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

Former Everton winger Ronny Goodlass is currently trekking across Holland on a sponsored walk with a bit of a difference!

Ronny is walking from ADO Den Haag’s Cars Jeans Stadion to the home of NAC Breda, the Rat Verlegh Stadion, the two clubs he played for during his spell in the Netherlands.

His walk - which began on Monday and ends on Thursday - is a distance of 102 kilometres and will raise much-needed funds for his charity, Health Through Sport.

“Both Dutch clubs have been great with me, as have Everton – from the Club, ex-players and supporters,” said Ronny.

“Evertonians have been brilliant, ever since I started the charity.”

Ronny saw Den Haag draw 1-1 with Jong FC Utrecht on Sunday and will end his trip by watching NAC Breda take on TOP Oss on Friday.

“It’s been great so far,” he added. “It’s rained a bit but we’re on our way and I met some ex-teammates on Sunday, which was lovely.”

Before he left the UK at the weekend, Ronny caught up with Darren Griffiths to discuss his charity and the aims, route and logistics of the walk.

Ex-Everton Winger Goodlass On Epic Dutch Charity Walk

The latest guest on the Bred A Blue podcast is the only player to come through the ranks at Everton and win a full Scottish international cap!

Danny Fox has recently hung up his boots after a 500-game career that took him to Celtic, Burnley, Southampton and East Bengal, amongst other locations.

In Bred A Blue, he reveals how he became a part of the Tartan Army and reflects on the unique experience of playing in an Old Firm game.

“It’s like an out of body experience,” he says.

Fox joined Everton from Liverpool as a young boy and as a lifelong Evertonian, he dreamed of playing for the First Team.

Although it nearly happened, he never quite made it.

“I was on the bench against Aston Villa and when I was warming up, I was willing David Moyes to put me on, but he didn’t,” he says.

After the tears and trauma of being released as an 18-year-old, Fox was determined to prove Everton wrong and when he finally got to play in the Premier League with Burnley and Southampton he viewed it as redemption.

In a thoroughly entertaining podcast, Fox also speaks about his teenage loan spell with Scottish part-timers Stranraer, when a players trip to Benidorm really helped him grow up, and the difficulties of playing in India during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Bred A Blue: Episode 20. Danny Fox

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

Allez, Allez, Allez, Ohhh!

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

Audio of Everton fans singing at Sunderland on 12 April. The School of Science is on its way back!

Roberto Had A Dream

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

Despite the fact that he’s only just turned 24 years of age, Fraser Hornby already has a fascinating football story to tell.

The former Everton striker is the latest guest in our Bred a Blue podcast series that features former Academy players.

Hornby made just one senior appearance for the Blues, but he’s played top-flight football in Belgium, France, Scotland and now Germany.

His current club is SC Darmstadt who are adjusting to life in the Bundesliga after promotion last season.

Hornby started his youth career at Northampton Town but was considered good enough to command a fee from Everton when he was just 15.

“I always wanted the next challenge in my career, so it wasn’t really pressure,” he recalls. “I was really looking forward to going into that environment for a top team in a top league. I relished the challenge.”

His big moment came in Cyprus in December 2017 when Everton played Appolon Limassol in the Europa League. The Blues had already been eliminated so Craig Shakespeare took an inexperienced squad for the tie.

Initially, Hornby was named on the bench but when Stephen Duke McKenna injured Sandro Ramirez during a training session he was elevated to the starting eleven!

Anthony Gordon, Harry Charsley, Alex Denny and Nathan Broadhead all made their debuts that night and Hornby was frustrated that he didn’t get another opportunity with the senior team.

“I wanted more and more and I wanted to kick on from it. I had a chance in the game and I still look back and think I could have scored," he continued.

“It didn’t work out the way I wanted to, which was down to a number of reasons. Maybe a little bit of luck along the way.

“The biggest impact I had with the first team was when Sam Allardyce was in charge. I was in and around the first team every day and I travelled to a couple of Premier League games with the squad, which was good at the time. I felt that had he stayed on a bit longer I would have got my chance.”

After a loan spell with Kortrijk in Belgium, Hornby signed a permanent deal with French side, Reims, in 2020.

