Andrea McGrady – Everton in the Blood

Rob Sawyer

Lifelong Evertonian Andrea McGrady was Everton Ladies’ first number nine, in the wake of Leasowe Pacific coming under the Toffees’ umbrella. She combined turning out for the successful women’s team with following the men’s team at Goodison Park. Here, in conversation with Rob Sawyer, she reflects on what playing for and watching Everton has meant to her. 

As a kid I’d be playing football in the back garden with my two brothers. I first went to Goodison Park in the late 1970s in the era of Andy King and Bob Latchford and got my first season ticket in the 1983/84 season in the Lower Bullens. As a forward myself, I loved watching Graeme Sharp and Adrian Heath. As a teenager, I started training with a women’s team in Litherland and when that folded, I moved to one in Kirby and then, eventually to St Helens. One day I went to watch Leasowe Pacific play and was blown away watching Louise Thomas up front for them. I contacted their manager, Billy Jackson and joined in around 1993. 

In 1995, when I found out that Leasowe Pacific was going to become Everton Ladies, I was over the moon. Getting my hands on my first Everton kit as a player and wearing it (even though it was a men’s one!) felt unbelievable. As a kid I had dreamt of it, but felt there was no chance of that ever happening. Now I was the first Everton Ladies number nine. We actually lost our first match playing as Everton, playing at our new home in Crosby, but I did score with a looping header from the edge of the box. There was no better feeling than scoring. We weren’t getting paid but I wore every team shirt with pride – pulling on Everton’s shirt, though, was on a different level.

We got to play a match at Goodison Park in 1997 (against Wembley), and I was panicking that I wouldn’t be selected to play. The week before, I was dropped but came on as a sub and scored the winner and was then selected for the Goodison match. It was amazing being in the changing rooms and then coming out onto the pitch. That spring, we also visited Goodison to promote us reaching the League Cup final and met some of the Everton men’s players. I took photographs on the pitch with them and as I walked back into the tunnel, I was alongside my hero Big Dunc. I told him that we’d be playing there in a few weeks and he said, ‘Oh, wow, that’s great.’

In the summer of 1997, the club brought in Karen Burke and Becky Easton, and we won the league that season, but I wasn’t playing as much as I would have liked. But I got to play at Goodison and at Wembley – and my brothers can’t say that! In around 2000, I signed for Millwall Ladies as I got a job in London, but I still got up to Goodison to watch the men’s games from the Gwladys Street stand. 

I was heartbroken at the thought of Goodison Park being demolished, so when I heard the news that it would become home to the women’s team it was fantastic news. It is an iconic stadium and it’s a real honour for those girls to walk out onto that pitch. Hopefully, the attendances will continue to increase with the move, which can only be good for women, going forward. 

Being in the new Everton Women’s Hall of Fame is an honour for all the inductees and a fitting tribute to those past players and coaches who have helped shape the club’s history. Everton FC and The Everton FC Heritage Society deserve huge praise for bringing the idea to fruition. 

I was lucky to be at the Everton Ladies (and Leasowe Pacific) reunion events in 2023 (at the women’s Merseyside derby at Goodison Park) and at the recent Lionesses game at Hill Dickinson Stadium. Both nights were hugely memorable for those who attended. Meeting ex-teammates who you shared dressing rooms with is always special, the banter resumes about 30 seconds upon meeting up! Other attendees at the Lionesses game commented on what an electric atmosphere there was that night. 

What Everton are doing off the pitch now in encouraging the growth of the women’s game and also celebrating the past is so important. It just makes me even more proud to have played for this club, the club I love!