“You’ve got to have a dream.
If you don’t have a dream,
How you gonna have a dream come true?”

When, in 1982, Captain Sensible, guitarist from Punk Rock band, The Damned, chose to cover “Happy Talk”, first heard in 1949 in the musical South Pacific, most thought he had lost his marbles. However, his dream came true and the single reached Number 1 for two whole weeks (when the Charts were actually meaningful).

Judge for yourselves here but, without getting too arty farty, most of the song’s appeal is its simplicity and feel good factor. Let’s be honest we all prefer feeling happy to sad; given a choice even I would prefer half full to half empty, but it may just come down to DNA, the way we are wired.

Now that I’ve taken down the Real Madrid bunting, finished the last of the chorizo and the San Miguel, thoughts return to EFC. We Evertonians are an eclectic mix, for sure (Ed: Captain Sensible’s backing singers were the Dolly Mixtures, of course ;-)). Whatever our age, background, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation we have our own opinions, a wide range of them, and (most of us) aren’t afraid to express them loud and clear.

Broadly speaking, though, we do fall into two camps; half full and half empty. I had to smile when I saw that Half Full was in the devil’s colour, and Half Empty in Blue.

As we stand on the edge of the Moshiri Brand New Dawn (Take 2, or is it 3?) there is a renewed groundswell of optimism from the half fullers.

• Allardyce is gone 🙂
• We have a “proper” DoF 🙂
• We are about to appoint a young, exciting coach 🙂
• Elstone is gone 🙂
• Board responsibilities have been “clarified” 🙂
• Bramley Moore Dock is getting closer 🙂
• We’ve still got a few quid to spend 🙂

Football is all about dreams, that’s what keeps us going as fans. Why else did 40,000 Coventry fans turn up at Wembley on Monday to see them beat “mighty” Exeter in the League 2 Play Off Final? Former stalwarts of English top flight, the Sky Blues have fallen far, but may be on the way back. You can’t say the same of Sunderland or Portsmouth.

Let’s remember that it was only 1999 when reigning Premier League champions Man City beat Gillingham on penalties in the Play Off Final to gain promotion from English football’s third tier.

Fortunes in football can change so quickly, but these days it’s less about a Kevin Brock back pass, (excepting of course the odd goalkeeping howler in the Champions League Final), it’s more about decisions made off the pitch, as we bang on about on EBM.

Whoever we appoint as Coach he deserves the full support of all Blues, and he’ll surely get it. Nevertheless, those of us in the Half Empty lounge, especially those longer in the tooth, like me, will at least retain a degree of scepticism and even cynicism.

We want our beloved Club to be successful, we have dreams too, but we know there are no short cuts, and, in fact, we recognise that the Club may have actually gone backwards in the last two years, certainly the last 12 months.

• Squad is imbalanced and ageing
• Supermarket sweep recruitment has made us ill
• Club’s identity was seriously compromised with appointment of Allardyce
• Commercial activity continues to disappoint as we fall further behind Top 6
• Communications and Media Relations are worse than ever
• Still no Chief Engagement Officer

Most worrying of all it has all gone very, very quiet on the new stadium. We dream of an iconic new home on the Banks of the Royal Blue Mersey with a 61,878 capacity; but, since the St Luke’s workshops, the silence has been deafening.

More than anything I worry that Farhad Moshiri is not fully engaged with Everton. He has other concerns for sure, particularly with some of his Russian interests in the current politico-economic climate. That would be less of a concern if he had appointed a team laden with experience and skills to deliver his vision; yet the Board has just been reduced in number by one (Elstone), and only two members are full-time. Most worrying is that the man charged with leading the stadium is only engaged part-time.

What is Moshiri’s vision for Everton, what is his dream? Does it even exist beyond a new stadium?

Who knows? I don’t for sure, I’m guessing and, of course, viewing through my half empty lens.

No doubt we have a massively important summer and then a vital season ahead where we really must see progress on and off the pitch. Just a few requests, we can all agree on:

• Entertaining football with pace, flair and steel
• Competitive in games vs Top 6
• A cup run
• Planning Permission granted for Bramley Moore
• Funding secured for BM
• Appointment of a Chief Engagement Officer

This time next year we’ll know more clearly how bright the future is, and I very much hope that cynicism and scepticism will have evaporated in the Royal Blue pyrotechnics because after all:

“You’ve got to have a dream.
If you don’t have a dream,
How you gonna have a dream come true?”

@rodgerarmstrong