A further loan spell at Aberdeen ensued, which he reflects on with disappointment, especially as he is still Scotland’s record Under-21 goalscorer with ten goals from his 18 appearances.

At international level he worked with head coach, and former Everton midfielder, Scot Gemmill.

“He’s got a really good reputation with the SFA and he’s one of the best coaches I’ve worked with," he added.

Hornby joined Darmstadt 98 in 2023 and insists that he still hasn’t given up hope of forcing his way into the senior Scotland squad one day.

Bred A Blue: Episode 26. Fraser Hornby

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

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

evertonfc.com' commentator Darren Griffiths and pundit Graham Stuart describe the skipper's late derby goal.

Commentary: Phil Jagielka's equaliser at Anfield

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

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 35. Tony Grant

To mark 10 years since the passing of Everton great Howard Kendall, two key players from his trophy-winning Blues side – Peter Reid and Kevin Ratcliffe – discussed what made the legendary boss such a brilliant manager.
 
Kendall – who also shone as an Everton player as part of the Holy Trinity with Colin Harvey and Alan Ball – led the Toffees to their most successful era in the 1980s, winning two top-flight league titles, the FA Cup and European Cup Winners' Cup.

WHAT MADE HOWARD KENDALL ONE OF FOOTBALL'S GREATEST MANAGERS

The latest guest in our ‘Bred a Blue’ series has had quite an eventful football journey since making his one and only first team appearance for Everton.

Chris Long netted a friendly goal against Paderborn as a teenager and played at Goodison in the Europa League before accepting that the level of competition for striking places was just too much...although in hindsight he wishes he'd signed the three-year deal that Roberto Martinez offered him.

“I was fuming when we signed Samuel Eto’o,” he grins, looking back at his struggle to break through. “We had Jelavic, and Lukaku was on fire. Arouna Kone was there too, but I knew I was better than him!”

Chris Long can also name Harry Kane and Eric Dier as teammates, and he admits that he never saw an England record breaker when he first partnered the current Three Lions captain in an international youth team. And he credits a current Everton Academy staff member with helping Dier become an international Premier League footballer.

After leaving Everton, Long played for Sean Dyche, worked with David Weir, got knocked out on his debut for Motherwell and quickly learned that being a professional footballer isn’t always the glamorous existence it seems.

“Everyone thinks it’s sunshine and rainbows but it’s actually not. I’ve had more lows than highs and I wish I’d had more highs than lows but it’s the best job in the world and I love it. I thought I’d be Everton’s number nine for years and be the main man but football isn’t like that. And life isn’t like that. But at least I can tell my son I played for Everton.”

Chris Long’s career has been something of a rollercoaster but he’s back enjoying his football and is looking forward to the start of a new season…on the other side of the world!

Bred A Blue: Episode 36. Chris Long

Peter Reid and Adrian Heath are joined by Howard Kendall's son, Simon, to discuss what made Everton's greatest boss the master tactician and man manager he was, how he dealt with pressure away from the pitch and, in Simon's case, what it is like being the child of a serial-winner football legend.

Howard Kendall: The Man Behind The Manager

Why the 1985/86 Everton side was the greatest team Gary Lineker played in.

How he finally decided to join Barcelona after weeks of deliberation – and his regret at not staying at Goodison for longer to play for ‘one of Europe’s greatest teams’.

The former striker’s love for Howard Kendall, and admiration for current Toffees boss Carlo Ancelotti. 

And how Dominic Calvert-Lewin can become one of England’s top forwards.

All this and much more with BBC Sport presenter Gary Lineker in The Official Everton Podcast.

Lineker Talks Kendall, Everton Regrets And Calvert-Lewin

Xabi Alonso first encountered Carlo Ancelotti when he took charge at Real Madrid eight years ago.

The pair won the 2014 Champions League together - and reunited when Ancelotti was appointed boss of Bayern Munich in 2016.

Alonso’s final season before retiring concluded with an Ancelotti-inspired Bundesliga title success.

In this episode, the Spaniard discusses Ancelotti’s ability to bring dressing rooms together – and explains how he finally ended Real’s long-wait for ‘La Decima’...

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