Terry Darracott was an Evertonian.

He loved the Club and served it with distinction, over 18 years in total, as a youth, reserve and then first team player before returning as a coach.

Sadly, he passed away on 22 March 2022, at the age of 71, just a few short weeks after recording an Official Everton Podcast.

Terry’s interview was to be a part of a forthcoming series featuring ‘Sons of the 70s’, but we feel that now is the right time to share his recollections with his fellow Evertonians.

During his conversation, Terry speaks about learning to play football under the lights of a Liverpool tenement building, joining Everton as a teenager, getting two buses to Goodison for his senior debut against Arsenal, fighting for his place under a succession of managers, his time in the States with Tulsa Roughnecks and his subsequent coaching and scouting career.

It’s a thoroughly engaging chat with a man who simply loved Everton Football Club.

Terry kept his enthusiasm for football, and for life, right until the very end, and his honestly, humility and humour come through in this podcast.

Terry Darracott: A Life In Football

Audio of Everton fans singing at West Brom on 20 January 2014. COYB!

Allez, Allez, Allez, Ohhh!

Dan Meis, Stadium Concept Design Guardian for the Everton Stadium, made another transatlantic trip in August 2022, to view progress on-site.

In a new podcast Dan, along with Chief Stadium Development Officer, Colin Chong, discuss the project, from early sketches on a napkin to the astonishing engineering feat that is steadily transforming the skyline of North Liverpool and creating the next chapter in Everton’s illustrious history.

Meis said: “I’ve a huge smile on my face because last time I was here the cores were there, so you got a sense of where the stadium was, but now you can feel how the stadium is - and it’s amazing!

“When you see how many people come together, the logistics of it and the investment of time and people, it feels like you have lit this fire and it’s out of control.

“It’s a giddy feeling that ‘wow, it really is here’. It’s a very unusual site and it was hard to tell, when it was still a dock, what it was going to look like when it was filled in and how the stadium sits on the site.

"All those worries go away with a relief that it really does fit, but not just that but it feels so tight and intimate.”

Everton Stadium Special Podcast With Meis & Chong

Everton centre-back James Tarkowski talks us through his fascinating career journey in the latest episode of the official Everton podcast. He opens up on why he swapped Academy football for Non-League as a youngster, the family reasons which led to his departure from Brentford, his England international ambitions, leadership, why he believes good times are ahead for Everton, and much more!

James Tarkowski Exclusive: From Non-League Football To Everton Powerhouse

All key milestones were achieved following a stunning year of development at Everton Stadium.

Chief Stadium Development Officer Colin Chong revealed that the project at Bramley-Moore Dock remains on schedule for completion in the 2024/25 season, ahead of a crucial few months.

And in an exclusive Club podcast, reflecting on an eventful 2022, he hailed the Everton fans for their input into the final design.

A Year Of Progress At Everton Stadium

Since 1988, Everton’s official charity, Everton in the Community has been serving the Merseyside community through its life-saving work.

During that time, the charity has celebrated a number of notable ‘firsts’ – from being the first Premier League Club to address mental health with a dedicated programme, to being the first Club to host a GP on its premises.

As the charity marks 35-years since it first began operating in a converted house close to Goodison Park, Evertonians can enjoy a special edition of the Official Everton Podcast as we celebrate the award-winning Everton in the Community.

Hosted by Darren Griffiths and featuring guests, Men's Club Captain, Seamus Coleman, Everton in the Community’s CEO Sue Gregory, and long-serving member of staff, Michael King, the podcast provides listeners with an insight into the charity’s everyday impact in the community.

"We’ve been doing it [getting involved in Everton in the Community] for years and I’ve heard stories from numerous Everton in the Community participants, male and female some really tough stories over the years, who are not necessarily over the worst of it but are coping and Everton in the Community is playing a massive part in that," Coleman said on the podcast.

"Since I’ve been at the Club, being part of Everton in the Community has always gone hand-in-hand. You’d be asked to do something and slowly but surely you’d understand what it is all about. It’s so important to go out and see who needs help in all different types of ways, and when you’re there you really do realise the difference you make.

"I often talk about this and I’m not sure who came up with the slogan, but it doesn’t just change lives, it saves lives."

We also hear from a member of staff whose journey started at Everton in the Community 17-years ago, whilst CEO Sue Gregory also explains how a £1 donation to Everton in the Community generates £29.86 of impact to support the local community and economy.

