Total Access, Total Football, Totally Inspiring

As a lot of people know, especially if you have had the “pleasure” of sitting by me at matches, seen me celebrating our goals or seen some of my Twitter rants, I’m passionate about Everton. However, I am also a passionate campaigner about disabled access and facilities, particularly in football grounds. As a result of this, I have come to liaise regularly over the last year or two with an organisation called Centre for Access to Football in Europe (CAFÉ). CAFÉ works with clubs, supporters and governing bodies with one clear aim in mind – a more accessible and inclusive match day experience for all disabled supporters across Europe. These dealings have also resulted in me becoming a member of their advisory panel along with a number of other disabled supporters from all over Europe.

Ten days ago, in the impressive surroundings of the Stade de France, Paris, CAFÉ held their 2nd conference and I was extremely privileged to be one of the approximately 200 delegates who attended this two day event. Travelling to away games with Everton is something that has become second nature to me now, even going to Europa League games in Germany, Switzerland, Portugal, France and Ukraine, but I have never travelled abroad on my own. However, attending this conference was something that I really wanted to do and wanted to do on my own despite being able to take a carer with me if needed, so travelling unaided as it were was not going to stop me. I am determined and stubborn girl when I have my mind set on something! Now I am not saying that this was easy for me, have you tried pushing a wheelchair with a suitcase precariously balanced on the footplates of said wheelchair around various train stations recently? But despite this and the odd hiccup along the way, including unhelpful assistance people at London Euston and a delayed Eurostar train journey due to an unexpected stop at of all places Lille, (any Evertonians reading this, will understand this reference and my annoyance at being here!) I made it to Gard du Nord in one piece and perhaps more amazingly with my suitcase still in one piece too! Here, I was very kindly (and much to my relief as I am not sure my GCSE French would have got me from here to the hotel – “bonjour, je m’appelle Amy, quelle heure est i?l”) met by a friend who works for CAFÉ and despite another slight problem with assistance off a train, a lift that wouldn’t come as nobody had switched it on and a walk to the hotel that may or may not involved us getting a tiny bit lost, I had made it to Paris!

An advisory group meeting ahead of the conference was the perfect start to the event, it gave me the chance to meet some of my fellow delegates from places such as Russia, Poland, Germany, Ukraine, Scotland and the Netherlands to speak about their experiences and also how some of them have made changes either at their own club or at a national level. Listening to the achievements made by some of these delegates left me feeling overwhelmed and really excited to hear more at the conference.

The two days of the conference are best described as mind blowing. I all too often feel that I am continually complaining or moaning to my own club as well as other Premier league clubs when I raise issues such as poor access, views and facilities with them. This feeling isn’t helped by the fact I often get poor reasons or “excuses” back from clubs and rarely see changes or improvements made despite encountering the same problems for several seasons. However, here I was in a conference room full of likeminded people who not only shared but understood my frustrations, as they had often encountered them too. It was reassuring to know that I am not the only one who feels this way and not the only one who is trying to make changes. Many people in attendance had gone above and beyond to help make disabled supporters match day experience a better one, some even helping disabled supporters have their first match day experience when they thought they’d could never to go to a match because of their disability. Others campaigning to raise funds to get better disabled viewing areas in their grounds and to make accessible family seating available.  

It was inspiring hearing from Joyce Cook, the managing director of CAFÉ speak, it was like she could read my mind with her thoughts on the whole match day experience for disabled supporters and how important football can be to disabled supporters. Her quote “a game of football, gave me my life back” really hit home with me as I have a similar opinion to this and have friends who do too and it shows why a high quality of access to football for all disabled supporters is so vital because of the difference it can make to peoples lives. You couldn’t fail to be moved by presentations on how audio descriptive commentary at Euro 2012 and the World Cup in 2014 made such a difference to partially sighted and blind supporters. This was best summed up by a quote from Larissa, a partially sighted Ukrainian fan who said that, “Audio descriptive commentary made me feel equal and alongside my fellow fans” – such a powerful statement. The Shippey campaign was another great example of improving match day experience, the hard work of Peter and Kate Shippey has seen a sensory room for supporters with autism at Sunderland’s Stadium of Light been made available. This has allowed their Sunderland mad, 8 year old son Nathan to be able to go to the match in an environment that is safe for him and for other fans who are autistic but who still want to be able to go to the match and support their team like all other fans do. They are now campaigning to get sensory rooms installed in other football grounds and sports stadia. Hidden disabilities such as supporters with dementia and those who are colour blind were also discussed, I found the subjects both fascinating and thought provoking as I am ashamed to say, I never really thought of the needs of supporters who have these conditions. It is now clear to me that people who have hidden disabilities such as these are just as entitled to have a high quality match day experience and hopefully clubs will now start to cater for their needs.

Hearing about how important and vital pro-active disabled supporters groups are both at club and national level was of major interest to me. Surely it makes sense for clubs to hear direct from those supporters who do have disabilities on what clubs can do to help their disabled supporters enjoy their match day experience? DSG’s are the perfect opportunity for this, clubs needs to utilise the expertise and experience of these fans. Listening to Michal Fitas from Klub Kibicow Niepelnosprawnych (KKN), the disabled supporters association for Slask Wroclaw, which is the biggest disabled supporters association in Poland, was amazing. He explained how they regularly have in excess of 200 disabled supporters attending home games (the majority of Premier League grounds have around half of this number attending, some even less) and how as part as the CAFÉ week of action total access, total football held in April of this year, he was involved in helping over 1000 disabled supporters attend a game between Slask Wroclaw faced Lechia Gdansk. What was even more impressive about this feat was that it was all arranged in around 3 weeks!

