Everton fans stage protest at Goodison Park amid growing anger at owner Farhad Moshiri and the board

Hundreds of angry Everton fans staged a protest against the club’s board outside Goodison Park on Wednesday night.

Supporters held up banners with ‘no status, no optimism’, ‘Kenwright and Co. It’s time to go’ and ’27 years soon to be 28′ amid growing anger over the running of the struggling Merseyside club.

Fans also chanted ‘sack the board’ and a picture of former chairman Bill Kenwright was covered by spray paint.

It came after protests over the impending appointment of Vitor Pereira as manager by graffitiing a wall at Goodison Park and protesting outside club offices in Liverpool.

An Everton fan account on Twitter – The Toffee Blues – shared an image of the graffiti at the stadium, which reads: ‘Pereira out, Lampard in’ after news, reported by Sportsmail, emerged that the Portuguese coach was closing in on replacing Rafa Benitez.

Another fan group called the 27yearscampaign – a reference to Everton’s time without silverware – protested outside the Royal Liver Building where club offices are based. They are calling for owner Farhad Moshiri to engage with the club’s supporters and held up banners reading: ‘Moshiri if you want success then change this mess’.

Angry Everton fans have ramped up protests over the impending appointment of Vitor Pereira

Pereira has held talks with Everton in London and impressed the club’s hierarchy, with Moshiri looking to make a ‘forward-thinking’ appointment.

But he appears to be causing the same uproar seen last summer when Everton appointed Liverpool favourite Benitez as manager.

Anger has been rising at the Everton board in recent weeks and Benitez’s departure has done little to quell the unrest. 

Everton fans called for chairman Bill Kenwright to go in the Aston Villa defeat on Saturday

During Saturday’s 1-0 defeat by Aston Villa, fans held up signs saying ‘sack the board’ and staged a sit-in protest after the full-time whistle, while a plane was flown over the stadium calling for chairman Bill Kenwright to go after ’22 years of failure’. 

Benitez was sacked earlier in January after a dramatic slide in form saw Everton record just one win in 13 matches, with Frank Lampard and Toffees hero Wayne Rooney among the contenders to replace him.

Pereira has impressed Everton’s hierarchy in talks with Merseyside club in recent days