Paul Owens

Paul Owens On Wednesday 25 April 1973, Gordon West made the last of his 402 first-team appearances for Everton, eleven years after signing from Blackpool for £27,500 – a then record-fee for a goalkeeper. Fittingly, the Darfield-born stopper, who had celebrated his 30th birthday two days previously, kept a clean sheet, a shut-out that helped his beloved Blues earn a share of the spoils at St James’ Park, Newcastle. Although the curtain had come down on the first-team career of one of Everton’s most successful and charismatic sons – a double title winner, an FA Cup winner and the recipient…

Paul Owens Earlier this summer, it was announced that Preston North End would play their Carabao Cup first-round tie against Huddersfield Town at Goodison Park on Saturday 8 August 2026, due to ongoing pitch renovations – i.e. the installation of a hybrid pitch – at their Deepdale home.  In a previous piece for this website, I wrote about the quite extraordinary goalkeeping links between Everton and the Lilywhites, a piece which starts with a biography of James Trainer – Preston’s two-time title-winning goalkeeper of the nineteenth century – and ends with a reference to George Pickford, the Blues’ highly-rated Preston-born…

Paul Owens During every school holiday bar the Christmas break, I run one-v-one football competitions close to my home in East Yorkshire. As the name suggests, the hugely popular ‘Hull and East Riding Goalie Wars’ tournaments are aimed primarily at budding keepers and are a fabulous way of bringing members of the region’s goalkeepers’ union together, which is something I am extremely proud of. Notwithstanding, the competitions are open to anyone who buys into our slogan: ‘Save theirs; Score yours; Have fun!’ A number of past winners have actually been outfielders, who decided to pull on the gloves to see…

Paul Owens The goalkeeping connections between Everton and Preston North End really are extraordinary.   Indeed, it is difficult to think of two other clubs who have shared such a long-standing and prolific connection when it comes to a single position on the football field  Preston North End 1888/89 In 1888/89, Preston became the first champions of England, having gone the whole of the inaugural English First Division season undefeated, winning 18 and drawing four of their 22 league matches. The following season, they successfully defended their title – finishing two points ahead of second-placed Everton, who pipped them to…