If these presentations were mind blowing enough for me, we also heard about the new UEFA Club Licensing criterion, requiring clubs to appoint a Disability Access Officer – perhaps a new job for me, I could do with a career change! How UEFA are planning on making EURO 2016 the most accessible and inclusive tournament for all disabled supporters, with increased facilities at grounds and also better infrastructure in and around the ten host cities, which is just as important to fans with disabilities as the stadiums themselves. Although me being me I am little doubtful over elements of this and I am thinking that I may email UEFA with my thoughts and concerns about this, this is how inspired and brave I am now feeling! 

The best bit of the conference for me came when Cathy Long, Head of Supporter Services at the Premier League was on stage discussing the pledge made by all Premier League clubs that they would meet the minimum standard of requirements as set out in the Accessible Stadia Guide by August 2017. I even got to ask a question, like I was going to miss this opportunity!! Even though I had to react quickly and change the question I wanted to ask as David Bernstein, CAFÉ chairman, actually got in with it before I did! So after an extremely quick rethink I got to ask “Given the relatively short timescales the majority of clubs have to make such massive changes in order to meet this pledge, I hope quick fixes that ultimately won’t make things any better for disabled fans won’t be made just to make sure the deadline is met?” This seemed to go down well with the panel and I was told that my point was very valid as after the Taylor Report, grounds were adapted quickly and often the needs of disabled supporters were not taken into account and this must not happen again. I may actually know what I am talking about after all and not be that professional moaner that I feel I am. I’m a bit cynical if this pledge will be met on time as I know the large scale changes a lot of the Premier League clubs will have to make to become compliant having visited them all over the last few seasons. Nevertheless it was good to hear that at least the Premier League are aware that disabled supporters needs have been overlooked for some time and are aiming to put this right.

After being nervous about going to the conference on my own, not knowing how I would cope with travelling and generally getting around, I’m so pleased that I overcame these nerves and with a little bit of help on occasions from my friend and his colleagues, I managed to do it and I am so glad I did. The conference was everything and more that I thought it would be. I went through a series of emotions whilst there, but the main thing it left me feeling was inspired. As Joyce Cook so eloquently said “we are football supporters, first and foremost” and as I said at the beginning of this piece, if you’ve seen me celebrate any Everton goal (which nearly everyone must have done if you watch Match of the Day!), you would know that I am an Evertonian before anything else, I am just one who happens to be disabled. This does not mean my match day experience should be any different than that of any of my friends or other supporters. Thanks to the CAFÉ conference and the work they carry out and also that of Level Playing Field too, hopefully soon, all disabled supporters will be able to have a fully inclusive match day experience and will be known as just supporters because as Joyce says that is what we are.

 

Going the match, it really shouldn't be this difficult!

I am an Evertonian and I go the match, it is I do and I what I love doing. Being an Evertonian and going the match is really quite important to me as it kind of makes me forget for a bit one major but quite significant thing about my life - that I am disabled.

When I’m at the match or talking about Everton, I am just the same as every Evertonian, someone who just wants to go the match and support the team like so many other fans do, not a girl with Osteogenesis Imperfecta and a wheelchair user. I hate missing matches - I mean genuinely hate it - I have literally begged, my mum and doctors to allow me to go to games before. I am not someone who can watch us on the TV, it is hell on earth for me to do that, so much so that my brother has refused to watch a televised Everton game with me again after Krasnodar last season. This is why I have to follow us home and away!

Some of the best and most amazing friends that I have, I’ve come to know through going to the match. I sometimes think the only thing in life that I am good at is going the game and supporting Everton. But there are times when I wonder why I bother going to all the effort, time and expense that it takes to go the match. This is not because of the form and the performances from my team (though don’t get me wrong, they have tested my patience many times throughout the seasons and there’s been plenty of times where I have never wanted to see them ever again). The reason is purely down to the inadequate and appalling facilities that disabled supporters have to endure at quite a lot of grounds.

Would non-disabled supporters continue to go to games, especially away games, if their view was blocked by other supporters due to poorly designed seating areas? Many of which probably looked really good to architects when the stadium was empty but are ultimately not fit for purpose on a matchday. Would they continue to go when they then get told part of the reason why you couldn’t see is not because of this, but because of your own fans? I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve been told that my view was blocked as my club sold all its allocation of tickets and our fans stood up. This is a reason I will never accept – it shouldn’t matter if they stand or not, or if we have 300 fans there or 3000.If it wasn’t for big screens at grounds there are times when I would hardly see a thing all game.

Would others continue to go if they couldn’t see the pitch and have missed seeing goals scored because of photographers and cameramen “just want to have the best view to be able to get the shots they need”? Surely it is important that the fans in attendance want the best view themselves? The best part of going to the match is being with your fellow supporters, yet sadly, this is not something that I can do at every ground. No away fan supporter should have to sit in the home end, but if we want to go to certain games, we have no choice but to do so. Imagine going to your local derby game, the biggest game of the season and having to sit in with your rival fans? This has happened to me for 12 seasons now and shows no sign of changing any time soon. This sounds dramatic I know, but I kind of dread us winning the derby at Anfield as I will not enjoy it anywhere near as much as I should do as I am not with the rest of our supporters.

