It shouldn’t be like this. The booing, the anger and those growls of frustration: they all belonged to a different era.
Everton have spent £239million in the past 12 months. Modern football may be awash with money but that level of investment is still remarkable for a club whose previous ethos was to carefully balance the books and make sure every penny was spent wisely.
But as they laboured against West Brom, showing no wit and little zip, it was impossible to escape the feeling the vast expenditure has taken them backwards. Whatever honeymoon Sam Allardyce experienced eight weeks ago, it’s most certainly over.