EVERTON FAN VIEW: Goodison Park will be a bear pit when Man United come to town next Sunday... the deduction could be the moment our club regains its belief and identity

It has, quite understandably, been labelled a dark day for Everton. But as a life-long fan, I believe this could be the moment that the club regains its belief, its identity.

The past few years have been the bleakest since I first attended Goodison Park as a seven-year-old in late 1985 – a 3-1 victory over Sheffield Wednesday.

Indeed, they have been among the bleakest for the club since my late grandmother made her first trip from Birkenhead to L4 to watch Dixie Dean in his debut season for Everton in 1925.

She was there, too, 55 years later in March 1980 when Dean died after suffering a heart attack in the stands following a game against Liverpool.

There have, of course, been ups and downs throughout my family’s 98-year love affair with Everton.

But there have always been periods of enormous success, of great joy, of pride in a club whose identity is so closely rooted in the local community, the city and the history of English football.

Until these past few, bleak, painful years, when it seems the club has been at war with itself. Not anymore. This 10-point deduction — the rights and wrongs of which I’ll leave for others — can serve as a catalyst.

The club is once again united. The fans — who did so much to keep the team up over the past two seasons — once again have fire in their bellies. The team — already improving with every game under the impressive Sean Dyche — will be galvanised.

Goodison Park will be a bear pit for the visit of Manchester United — one of the six fined a meagre £3m or so for trying to destroy English football — next weekend.

The message to the Premier League is clear — we won’t let the bastards send us down.