Unimaginative and uninspiring, Benitez's appointment was ill-fated from start

Actually, it was probably NOT a gentler era but there was a time when supporter dissatisfaction at Goodison Park was measured by the number of cushions being thrown on to the pitch.

For a while, it became a trademark of Everton fans' dissent.

In the Seventies, Bob Latchford used to toss them back into the Main Stand.

The padding has long gone but the wooden seats have not changed and if the occupants want to vent their anger, they throw abuse, not cushions.

Sitting ducks in the directors' box, Bill Kenwright and Marcel Brands bore the brunt of it after Everton were brushed aside with near-disdain in the Merseyside derby on Wednesday night.

Had Farhad Moshiri been present, he would have also copped it.

And if you can excuse the expletives used, the criticism is understandable.

To say that Everton's problems go way beyond whoever happens to be the manager is a given.

The cast of managers the Moshiri regime has got through tells its own story.

Roberto Martinez, Ronald Koeman, Sam Allardyce, Marco Silva, Carlo Ancelotti, Rafa Benitez.

That none, so far, have been able to make a really decent fist of things - in five full seasons, the highest-placed finish has been seventh and they are unlikely to do better this season - tells its own story.

The money spent during that time - almost £550million - also tells its own story.

The Moshiri regime had top four pretensions but has delivered only mediocrity and it is mismanagement at the top that is to blame.

That is why chairman Kenwright, football director Brands and chief executive Denise Barrett-Baxendale took some serious flak.

But do not let one crucial detail be lost in the important bigger picture.

The appointment of Benitez was uninspired, unimaginative, ill-judged and, as should already be obvious, ill-fated.

A lovely man with a very good managerial career behind him, his style of football now looks archaic.

Among the grand, old ditties enjoyed by the blues is Forever Everton. You might know the one.

"Everton, Everton, we're Forever Everton. All for one, one for all, Everton's the team that plays beautiful football."

In only two of their 14 Premier League games - against Burnley and Brentford - have Everton, the School of Science, had more possession than the opposition. Beautiful.

They played Huddersfield Town and Queens Park Rangers in the EFL Cup - beating the former and losing on penalties to the latter after a 2-2 draw - and, on both occasions, the Championship side enjoyed more possession. Beautiful.

Much has been made of the injury issues and there is absolutely no doubt Dominic Calvert-Lewin has been a huge miss.

But many of the rest, including centre-half Yerry Mina, should have been adequately covered. A combination of an unbalanced squad and questionable management means they have not.

That patience with Benitez might be lessened by his Liverpool allegiance is true but not to the extent that outsiders believe.

Yet combined with a style of football that, when not producing results, can border on the unwatchable, it means Rafa's time at Goodison Park will be limited.

It was a misguided appointment in the first place and Benitez will find a more suitable match, that is for sure.

"Give Duncan the job," yelled one fan towards the directors' box after the derby defeat. "Big Dunc couldn't do any worse than this."

And, tellingly for Rafa, that fan was probably right.