EitC Celebrates 35-years Of Life-Saving Work

Stadium Concept Design Guardian Dan Meis answers your questions about the project in this exclusive 30-minute podcast.

New Stadium: Dan Meis Answers YOUR Questions

This year marks the 45th anniversary of Everton legend Bob Latchford scoring 30 league goals in a truly memorable campaign.

At the start of the 1977/78 season, a national newspaper offered £10,000 to the first player to hit the 30 target, as it hadn’t been done for a number of years.

It went to the last game, but Latchford slammed home a late penalty against Chelsea at Goodison Park to claim the prize.

In this latest Official Everton Podcast, we look back at the career of the striker who Evertonians regularly claimed could ‘walk on water’.

Hosted by Darren Griffiths, alongside Dave Prentice and Gavin Buckland, we look back at Latchford’s career, with audio contributions from teammates Jim Pearson and Martin Dobson.

The conversation is decorated by commentary from some of Latchford’s most memorable goals.

We hear about how he was linked with Everton during the reign of Harry Catterick and of how Bill Shankly tried to persuade Latchford to join Liverpool.

And did you know that Howard Kendall considered re-signing him when he was also after Andy Gray in 1983?

We also discuss why a striker with such a fantastic goalscoring record was only rewarded with 12 international caps and we wonder whether the outcome of that infamous 1977 FA Cup semi-final against Liverpool would have been different had Latchford played.

After that memorable season when he plundered 30 league goals, Latchford only managed 23 over the entire course of the next three campaigns. We ask why?

Bob Latchford’s place in any Everton Hall of Fame has long been assured and Blues of any generation will enjoy listening to this special tribute podcast.

The Man Who Could Walk On Water: Latchford 45 Years On

This year marks the 25th anniversary of Everton’s 1997/98 FA Youth Cup success.

Under the tutelage of the legendary Colin Harvey, the young Blues brushed aside all before them before securing the trophy for the third and most recent time.

Leon Osman, who would go on to play more than 400 Senior Men's games for Everton, was an integral part of the successful squad and in this latest Official Everton Podcast he looks back over the games and the players who brought the Youth Cup to Goodison.

He tells us about the future defender who, at the time, was a ‘Roy Keane-type midfielder’, recalls taking the wrong boots to Watford in the quarter-final on a freezing night, and how he experienced the high of scoring in the first-leg of the final and the low of missing the glorious return game through injury.

We also hear from Francis Jeffers, who missed the Watford tie because he’d been rushed to hospital in the middle of the night, and from Danny Cadamarteri who played in the final three days before being a part of Howard Kendall’s squad that played the all-important relegation match against Coventry City!

Blues FA Youth Cup Triumph: 25 Years On

Rupturing your ACL is one of the most challenging setbacks to overcome. On average, female footballers are up to six times more likely to suffer this injury.

While the journey to return to the field isn’t easy, it has been proven that those who do, can come back stronger.

A recent example of this is Nicoline Sørensen, who, after 14 months of gruelling rehabilitation, returned to pitch in December 2022 and is now on her way to her first-ever World Cup with Denmark.

The road to recovery was a long one. This is a story about physical and mental strength. This is the story of how 'Nico' came back.

From Sidelines To World Cup - How Sørensen Came Back

The Everton FC Heritage Society was founded by Dr David France OBE in 2008.

Within its ranks are Evertonian authors, collectors and statisticians, and the society primarily exists to promote and preserve the heritage of Everton Football Club.

It also promotes and provides support for The Everton Collection Trust.

And, of course, they are a wonderful and regular host of St Luke’s Church on matchdays. Located next to Goodison Park, the church hall on the first floor is transformed into a treasure trove of Everton memorabilia whenever The Blues are at home.

Visitors can view the exhibitions, visit the stalls and meet members and away supporters find it just as entertaining. Indeed, followers of the opposition teams are often heard to opine, ‘I wish we had something like this at our place!’.

Two of the Heritage Society members, Brendan Connolly and Sarah Deboe, have joined Darren Griffiths for a half hour podcast that explains in much more detail precisely what the society does.

They speak about the importance of preserving the unique history of our club, how important it is to have a matchday presence so close to the stadium and the terrific task of restoring and rededicating the graves of some of the earliest Everton legends.

The Everton Heritage Society Podcast

Our latest Bred a Blue podcast features a boyhood Toffee whose football journey thus far has taken him from Kirkdale to Berlin, with several outposts in between!

