THAT'S THE SPIRIT!

Now that the Christmas period is nearly over and goodwill to all men is not being shoved down our throats from carols and shop adverts, I turned to Palace v Chelsea today to see how well behaved Diego Costa was. To be honest, he was under control, despite being the recipient of some crashing tackles early on, as the rain poured down and tackles flew in. By the end he had made one and scored a tap in, so no theatricals or petulence. Thank heavens. Chelsea won.

This behaviour is good news adding to the generousity of our local footballers at Christmas, visiting hospitals in Barnsley and Huddersfield and being nice to people. Winning their seasonal matches also helps.

At Everton's AGM in November, Peter Owens, an 89 year old supporter, asked if there could be an escalator or lift put in to his favourite Upper Bullens stand to enable him to access his seat in the more easily.  He has been at Goodison Road matches, man and boy, since the 1930s. Roberto Martinez, listening to this old fellow, marvelled at his dedication and loyalty and invited Peter to sit with him in the "dug out" at the next match. The long serving supporter sat and watched the Palace game, along with the club's entourage, pitch side.
He met the team afterwards and hopefully the millionaires, getting out of Everton kit, may have regarded this meeting as their privilege, not his!

Everton is a club that serves the community; they are hanging on to their young stars, Barkley and Stones, for example, and Martinez sees his players make the most of the opportunity (or privilege) that they have, that is playing football in one of the best leagues in the World. His players enjoy what they are doing and clearly send out the right messages as role models.

Today, Everton meet another club full of young players, Tottenham. Both teams have managers who are responsible for much more than what happens on the pitch and who are not infatuated with results. Each is creating a club playing good football, making a "complete" atmosphere in the ground and there should be no need for huge stadia and "bums on seats". The lion's share of football money comes from TV sponsorship, not from admission prices. Both clubs have plans to develop new stadia however, which is sad.

I am listening to Radio 5 Live this afternoon, before the game, and the pundits say just the same about the possibility of leaving Goodison. Is there a need? If it happens, maybe the planners of the new stadium would promise to put in stairlifts for the old folk? By the way, seat prices for the next Everton game include £10 for juniors. Good community spirit.