At one ground a couple of seasons back I suffered abuse from home fans for celebrating our goalkeeper saving a penalty. It was a truly horrible and upsetting experience. To be told “you shouldn’t be sitting here, you need to get out” "Get over there with the rest of them" amongst other cruel and nasty comments made by people who really should have known better is something I never expected to happen at the match. Through no fault of mine or any other disabled supporter, we are in home ends, so therefore does that mean we not allowed to celebrate when things go our way? One of the best things about being a football supporter is the emotional side to the game, you sometimes just get lost in the joy and excitement of celebrating a goal, a great save or a missed penalty, and you just react instinctively. Well I do anyway, and why shouldn’t I? If the rest of our supporters could be exuberant at seeing that penalty being saved, why couldn’t the disabled supporters in the opposite side of the ground have the same levels of enjoyment? Isn’t that what football is all about? Not celebrating our goals that day was one of my biggest ever regrets. For those of you who know me, you would know how hard not celebrating those goals would be for me, I shouldn’t have let the home fans win, but I did as I didn’t want to risk being made to leave the ground like other disabled fans were that day for doing exactly what I didn’t do. I have not enjoyed us winning a match quite like that day.

I also hate not being able to see my friends and family at games, but at some grounds being able to this completely impossible, the only way I can see my mates on these match days is if I happen to bump into them on the way to and from the ground from the coach or car park - hardly very inclusive. Sitting with your mates or family is an option that is very rarely open to disabled fans. I’d love to be able to take my nephew to the game when he's older but as it stands at the minute, this is not something I could do as there is no accessible seating in the family enclosure.

I like to think I am as independent as I can be despite my disability, and don’t like asking for help from others. But going the match is something that I would never contemplate doing on my own due to not being able to get in or out of some grounds without assistance (the hill to exit one ground is that steep, non disabled fans would struggle walking up it, let alone push up it), get food and drink because the concourses are either inaccessible for not practical for wheelchairs, and in some cases I need a companion with me just to tell me what is happening on the pitch because I literally cannot see it. If I can go to work on my own, go shopping on my own, go to the cinema on my own, shouldn’t I be able to go to the match on my own if I wanted to? I am lucky that I can easily book leave from work for away games but I rely so much on family and friends being able to come to away games with me. If they couldn’t, I wouldn’t get to as many games as I do. If I knew I could manage at aways on my own, I would have no hesitation in going to them without having to take a companion with me.

This isn’t just a moan about other clubs either, as my own club are just as much at fault and I don't hold back criticising them just as much as I do with other clubs. They could do much more to make things better and easier for disabled supporters, as can the majority of clubs. I genuinely feel a lot of clubs have no real understanding of disabled supporters, they have no comprehension of the difficulties faced by disabled fans. Things like getting tickets for games - allocations of tickets, particularly for away games, are so small (unfairly so when you look at the capacities of some of the grounds). Getting to and from the games - transport is not always very accessible, this is only for domestic games. European away games are even harder to plan for. Only for us to be met with more obstacles once we get into the ground that really shouldn't exist if clubs put some consideration in to their disabled facilities. It would be so easy for me and other disabled fans to not bother going to certain games knowing full well the difficulties we’re going to face, but why should we have to pick an choose what games to go to? If I want to go the game, I should be able to go without having to consider can I see, who can come with me, is there transport available. I just want to go as many games as I can whilst I can. 

I sincerely hope with the announcement made from the Premier League last week that improvements will be made that will enable all disabled supporters to have an inclusive matchday experience like our fellow supporters do, because when all is said and done we are supporters too and should be treated as such.

Lille on Wheels - Part 2

After taking a bit of inspiration from reading this http://toffeeweb.com/season/14-15/comment/fan/28564.html I thought I'd write part 2 or part deux. So here goes, apologies for the length of this, but there was a lot to get in!!

Ever since the draw was made for this season’s Europa League, Lille was always going be one that I was going to go to. I knew getting a ticket wouldn’t be a problem as I had all the required credits and travelling there wouldn’t be too much of an issue as I knew the Eurostar went straight into Lille.  So I put the plans into place for my friend and I to be able to go – booked the train tickets, arranged for assistance for the trains and found a hotel with a wheelchair accessible room. Further research carried out later on meant we knew the most wheelchair friendly way of travelling from the city to the ground and back again. We were good to go and very much looking forward to this trip.

We arrived in Lille around 3.40pm on Thursday after a relatively straight forward journey.  we checked into our hotel, put the bags into the room and decided to venture in to town to soak up the pre match atmosphere. I‘d received phone calls and texts from family and friends warning me not go to the square as there had been an incident involving tear gas being used on our supporters, we decided that we wouldn't be put off by this and would go there as that is where our friends would be. As we got near to the square we could hear choruses of Allez, Allez, Allez Oh and many other Everton songs from outside a bar. These fans were in great spirits, singing and having a good time. The locals seemed in awe of the numbers outside this one bar and were taking photographs and enjoying watching the scenes. We stayed there and joined in with the fun for a short time before setting off to the square. As we got to there, we could see all the flags and although the numbers of fans were dispersing in order to go to the stadium, there was still a decent number gathered there and the atmosphere was friendly and happy. Lots of songs were being sung and the fans were enjoying themselves. I am glad we went there. You couldn't help but sing along with our songs and it was a really enjoyable place to be. But because we didn't know how long it would take to get to the stadium we decided to leave just before 5pm to make our way to the ground.

