Articles

Ian Macowat (1965-2026) – 1984 FA Youth Cup Winner Remembered

Ian Macowat (1965-2026) – 1984 FA Youth Cup Winner Remembered

Rob Sawyer Ian at Bellefield in 1983-84 season Former Everton reserve team player and 1984 FA Youth Cup winner, Ian Macowat, has passed away at the age of sixty. Whilst studying at Park High School in Hindle, Ian represented Wigan and Greater Manchester Boys and was capped nine times by England Schoolboys. He joined the Blues’ youth set up as an apprentice in 1982, turning professional in the autumn of 1983. Contemporaries included Rob Wakenshaw, Steve Bateman, Darren Hughes and Ian Marshall. In the year above were the likes of John Morrissey Jr, Jimmy Coyle, Stuart Rimmer and Ian Bishop.…
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Bob and Hope’s Excellent Adventure: Kelso and Robertson on the High Seas, 1892.

Bob and Hope’s Excellent Adventure: Kelso and Robertson on the High Seas, 1892.

Rob Sawyer Bob Kelso In the late spring and early summer of 1892, while frenetic work continued to construct the new Goodison Park and have it ready to host football and spectators from the start of September, two Scottish members of Everton’s squad were enjoying an eye-opening tour of the Mediterranean.  The pair were Bob Kelso, who enjoyed two spells at Everton, making 104 appearances, and his compatriot Hope Robertson, something of a squad player who had joined the Toffees from Partick Thistle, having previously played in England for Woolwich Arsenal. He would make thirty-three appearances in an Everton shirt,…
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Pat Nevin – our next guest at the Denbigh Castle

Pat Nevin – our next guest at the Denbigh Castle

Everton FC Heritage SocietyHeritage Talks and Social Evenings – Spring Series Programme 2026 We are pleased to announce our new monthly series of social evenings featuring a talk or event related to our club’s history, heritage, culture and community. This new initiative has been introduced by members of the Everton FC Heritage Society, and in a full season will run from September to May on the first Thursday of every month in the downstairs function room of The Denbigh Castle, in Hackins Hey (off Dale Street), Liverpool. All Evertonians are welcome to attend, and we sincerely hope you will support the research…
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Dynamite, death, palpable inefficiency and only adequate justice

Dynamite, death, palpable inefficiency and only adequate justice

For much of this 2025/26 season, Jordan Pickford has continued to showcase his incredible ability to produce world-class saves at key moments in matches. Screenshot The Washington-born stopper’s love and affection for his home club Sunderland however is not a secret. At every Everton game, we are told he is both a Mackem and a Blue (and that he has no time for either club’s closest rivals). Moreover, at the Stadium of Light earlier this season, his son Arlo walked out as mascot wearing a half-and-half shirt. However, Everton’s current custodian isn’t the only goalkeeper in our history to have…
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John Clinkard – The Medical Man Behind the Toffees’ 1980s Triumphs

John Clinkard – The Medical Man Behind the Toffees’ 1980s Triumphs

Obituary by Rob Sawyer John Clinkard pictured in 1983 The recent news of the passing of John Clinkard at the age of seventy-one, prompted both great sadness and also fond remembrance of the role the physiotherapist played in Everton’s 1980s glory years. For many, he was better-known simply as ‘Magnum’ - more of which later – to others he was 'Clinks.' Raised in Kidlington, Oxfordshire, John attended Gosford Hill School and was a very decent centre-forward in the Kidlington Boys teams in the late 1960s. He made his way in the game as a physio at Didcot Town and Fulham…
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Gwyn Lewis – Playing In The Shadow of the Cannonball Kid

Gwyn Lewis – Playing In The Shadow of the Cannonball Kid

Rob Sawyer Gwyn Lewis of Everton FC Born on 21 April 1932, Gwynfor (Gwyn) Lewis became one of Bangor’s finest footballing sons. Like fellow Bangor-born forward Nathan Broadhead, over six decades later, Gwyn would only get fleeting opportunities at Everton, but established himself as an accomplished goalscorer in lower league football. Gwyn was one of several young talented sportspeople attending Bangor’s Friars Grammar School in the 1940s. There at the same time was John Cowell, who would go on to play in goal for Pwllheli FC under TG Jones, Bangor City, Marine and Liverpool FC Reserves, as well as cricket…
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Everton Heritage Social/Talks Evenings – A Successful Launch!

Everton Heritage Social/Talks Evenings – A Successful Launch!

Our First Event - Thursday 8 January 2026; features two well-known authors of numerous books on Everton FC, Rob Sawyer and Gavin Buckland; ‘Catterick and Kendall - Comparing and Contrasting Everton’s Managerial Giants’ Harry Catterick and Howard Kendall, undoubtedly Everton's two greatest managers, will be the subject of an evening of discussion led by Toffees historians Gavin Buckland and Rob Sawyer. Both authors, who are members of Everton FC Heritage Society, have written extensively about Catterick and Kendall's spells at Goodison as players and managers, and will discuss their careers and lasting legacies, comparing and contrasting these two significant figures in British…
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This Prince of Goalkeepers – Lance Corporal Leigh Richmond Roose MM

This Prince of Goalkeepers – Lance Corporal Leigh Richmond Roose MM

A great deal of research has been carried out by a number of members since the founding of the society, into players on Everton FC books who fell in both wars. This research has also been extended to include the Everton clubs of Chile and New Zealand. In addition, there has also been an ongoing project to research those who had served, but had survived, and in many cases were deeply affected by the conflict, who were never the same again, being affected both physically and mentally. ____________________________________________________________________________________________ https://youtu.be/qujY7HfXe6U Click to view Leigh Roose documentary on YouTube ____________________________________________________________________________________________ The Fallen of…
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The Making of ‘The Golden Vision’ for the BBC ‘Wednesday Play’

The Making of ‘The Golden Vision’ for the BBC ‘Wednesday Play’

Steve Zocek BBC Television once aired a weekly programme called the Wednesday Play. One particular episode was called The Golden Vision, which related to the Everton idol Alex Young. Many of the actors featured were well known performers from Liverpool, but the series was also notable for featuring complete unknowns, and people from ordinary walks of life with no acting experience whatsover, a technique deployed by director Ken Loach throughout his long career. The programme, aired on 17 April 1968, represented a fanatical bunch of Evertonians, who obsessively followed the Toffees. Nuneaton-born Ken Loach, was educated at St. Peter’s College,…
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The Fallen of Everton FC – Corporal Thomas Gracie

The Fallen of Everton FC – Corporal Thomas Gracie

A great deal of research has been carried out by a number of members since the founding of the society, into players on Everton FC books who fell in both wars. This research has also been extended to include the Everton clubs of Chile and New Zealand. In addition, there has also been an ongoing project to research those who had served, but had survived, and in many cases were deeply affected by the conflict, who were never the same again, being affected both physically and mentally. A series of short biographical films about the players is ongoing and in…
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