Rafa Benitez talked for almost an hour with members of the Everton’s Fans Forum last week about his plans for the club, transfers and the team. And as the Blues boss chatted with the supporters over Zoom it has been said that ‘nothing was off the table’ with Benitez happy to tackle any question. Members of the club’s official USA Supporters’ Club, were also on the call, it is understood. Benitez revealed he also spoke with another group of Everton supporters on Wednesday, the squad’s day off, and has been heartened by both the reaction of the fans he has met in person, and the backing of the faithful in matches.
Rafa Benitez said: “I think they are convinced we will try our best until the end. We will have some good games and some bad games. The first-half against Burnley it could have been easy for the fans to be negative, and I would have understood that, but they didn’t do it. They appreciate that it’s a new team with a new manager and we are trying to do things in the right way. I had the same situation at Newcastle where people were talking about the fans. They knew the conditions and were supporting the team and it is exactly the same here. They know that they have ambitious owners who were trying their best for years and this year is a difficult situation with the financial fair play rules, but they appreciate the effort of the players on the pitch and they are patient. If we don’t perform then you can understand that the fans will be upset but they know this team is reacting. We gave them something back and you could see the players were flying in the second-half.”
