DANNY MURPHY: To say relegation is good for Everton is NONSENSE

Liverpool supporters are split over whether they want to see Everton relegated or not.

Older fans are more likely to wish ill on the Bluenoses because it removes the only bragging rights they have left – that they've been in the top flight longer than Liverpool.

Younger Reds will not want to miss out on the whole raucous derby occasion and a solid six points every season.

Personally, I'd like Everton to survive. It's good for the city to have two Premier League teams, commercially and atmospherically. The rivalry would be missed if it wasn't there.

But what's clear is that, in the past 60 years, the gap between red and blue has never been greater. When I was a kid, Everton was the biggest game because they had their best team under Howard Kendall.

Nowadays, it's all about Manchester City and, for historical reasons, United.

I've been on a tiny rowing boat in the Maldives and people talk to me about my goals at Old Trafford. They never mention I scored at Goodison, which shows where Everton are in the pecking order.

Everton have struggled for a while but to suggest relegation might be good for them is nonsense.

There's no guarantee they would be able to come straight back up — it took Leeds 16 years — and the impact would be huge.

You can see by Everton's injury-time equaliser against Leicester how much staying up means.

Things have gone wrong all season, from the moment anger and frustration was expressed by supporters in appointing former Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez.

Their current predicament is not all Frank Lampard's fault, but in the modern game it would be hard to see him surviving relegation.

Fans would feel he had enough time to make an impact and judging on past form, owner Farhad Moshiri would be likely to