Will Everton’s failed gamble mean top six disappear over horizon?

Last summer’s big spending ended in disaster, which may deter others from trying to catch the Premier League’s elite

The good news for football followers is that the Premier League will shortly be back. The bad news is that, if your club did not finish in the top six last season, it will almost certainly again be among the 14 also-rans this time round. The even worse news, looking at the evidence of the past couple of seasons, is that clubs “knocking on the door” of the top six – that is, showing ambition in trying to move forward and join the big boys – need to be just as careful over relegation worries as those teams who expect to spend most of their time in the bottom half of the table.

Take Everton. Granted they were not relegated last season but they were sufficiently worried to appoint Sam Allardyce, which more or less makes the point. This time last year they were throwing their money around, with a new owner keen to make his mark, a new stadium in the offing and a confident belief that seventh place in the 2016-17 table was a beachhead from where the top six could be attacked. To say it did not quite work out that way would be an understatement.

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