This is when our jovial mood started to wear off quickly and be replaced by frustration, panic and annoyance. On our arrival at the Gare Lille Le Flandres, we couldn't find the disabled access to the Metro, we asked the police who were on duty there and they simply shrugged their shoulders and said "don't know" when asked if they could tell us where the lifts where. Eventually we found someone who pointed us to the lift and we got to the Metro station, which was extremely busy not only with match going fans of both clubs but rush hour commuters. It was literally heaving. The queue for the stairs to the platform for the Metro was like something I have never seen before, it was a bottleneck, how serious injury wasn't sustained by people there, I am not sure. We managed to get into single small lift somehow and joined what felt hundreds of other people on an extremely overcrowded platform. More and more people were joining the platform quicker than people were leaving it onto the metro trains. I positioned myself in my wheelchair to the right hand side which was the side of entry on to the metro and my carer had to stand to the side of me to stop anyone pushing into me and knocking me. Due to my disability, I am only little so my chair isn't that noticeable and I can also sustain injuries by being knocked into, I will openly admit I was scared being down on that platform and I know my friend felt similar, it felt like we could be crushed or have people fall on me at any minute. It was also ridiculously warm as well and at times I felt quite faint. From what I could tell there was no crowd control in place from station staff or police. As we eventually got near to where we were in a position to get on to the Metro, two policemen were notified by a couple of very helpful people in the queue that a wheelchair user was there and trying to board the next metro. They tried to hold back the crowd to allow us to board but couldn't so we had to wait for the next Metro. Thankfully we got on this train, much to our relief. There was no disabled space on the Metro despite there being a sign saying there was, to be honest I didn't care, I was just glad to be off that platform. The Metro train was packed but it didn't feel anywhere near as bad being on that unlike that platform.

Leaving the station there was a heavy police presence, which was more than little intimidating as we made our way to the stadium. We got to the stadium with about half an hour to go before kick off. My tickets were for the away end and according to the ticket our entrance was I02, but from we could not see where that was. Thankfully my friend saw some of the Everton stewards who were working at the entrances, one of them came with us to take us to an entrance, which was the same entrance as a lot of our supporters were using. There appeared to be no separate disabled entrance at all. Something I have never known in over 15 years of going to away matches. To get to this entrance, we had to fight our way through a huge mass of Evertonians who were also attempting to gain entry. With the help of the Everton steward and the Evertonians in this so called queue we managed to work our way through to the front. Without the assistance of the Everton steward and the understanding of our fans, I really don't think we would have got to the front of this mass of fans so quickly & safely. From what I could tell, there were no Lille stewards around these entrances to help with crowd control etc. Poor organisation yet again from the home club

Once at the entrance, it was obvious why so many fans were massed outside, the body checks! Delays into the ground was inevitable with these. I was searched by a steward; she searched me, my bag, my jacket and my wheelchair. Once passed this, I moved forward about two yards, I encountered the same checks yet again but this time by a police woman, who was nothing if not thorough! I have never encountered checks like that at football ground ever, in fact I don't think I have ever been checked at a ground before, my bag, yes, but not me or my chair. If I have it wasn't to that extent. I don't think the security checks in airports have ever been that thorough with me. All of my female friends felt the same about the body checks. On this second check my phone charger was confiscated from me. The policewoman tried to explain to me what was happening, but she didn't speak any English. Eventually a colleague told me I wouldn't be allowed to enter the ground with the charger and I could collect it after the game (which I did). I don't see what problem there was with the phone charger, I have taken it into many grounds previously.

Once we were allowed to go to our seats, I encountered another problem. My seat didn't exist! The numbers on the disabled bays jumped from 24 up to 36, my ticket was for bay 28! Reg, the EDSA steward told me to sit in a space that was empty for now. So we did and that is when I realised I had a major problem, I would not be able to see the pitch! The wheelchair bays were located at the back of the lower tier, the seats in front of us weren't even full at this point and I just knew that once they were I wouldn't see the pitch and this would be without the fans standing up. I have been to enough games to know what views will be like before games have started and it was obvious that this was going to be problematic. The wheelchair bays were like the ones at the Emirates, Wembley, the Etihad and the Britannia to name just a few in this country, but unlike these grounds, they were not elevated, so the disabled supporters sitting here were never going to have a clear view of the pitch. I was extremely disappointed and angered that for such a brand new ground, so little consideration had gone into the disabled viewing area.

After returning from the toilet (no signs to direct me to the disabled toilets or any Lille stewards to ask), the space I was sitting in had been taken by the disabled supporter who was meant to be there. So we had to find another one. Most were taken up by other wheelchair users, but there were a couple empty on the far side (last block of Everton supporters) but again the problem of seeing the pitch existed. To stand any chance of seeing the game I ended up sitting alongside another wheelchair user at the top of the steps right by the metal separation fence between the home and away fans, which felt like we were in a cage. My friend had no seat as the other supporters had been told on their entrance they could seat anywhere if they couldn’t find their seats so she stood behind me for the whole game. We had a bit of a view of the goal Tim Howard was defending in the first half, but an obscured one of the far end goal any play we had down the right side, I couldn’t see. In the second half, I hardly saw any Lille attacks as their fans that were to my immediate right stood whilst the attack was ongoing. I was literally waiting for their fans to start celebrating as that would have been the only way I would have know they'd have scored.