Jonjoe Kenny progressed through all the Academy age groups to make 69 appearances for the Everton senior team before leaving in 2022 to join Bundesliga outfit Hertha Berlin.

Along the way, he had loan spells at Wigan Athletic, Oxford United FC Schalke 04 and Celtic, as he battled to displace Seamus Coleman at Goodison.

In this episode of Bred a Blue he speaks about how he’s adapting to life in Germany, learning sufficient language to be able to enjoy a night out with his Hertha team-mates, and the differences between the Bundesliga and the Premier League.

He also reflects on his time at Everton, from first being scouted and not really wanting to take up the offer of a trial because his Sunday team had a big game, to replacing Matty Pennington for his debut at Goodison Park in 2016.

Jonjoe also relives some the highlights of his career so far – playing at Wembley with Oxford United, winning the 2017 Under-20 World Cup with England and, of course, playing in that incredible, never-to-be-forgotten Premier League match against Crystal Palace at Goodison in May 2022.

Jonjoe admits that his Celtic experience didn’t go well for him, although in fairness playing anywhere new during the ‘empty-stadium’ Covid lockdown period was always going to be challenging. And he confesses to being frustrated at never really being classed as an Everton regular before adding that the most supportive colleague he had was his right-back rival Seamus Coleman.

Bred A Blue: Episode 27. Jonjoe Kenny

Everton in the Community's Chief Executive Officer Sue Gregory is our guest in the first of a new series which showcases the charity's five-year plan to build stronger communities and brighter futures.

Presented by Darren Griffiths, we hear how the charity is embarking on a bold and transformative mission to empower people and communities across Liverpool City Region to build better futures and a stronger society. 

We also hear from a participant, Michael on how Everton in the Community has changed his life.

Trinity Project: Episode One. The Next Five-Years For Everton in the Community

Darren chats to Director of Lifelong Learning, Mike Finn this week as we get to grips with the first of three pillars Everton in the Community is launching as part of Trinity Project. 

As well as delving into the Learns pillar, we also hear from a participant, Evie on how Everton in the Community is inspiring her to become an actor, whilst goalkeeper Joao Virginia speaks to us after experiencing our Digital Skills Lab.

Trinity Project: Episode Two. Learns

Our latest Official Everton Podcast looks back at the all-too-brief, but nonetheless spectacular, Everton career of Andy Gray.

November 2023 represents 40 years since the Scottish centre-forward joined the Blues.

Gray was plucked from Wolverhampton Wanderers by Howard Kendall and went on to have an unbelievable impact on a team that went from struggling to find its way to becoming arguably the best in Europe.

Host Darren Griffiths speaks to Gray himself and is also joined by Dave Prentice and Gavin Buckland, with contributions from Gary Stevens and the former Liverpool Echo Sports Editor, Ken Rogers, who reveals that he discovered Gray’s recruitment from an eagle-eyed Evertonian who had spotted him in a shop on Goodison Road.

We learn that Everton were linked with Gray in the mid-1970s when Billy Bingham was the Blues manager, and the youngster was playing alongside Walter Smith at Dundee United.

Everton statistician and historian Buckland tells us that Kendall was weighing up moves for an England striker and an Everton legend when he brought Gray in from Wolves.

We also hear about when Gray threatened to walk out on the Club when he wasn’t selected for an FA Cup tie and the man himself declares that if he could play one game again it would undoubtedly be the match against Bayern Munich at Goodison Park.

We discuss whether Kendall would have kept Gray had we been allowed to take part in the 1985/86 European Cup and it’s suggested that had he done so, then maybe Liverpool wouldn’t have won the double that season.

Gray speaks passionately about his time at Everton and agrees with the notion that the success of the mid-80s was probably an antidote for a challenging period in the history of the city of Liverpool.

Everton never lost when Gray scored and that sums up his infectious desire to win football matches for the Blues.

“My best memory was signing and my worst memory was leaving,” he says.

Andy Gray's Everton Career

European Ryder Cup hero and lifelong Evertonian, Tommy Fleetwood, was at Goodison Park recently for the game against Manchester City.

He took the gold trophy, won by Europe against the USA in Rome in the autumn, onto the pitch before the game to thunderous applause from the fans.

Before he walked up the tunnel, Fleetwood sat down with Graham Stuart for a quick chat about his Ryder Cup success and his love for the Blues.

He also explained how his concentration on the course wavered during one of the majors – because Everton were losing against Crystal Palace in a must-win relegation clash in May 2022!

