Former Everton defender Slaven Bilic has weighed in on the club’s current state of affairs, suggesting that the success of decades gone by clouds the judgement of fans when determining what a successful season would look like with the current crop of players.
Bilic, who spent 2 seasons at Goodison Park between 1997 and 1999, when the Blues finished 14th and 17th respectively, insists that expectations are being shaped by the success of the 1980’s, prompting an unrealistic set of hopes for the season.
Instead, the manager now in charge of Watford believes that the club should go “step-by-step” in its rebuild, though admitted that he understands the frustrations of the fans due to the length of time Everton have spent operating outside of the footballing elite.
The former Croatia international said, “The size of the club is unbelievable, I have been there.
It’s a massive club. It doesn’t matter what happened in the 80s with Gary Lineker or with Dixie Dean, it doesn’t matter.
“Let’s go step-by-step, it’s a massive club but it is frustrated big time with the situation that has been going on for years and years now. From my point of view, it creates that atmosphere.”
Indeed, the 54-year-old goes on to say that the sport in the modern era is a far cry from how it was during his playing days, insisting that players struggle to cope with pressure due to the impact of social media.
The former Blues defender continued, “Nowadays players are more fragile than the players 20, 30 or 40 years ago because they feel that criticism from social media and everything. They feel it.”
The spotlight of social media has indeed altered how fans discuss the sport in the modern era, and targeted abuse of players online has been rampant throughout football for many years.