Verdict from Joe Thomas after Everton’s clash with Sheffield United in the Premier League on Saturday
It was not shocking that there were no representatives from 777 Partners, but their absence suggested a different tale.
The US group has been a prominent presence in the directors box of the club it has been attempting to take over for eight months for a significant portion of this season. As recently as at Luton Town, the club’s final game before Sheffield United’s visit, figures were present. But the hopes of those who had consistently filled tickets in L4 and above seem to be in ruins following ten days in which the company was slammed with a civil case centered on charges of $600 million in fraud and its Australian airline went into administration.
The strongest representation of that occurred in Belgium, not in Liverpool, on Friday when demonstrators from Standard Liege, one of the teams already owned by 777 Partners, stopped the team from arriving at their stadium. Because of the group that intended to add the Blues to what lawyers have said is its “house of cards,” the club received a third transfer ban this week, and the match against Westerlo was canceled as a result. This is just the latest crisis at a club where late staff payments have become routine.
Naturally, throughout the course of the last several seasons, Goodison has been the site of protests and demonstrations. The only indication of unhappiness for the last home game of yet another difficult season, though, was the jeering of the Premier League song prior to kickoff. It was the final gasp of a campaign in which this club has bucked the odds and snubbed the officials who have been trying to penalize it and the competitors who have been trying to take advantage of it when it was weak.
A threadbare squad consisting of the remnants of troubled seasons and two relegation battles that went to the wire has, under the management of Sean Dyche, overcome late sales, injury crises, ownership uncertainty and eight points of deductions spread across two unprecedented Premier League prosecutions.
That this famous institution is still standing and fighting is testament to the supporters and players who have rallied in the face of adversity. More challenges await over the summer but it will be a summer spent safe in the knowledge that Everton will enter the final season at Goodison Park where it should be – in the top flight. This side has not just stayed up, it has fired back at its critics and landed blows, most significantly by ending the title hopes of Liverpool with that famous win last month.
It was fitting, therefore, that one of the club’s great modern warriors Seamus Coleman was able to lead the team out for a first pressure-free May home game in several years. Although his contract is due to expire in a matter of weeks, talks over extending his stay into what would be a 16th year are ongoing. He wants to carry on playing and this home match will probably not be his last in Royal Blue at this stadium. But it was only right the Goodison crowd had the opportunity to roar him onto the pitch and then sing his name throughout this match, just in case.
This match lacked the intensity and drama that has been a consistent theme of home games across recent seasons. There was little riding on it, so that was of little shock. But Everton were the better team and that was pleasing. Dominic Calvert-Lewin was excellent. In the opening minutes he cut in from the right and shot straight at Wes Foderingham. Later in the first half, he should have claimed an assist when more neat work allowed him to play in Abdoulaye Doucoure.
The midfielder had time to pick his spot but instead blasted at Foderingham. It was an effort that summed up his struggle for finesse since the double hamstring blow that turned his and Everton’s season upside down. But it is welcome he will get the summer rest he needs and deserves with the confidence of a goal after Calvert-Lewin later provided an opportunity he could not miss. Dwight McNeil slipped the striker into the left channel of the box and he tried to round the onrushing Foderingham. When he was forced wide he maintained the composure to check his run and chip a cross over Foderingham’s arms and onto Doucoure’s head.
After so much nail-biting in the Goodison finales of the Bournemouth and Crystal Palace games that ended in narrow survival-clinching wins, there was a welcome serenity around the Grand Old Lady as Everton saw out this win, Dyche providing youngsters Lewis Dobbin and Lewis Warrington with vital experience to add to the feel-good factor.
After the match, the home players thanked the supporters who had given them so much support during so many difficult moments with the first lap of honour here since 2019. Who will return next season is unclear.
Alongside Coleman, Andre Gomes, Ashley Young, Idrissa Gueye and Warrington are out of contract while Arnaut Danjuma, again an unused substitute, is unlikely to return to Everton after a difficult loan spell from Villarreal. Jack Harrison, absent through an injury that will also keep him out of the trip to Arsenal, could end up back on Merseyside depending on talks between Everton and his parent club, Leeds United.
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