The fact Everton have little left but pride to play for this season is an indictment on a season which promised so much but delivered little.
Everton have endured a topsy turvy season with Ronald Koeman axed and eventually replaced by the hugely unpopular Sam Allardyce.
The former England boss has done the job of lifting the Toffees out of the relegation zone and into midtable.
But supporters are already fed up with the style of football on display at Goodison Park and Allardyce is under pressure to keep his job beyond the summer.
Everton spent £150 million last summer but that was offset by the sale of star striker Romelu Lukaku to Manchester United for £75million.
The big spending under Farhad Moshiri gave supporters hope of a new dawn where the club could finally challenge the Premier League elite.
That has failed to materialise this season, though, with this weekend’s Merseyside derby about as exciting as it gets for Everton fans until the summer.
He may be better known for playing for bitter rivals Liverpool, but Sky Sports pundit Craig Bellamy has pinpointed where it has gone wrong for the Toffees this season when appearing as a guest on Sky Sports’ The Debate.
“What it (victory over Liverpool) would do to lift Sam Allardyce (let alone the team) at this present moment,” Bellamy told The Debate.
“Look Everton’s a good football club, got very good footballers, but it just hasn’t been (good), from the start of the season I thought their recruitment wasn’t great.
“They don’t have as much pace in the team as I’d like, a lot of good footballers but that attacking threat, people who can just run by people, run off people, running without the ball.
“Recruitment is huge (this summer).”
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