It’s been eight months, give or take, since Everton’s fans did what they always do in the club’s moments of greatest jeopardy. Organise. Mobilize. Use the force of their support to drag the team out of the jaws of relegation.
So there was an unfortunate irony when Frank Lampard said of the protests which preceded and followed defeat to the Premier League’s bottom club Southampton a few days ago: ‘The off-field noise is there.’
By the time those words were being broadcast on Saturday night’s Match of the Day, Everton’s fans had somehow found themselves cast as the cause of the problems engulfing this proud and broken club.