“We were in the third-to-last group in the US PGA so we had a chance of winning it, but we had to keep track of the (football) scores at the same time. We’d played two or three holes and Everton were 2-0 down and then on the fifth or sixth tee we heard that we’d gone 3-2 up. We could concentrate on the major after that!”

Fleetwood also compares vital putts to penalty-kicks, reveals his envy that footballers get that ‘team-spirit’ feeling every week, and recalls the time that Diamond had to curtail his viewing of a round in Orlando after picking up an injury!

Fleetwood On Ryder Cup Success & Love For The Blues

Carl Howarth is very much a part of the Everton Senior Men's set-up at Finch Farm.

He’s a physiotherapist and his story is a fascinating one.

Howarth is the latest podcast guest on our Bred a Blue series, having started his professional career at Everton before being released without playing a senior game.

As a team-mate of Leon Osman, Tony Hibbert, Francis Jeffers and Kevin McLeod he was part of the squads that reached consecutive FA Youth Cup finals in 1998 and 1999.

He recalls being on the pitch when Hibbert actually scored a goal!

However, competition for striking berths, even in the reserves, was fierce and Howarth was up against Phil Jevons, Danny Cadamarteri, Nick Chadick and Jeffers.

“There were no agents for us then so I would see Colin Harvey every week,” he says. “I’d had a two-year YTS and a one-year pro deal and I was playing in the reserves and it got to the end of April and I was told they still hadn’t decided on my future.

“We played Newcastle at Widnes and all their back-four had played in the first team, but I scored and we drew 1-1. After the game Taff (Andy Holden) told me that Walter Smith wanted to see me the next day. I was buzzing because I thought I was getting a new contract, but Walter told me they didn’t think I was good enough and that I was being released.”

It was the first of a series of setbacks. Chester wanted to sign him but after suffering relegation from the Football League they couldn’t afford any new players and a subsequent trial with Morecambe was cancelled a matter of hours before it was due to start.

Undeterred, Howarth moved into non-league football and studied to become a physiotherapist.

He got a break at the Bolton Wanderers Academy and combined it with part-time work for the NHS. Building up his knowledge and experience all the time, he then got a full-time opening at Birmingham City before moving to Wolverhampton Wanderers.

The dream was always to return to where it had started and that golden opportunity duly came when Roberto Martinez was the Blues manager. Howarth was back at Everton!

His football journey has turned full circle and his story is an inspirational one – a tale of bouncing back time and again.

Bred A Blue: Episode 28. Carl Howarth

Our latest Bred a Blue podcast guest is the answer to a great quiz question!

Who is the only player to have been a teammate of Paul Gascoigne, Wayne Rooney and Jordan Pickford?

Top marks if you went for former Everton reserves centre-half Sean O’Hanlon.

Known throughout football as ‘Chief’, O’Hanlon never quite made the breakthrough at Everton after joining as a 10-year-old, but he did share a dressing room with Gazza and Rooney along the way.

Indeed, he was Rooney’s roommate when the 16-year-old ‘Boy Wonder’ embarked on his first ever senior pre-season trip in 2002.

After gaining some loan experience at Swindon Town, O’Hanlon decided to make the break from Everton in 2004 – realising that it was going to too tough to oust Alan Stubbs, David Weir, Joseph Yobo, David Unsworth or Peter Clarke from the central defensive berths.

From Swindon he moved to MK Dons, for whom he scored at Wembley in the EFL Trophy final, then north of the border to Hibernian, before seeing out his playing days with Carlisle United and Stockport County.

It was at Carlisle that O’Hanlon played in front of a teenage goalkeeper on-loan from Sunderland. "You could see even then that Jordan [Pickford] was heading for the top," O'Hanlon said.

The former Blue hung his boots up in 2016 and then four years later, his young son became an internet sensation when, during the Covid lockdown, he recreated many famous goals in his back garden!

The little fellow attracted the attention of the world’s media and O’Hanlon senior found himself conducting radio interviews for stations in Brazil, Italy and many more besides!

Bred A Blue: Episode 29. Sean O'Hanlon

Our latest Bred a Blue podcast is a little bit different!

We travelled to Birmingham City’s training complex to catch up with John Ruddy and Lukas Jutkiewicz – two players who had one game each for the Everton's senior team but have since compiled excellent professional careers.

Ruddy came from Cambridge United in 2005 and Jutkiewicz arrived from Swindon Town two years later.

