Protests, boos, security fears and defeat as malaise seeps through struggling Everton

Everton‘s board of directors were ordered to stay away from Goodison Park on Saturday over safety fears as the club plunged deeper into the relegation mire following a 2-1 defeat to fellow strugglers Southampton.

But LiverpoolWorld’s Will Rooney was there to witness another disappointing day for the Toffees as they squandered the lead and thousands fans stayed to protest after the final whistle, with chants of ‘sack the board’, ‘Bill and Co time to go’ and ‘you’re not fit to run the club’.

On the pitch, the impressive Amadou Onana opened the scoring with his first goal for the Toffees but Southampton hit back through two strikes from James Ward-Prowse - his second a trademark free-kick after Anthony Gordon had committed a reckless and unnecessary foul 12 minutes from time.

Manager Frank Lampard was backed by under-fire owner Farhad Moshiri before kick-off, but the former Chelsea boss is now four points worse off than much maligned predecessor Rafa Benitez, who was sacked after 19 games of the season.

A real malaise seems to be seeping through the club both on and off the pitch. Watch the video above for Will Rooney’s full reaction to Saturday’s events.