Within 5 minutes of kick off two other wheelchair users came and joined us at the top of the steps as they couldn't see from their designated wheelchair bays. We had to keep moving back and forth to allow our fans up and down the steps. At no point did any Lille stewards or police come over to us to tell us to move as we were clearly blocking the steps. We would never have been allowed to stay there at any ground in the UK. We asked the steward on the other side of separation fence if we could move into the Lille end as we thought we may have seen the pitch much clearer from there, but were told in no uncertain terms NO. At half time I moved to one of the wheelchair bays just to see what it was like and even with the fans seated I could just about make out the goal in front of us. There was no way I could stay there to watch the game. So I had to return to the top of the steps for the second half.

As the end of the game approached we saw a line of dozen or so armed police behind us and were told by one of our stewards, we'd be kept behind after the game. Thankfully the Everton stewards had arranged with the police to allow the wheelchairs to be allowed through this cordon and on to the concourse. I was so relieved that the stewards had sorted this.  As soon as the whistle went, the stewards took the wheelchair users and their carers through the armed police cordon and we waited out of the way of the crowd of Evertonians who had made their way to the top of the steps. We also were allowed to leave the ground after about 10 minutes, before the rest of the Everton fans. We were most grateful for this as it meant we could get on a Metro with nowhere near as much stress and panic as on our journey to the stadium and got back to our hotel safely around 10pm when I discovered my final problem of the trip, the wheelchair accessible room didn't live up to its name. But that is story for another time!

I must admit that I didn't enjoy any part of being in the ground or getting to and from it. I have been going to Goodison since 1993 and away games since 1999 have never seen so little organisation ever at a match. If it wasn't for the Everton stewards, I don't think we would have gotten in or out the ground as safely as we did. The policing at the ground was far too extreme and I can understand why this caused a lot of fans to get in after kick off. Due to the poor viewing area I didn't enjoy the game, just because I couldn't see it, nothing to do with how we played! This whole experience ruined what had been a trip my friend and I had been looking forward to for weeks. I was hoping to go to Euro 2016, but the experience in and around the stadium and in getting to it have really put me off this now.

The ups and downs of the 12-13 season

So that is it, the end of yet another season with Everton, a season that has had many a twist and turn, though I don’t suppose it’d be Everton if we didn’t have those.
The lows were really low; I hate even thinking about the cup defeats against Leeds and Wigan, let alone putting them down in writing to remind everyone about them. Embarrassed, disgusted and ashamed were just some of the adjectives I used to describe to how I felt after both of those defeats. Wigan was particularly hurtful due to the inept performance we gave and it really took a while for me to get over it. Talk about a massive missed opportunity. I’m still fuming over the defeat at Carrow Road too, bad enough losing like how we did, but losing to a Grant Holt (of all people) goal and then having to endure such a long and tedious coach journey home was really too much for me. Reading away wasn’t a particular high point either, teams who haven’t won in ages or strikers who are on a barren run in front of goal must love seeing us as their next game, as they know they’ve got a brilliant chance of ending their dreadful run. Even Torres scored his first league goal of 2013 on Sunday! Conceding last minute goals against Norwich (twice), Fulham, Newcastle wasn’t pleasant either. The lack of incomings in January was a source of major frustration for us all, ultimately costing us any real hopes we had a sustaining a real challenge of finishing 4th. The new signings that came in on deadline day in 2012 really gave such a lift to the club and the fans and contributed to such a good run of form to that season, but all January 2013 brought us was major disappointment. I know not all fans will agree with this next bit, but for me Moyes leaving, although I expected it, was a bit of a low. As I’ve said previously, I know my history; I know he isn’t our greatest manager. At times, he’s frustrated and angered me beyond belief with his team selections, substitutions and style of play, but when all you can really remember as our managers is Howard Kendall (3rd time around) and Walter Smith, Moyes changed us from perennial relegation candidates to top 6 finishes, he restored my pride in being an Evertonian and gave me the chance to watch players like Cahill, Arteta, Pienaar, Mirallas, Baines & Martyn.

The highs weren’t maybe as high as we’ve had in previous seasons but there were still some memorable moments. United at home on the opening game was just brilliant, if ever an example was needed of how magical Goodison Park on a night match is, then this was it. The Old Lady really did rock than night and the players responded to it. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a player totally dominate United, but that night Marouane Fellaini was truly unplayable and Jagielka was unbeatable at the back. Swansea away for the second season in a row was probably up there as my favourite away, it was one of the best performances I’ve seen us give at any time, especially away from home. We just dominated the game and the scoreline was in no way flattering to us. Those last five minutes in the Tottenham game at Goodison were amongst the craziest I’ve ever witnessed. It was literally “limbs everywhere” when Jelavic scored. Beating Newcastle at anytime is always pleasurable but particularly at St James’ Park, even more so after being one down within the first two minutes, the fact that Leighton Baines scored that screamer of a free kick (I will never, ever tire of seeing that goal) also helped a bit. The general performances of Baines all season has been a source of great pride for me, he is easily up there as one my favourite players ever, I’m so pleased that he’s finally being recognised more at international level now as well, as those of us who have watched him for the last few seasons know that he is at least the equal of Ashley Cole, beyond him in my eyes. The re-emergence of Seamus Coleman has been one of the highlights of the season too. He suffered a lot with second season syndrome and fitness issues last season, but this season he really has made that right back slot his own and has caught the eye both defensively and offensively. He is one of the hardest working players in our squad too. I will admit I didn’t know much about Kevin Mirallas when we signed him, but I know I like what I’ve seen so far from him. He must be the most exciting wide man we’ve had since Andrei Kanchelskis. If we can keep him fully fit for the majority of next season, we’ll have one hell of player on our hands.

