2017 Yearender: The sports desk's picks - 18 of our favourite moments

Restoring the Goodison soul

Another year, another year of little cheer. This is the quintessential Everton experience.

How about the 4-0 thrashing in January of soon-to-be-invincible Manchester City? No, a single match does not make a season.

Or the return of Wayne Rooney the prodigal son? No, a player does not make a team.

It's always the team above all. So the best moment had to be when we got a lifeline - by getting rid of the inept Ronald Koeman.

He may be serious about his job. But his heart was not that into Everton. By all accounts, he was aloof, detached, indifferent and passion-less. And that alone, not to mention his lacking in managerial skills and his short-termism in the transfer market, disqualifies him from managing the people's club.

We got our heart back and results too. Pity about the football.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on December 30, 2017, with the headline Restoring the Goodison soul. Subscribe