“The year I left Cambridge, they had been relegated to the Conference and Everton had qualified for the Champions League!” Ruddy recalls.

The 'keeper was instantly loaned back to the Abbey Stadium outfit and trained twice a week at Bellefield before playing for Cambridge at the weekend.

Jutkiewicz came under the spotlight after helping Swindon Town to the quarter-finals of the 2006/07 FA Youth Cup.

“I remember my first session with the Everton first team, I was absolutely blowing!” he says. “I couldn’t believe the change in pace, training with players that a few weeks earlier I was watching on Match of the Day.”

Ruddy’s senior debut, in February 2006, came in the most bizarre of circumstances – he came off the bench against Blackburn Rovers when Iain Turner was sent-off after just nine minutes.

“It was probably the best thing because I didn’t have time to think. The fans understood that we were down to the bare bones, and it was a situation that nobody could foresee.”

Everton won 1-0 but David Moyes moved quickly to bring in Sander Westerveld on loan.

“There was an international break after the Blackburn game unfortunately, so that gave the manager time to do something,” added Ruddy.

As for Jutkiewicz, he replaced Steven Pienaar late in a 3-0 home victory against Sunderland in December 2008. It was an opportunity that he thought had passed him by.

“We’d had a game when I was on the bench and we were chasing a goal,” he says. “David Moyes brought Victor [Anichebe] off and I thought I was going to get a chance, but he put Phil Jagielka up front! That’s when I thought it wasn’t meant to be.”

Ruddy eventually left Everton in 2010 – but it was a close-run thing! He’d just checked his bags in for the Blues' pre-season tour to Australia when Moyes pulled him over and told him to get them back as he was going to Norwich.

Jutkiewicz made the trip but then agreed to move to Coventry City while he was Down Under!

The two players have since racked up over 500 senior appearances between them and they both have fascinating stories to tell.

Ruddy was in goal for Motherwell on the night Jutkiewicz slammed home a stoppage time equaliser in a 6-6 draw with Hibernian! The stopper also revealed that Everton also had a future England international on their radar when they signed him from Cambridge.

And which player made Jutkiewicz's life a misery on the pitch at Everton but couldn’t have been kinder or more helpful off it?

Bred A Blue: Episode 30. John Ruddy & Lukas Jutkiewicz

The latest Official Everton Podcast is all about goalkeepers!

Everton and England number one Jordan Pickford recently celebrated his 30th birthday and we thought it was as good a time as any to look back at the men who have stood between the sticks at Goodison across the decades.

Darren Griffiths is joined by regular contributors Dave Prentice and Gavin Buckland as they look back at all the keepers from Gordon West to Pickford.

There are audio contributions from Neville Southall, who reveals his desire to play as many games as he could and how lower league football prepared him for the physicality of the top-flight.

John Ruddy recalls the bizarre circumstances that led to him making his one and only appearance, and we hear from current Everton goalkeeping coaches Alan Kelly and Dave Lucas.

And, as always, Gavin provides some quirky facts and figures about the men in green. For example, who was the Everton keeper who was in goal for the reserves when a tannoy announcement asked him to move his car, and who won the league but then rejected the opportunity to join up with England for a World Cup tournament?

Prenno muses over why we haven’t had a Scouser in goal for the Men's senior team in a competitive match since Andy Rankin.

We also discuss ‘the one that got away’ – a goalkeeper linked with a move to Everton who went on to win a league title, a couple of European Cups and over 100 caps for his country.

Everton Goalkeeper Podcast Special

The latest guest on our Bred a Blue podcast series is former striker Phil Jevons.

Jevons joined the Everton Academy as a schoolboy and went on to make nine senior appearances under Walter Smith.

He recalls his early days at Netherton and Bellefield when the ‘friendly and challenging environment’ helped him develop, playing alongside the likes of Leon Osman, Franny Jeffers, Danny Cadamarteri, Michael Ball, Richard Dunne and Jamie Milligan.

Jevons also played against international footballers when he reached the reserve team: “We played Manchester United at Old Trafford and they had Scholes, Jordi Cruyff and Solskjaer.”

The Liverpool-born centre-forward helped Everton to win the FA Youth Cup in 1998 and the FA Premier Reserve League in 2001 – and in between he made his senior debut away at Blackburn Rovers.

"I’d been top scorer for the reserves for three years on the run, so I felt like I was ready,” Jevons said. He went on to have a hand in the Everton goal in a 2-1 defeat: “I played an early ball to Don Hutchison and he found Bakayoko who scored.”

