Is Newcastle United’s past the future of Everton

There are also increasing signs that the Toffees’ owner is no longer as committed as he once was, especially since Ancelotti left.

The Italian coach was always his number one choice for the job. With him gone, perhaps Moshiri has lost his lustre for the project he has embarked on.

Like Newcastle’s past owner, he is rarely seen at the club nowadays and seems content to let it be run almost on autopilot by people who are in my view, simply not up to the job.

Of course, the similarities continue further as Benitez was charged by Mike Ashley with defying gravity on Tyneside without money for so long, until he tired of it and left at the end of the 2018-19 campaign.

Might Benitez also decide he’s had enough at Everton and walk away, particularly if the fans turn on him soon?

The strategy of the board if it can be called that, seems to be hold on for the new stadium and hope everything is all right by then.

Or possibly that’s when Moshiri would look to sell the club with it’s shiny new asset? I’d rather he sold up now if he no longer has the desire to make this team successful on the pitch but that seems unlikely.

That wait, see and hope approach won’t be enough to keep supporters happy and of course relegation this season or in the next few years would surely put the tin hat on a new ground and this whole approach.

However, I can’t see much alternative at the moment to this slow, steady, almost inevitable decline if things keep going the way they have done recently.

I know it’s very pessimistic, but it’s possible the team might only pick up three or four points between now and the end of the year, particuarly if players like Abdoulaye Doucoure and Calvert-Lewin are still out. And, given this club’s terrible injury jinx who would bet against that?

What can be done? The only obvious solution is bring in a new manager and try and give him some money to spend in January in the hope that will stabalise the ship, but Everton have done that so often recently and in the end it has just created further instability and uncertainty each time.

Of course, it can work in the short-term but without an inspired choice, a significant amount of money and a lot of luck it’s not likely to turn things around long-term. Does anyone have faith that the people in charge at Goodison Park can achieve this?

So, will the Toffees’ finally fall through that trap door as the Magpies’ did so often recently and, if so, can this club actually recover from that outcome? Alternatively, might it actually be necessary to force a fundamental change in direction?

There is though another North East football club that represents an even starker warning for Everton. That’s Newcastle’s neighbours and bitter rivals Sunderland. Their catastrophic fall from grace is an example that even long-established club’s with a big fan base and a modern, expensive stadium can fall on serious hard times.