**There will be no flags. No banners. No giant tifo.**
The 1878s have made their decision and, after the way [Everton](https://readeverton.com/) handled the final days of the transfer window, it is entirely understandable.
They have done more than most to provide the colour and noise that followed Everton from Goodison to the Hill Dickinson. For now, they have decided enough is enough.
Plenty of Evertonians understand why.
But that leaves a void today.
And maybe it is time for everybody else to fill it.
There is no point pretending the last week did not happen.
Deadline Day was horrendous. Everton emerged from it with a squad that is too small, glaring holes that should have been filled and supporters asking legitimate questions of those running the club.
Those questions are not going away. But there are 90 minutes today when something else takes over.
Because if Everton’s history tells us anything, it is that this football club has often been at its most dangerous when backed into a corner. When everything appears to be going wrong, Everton have had a habit of responding.
Goodison witnessed it often enough.
Relegation battles that looked lost. Nights when better teams arrived expecting to win. Days when anger in the stands somehow morphed into energy on the pitch.
Evertonians know the feeling.
The sirens start. Z-Cars follows. The players emerge. And the outside noise fades.
The Hill Dickinson is still creating its own history, but has already had its moments. The spirit of Goodison lingers.
David Moyes could have walked into Friday’s press conference looking like a manager who had been badly let down (because he had been).
Nobody would have blamed him. But instead, he was measured and surprisingly positive.
He admitted his disappointment. He acknowledged Everton had wanted to do more. He did not attempt to disguise the fact that his squad is small.
Then he moved on.
Moyes has had plenty of critics among Evertonians over the years. But even some of those who have questioned him accepted that on Friday he struck the right note.
This wasn’t the time for the manager to add more petrol onto an already raging fire.
Instead, he tried to rally his players and called on Evertonians to make the Hill Dickinson noisy, loud and proud.
That call deserves to be answered.
Not because supporters owe the club’s hierarchy anything. They don’t. Not because what happened on Deadline Day should be forgotten. It shouldn’t.
But because the players wearing royal blue today need Evertonians behind them, and because Manchester United should not be allowed to arrive on the banks of the Mersey to a fanbase feeling sorry for itself.
There has been plenty of talk about what the Hill Dickinson can become. Today would be a good time to show it.
The 1878s will not provide the spectacle. And we completely get it. So the rest of the stadium has to provide the noise.
All four sides. No waiting for Everton to score before joining in. No allowing United and their travelling support to be heard.
From the sirens. Through Z-Cars. From the first tackle to the last kick.
Loud and proud. Today is not the day to be polite, accommodating hosts.
Everton have been kicked around enough over the last few days.
There will be time afterwards to resume the arguments about Deadline Day, recruitment, ownership and how a club with such ambitions managed to leave itself so desperately short.
Those conversations will continue.
But first there is a football match.
And perhaps, amid all the justified anger, there is an opportunity. A chance for the Hill Dickinson to feel a little more like home. A chance for a small Everton squad to realise that, whatever else is happening at the club, it isn’t standing alone.
A chance for United to walk out of that tunnel and immediately understand what awaits.
Evertonians don’t need anybody to tell them how to support their team. They have been doing it through circumstances far worse than these for generations.
But Moyes has made his call. The 1878s have made their stand. Now the rest of the Hill Dickinson can make theirs.
Turn up. Turn up the volume.
And when those sirens sound, come out swinging.
_For updates on the Toffees throughout the season, take a look at our [LIVE! Premier League 2026/27 News, Transfers, Updates & Viral Moments](https://dave.sport/live/premier-league-2026-2027-season-updates/) page._