Everton have cultivated a real ‘us vs the world’ mentality in recent years, but no more has it been present than this season.
After all, the Premier League made it so easy for Sean Dyche to galvanise his squad, administrating points deductions on two occasions and lobbying for even more than the eight that were eventually stolen.
The fanbase took this injustice and ran with it, protesting at plenty of home games whilst lobbying big figures in the media to provide answers.
Evertonians had already outlined their anger as Sky Sports pulled Andy Burnham’s interview defending the club back in September.
In the end, safety was easily attained for Everton, much to the delight of the fans and Dominic Calvert-Lewin.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin takes aim at Sky Sports & co
Speaking in Everton’s official match day programme during their final home game in the season, now published on the official website, the 27-year-old spoke openly about the feeling throughout the squad as they entered the run-in.
Just as much of the fanbase had voiced their frustrations against Sky Sports and the Premier League throughout the season, Calvert-Lewin has revealed how he too felt the same way.
He noted: ‘It felt like there was an agenda against us in terms of broadcasters putting all of our games on TV in the hope we’d be in the thick of a relegation scrap. It felt like they tried to build their own narrative, but we built our own and completely flipped the script with three wins in six days. Then, in terms of the derby win, we put that one to bed having not won one at Goodison for a while.
‘We are creating new narratives, new history. It’s on us.’
His frustrations were well-founded, given Sky Sports showed five of their last seven matches of the campaign, including clashes with fellow strugglers Brentford, Nottingham Forest and Luton Town.
The latter in particular drew laughs from Evertonians, given the match was a dead rubber for the visitors by the time it came around.
Everton avoided relegation with ease
Despite all the fanfare leading up to that all-important run-in, where Everton faced almost all of their relegation rivals, it was ultimately a profitable and straightforward period for Dyche’s men.
Brushing aside Burnley at home marked the start of the run, and whilst they were hardly impressive, it was enough to earn a vital three points right before another deduction came.
Then losing heavily to Chelsea did spark some fears, which were quickly assuaged as they would win three times in a week, against Forest, the Bees, and the pick of the bunch, in the Merseyside derby.
A draw on the road to the Hatters did the hosts no favours, before a routine win at home to the Blades ended their season on a high.
It is quite hilarious how the broadcasters built up this end to Everton’s season, just for them to make their picks swiftly redundant.