coming from a Koppite, but at least he has the common decency to admit this. However, I don't think there are any teams outside the top 4 in the Prem who aren't trading on past glories anymore - the only truly winnable trophies are the FA and Carling cups, and the managers of the top 4 tend to treat those with all the respect they would afford to a child abuser.

Anyway, rant over.