The turn of the century was a challenging time to be a young striker at Everton because the competition was intense. Jevons was battling with Duncan Ferguson, Franny Jeffers, Kevin Campbell, Nick Barmby, Ibrahim Bakayoko and Danny Cadamarteri for a starting role.

It was the subsequent arrivals of Joe-Max Moore and Mark Hughes that convinced Jevons that his future lay beyond Goodison Park

“Joe-Max Moore was a good player and a great lad but I didn’t think he was any better than I was,” he says. “But my squad number went up from 20 to 26 so I had an inkling!”

Jevons left Everton with no regrets and during the podcast conversation he reveals the player who had the biggest influence on him during his time with the senior squad.

“He was fantastic with me. He was the ultimate professional, fit as a fiddle. He told me how to live my life, how to eat and how to train.”

He left Everton in 2001 and joined Grimsby Town, for whom he scored a never-to-be-forgotten League Cup winner at Anfield against Liverpool!

“I still get Evertonians coming up to me to talk about that goal!”

Jevons went on to have personal and team success with Yeovil Town and Bristol City before winding down his playing career and moving into coaching – starting off at the Everton Academy where he was involved in the development of Kieran Dowell, Nathan Broadhead, Liam Walsh, Tom Davies and Calum Connolly.

Jevons left Finch Farm to join Sunderland and he speaks honestly and with clarity about the ruthlessness of senior coaching environments.

It’s another fascinating football story that has its roots at the Everton Academy.

Bred A Blue: Episode 31. Phil Jevons

The latest Official Everton Podcast is all about last day dramas!

Evertonians have had more than their fair share of mixed emotions on the final day of a football season and host Darren Griffiths is joined by Dave Prentice and Gavin Buckland to look back at some of them.

We feature the last-gasp escapes of 1994, 1998, 2022 and 2023 – and hear from one of the goalscoring heroes, Gareth Farrelly.

We learn which future Blues hero made his professional debut as a teenager for Arsenal during the very last game at Goodison Park that wasn’t filmed!

And which Everton player is the only one to have ever scored the very last goal of a Premier League campaign – a 93rd minute winner?

We also reveal that the legendary Denis Law goal for Manchester City against Manchester United in 1974 did NOT relegate United – Mike Lyons did it a week earlier!

And when did Everton get their first penalty-kick of the season with just ten minutes of the final game to go!

We also speak about Duncan Ferguson’s last goal for Everton with his last kick of the last game against West Bromwich Albion and a wonder strike against Chelsea from Jermaine Beckford.

And, of course, April 1978 when Bob Latchford just about reached his famous target of 30 league goals!

Final Day Dramatic Everton Games

The latest guest on our Bred a Blue podcast series is former Everton reserves goalkeeper, Jamie Speare.

By his own admission, the mention of his name to Toffees of a certain age will only prompt the response ‘his name rings a bell’, but in the mid-late 1990s, Speare was one of a number of young goalkeepers waiting in vain for Neville Southall to give them a sniff of first team action!

It never happened but Speare and the Blues legend struck up a friendship that has endured to this day. It wasn’t all plain sailing initially though.

“Neville pushed me to the point that I nearly quit three weeks into the first month of my YTS,” Speare says. “He was giving that much stick out and I really didn’t know how to take it. My mum took it up with the Club, but Neville said to me: 'If I didn’t like you, I wouldn’t bother you,' and I thought ‘fair enough.’

“We got on great and still do. He drove all the way from Kent for my wedding, which he didn’t need to do.”

Speare played youth team football with Graham Allen, Jon O’Connor, Gavin McCann, Jamie Milligan, John Hills, Phil Jevons, Michael Branch, Michael Ball, and Richard Dunne, all of whom progressed to play senior football.

Speare came close, but just not close enough.

He played in a friendly against Aberdeen, made the odd substitutes bench in the Premier League and was in Joe Royle’s squads for the ECWC ties against Reykjavik and Feyenoord in 1995.

The closest that he got to a senior appearance was against Blackburn Rovers, but it wasn’t as a goalkeeper!

“It was at Ewood Park and Anders Limpar went down injured,” he explains. “Joe had used all his other subs so he told me to get warmed up. Anders got back up, so I never got on!”

In this Bred a Blue conversation, Speare speaks openly about being released by Everton and talks us through his subsequent career – which included European football with Cwmbran Town, more than 300 appearances for Accrington Stanley and a short spell at Sligo Rovers.

