Everton and Liverpool Fall Under Manchester's Shadow

Soccer fans on Merseyside naively started the season with high hopes. After an injury-plagued 2009/10 season Everton players were confident of a top four finish. Liverpool fans reacted positively to the arrivals of Roy Hodgson and Joe Cole and aside from lingering ownership issues, things looked quite promising. 

One month later, Everton are bottom of the league and the red half of Merseyside are scarcely any better. Both teams were dumped from the Coca-Cola Cup by lower division sides and financial problems  mount as unpopular owners remain in charge of both clubs.

It is a far cry from the situation 25 years ago when the two teams dominated English soccer. Even at the height of recession in the eighties and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s battle with the Liverpool dockers, the two teams spent with a reckless abandon and no one could have foreseen their demise.

Everton started to have problems before Liverpool and despite a brief moment of joy when they won the FA Cup in 1995, the best times they have had in 20 years have been under David Moyes. With clever wheeling and dealing in the transfer market, Moyes kept Everton in the top six until last year when they slipped a few spots down the table and things look bleak this year.

Off the field, a proposal to move the team to Kirkby in order to more easily build a new stadium has been blocked by government officials. Everton who currently attract average gates of around 30,000 expected to be able to fill a stadium that would have held 55,000 in a city called Kirkby with a population of just 40,000.

Even if all 30,000 Everton regulars made the 10-mile trip to Kirkby, no one seemed able to explain where the other 25,000 fans would come from. The reason for the absurd stadium move is the fact that Goodison Park lacks the amenities found at other newer stadia and the city are unwilling or unable to reach a deal with the club to re-develop the current ground.

Meanwhile, Chairman Bill Kenwright announced three years ago that was searching for a new rich owner to take the club forward and despite the high profile purchase of Manchester City no one has come forward to buy the Merseyside club.

Liverpool face similar problems. Rich American owners who cannot get along and lost a lot of money in 2008, want to sell the club but no one is willing to give them the price they want for it. Anfield like Goodison is not the money maker it needs to be but they cannot afford to build a new stadium despite getting the go ahead from the city council.

Reds legend Kenny Dalglish this week joined the chorus of people suggesting the two teams should share a stadium. The famous “Welcome to Anfield” sign that leads to the pitch perhaps needs to be replaced with one that reads “Welcome to Reality.”

On the field fans have quickly tired of Roy Hodgson’s pragmatic long ball tactics. Meanwhile it has become apparent that there was a reason Chelsea let Joe Cole leave and despite his agents’ best efforts Manchester United, Arsenal, and AC Milan passed up the opportunity to sign him.

Cole could yet rediscover his best form but he is nowhere close just yet as evidenced in the World Cup. His Spanish teammate Fernando Torres has never been the same since Euro 2008. He has had a series of injuries but his body language suggests that his heart is not in it any more.

Steven Gerrard can no more carry the team than he could England in the World Cup and a few good wins against modest Europa Cup opponents do not offer the silver lining fans are looking for.

While the teams have been in decline over the last two decades the population of Liverpool has plummeted and government officials identified it as one area in England with a decreasing population while the rest of the country contends with the opposite problem. Manchester has risen from Liverpool’s shadow and continues to grow as a city.

Manchester United are now one championship away from matching Liverpool’s all-time record and Manchester City have a wealthy owner intent on matching them. Not so long ago, fans would casually mention “The Blues” and people immediately thought of Everton; but nowadays Chelsea, Manchester City and perhaps even Birmingham would spring to mind ahead of the faded Merseyside giants.

At the start of the 20th century no one in Preston imagined that the great North End team would never again win the championship and at the start of the 21st century Liverpool and Everton fans are faced with a similar situation.

There used to be a joke about there being only two teams on Merseyside; Everton and the Everton reserves. The only people not laughing about that joke any more are Everton fans. Liverpool fans meanwhile would do well to cast their minds back to when a big name English coach with European experience took over another financially troubled club. His name was Terry Venables, they were relegated and they have never bounced back.

Roy Hodgson has a very similar resume and perhaps the prospect of having no Merseyside teams in the Premier League is not so far-fetched. Rumors abound that Torres, Reina, and Gerard will join the city exodus so will the last man at Anfield please turn off the floodlights.