Departing fans are turning Park End into Kemlyn Road
WAY back when Anfield's Centenary Stand was still the plain old Kemlyn Road, it provided the butt of many an Evertonian joke.
Anfield was usually crammed to the rafters, but only until 20 past four.
For some reason known only to themselves, the Kemlyn Roaders liked to leave early.
And the white seats vacated in that part of the ground would become instantly and garishly conspicuous.
The early darters would shuffle to the exits in Anfield derbies, while the Everton fans chanted: "Bye, bye! Bye, bye!" even with the scores locked at 0-0.
No-one ever got to the bottom of the phenomenon.
Maybe it was older season ticket holders who preferred to avoid the crush at full-time. Maybe the buses weren't as frequent down that end of the ground.
Whatever the reason, you could guarantee that while the Kop was swaying and heaving and baying, the Kemlyn Road Stand would resemble the House of Lords on a Bank Holiday Monday.
But now it has a rival. And the Blues fans can't mock any more, because the number of blue seats exposed in the Park End Stand this season, even with half an hour remaining, is Kemlyn Road-esque.
There were still 28 minutes left when Fernando Torres scored his second goal in the recent derby match, yet the charge for the exits suggested Jimmy Tarbuck had volunteered to do a stand-up routine backed by Gerry Marsden.
When Everton were beaten at home by Portsmouth in August, there were no boos inside the ground at the final whistle, because there was no-one left to boo.
Of course it's a football fan's right to walk out when he likes. After all, it costs enough to attend in the first place.
But it's not as if David Moyes' side is incapable of comebacks.
They have already retrieved one 2-0 deficit this season, have come back from losing a 2-0 lead at Stoke to win the match - and under Moyes' stewardship have enjoyed an enormous number of last minute victories.
Like the chicken and egg argument, it's a moot point as to which comes first: Do the fans inspire the players? Or do the players fire up the fans?
In 2005, Duncan Ferguson was undoubtedly the catalyst for turning Goodison into a seething, baying cauldron which saw Manchester United wilt under its furnace blast.
Mikel Arteta's glorious thunderbolt lit the blue touch paper on another incendiary evening against Fiorentina in last season's UEFA Cup.
Yet it was a Gary Ablett own goal and the very real prospect of relegation in 1994 which saw a raw, almost primeval roar rise from somewhere inside the bowels of Goodison - a noise which saw even those renowned street scrappers, Wimbledon, shrink under its power.
This season, some Everton players have spoken of their preference for playing away from Goodison Park.
With fans marching out muttering with half an hour to go, that's wholly understandable.
daveprentice@liverpoolecho.co.uk
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