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on January 17, 2026, 9:29 am, in reply to "Gary Neville on “Everton’s DNA” on the latest “Stick To Football” show"
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He was talking about different teams identity and for his quote was:
“Everton have got a DNA. When I think Everton I think fast, direct, big strikers, putting balls in the box, loads of crosses….that to me is Everton. Centre halves that are dominant. That to me is Everton. If you don’t give Everton fans that they don’t like it….”
I don’t think he is far off in his summation at all.
I’d add high energy and tempo to that description.
Scousers, in my opinion, want to see an “in your face” style mixed with a dash of flair and skill.
There is a lot said about the atmosphere at HDS and previously at Goodison.
I think we are there as a match going fanbase waiting to be lit by a style of football that I think many want to see.
The game has changed so it’s not about hard physical tackles continually and just “getting stuck in” but, as they showed across the Park with Klopp, you can be full of energy and pace and be effective and increase crowd engagement.
For me we’re a reactive fanbase. We react to what we see and that gets us singing and shouting, not the other way around. We need a bad referring decision or a hard tackle or football played at pace and waves of attack to get us going in the stands.
Slow possession football, in my opinion, doesn’t suit an Everton match going crowd at all and this is why we sit in relative silence a lot of the time.
£ has been restricted in recent years so we’ve had to make do with low quality players. Whilst it’s highly unlikely we’ll have the riches of the CL clubs and become a trophy winning machine, with the new recruitment team there’s no reason why we couldn’t mould back to an identity we had but have now seemingly lost.
Think of “successful” sides we’ve had in the last 50 years. They’ve been a mix of high energy, pressing, dominant type centre forwards, getting the ball up the pitch quickly, using fullbacks and wingers for width and crosses and a dash of skill and flair in midfield.
Kendall’s teams in the 80’s, Royles team for a couple of years in the 90’s and Moyes side in the last few years of his first spell.
I’d love a vision that started to recruit players for a style that would get the crowd going.
Trying to become “possession” based Pep lite with an inferior level of player compared to those that play that style better due to having and attracting better players is ultimately flawed.
I don’t even know if what has brought good times previously to a club is considered now but, for me, Neville’s comments carry a lot of sense.
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