Page 37 - 364645 LP243221 A Love Supreme 48pp A5 Aug22

rocked to full houses every week. We were a force to be reckoned with, it was entertaining, it was effective, and we loved almost every minute of it. Would we take that? Too bloody right.
Of course, it only lasted a few years,
and we had to thank Mick McCarthy for promotion in ’04-’05, and for the following season he brought in Kelvin Davis, Nyron Nosworthy, Tommy Miller, Jon Stead, and Andy Gray. No, not that Andy Gray, but in hindsight he’d have been a better option, even aged forty. He scored on his opening day debut as we lost
3-1 and didn’t trouble the scorekeeper again. Tommy Miller arrived from Ipswich as a goalscoring midfielder but failed
to click. Jon Stead tried his heart out
but managed only two goals as he was subbed in 19 of his 40 appearances. While it wasn’t all his fault, Davis became known as Calamity Kelvin, and was even confronted on the pitch by an irate fan during a home defeat by Portsmouth. Alan Stubbs arrived as a defensive saviour but had clearly left his heart at Goodison. We didn’t win a home game until May and that was only because
the original game against Fulham had been abandoned in an improbable
April blizzard with us a goal behind.
Add to that only two away wins, and in summary, it was a horrible campaign, ending with a record low points total of 15 (beating our own record of 19 from three years earlier), half as many as nineteenth placed West Brom. Would we take that? Don’t be daft.
Following Keano’s success of ’06-’07, we were back in the Prem again, and Roy brought in a raft of new players to ensure we stayed there. In came Craig Gordon for a goalkeeping record fee, Kenwyne Jones, Danny Higginbottom, Michael Chopra, Dickson “don’t mess with” Etuhu, Paul McShane, and Kieran Richardson. Chopra’s last- minute debut winner against Spurs
on the opening day set the scene for an interesting season, but we failed
to really build on it. The fact that Jones top scored with eight, followed by Chopra on seven, probably sums the season up. There were too many winless runs, and too many goals conceded (59) compared to goals scored (36) as we bumped along in the bottom half of the table, never really in danger of going down but never threatening a run upwards. We ended three places and three points above the drop. Would we take that? I suppose so, but I’d expect better.
What will our tenth attempt at the season after promotion bring? If early signs are anything to go by, and by that I mean Rangers, Roma, and Dundee Utd rather than Bradford, Accrington (although we fairly pezzled them for the middle hour without scoring), and Hartlepool, I’d say mid-table is a very reasonable target with the possibility of something better. Certainly higher than the bottom place predicted by a certain national newspaper, anyway. Would we take that? You decide.
ALOVESUPREME
ISSUE259
37
BY SOBS