TITLE FLARE
Gray: We’d have been champions if the place was rocking like this all season!
DEMARAI GRAY has credited Everton’s ‘crazy’ support for boosting their relegation escape – and reckons they could have won the league with it all season.
Toffees fans have created an intimidating atmosphere at recent home games – and gathering at the club’s Finch Farm training ground for noisy send-offs before away fixtures.
These efforts have been rewarded with seven points from a possible nine and, according to Gray, that improvement is no coincidence.
He said: “It’s crazy. I haven’t seen anything like it. I’ve played abroad and they are different type of fans… but this is just more than I’ve seen.
“I’m quite calm before games and I’ll just listen to music and relax, but, before the Chelsea game, you could see all the banging on the bus and the blue flares.
“I was like, ‘I’m on it!’ That’s a game where I was throwing my body in and we were all putting our bodies on the line.
“It gives us a massive boost, so we can’t thank them enough – if anything, we owe them.
“I wish we could have that every week, we probably would have won the league if we did!”
Gray (right) is also keen to highlight boss Frank Lampard’s role in instilling the resilience evident during a run that has helped Everton take control of their own destiny.
He added: “The manager’s the same in all moments – honest and realistic.
“He’s realistic to the situation, he doesn’t sugarcoat things, but it’s in the right way to get his messages across.
“I think that’s important in good or bad moments, you’ve got to keep that calm and not change too much. He’s done that and we’ve responded well.
“It’s easy to fall into bad habits in negative ways and one thing the manager has changed is just staying on it.
“Again, it’s mentality. You can have all the talent, but if the mindset of the group isn’t right, you’re going to fail. “The mentality switch is the biggest thing for us over the last few months.” Such is his faith in the manager, Gray is convinced that Everton will not be involved in a battle at the wrong end of the table next season. He continued: “Although it’s difficult in this situation to
LIKELY TEAMS EVERTON:
BRENTFORD: install a proper game plan because we’re fighting at the minute, what he’s given us has been good. “He’s got everybody on board and the results over the last month and the change in attitude and performance have been evident. “Don’t get me wrong, he does have a game plan, but if you come in halfway through a season, it’s difficult to bring an actual philosophy. “Next pre-season we can build on what he wants to do. We’ll have a solid base and idea for the team and a full pre-season to understand it and take it into next season. “We’ve shown glimpses of play and have our moments in games where we do play nice football. But nice football is not really the goal now – it’s just about playing smart, putting the ball in the net and defending for our lives. “I think, in the next few seasons, it’ll be good for the fans and good for the club to see how things develop.”