The other highlights for me were off the field acts. The tribute Everton gave to the Hillsborough families prior to the Newcastle game was something very special. It was such an emotional and fitting tribute, one that all connected with the club quite rightly received deserved praise for. The late, great Alan Ball once said once Everton touches you, nothing will be the same, I think Tim Cahill flying back from New York to say his farewells in an already emotionally charged last home game of the season really proved that. Goodison was again brilliant that day, yes, we said our goodbyes and thank yous to three people who have been so important to us in the last decade or so, but as Moyes quite rightfully said, we showed our support for our club. Managers and players come and go, that’s football, but fans remain loyal and on that Sunday afternoon in the rain just before Mirallas made it 2-0, the fans showed that no one person is bigger than Everton Football Club.

On a personal note, the season will be remembered as the one that I finally achieved my ambition of attending all the games we played, all 45 of them. Having missed games in previous seasons due to lack of accessible transport or due to my brother’s work shifts, I never actually thought I’d ever do it (a special and massive thank you to Lynne, Colin and Eddie for helping me achieve my ever present record). Other very random things I will remember from the 12-13 season is me refusing to go to near to Leighton Baines to get a photo with him in case I injured him ahead of the derby, finally going for a drink with my mates in the Brick, meeting one of my first Everton heroes in Joe Parkinson, getting to meet a lot of mad, crazy but boss Evertonians, still managing to go all girly when I met my first love, Duncan Ferguson, again, hitting a drunk Leon Osman at the end of season awards evening, to be fair to Ossie, he didn’t seem to mind, I doubt he’d even remember I did it and most embarrassingly of all making a total idiot of myself in front of Phil Jagielka by declaring my love for him and not being able to spell my name to him!!

Who knows what this summer is going to bring for us, it is going to be one of the biggest and most important close seasons we’ve had for many a year, all I do know is, that come August the 17th I will be ready to take my seat on the best rollercoaster going, the rollercoaster that is Everton!

Just don't even dare, Everton!!

All week I've been telling my Evertonian mates not to look too far ahead of themselves, that we need to take one game at a time but I can see why they are looking ahead though. Why wouldn’t we, this is such a massive chance for us to progress, not just the quarter finals, but to at least the semi final and another Wembley trip. However, I am having to stop myself from thinking like that as that is like tempting fate. This is Everton after all, how many times have they let us down in the past?  I'm definitely once bitten, twice shy when it comes to Everton and cup games. I really do dislike the things!

I came out of Boundary Park last Saturday night quite angry (and with a headache thanks to my proximity to the Oldham fan with that bloody stupid drum!). Angry at the ending to the game, obviously and also at the performance against a lower league club who are on a poor run of form and have no manager. After taking the lead so early in the second half, I was hoping we had weathered the Oldham storm and we'd push on to see out the tie comfortably, but as has been the case in recent weeks, our performance was too bitty, too hit and miss and not what was needed in such a banana skin of a cup game. You could deny Oldham their equaliser really. They were always going to go for it as the game approached its end; they had nothing to lose in going for it. We should have expected that and been more prepared for the onslaught. They did go for it and got their reward for doing so. Fair play to them for that.

Some of my anger was later directed to Phil Dowd, who failed to spot Lee Croft's blocking off of Tim Howard, but to blame the referee as a reason for us not hanging onto the lead is a poor excuse. We need to look at ourselves, leaving Baines with a two on one which lead to the successive corners which ultimately resulted in the goal was poor. Duffy who had only been on the pitch at matter of seconds should not really have been put on marking their danger man, Matt Smith. For me that should have been Distin or Fellaini's job to mark him. Our general performance throughout the game was sluggish and although we did well to get ourselves in the lead after falling behind relatively early on, we never looked like we'd ever go on to dominate the game from that point, which is what we really should be doing against lower league sides. Oldham’s equaliser was on the cards from about the 80^th minute.

So now we move onto Tuesday's replay. I’d like to think that the players know the massive chance we have got here, and will come out with a positive attitude and take the game to Oldham right from the off, which is something we failed to do at Boundary Park. If the likes of Pienaar, Mirallas, Fellaini and Jelavic can play like we know they can, that surely will be enough to get us past this plucky League One team? Hopefully Seamus Coleman will be fit enough to play too, as he'll help to speed up our attacks down our right flank, which at times were quite pedestrian on Saturday and we will have learnt a way to deal more successfully with Matt Smith's physical presence. But as I said before, I've been bitten before by Everton in cup competitions, ironically Oldham was one of those teams who have bit us. It just cannot happen again! The incentive of a home quarter final against Wigan has got to mean something to the players and the manager too; it certainly does to the fans. Hence the excitement from so many of us. We know that we've given such a favourable draw, with the exception of getting Barnsley or Blackburn; we couldn't have picked a better potential quarter final opponent for us. I'd be devastated and fuming if we didn't take this chance.

Who knows, with the uncertainty regarding his contract, this maybe Moyes' last chance to win something with us, so I'm hoping he and the players realise this and give us fans the opportunity of at least one Wembley trip this year. I honestly don’t think we’ll get a better chance of at least getting to the final and who knows maybe ending our 18 year trophy drought.

So please, please, please Everton, do not give ITV their headline story of a cup shock on Tuesday, they had that in the fourth round. Play from first whistle to the last, get Goodison rocking like only it can in a night match and give me the chance to join some of our other fans in dreaming of Wembley.

