User blog comment:Magma MK-II/Patrick Star: The Discussion/@comment-4708882-20150328174814/@comment-1705775-20150328175109

Squidward was original an antagonist when the show had morals, he has become more "heroic" due to Spongebob becoming so dark and mean-spirited : that's one of the main complaints, when a character like Squidward (who was designed to be a nasty jerk) is actually more loveable than the main cast you're meant to be rooting for.

in the original series Squidward came off a lot nastier as Spongebob was a nice guy who Squidward would bully and torment for very petty reasons.. it wasn't until later that Spongebob decided "right, let's stop making Squidward a jerk for no reason and just make him the guy every other character abuses for no reason".