Five Reasons Why Now Is a Good Time To Become an Everton Fan

Maybe you’ve just started watching the Premier League. We’re a few games into the season now and you’ve see a decent variety of the teams play and you’re wondering who you should join up with as a fan. Okay, great!

Pulling for a team in the English Premier League makes a lot of sense. Europe offers a higher quality of soccer than what you can get at home if you’re from the United States and it’s also the most visible league in the world thanks to how well promoted it is. There’s a ton of history, fierce rivalries, and passion across the board. Welcome to our world!

Now here’s why you should pull for Everton in it.

The People’s Club

Everton is a club with deep roots in its community despite being one of the biggest clubs in the whole world. Nearly every month there are stories about ways in which our club looks out for the little guy, the way they care.

Examples include hosting a charity game in the memory of Bradley Lowery, the courageous young man who lost his battle with cancer this past year. They recently offered a coaching role to a player forced into retirement by an injury scare, to help the young man get back on his feet and moving in the right direction, and they’ve taken part in Christmas outreach in their local community.

Join us and, quite simply, you’re signing on with the good guys.

No plastic fans

Thanks to being a fairly new moneyed club, Chelsea are known for their ‘plastic’ fans. Manchester City, too, have countless fans who had nothing to do with them until they started winning titles in the last decade or so.

Likewise, I can’t begin to even count the number of Arsenal and Manchester United jerseys I’ve seen out and about from people who couldn’t tell you who Thierry Henry or Paul Scholes actually were. They’re just in it for the brand recognition.

If you want nothing to do with Liverpool and their eternal “this is our year” skulduggery, then also kindly swerve the Red Side.

Everton is a big club with a lot of history, but because of its historic focus on the local community and the fact that it doesn’t just put out a £200m net spend when things go wrong, we aren’t one of the trendy hubs of mindless bandwagonners. The Toffees have had an Academy youth product in the matchday roster for over 1000 consecutive matches. That’s the second longest streak in England and it reflects Everton’s commitment to staying true to its roots.

Bright future

Speaking of those youth products, the England team that just won the Under-20 World Cup had five Everton players on it. That’s a nucleus for the future.

Further, the club is spending at a record level. We brought in Jordan Pickford (also a young player) for the second highest fee ever spent on a keeper and Gylfi Sigurdsson represents our record acquisition.

What’s more? We’re building a brand new world class stadium. We’re in the Europa League this year and the team is moving in the right direction.

Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images

American connection

If you’re from the US and you have a history of rooting for the USMNT in the World Cup and Gold Cup then Everton has a history you’ll appreciate.

Tim Howard, the Secretary of Defense himself, spent nearly a decade between the sticks here at Everton, and record setting US goalscorer Landon Donovan spent two loan spells here. See Brian McBride talking soccer on your TV? He played at Goodison Park as well. Going even further back, striker Joe-Max Moore was also with the Toffees at one point. You might not know who Predrag Radosavljević is, but if you know who Preki is, he’s played at the Blues too.

Photo by Chris Brunskill/Getty Images

History of success

Everton is one of the most successful clubs in English football history. The Toffees have earned the third most points of any team in the history of the Premier League. More than Manchester United, more than Chelsea. We’re a founding member of the football league and the single season record for league goals in an English top flight is held by Everton legend Dixie Dean. We have nine top flight league titles and five FA Cup titles.

Photo by Alex Livesey/Getty Images

The Blues’ play at Goodison Park, which is one of the most iconic venues in the history of the sport as well, celebrating it’s 125th birthday a few weeks ago. The Grand Old Lady as she is popularly known, was first purpose-built major football stadium built in England and went on to pioneer multiple innovations in the game over the years.

Conclusion

Soccer is the greatest sport in the world, and there are a lot of great clubs out there. At the end of the day you want a club that you’ll be proud to root for on and off the pitch, that has hope for the future, and who you’ll be able to follow easily even if you live a thousand miles away. Everton provides all these things. And if that doesn’t sell ya on it, check out this video of the fans we already have:

Fans come in all sizes and shapes from everywhere in the world, and the Everton community welcomes them with wide-open arms. We even have a saying -

Evertonians are born not manufactured

We do not choose; We are chosen

Those who understand need no explanation

Those that don't understand don't matter

It’s like falling in love, there’s no reasoning, you just know - that’s how it is when you’re an Everton fan. Where you are and what you’re doing don’t matter, the club finds you and embraces you, which is why this is also known as the People’s Club. Welcome.