With the help of Everton supporters, Johnny Phillips takes an in-depth look at the current feeling of discomfort at Goodison Park.
A season that promised so much effectively came to an end at the hands of their city rivals before the first weekend of January. After a summer of substantial and unparalleled investment in the side, Everton were many pundits' bet to muscle into the top six reckoning. But despite this view - largely held from afar - within the supporter base there was an element of concern, even after Wayne Rooney crowned his return to Goodison Park with the winning goal in the opening-day victory over Stoke.
The eye-catching sums invested in Jordan Pickford and record signing Gylfi Sigurdsson as part of a £150m spend were only part of the summer transfer story.
"I don't think the structure of the team helped at all," says the Liverpool Echo's match-day reporter Tony Scott. "No right-back, no left-back, no centre-forward and lots of Number 10s. The team was totally unbalanced and that was [Director of Football] Steve Walsh's priority.
"We all went through the first few weeks thinking we'll get a centre-forward and everything will click together," Toffee TV's Barry Cass reflects. "Then once the window shut the holes in the squad began to appear very quickly and towards the end of Ronald Koeman's reign, it seemed as if he didn't know what was going on either. There were double substitutions at half-time, players in every position being changed from game to game and he even appeared to lose faith in those he brought into the club. It was a bit of a mess."
That early season chopping and changing is something many of the players have never recovered from. "They're professionals but there's only so much you can do when you are being played out of your preferred position so often and that's been the case all over the park," adds Sarah Halpin of The Blue Room podcast. "The previous manager was trying to find a formation and a formula that would work. There were so many changes - five or six going into each Premier League game - it was bizarre. It felt like there was no rapport amongst the players."
Cass's co-presenter Peter McPartland believes that the transfer policy was only part of the problem. A failure to prepare correctly during the summer, for what turned out to be a very tough opening schedule, ultimately cost Koeman his job.
"There was a very poor pre-season. It was all about getting into the Europa League and I think we sacrificed the pre-season, bedding in these players," McPartland explains. "Where are they going to play? Where will they fit? That was sacrificed for competitive games. Sandro was thrown in first day of season, the same with Davy Klaassen, and very quickly it was seen that they hadn't adapted so they were moved out.
"You look back and think maybe we should have been a bit more patient with those players. Klaassen has played a handful of Premier League games and he doesn't even get into the squad now. I think that's really sad for someone who was the captain of Ajax who and played in a Europa League final to be completely out of the matchday squad."
The Blue Room's David Downie suggests the new-found investment has been handled without due care and attention.
"It seems to be a scattergun approach. Something that I would do myself if I won the lottery," Downie says. "Go out and spend a load of money on things that I think look amazing and then when I get back home I'd look at them and say, 'Do I really need them?' We don't quite know where to put the money or where to invest. We've got a fantastic youth set-up at the club and some of those players are being held back by the ones we've paid money for."
A case in point would be 20-year-old Ademola Lookman, one of a number of promising youngsters at Goodison Park. In the recent FA Cup derby at Anfield, Lookman came off the bench and played an important part in the equaliser, causing Liverpool more problems than a previously quiet Wayne Rooney. Yet for the next game, that demoralising defeat 4-0 at Spurs, he was consigned to a watching role as an unused substitute.
The Everton youngster, who has had a breakthrough season, happens to be the one who doesn't currently play for them. Keiron Dowell captained the Under-23 team to the Premier League Two title last season and his loan to Nottingham Forest this campaign has been a huge success. His Forest team-mate Michael Mancienne said recently: "He is so good on the ball and has taken first-team football in his stride. He just has to keep his feet on the ground and stay hungry. If he can do that he can go on to do big things."
Shareholder John Blain runs the Everton Business Matters podcast. He believes fans will become far happier once there is more clarity about the structure of the football operation. "We had the Annual General Meeting last week and even then there was banter between Director of Football Steve Walsh and manager Sam Allardyce about who has the final say.
There is a sense of waste among supporters after hopes were raised so much. To see the team struggling in the league is nothing new in the 21st century. But the previous problems have come against a backdrop of chairman Bill Kenwright going to the banks with a begging bowl to acquire funds for team strengthening. To see Everton toiling after huge investment is particularly frustrating for the supporters.
At last week's AGM, majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri told fans to remain calm. "We are on the road and we will get there." The majority of supporters believe him. Despite all the negativity, there is a genuine sense that the future does not have to be like this. The new stadium at Bramley Moore will go ahead after Liverpool City Council guaranteed the £300m scheme. The club agreed a 200-year lease on the site back in November.
"Dan Meis, the architect, talks about it being iconic but it's going to be unique," Blain explains. "It's a real strong social message in the sense that it's a football club and a local authority working together. The local authority will end up with improved services and we'll end up with a stadium on the banks of the royal blue Mersey.
"In the past the constraint on the business in terms of enabling the club to perform has been financial. The work Moshiri and his board nominees have done has put us on a really solid footing. I'm really optimistic for the future."
And if lessons can be learned from the football side of the business, maybe the 2017/18 season will have been worth something after all.
You can see an in-depth feature on Everton's season on Soccer Saturday this weekend.