 

The Brilliance of Baines

An epiphany occurred over this weekend, it’s taken some time, but finally, the rest of the footballing world, ok, maybe not the world, but certainly this country has now seen how good a player Leighton Baines actually is. Ask any Everton fan and we would have told you this for probably the last 18 months, two years, if not longer, but others in the media have eventually caught onto just how good the 27 year old from Kirkby really is.

Everything about Baines is just class, both on and off the pitch. Unlike certain other left backs, it is unimaginable that you will never see Baines on Twitter, let him alone using any form social media to verbally abuse the powers that be at the FA. Even when the media were more than hinting that his so called homesickness was the reason that he was overlooked for the 2010 World Cup squad in favour of Stephen Warnock (he who is now on loan at a Championship club), Baines maintained his dignity and continued to play consistently well for Everton and only when selected for the squad for this summer’s European championships did he use his media interviews to set the story straight about the mythical homesickness stories.  

“'People who are gullible enough to believe everything they read, that's up to them. That summer I spent three weeks with Everton in Australia. I'd have much rather of spent those three or four weeks at a World Cup. It wasn't to be. But, as I say, if [homesickness] was ever an issue, I wouldn't have been away with the club that long.”

Would Mr A Cole take such an omission from the squad in quite the same, mild mannered way? Methinks not!

You won’t see Baines falling out of nightclubs at all hours of the morning, he is far happier going  to concerts, even if as Marouane Fellaini said recently he has the worst choice in music of the team!! w From what I know I don’t think he has, Leighton is our music aficionado. He is a family man too who still goes around to his mum’s for his Sunday dinner when he can. I once saw him in Starbucks by our work with his eldest lad (his mini me) and absolutely no one battered an eyelid when he walked in (apart from me, of course, took all my restraint not to go over and say hello), he was just a normal dad taking his son (named Lennon, ode to his excellent musical taste maybe?) for a drink and a cake.

On the field, he is anything but normal, he has grown into easily the best left back I’ve seen at Goodison, I saw something on Twitter about him the other day saying that he’d even fit in playing with 84-85 squad. Can’t get much more of a compliment than that really. The partnership he has struck up with Steven Pienaar is one of the best, if not the best in the Premier League.  At times their link up is so instinctive it is almost telepathic. Sitting further back in the away end at the DW on Saturday, I was pretty much in line with the left side and at times in the second half it really was a joy to watch those two play, you could see how well they really do work as a duo and not just offensively, as Pienaar doesn’t shirk when it comes to helping out Baines when we’re defending either. But going forward is when the pair are at their exciting best, the first goal in the recent game against Newcastle was a perfect example of this, not many left backs would ever be found in the opposition’s penalty area that many times a season as Baines is in most games.  Baines’ is up and down that left touchline so much during games that there mustn’t a blade of grass he hasn’t touched he could easily be classed as a left midfield. His delivery from both open play and set pieces is at times just undefendable, it is no wonder he is at the top of the chances created charts.Opponents know how much of a threat our left side is and do try to nullify that side of our team but despite this the duo have so far scored three goals between them and assisted 6 for the likes of Jelavic and Fellaini. His penalty taking ability for an Englishman is outstanding – 9 out of 9 in the Premier League now and he's not a bad free kick taker either, Chelsea in the FA Cup will always be one of my favourite goals, couldn’t have timed the goal any better or have put it in that top corner anymore perfectly, proper postage stamp job. . Unlike so many modern day attacking left or right backs, Baines can actually defend too. Many times he has got in last ditch tackles, blocks or defended the goal-line from corners; he can perform both roles of a modern day full back equally as well.

International recognition has been achieved by Baines now, long overdue in my opinion after the ridiculous homesickness stories, but he never seems to be the same player when he dons the England shirt, maybe that is because he lacks a bit of confidence, he is seen to be a quiet lad, but as my cousin’s husband said when he managed Baines for his under 14 team and appointed him captain “he was quiet compared to most, but when he spoke, the other lads listened and would do what Bainesy said” Maybe he’s read and believes the media reports on him who always seem to spell it out that he is a good cover for Cole but no more than that. If England played to his strengths by actually passing to him when he’s made one of his trademark runs forward then maybe the media would see that he is at least equal to Cole. Although to me he is much more than Cole’s equal, not just because of how he plays on the pitch but how he is off the pitch, if more players were like Leighton, maybe footballers would have a far better reputation that what they have now. England may fail to appreciate what they have in Baines, but he’s got not concerns about being unappreciated at Goodison, we know we are lucky to have the Premier League’s best left back playing for us.

Hillsborough - Merseyside United

April 15^th 1989, is a date that will never be forgotten in the city of Liverpool. Everyone will remember where they were on that fateful day when 96 Liverpool fans went to the match to support their team like thousands of other fans did on that sunny Saturday spring afternoon, except those 96 men, women and children never came back home.

I was  just 7 back then and can remember bits of that day so vividly. It was one of the last times I can remember watching anything with my dad before his death later that year as we followed his weekly Saturday ritual of watching Grandstand. My auntie Kathleen was in ours and she’d bought me a gold sparkly address book, I was sitting with her asking her where she lived so I could wrire her address in my new book. I can remember so clearly seeing a picture on the telly of an ambulance being driven onto the pitch (later we’d find out that this was the one and only ambulance that ever made on to the pitch that day). My mum and dad talking about it while Kathleen distracted me from looking at the scenes on the TV by helping write more addresses into the book. When my brother phoned on his way home from our semi final at Villa Park, I remember waiting not so patiently on the ledge by the meter cupboard in our hall for my chance to speak to him (this was back in the days before cordless phones), obviously my mum or dad, can’t remember which one was telling him about what had happened in Sheffield and confirming the reports they’d heard about deaths were sadly true. When I got my chance to speak I asked him if he’d saw the ambulance on the pitch, and had Everton  had an ambulance on the pitch too and I said it was there because there’d been a fight and people were going to hospital. The innocence of youth, eh?

