Sam Allardyce has asked for Everton fans to forgive his team for this season.
A dismal home campaign ended in underwhelming fashion on Saturday as they were held to a 1-1 draw by relegation-threatened Southampton.
Tom Davies’ 96th-minute strike spared the Blues’ blushes but supporters inside Goodison Park again voiced their discontent with widespread booing.
Allardyce remains an unpopular choice as Everton manager but says it is time the club’s fans base started appreciate the hard work their players put in.
He said: “You get boos wherever you go and don’t play well. You get boos here and anywhere you don’t play well. We didn’t play well so we got booed.
“I thought we were terrible; we couldn’t pass to each other. I don’t know why we had that problem.
“But you’ve got to forgive these boys and that’s what you don’t do.
“The fans should forgive them a little bit because of what they’ve done and how hard they’ve worked to get this club out of trouble and what they’ve achieved.
“There seems to be no credit for their achievement. I’m not talking about me but them, the effort they’ve put in.
“The drive, the willingness to take Everton to the top eight and stay in the top half of the league for the time I’ve been here, to accumulate more points than some of our rivals who are supposed to be better than we are.
“Not to be involved in a relegation battle. But it appears that’s no credit to the players at this club, which is rather a shame for the effort they’ve put in.
“They’ve done a magnificent job in terms of what they’ve done and how far they’ve come.
“We’ve got farther than anyone else that was in a delicate position when I took over but that doesn’t seem to be accountable for in any stretch of the imagination in recent weeks.
“You take 14 points out of seven games, fifteen from eight but there seems to be no recognition for it.
“I think that’s rather sad in all aspects of some of the fans, some of the media. It’s fuelled by some of the radio, papers, all of it. It’s rather sad.”