My bad, B.
Who are we?
We are Everton, for sure.
The People’s Club, a Grand Old Team and one of the oldest in the land but, really and right now, who are we?
What does the Everton of 2018 represent?
What does the club stand for?
What are its ideals?
Scratch beneath the surface and what do we find?
Where are we going?
Other than non-repeatable expletives, few words have been used with such frequency in the past nine months as ‘identity’ and for many at Goodison the Blues no longer have one - they are, sadly, unrecognisable to many.
Forget the patronising tones with which those outside of the club bemoan our plight because what really matters is that the club, its fans, the team and the manager understand that we need to find direction and avoid the risk of drifting into anonymity.
And my word, it would be an expensive trip as well.
Ask a different
Evertonian to describe the team’s playing style, get a different answer.
Stop another Blue and ask them to summarise the club’s transfer strategy and they will give a different answer to the next fan you ask.
Ask fans to rate the manager’s performance as part of a surve....
let’s not go there.
Understandably, it’s a sore subject around the club at the moment and has brought unwanted national attention but it changed nothing, it didn’t suddenly shine a light on a club struggling to understand what it is, because those problems have been there for most of the season.
Sam Allardyce said he found a club in “chaos” when he arrived in late November and though the stench of relegation has been removed from the air, how much order has been restored is up for debate.
You could argue it’s as chaotic as it was, just in different ways.
Everton cannot claim that all is calm again. All is certainly not harmonious. We are not a club that feels comfortable in its own skin.
Real and tangible progress is being made on a new stadium but what’s happening on the pitch, and some of what’s happening off it, is not travelling at the same pace.
There’s too much talk of an uneasy atmosphere at the training ground and there’s tension, disconnect and mistrust between the stands and field of play.
To borrow the manager’s phrase, it’s “not healthy”.
Allardyce insisted recently that it remains only a minority of supporters that are sceptical of his reign but his insistence that he cannot afford to experiment between now and the end of the season, and last night’s call for the club to clarify his position, is indicative of man not certain about this future.
The future of Steve Walsh also remains in doubt as well, with Marcel Brands poised to make a decision on his next move while chief executive Robert Elstone is expected to leave for a role with Super League.
It would be unprecedented for the Blues to be searching for a new manager, director of football and chief exec at the same time and especially important, for a club that has at times felt rudderless, to get their replacements spot on.
Between now and the end of the season, Everton can start to rediscover their sense of direction by making clear and decisive action.
Whether that’s backing the manager or sacking him, only they can decide, but the decision has to be with the aim of the club trying to rediscover what it once was and making clear where it wants to go.
We are Everton – and now it’s time to decide what that means.
