Inside the stadium, had they been able to get near to him they would doubtless have suffocated their newest striking hero, Andy Johnson, through sheer exuberance at a display that elevated him to instant legend status.
They revere centre- forwards at Goodison almost as fervently as in Newcastle and by the end of this extraordinary derby supporters would happily have taken picks to a quarry for the resources needed to set Johnson's image in stone after he became the first Everton man to score two derby goals since Andrei Kanchelskis 11 years ago.
But it was not only for his goals that the fans went into the afternoon sunlight singing his name. It was for a classic demonstration of the centre- forward's art – leading the line, bringing the cavalry into play when they stormed forward to join him and sniffing out every weakness in the opposing defence.
By the final whistle Liverpool's poor Sami Hyypia, a man well past his sell-by date, looked like a rag doll that had been dragged around all day by a dog. Not that any Liverpool player escaped humiliation on an occasion when Everton secured their first three-goal haul against their old rivals at Goodison since before Dean began playing, 1909 to be precise. It was also their biggest win over Liverpool since 1964.
Peter Crouch, taken off by Liverpool after 53 minutes, might be England's striking hero of the moment, but if Johnson, looking a bargain signing at £8.5 million, continues in this vein he will surely prove a far better long- term bet.
Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez is beginning to build the sort of reputation for tinkering that did for Claudio Ranieri at Chelsea. As in the season's opening game at Sheffield United, which Liverpool almost lost, Benitez left out key players to save them for Champions League action in midweek, this time for Tuesday's game at PSV Eindhoven.
Even Steven Gerrard's long-range shooting could not rescue Liverpool this time, his best three efforts raking the side-netting, scraping a post and, woefully wastefully near the end, hitting a post from a few yards out.
Everton were lucky, however, that referee Graham Poll missed a clear handball by Tony Hibbert as he went to ground to block a rebound effort by substitute Dirk Kuyt.
As there were four sendings-off in the two games between these sides last season, it seemed a cunning move by the Premiership to award the game to Poll, knowing that he normally only sends off players after three yellow cards. But Liverpool still ended up with 10 men when John Arne Riise was carried off eight minutes from time after injuring himself in a reckless tackle on Mikel Arteta. Poll sensibly allowed Riise to get treatment before raising the deserved yellow card above Riise's stretcher as he was carted off.
It did not seem that Liverpool's day could get any worse. But in time added on Jose Reyna messed up his attempted save of a long-range Lee Carsley shot and, as he tumbled behind his goal line in an attempt to retrieve the situation, was only able to push the ball on to Johnson's head. Cue Everton pandemonium.
Johnson had brilliantly fashioned and scored Everton's second, pulling away from Hyypia before taking advantage of Jamie Carragher's clumsy attempted clearance with the outside of his left foot. This only 16 minutes after Tim Cahill had given Everton a 21st-minute lead when Arteta's right-wing cross caused mayhem in the penalty area.
Everton manager David Moyes was so busy celebrating at the end he claimed not to have seen a Premiership table flashed up on the scoreboard showing his team six points ahead of Liverpool and top of the league. And after declaring that Johnson was "doing okay", he admitted: "He should be the king of Goodison tonight. He's had to fight his way up and I think he is relishing being at a big club." As of course is Moyes.
Benitez, who bemused Liverpool fans by not even putting Craig Bellamy on the bench, summed up his team's wretched day by saying: "We defended poorly. We were too nice."