Everton manager Sean Dyche has compared abusive football fans to drivers getting ‘road rage’ in the car after his Toffees troops were hurled with verbal insults when boarding a train at London Euston station last week.
The Merseyside club are propping up the Premier League table after a dismal start to the season saw them lose 3-0 at home to Brighton and then 4-0 at Tottenham last Saturday, a performance which prompted a minority of fans to abuse the players.
‘Eighty grand a week, you f***ing w*****, you rat,’ was one of the unsavoury terms hurled at Everton players boarding the train. And Dyche has said this is a microcosm of society in 2024 as people give abuse on a daily basis.
‘Society has changed,’ he said. ‘The fans have taken care of it, I didn’t need to. They have come out en masse against the few and said, “Look, that’s unacceptable”.
'This is the way it is, I get horrible and terrible things shouted to me at the stadium. That is apparently all right.
Everton manager Sean Dyche has compared abusive football fans to drivers getting ‘road rage’ in the car
‘If I did that to someone walking down the street, it would not be all right. That is part and parcel of the job, I would never judge people for it. I say this in a comedic way, I’m sure it won’t come out that way… but it’s like road rage going to the football.
‘A normal person can be sitting in a car and go absolutely off it. We’ve all seen it, witnessed it or even done it. And then they are nice as pie outside of that moment. That’s what it is like in a football stadium. People get wrapped up in the moment.
‘I am not going to judge people for having a moment. (If there are) too many of the moments, it’s not on. When people say hideous things to me, I won’t judge their whole life on that one moment. But if they keep doing it, you would go, “Woah, hang on a minute” and expect someone to step in. Unfortunately they rarely do these days.’
Dyche’s men, who signed Orel Mangala from Lyon yesterday, restored some pride on Tuesday with a 3-0 win over League Two Doncaster in the Carabao Cup. They will look to right the wrongs of the first league games this afternoon against Bournemouth at Goodison Park.