ON the field of play it has been a remarkable fortnight for Everton, who have taken 10 points from a possible 12, one of which was taken off the reigning Premier League champions.
I spoke last week about the club’s fans could be looking forward with a fair degree of optimism, given our position in the table even though the team had yet to hit top form either as a unit or in terms of individual performance.
There were signs last weekend that some of the players I mentioned seem now to be getting back towards their best and are beginning to perform with the confidence of which they are capable. Joleon Lescott looked absolutely thrilled with his goal and Louis Saha’s confidence after making one and scoring two – albeit with a little bit of good fortune – must be sky high.
The striker is also hopefully benefiting from a run of first team appearances, something that has not been the case for far too long, and if he can continue to avoid injury and complete a sequence of 10 or 12 matches there is little doubt that his undoubted class will take him to even better things.
On the back of their recent resurgence Everton must be full of confidence going into Sunday’s televised clash with Middlesbrough.
I have seen Gareth Southgate’s team play on several occasions so far this season and at best they are efficient, yet very rarely thrilling so the match represents another major opportunity for David Moyes’s men to extend their sparkling run and build further momentum in preparation for the sterner tests that lie ahead.
Off the field, however, things are not looking so bright for Everton. In a speech at the International Football Arena in Zurich this week, the self-styled power broker Keith Harris delivered a depressing summary of his thoughts regarding the potential sale of the Goodison Park club.
He painted a depressing picture of the economic reality that encompassed not just Everton but of Merseyside as a whole but, in a slightly different context, of Liverpool as well.
Harris reckons it will be tough to find a buyer for Everton because there is little potential for growth in the value of the club as things stand and virtually no guarantee of a return on the massive investment required to improve the current position.
According to him, Everton would appear to be completely hamstrung by a combination of factors, including the issue of what to do with Goodison Park, the relative wealth – or rather poverty – of the area and the fact that there are two major Merseyside clubs competing for limited revenue.
And if that was not enough, the situation has been exacerbated by the current global economic climate, which does not seem likely to improve in the near future.
The Harris verdict, of course, will not be news to Everton chairman Bill Kenwright, but to have it spelled out by a so-called expert in his field should make everyone realise what a tough job Kenwright has had over the past few years and, in some respects, appreciate just how well he and Everton have done to continue competing at the level they have in recent seasons.
The big worry, though, is that nobody, as yet, seems to have a solution.