It was only much later, once I really started going to the match that I begun to understand what really happened that day. Although I think I knew well before then that this was something serious and wasn't a fight like my innocent 7 year self thought, as our ex neighbours nephew was sadly one of the 96 victims. She would sometimes come into ours to talk to mum about it, I think I just picked up on her anger and upset that this was no fight or accident.

In school as part of our English GCSE we had to do an assignment on the role media plays in social events and our group was given Hillsborough. Only then did I really discover so many shocking revelations that to me proved this was one of the biggest injustices ever to happen in this country:- the 3.15pm cut off point in which the coroner had declared that all fans had died by, despite testimony to the contrary,  the fact dozens of ambulances were lined up outside the ground but were not allowed on to the pitch to treat the injured and the dying, South Yorkshire Police attempting to apportion blame to the Liverpool fans for the tragedy by saying they were mounting a pitch invasion, arriving ticketless and drunk, the Sun newspaper and their infamous headline and all other shocking and upsetting facts that even at the age of 14/15 made me feel a huge sense of injustice of behalf of the victims and their families.  Maybe because I had an interest in the topic or had a knowledge of how football fans and specifically those hailing from Liverpool were perceived in the media, I really put such an effort into this particular assignment as I wanted to make sure I showed that the media, the written media especially were wrong with their opinions on the cause of this tragedy, my efforts paid off as I received one of the highest marks our school ever had for any coursework piece, not just an English one.

If as a schoolgirl I could see that the findings from the original enquiry didn’t add up and the media reports were certainly not true, surely those in power would see this, they did eventually, but I never expected that it would take until September 2012 for the truth, the real truth that everyone in the city of Liverpool has known since April 1989 to finally be revealed.  The fact that is has taken over two decades for this truth to be made public angers and saddens me so much. In that time the families and the supporters of the Justice for the 96 campaign have fought with such amazing dignity and pride to eventually be told that their husbands, wives, sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, uncles, aunties and friends were conclusively not to blame and the disaster was a failure in police control, things that we all knew from days after the tragedy.

The revelations from last Wednesday’s report were even more heartbreaking, shocking and unforgivable than I think anyone ever imagined they would be. It was very hard for me and a couple of friends being in work reading updates via Twitter of the findings, particularly hard as one the girls was actually there on that day and if wasn’t for the fact she was wearing flat shoes so couldn’t see and moved to one of the emptier side pens where she thought she’d stand a better chance of seeing the game, she would have more than likely have been one of those in the central pens. It was so hard for all of us not to cry hearing about how maybe some of the fans may have been able to have been saved if proper medical treatment had been allowed on to the pitch and how the South Yorkshire Police treated the dead – testing even the kids for alcohol to try to blame them as the cause of the tragedy is nothing short of disgraceful. Not one of those fans deserved to be treated like that and I sincerely hope that the justice that those 96 fully deserve is delivered a hell of a lot quicker than the truth did. No football fan should ever go to the match to support their team with their family or their mates and not come back home with them.

As emotional as I was on Wednesday, I was also filled with a huge sense of pride. Proud of a city, one that is usually so, so divided when it comes to its football allegiances, but one that came together to stand united for those 96 victims and their relatives. People can say what they like about us scousers and football fans, and they usually do, but I really believe no other city would stand as one like both fans of Everton and Liverpool have in the last 23 years. Hillsborough was not just a tragedy that affected the football club of Liverpool; it affected the whole of the City of Liverpool too. Evertonians lost family and friends that day too and if it wasn’t for a toss of a coin, it could have easily have been us playing at that ground and not at Villa Park. I don’t know of any Everton fan that has not respected and supported the justice campaign.  If anyone has disrespected it, they are not a proper Evertonian in my opinion.

The club too have also shown great support to Liverpool and the campaign over the years and the shirts we had in our club shops with remembering the 96 on was a lovely, dignified touch by EFC as was Graeme Sharp playing a part in the vigil on the night the findings were revealed. My pride in Everton escalated even further on the night of the 17th of September after witnessing such a moving, emotional but ultimately fitting tribute ahead of our game against Newcastle, I knew the club would do something but I never thought it would be that emotional, the choice of The Hollies ‘He Ain’t Heavy, He’s my Brother’ was a perfect song that really summed up the support given from both Everton and its supporters to the families of the victims in the last 23 years, the whole tribute at the match was beautiful. I don't think I watched the first few minutes of the match as I was unable to focus through my tears and my phone was bleeping like mad with messages fo thanks from my rednose mates who were just as moved by what Everton had done as all of those inside Goodison were.

I maybe being hugely blinkered here but I really don’t think any city would have reacted like Liverpool has done and will always do when it comes to Hillsborough, the truth of what really happened that day has finally been revealed, now the fight for justice for the victims and to get those who really were to blame to be made accountable for the actions begins and I have no doubt that both sides of Stanley Park will be as united as ever to make sure this happens - two clubs, one city, one justice.