Everton: The club a shining light through the gloom

As an Evertonian I believe I support a special club, whether that is misguided bias or not is, I suppose, for others to say. Throughout all the gloom that has surrounded the results for a long time now, there are constant reminders about the best this club has to offer off the pitch.

There were a mix of emotions at Goodison Park on Saturday as the day started with a moving tribute to Hillsborough and ended with a protest about the manager, in between we played a game of football. The club is clearly ran by people with good hearts and people who time and time again represent us in a great light. For all his faults as a chairman, a lot of this is done by Bill Kenwright. When Farhad Moshiri bought his investment I said at the time that it could be the best of both worlds, an owner who can get things done and a chairman who cares about the club. Hopefully, if the right decision is made regarding the manager, this will be true going forward.

Walking around the ground which was bathed in beautiful sunshine I was met by people collecting for ‘Everton In The Community’ which is such a wonderful charity that has a fantastic number of projects and a fantastic number of awards to go with it. It’s a charity that has done, and is doing, wonderful things and is one of a number of reasons that make me proud to be an Evertonian.

Then getting into the ground a banner was help us saying “Justice At Last … Brothers In Arms” which shows how this tragedy is joint pain shared by the city of Liverpool. The players wore shirts which read “Truth & Justice” with 96 on the back and then there was the pre-match tribute. The applause started long before it was scheduled to do so and gained in volume when the inspirational Margaret Aspinall and other families members entered the field to rapturous applause and “He aint heavy, he’s my brother” was played. It was very much lump in the throat moment and one which made the hairs stand on end. The club handled it perfectly, as they did in 2012. The families were led off to a chant of ‘Justice for the 96’ and gave me an overwhelming feeling not only of how special this club is, but also the city it plays in.

The club handles these things perfectly time and time again, As frustrating as things have been recently, i’ve never been prouder to be an Evertonian. There has been discontent with fans about the manager and what approach, if any, should be used to try and bring about change but it is only so hotly debated due to the love that Evertonians have for our club.

It’s not very fun supporting Everton at the moment and hasn’t been for a few years. I have written 10’s of thousands of words over the last few months pouring over everything that is going wrong with the club, I thought I’d take a moment to look at what is done right. Through good results, or bad, the club remains special and I remain proud to say I’m an Evertonian whenever asked. There is plenty of doom and gloom at the moment but the club remain a shining light for those in need or in pain.