Everton FC correspondent Joe Thomas believes patience will be required but that Blues are justified in their dreams of better days to come
Joe Thomas is the Everton FC correspondent for the Liverpool ECHO. He follows the Blues home and away, providing match reports, analysis and insight into events at Goodison Park, Finch Farm and beyond. Joe spent more than a decade covering news on Merseyside, working on award-winning investigations and extensively covering matters related to the Hillsborough tragedy - including the recent criminal prosecutions. Always grateful for tips and feedback, he can be contacted at joe.thomas@reachplc.com and on Twitter via @joe_thomas18
The biggest difference between this year and last at Finch Farm is the surrounding road layout Throughout the changing seasons, and during a campaign that was a rollercoaster of emotions, the one constant was the presence of roadworks, diversions and the delays they created.
Don’t get me wrong, there were plenty of times when being late to the Everton training ground would not have been an issue.
For the first half of the season, then manager Sean Dyche would allow for the anticipation to grow before making his entrance for a pre-match press conference. And as the Blues straddled the purgatory of looking just about good enough to avoid the drop but not quite good enough to allow for sleepless nights, the conversations that followed were not always the easiest.
A lot has since changed - far more than just the comparative ease of reaching the Halewood training base.
In the past 12 months, Everton have been taken over, opened a new stadium, been on a run of form that took them closer to the top half of the table than the bottom three and welcomed the return of the man who inspired that form - David Moyes.
As he entered the media room on Friday to preview the trip to Leeds United, he did so with a joke - looking around the room and remarking how many of us appeared to have aged over the summer.
The reaction I have seen online suggests that Moyes cut a frustrated figure. In the room, his presence was more genial - as it often is. The Scot shared a few jokes and his warmth meant they were taken in good faith.
But it is true to say the challenges come thick and fast for a Blues boss at this stage in the club’s history. For all the pride at the wonderful glimpse of Hill Dickinson Stadium last weekend, and the exhilaration of welcoming silverware-clad Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and Jack Grealish, this summer has not quite gone to plan - not yet, anyway. The injuries on the eve of the campaign to Jarrad Branthwaite and Vitalii Mykolenko are a nightmare.
Meanwhile, Everton have started the rebuild that was a necessity but, six incomings later, still need to address glaring issues on the right of the side.
And for all there is that points to the club being on a positive trajectory - improving finances, rising ambitions, strategic overhauls and a state-of-the-art new home - it appears the legacy of past struggles still hangs over the minds of players as they consider becoming part of the club’s revival.
Asked whether that lag in recognition over how much potential Everton have to improve had surprised him, Moyes was pragmatic. He said: “If you're trying to get the players we want to get, the players really want to play in Europe. The players want European football now… But I have been a little surprised.
“I have to say we've been in for a lot of players, but It's not just that, sometimes we've not been able to reach the fees or different bits and pieces, but quite a lot of other players have sort of said, ‘no, we'd rather see how it can go’.”
Moyes has been keen to stress the ambition the Blues should have since he arrived in January. His shift of focus onto challenging for Europe not survival proved inspirational for players and supporters and the club has not looked back.
He has been hugely impressed by the new stadium, but is unsure whether that in itself can be a defining point of his Everton sales pitch.
He explained: “The new stadium is a lovely project for all of us and we think it's great, but the players nowadays get the chance to play in great stadiums all around the world. They play in Europe with all the best stadiums. We were playing in some magnificent stadiums in America, so they get that chance.
“The stadium is really great for Evertonians and for everybody at Everton and a home for us. To attract new players, I don't know if it's the biggest single thing they would come for.”
Much of the wider club project is moving in a positive direction but the message this summer appears to have been that it will take time for those outside the Royal Blue bubble to trust that Everton is on better financial footing and this club is serious about progress.
None of this means that the Blues players, staff and supporters should not be excited for the journey ahead. Instead, while patience will be required during a major transition for the club, a good target this year would be to bloody the noses of the doubters.
In a week in which some influential voices questioned whether Everton could even survive this season, or whether Jordan Pickford - without whom that glistening superstructure on the banks of the Mersey may still be a building site - was rightfully England’s number one, perhaps the gauntlet was laid.
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The Blues still have work to do in the transfer window and until the right-side is sorted it is tough to see this being a season of major progress. It is also tough to see the club not addressing those issues in the next fortnight.
For me, there will come a point in the next 18 months when people will get wise to the prospect Everton now are. There will be players who will regret not joining this project when they could have risen with the club. And there will be plenty of fun along the way.
Complacency must be avoided at all costs. But do not be afraid to be excited.
My takeaway from Finch Farm was not Moyes’ demeanour or his responses to the questions posed.
It was of driving out and having to edge through the gates slowly because dozens and dozens of families were using the summer holidays to try and meet their favourite players.
I left behind Thierno Barry, who signed a swathe of merchandise before driving 100 yards down the road and stopping his car in order to sign even more.
Try telling those schoolchildren that Everton are not on the verge of a new era.