BLUE WATCH: Everton should not be being dragged into spotlight over Steven Gerrard
CAN we just clear something up at the start?
Were any Everton staff, players or supporters involved in the incident at the Southport bar that resulted in the Liverpool captain, Steven Gerrard, being arrested and subsequently charged?
Because in the aftermath of the fracas that resulted in a lad going to hospital, the focus somehow seems to have inexplicably shifted towards Evertonians.
Now we don't know whether Gerrard is guilty or not, and quite frankly it's nothing to do with anyone at Everton.
In fact it's not a football matter at all, it's one that will be dealt with by the police and magistrates, but it's understandable that Reds take an interest as it's one of their players involved.
Still though, it's not clear why that certain sections of the media seem more interested in talking about the behaviour of Evertonians.
In the immediate aftermath of the incident, one newspaper for some reason saw fit to reproduce the sections of Jamie Carragher's book where he complained about the unsavoury chants during derbies.
How is that at all relevant here?
It did quieten down a bit when it became apparent that whatever did or didn't happen probably had more to do with Genesis than Goodison, but as soon as the FA Cup fourth round draw was made, and it became clear that Gerrard's court appearance is scheduled to be sandwiched between two Anfield derbies, the same sort of comments began to appear again, regarding the 'gauntlets of abuse' that he will apparently have to run.
Now everyone knows that the relations between both sets of supporters are not what they once where - the whole subject gets rehashed at least twice a season after all - and Evertonians have to shoulder their share of the responsibility for that.
And if Blues are involved in unpleasant incidents, against Liverpool or anyone else, then they deserve to be criticised.
However, it really is hard to blame Everton supporters for getting just a bit prickly when they are the subject of what is starting to feel like a smear campaign from certain sections of the media, seemingly intent on deflecting as much attention as possible away from the high-profile Gerrard.
Going back to the FA Cup draw, the fates do seem to be conspiring to make David Moyes's bid to improve on his record in the competition as difficult as possible.
He must be heartily sick of being reminded of Shrewsbury and Oldham whenever we approach third round ties, and to his credit he sent out more or less his strongest side who showed exactly the right sort of attitude in overcoming Macclesfield Town on a horrible pitch at Moss Rose.
To get the league leaders straight out of the bag the next day seemed a little bit harsh to say the least.
We'd like to think that Rafael Benitez and his team were slightly deflated too, at the prospect of facing Everton as opposed to one of the many lower and non-League sides they could have drawn.
We'd also hope that we are better prepared to take them on in a couple of weeks than we were for the Goodison derby back in September.
That was an embarrassing afternoon, with Everton seemingly in turmoil and Liverpool almost shocked at how easy it was to take all three points.
We seem to have got our act together since then though, and away from home we have been a genuine force to contend with.
So while we are hardly overjoyed with the draw, and we are clearly the underdogs, write us off at your peril.
Older/Newer
« Aston Villa reaction was turning point - Everton boss David Moyes | Everton FC told: Cut match traffic or lose 10,000 seats »
3 Comments
Latest Premier League video
I thought it was terrible that a newspaper article should mention EVerton fans berating Liverpool players in an article about the Gerrard incident. It had absolutley nothing to do with our fans so why did they feel the need to mention us?
Anyway, with our away form at the moment we can get a win and a draw at least in the 2 games against them this month. COYB!
I am an Evertonian but I had no probelm with Gerrard a couple of years ago. I thought he was a great prospect and I grudgingly accepted the general perception that he was one of the best players in the Country. However, three years ago when Liverpool found themselves struggling to keep pace with Everton and it looked like they were going to finish out of the top 4, Gerrard suddenly started shouting his mouth off about how they were going to overtake Everton because they had better players than us and they were a bigger club than us etc etc. Those comments were followed shortly by their manager calling Everton a small club and it escalated from there.
Unfortunately, we now have another Liverpool player who thinks it is clever to make snide comments about Everton as a club and the supporters in general. Jamie Carragher has been, and still is, one of the best centre halves in the country and I had a lot of sympathy for him when he decided he didnt want to pack his case and travel to England games any more if he wasnt going to play. The way he was treated by successive England managers made his decision to quit international football understandable. Until recently, I had a great regard for Carragher because I appreciated his efforts and I thought he was a quiet player who got on with the job but kept his mouth shut. Unfortunately though, either because he feels the need to take some pressure of Gerrard or perhaps because he thought it would sell more books, Carragher thought it would be a good idea to have a go at Everton as well.
Rather than having a go at Everton supporters for their 'outspoken' comments about these two players, people would do well to ask themselves why it happens. Why do they suffer so much when most other Liverpool players dont?
Torres gets stick but only on the same basis that most great players get stick from rival supporters. Nobody makes offensive personal comments about him and they never will unless he contracts the same desease that Gerrard, Benites and Carragher have and starts being personal towards Everton.
The best thing Liverpool and those people could do to help themselves is shut up about it, make no futher comments and hope that, in time, Evertonians get bored with their chants. Either that or leave for another club and start afresh there.
Unbelievable how well-writetn and informative this was.