The Official Everton Podcast

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 th...

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 to...

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...

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 a...

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 Evert...

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 Ev...

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 hap...

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...

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, Micha...

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 keeper...

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 Camb...

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 dre...

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...

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...

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 bes...

Host Darren Griffiths sits down with the Charity’s Deputy Chief Executive Officer and Minds Lead, Mike Salla to discuss how Minds will offer comprehensive mental health provision to everyone when it is needed whilst promoting ‘living well’ and ‘ageing well’ with dementia. We also listen to a powerful piece from a former veteran turned participant and volunteer of Everton in the Community and how o...

Director of Youth and Support, Lara King joins host Darren Griffiths to chat about the Trinity Project and its five-year strategy and reveals how Thrives will tackle issues such as anti-social behaviour, empower individuals with disabilities and create thriving, healthy families within L4 and beyond. We also hear how one person is ‘thriving’ as a member of staff at Everton in the Community having...

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 ou...

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...

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 Unit...

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...

Last month saw the 60th anniversary of the Everton debut of a genuine Club legend! The Blues were the reigning Champions and were paired with Italian giants Inter Milan in the preliminary round of the European Cup. The first leg at Goodison Park ended in a goalless draw and for the return in the San Siro, manager Harry Catterick handed a first ever senior appearance to 18-year-old Colin Harvey. An...

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 matchday...

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...

Ian Bishop is the latest guest in our Bred A Blue podcast series. Bishop came through the ranks at Everton in the early 1980s but made only one fleeting substitute appearance for the Men's Senior Team – replacing Robbie Wakenshaw against Manchester United at Goodison Park in April 1984. Unable to break into arguably the finest Blues team of all-time, Bishop sought pastures new and went on to carve...