After bidding an emotional farewell to Goodison Park last weekend, this Sunday sees the last stand for ‘old’ Everton before the dawn of what a loyal but long-suffering fanbase hope will be a bright new dawn. Back when he was the Premier League’s youngest manager, it was a chastening trip to St James’ Park where David Moyes suffered his first defeat as a top flight boss.
Despite taking the lead just six minutes into the contest through former Magpie Duncan Ferguson, the then 38-year-old’s Everton were thrashed 6-2 by a rampant Newcastle United on March 29, 2002,
The home boss was Bobby Robson, who was to be knighted later that year, and was the Scot’s senior by over 30 years. Speaking to this correspondent in an exclusive interview in 2022 to mark the 20th anniversary of his appointment at Goodison Park, Moyes told the ECHO: “I remember him coming out and saying: ‘That result is a welcome to the Premier League for David Moyes’. When I heard that I thought: ‘Oh… you’ve got me now, the challenge is on’.
“Sir Bobby was a great man and a great manager but for a young coach it was like: ‘You think you’re doing okay, you’re going to find this tough’, and he was right in what he said.
“In the end we stayed up quite comfortably without it being too big an issue.”
Now 62, and the Premier League’s elder statesman himself, Moyes has ensured that Everton have stayed up quite comfortably without it being too big an issue in another Blues rescue mission after returning to the helm in January.
At the time of his re-appointment in January, the team were just one point above the relegation zone, but having got themselves mathematically safe from the drop with five games left to spare, back-to-back victories over Fulham and Southampton have got them going into their final fixture some 20 points clear of the bottom three.
Following Crystal Palace’s 4-2 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers on Tuesday, Everton are now confirmed in 13th place with absolutely nothing but pride to play for on Tyneside. It’s a refreshing position to be following their travails on and off the pitch just to remain in the Premier League in recent years.
Newcastle United go into the game sitting fourth but could finish anywhere from third to seventh, but while travelling Blues would like to spoil the party against an outfit with whom there has been little love lost of late, the only real incentive for the visiting players themselves will be trying to convince the manager they can be part of his plans next season after what promises to be a significant summer rebuild.
As much as Evertonians might be at pains to admit it, Eddie Howe’s men, can actually act as an inspiration for their own club as they look to challenge English football’s leading lights again.
One of the main bugbears with Blues when it came to the Magpies, was the way they liked to present themselves as a supposedly massive club when they hadn’t secured silverware since the footage was – like their kit – black and white. However, they got that monkey off their back in spectacular fashion with a 2-1 win over Liverpool in the Carabao Cup final to lift their first domestic honour in 70 years.
Then, only last weekend, Crystal Palace lifted the first major trophy of their 119-year existence – providing we don’t count their 4-1 extra time success over Everton in the 1991 Zenith Data Systems Cup final when legendary Blues goalkeeper Neville Southall refused to go up the Wembley steps to collect his runner-up medal – by edging out Manchester City 1-0.
On the day, it seemed to mean more to the Eagles players and fans alike, but either way it was another of the so-called ‘Big Six’ (two of whom, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur, will finish below Everton this season) to have been vanquished, and in the shape of Pep Guardiola’s side, the team, who along with the Reds, have been the dominant force in domestic football over the past decade.
With this week also marking the 30th anniversary of Everton’s last major trophy when Joe Royle’s men defeated Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United at the old Wembley, both of this season’s domestic cup finals serve to show beleaguered Blues what can still be achieved, especially with a now older and wiser Moyes, who guided West Ham United to their first gong in 43 years less than 24 months ago, at the helm.
As much as Goodison is Everton’s spiritual home, and produced some magnificent images last Sunday, after being the pre-eminent club ground for most of her existence, having been overtaken by so many rivals, the revelation last year that she had dropped to third from bottom of the Premier League for generating matchday revenue confirmed that the time for a new stadium move was long overdue.