These days, Speare in the assistant manager of Northern Premier League Division One West team Nantwich Town, after being set on his coaching career by a PFA funded course.

It’s another fascinating story from a young man still involved in football after an Everton Academy upbringing.

Don’t miss the incredible story of the dramatic and historical Everton message that he mistakenly pulled off the fax machine at Bellefield while waiting for one for himself!

Bred A Blue: Episode 32. Jamie Speare

The latest guest on our Bred a Blue podcast series is Preston North End midfielder, Ryan Ledson.

Ledson first came to Everton’s attention when he was just four-years-old and he completed the full journey in 2014 when he made his senior team debut.

He speaks about his upbringing with the Blues and being handed his Under-21s debut by Alan Stubbs when he was just 15-years-old.

His big moment in an Everton shirt came on 11 December 2014 when he was one of four senior debutants against FK Krasnodar in a Europa League tie at Goodison Park.

Kieran Dowell, Chris Long and Gethin Jones also made their bows that night.

“The team was named an hour-and-a-half before kick-off and I was in it!” says Ledson.

Sadly for the player, despite performing well, it would be his one and only appearance for Everton.

A highly successful loan spell at Cambridge United in the 2015/16 season really whetted his appetite for senior football and he realised that his future lay beyond Goodison.

“I had a year left on my contract at Everton so I could have stayed in the building but I played in a 21s game coming back after Cambridge and I remember thinking during the game that I couldn’t do that anymore.”

He made the decision to switch to Oxford United where he impressed sufficiently enough to earn a move to the Championship with Preston.

Ledson speaks about the teenage pressure of being capped at every level by England and the frustrating injury that prevented him playing alongside Club teammates Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Jonjoe Kenny, Dowell and Ademola Lookman when England Under-20s won the World Cup in 2017.

Ledson also reveals that he had an agonising decision to make when the Under-17s European Championships clashed with Everton’s last Premier League fixture of the 2014/15 season at Hull City. He chose his country, despite thinking that he’d play at Hull.

He is now approaching 200 games for Preston, but he retains his genuine affection for Everton and said this about one of his Blues teammates: “He’s the best player I’ve ever played with. He was a step ahead of everyone in training and played balls that you didn’t even think were on. And not only that, he was a top fella who really helped the young lads.”

Bred A Blue: Episode 33. Ryan Ledson

Highlights: West Ham 2-2 Everton (9-8 on penalties) - 13 January 2015

The latest guest in our Bred A Blue podcast series is former central defender, Neil Moore.

Moore is a lifelong Evertonian who lived the dream… just!

He played six senior games for his beloved Blues under Howard Kendall and Mike Walker before accepting that the level of competition was always going to be just too much.

“I had Dave Watson, Kevin Ratcliffe, Martin Keown, David Unsworth, Gary Ablett all ahead of me,” he recalls.

After progressing through the ranks, Moore made his debut at Goodison Park in October 1992.

Everton defeated Rotherham United 3-0 with Moore replacing Barry Horne in the 87th minute.

“Howard sent me on up front and all I did was run around for three minutes without touching the ball,” he says. “I got slaughtered for that in the dressing room afterwards!”

Two of his subsequent Premier League appearances for Everton were against Manchester United and Arsenal, so Moore found himself competing against the likes of Paul Merson, Kevin Campbell, Eric Cantona and Mark Hughes.

He also played 45 minutes as an emergency striker again alongside Peter Beardsley at Goodison against Sheffield United!

Like every player who worked with Howard Kendall, Moore was immensely fond of him, describing him as a ‘fantastic character and a brilliant man’ but he admits that he got more of a sniff when Mike Walker came in.

“It’s all about opinions and about trust, and Mike trusted me,” he says, “which was fantastic from my point of view.”

Eventually though, Moore realised that his future lay beyond Goodison Park, ‘Joe Royle just didn’t fancy me which was fair enough because that’s football’ and, ironically, it was Walker who offered him a way out – taking him to Norwich City.

However, a friendly fixture at Carrow Road while he was still technically on loan, ruined his chances of a lengthy career in Norfolk.

Norwich were playing West Ham but the referee called it off because the stadium was shrouded in thick fog. 

“You couldn’t see the half-way line,” says Moore.

That’s when it got bizarre! The referee refused to take the game, so an appeal went out and a qualified official happened to be in the crowd. He duly officiated the game, in ridiculous conditions, and Moore suffered the most horrendous bad luck.

