The 1878s, a prominent Everton fans group, have made a dramatic U-turn by reviving their Hill Dickinson Stadium flag displays for the Carabao Cup tie against Newcastle United on October 29, following The Friedkin Group's decision to sell the club.
Statement from the 1878s
In a statement released on Tuesday afternoon, the group said: “Before our Carabao Cup game versus Newcastle United we will be doing a flag display. We are pleased that the owners are wanting to sell the club, which will hopefully allow us to progress on the pitch and match our fans’ ambitions in the future with more investment from new owners.”
“With the pending sale of our club, being united as fans along with our players and management is massively important to help the team in these uncertain times. It’s been far too long since our club won silverware and as time goes on each cup game feels even more important.”
The group added: “We would love to help push the lads a step closer and into, potentially our first cup quarter final at our new home. Let’s bring our voices from the off and make it a loud one under the lights. UP THE TOFFEES.”
Previous stand down
The 1878s had earlier announced they were “standing down for the foreseeable future” due to their disappointment and disgust over how the transfer window had played out. In a statement released on September 2, they said: “We thought the potential sale of our biggest young talent was bad enough, but the last 24 hours has topped that.”
“On Saturday, David Moyes said: ‘I don’t think we can afford to lose any players, we need to stay as strong as we can’ - since then we have lost another five players (three of them who have left play in areas we needed to strengthen in) and only brought two in.”
“To leave us with no back up full-backs and just one striker is full-on gross negligence, not forgetting we also lost one of our best players at an under-valued price in today’s market in the process without replacing him too.”
Unity call ahead of cup tie
The group stated: “We stated on Sunday that we do not feel that our fanbase’s ambitions and the club’s ambitions align right now – what happened yesterday has proved that even more.” They added: “As a group we will still be standing down for the foreseeable future and will not be dedicating a huge amount of our own time to put together the displays that we do that try and generate the best pre match atmosphere possible.”
“To be clear, this is nothing against the signings we have made, we welcome them to the club and wish them the best of luck here. However, like the rest of our fanbase, we are utterly disappointed and disgusted with how this transfer window has gone, especially the end of it.”
The group also noted: “Also, for fans asking, just to reiterate – when we design flags, there are rules and regulations that we have to adhere to regarding the wording on our flags during displays, we are not allowed derogatory or offensive wording or images.” They concluded: “Despite how we all feel we still urge fans to get behind our team on the pitch for 90 minutes like we did at Bournemouth on Saturday. We will fully support any action the fanbase takes in reaction to this extremely poor transfer window.”