“I broke two vertebrae in my spine so the chance of playing in the Championship was basically over before it had begun.”

As enthusiastic an Evertonian as you could ever wish to meet, Neil Moore went on to have a long-playing career at lower league and non-league level and his love for the Blues has never wavered.

He recalls his days of cleaning Neville Southall’s boots (after first knocking on the men’s dressing room door to be allowed in), buying chocolate bars with the coins intended to wash the kit in the laundrette, being coached by Mike Lyons and Jimmy Gabriel, and much, much more!

Bred A Blue: Episode 34. Neil Moore

The latest Official Everton Podcast episode is all about Kevin Campbell.

The former Blues striker passed away in June at the tragically young age of 54 and the podcast looks back at the influence he had at Everton Football Club.

Darren Griffiths is joined by Dave Prentice and Gavin Buckland, with audio contributions from Kevin’s former Arsenal team-mate Alan Smith and his striking partner at Everton, Francis Jeffers.

We also hear snippets from Kevin himself as he recalls the circumstances in which he joined Everton, THAT goal against Liverpool and the first-time he encountered a schoolboy Wayne Rooney.

He also speaks about the night Arsenal won the First Division title at Anfield and then bumped into some celebrating Evertonians after the game!

We look back at the career of a man who cemented his legendary status at Goodison within weeks of joining the football club and assess the attributes that took him to the top.

For example, he was a prolific goalscorer as a youth, but he developed his game so well that he became the perfect foil for every conceivable type of fellow centre-forward – as his partnerships with Smith, Ian Wright, Paul Merson, Francis Jeffers, Nick Barmby and Rooney would confirm.

Campbell is the Premier League’s leading English goalscorer never to have been capped, he scored 51 goals for Everton, and he captained the club, but as this podcast discusses, bare statistics only tell part of the Kevin Campbell story.

Remembering Kevin Campbell

The latest Bred a Blue podcast is with Tony Grant.
Grant came through the Everton ranks to make 79 Senior-Team appearances and speaks frankly and openly about his time with the Club.
For example, the night he made his debut away at Newcastle United, when Barry Horne and Earl Barrett were both sent off and how only his second start in the side was at Wembley!
He also recalls the time he was offered a new contract only to find out that the manager had been sacked when he turned up at Bellefield to put pen to paper!
Grant also discusses his frustration at various managers signing players to play in his position and he reminisces about the only period in his Everton career when he actually felt like a regular.
He reveals what he’d “do differently if I had my time again” and rates the best players he played with at Everton.
The podcast also covers his coaching experiences as assistant to Robbie Fowler in India, Australia and Saudi Arabia.
Tony Grant was a gifted footballer, always good to watch. He’s good to listen to as well!

Bred A Blue: Episode 34. Tony Grant

Brian Doogan, Ian Snodin and Darren Griffiths discuss all the key Everton talking points direct from the team's base in Split, including:

- Wayne Rooney's international retirement and why it's good news for Everton
- The overall impact of Rooney since he's been back and how good he's been around the squad
- The ground-breaking trip to Tanzania 
- How summer signings Sigurdsson, Keane and Pickford have settled in
- The sudden emergence of Dominic Calvert-Lewin
- The significance of Everton's Under-23s reaching their Home Is Where The Heart Is fundraising target

Rooney Retires From England Duty And Tanzania Reflections

Thomas Hitzlsperger has described his experience of coming out as gay and the positive impact doing so had on his life in an exclusive interview for the Official Everton Podcast.

The former Germany international midfielder opened up publicly about his sexuality in 2014, six months after leaving Everton and calling time on a career that saw him lift the Bundesliga title with VfB Stuttgart as well as play in England, Italy and on 52 occasions for his country.

He remains the most high-profile footballer to be openly gay.

In a fascinating chat ahead of National Coming Out Day this Sunday (11 October), Hitzlsperger, now the CEO of Stuttgart, reveals the advice he would give gay footballers considering coming out, explains why his exacting battles with Gareth Barry for a first-team place at Aston Villa led him to seek the England man out when they met on the international stage, and describes how he went from falling out of love with the game to taking a top boardroom job at one of Germany's most successful clubs. 

He also details what it was like to realise his playing career was over at the age of just 31, why he believes more young English players should follow the example of Jonjoe Kenny and Jadon Sancho in moving to the Bundesliga, and why he still cites the "special" work of Everton in the Community as an example for other clubs to follow.

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