What was the first match that you ever saw live?
It would have been around 1973 and I would have been only two or three years old. I have a very dim memory of going up the steps to the match and seeing the green. A game I do remember was against Bristol City at Goodison Park in 1976: it was my brother’s eighth birthday and we won 2-0. The other one to stick in my mind from that era is against Sunderland, with big Duncan McKenzie running the show. He was a flamboyant character – like a matador. I can recall him jumping over a Mini.
Who was your childhood hero? Did you ever meet them?
Bob Latchford [below right] was my first idol because in 1978 he scored 30 once set a challenge: £10,000 for 30 goals in the old First Division, and he scored a late penalty against Chelsea to win the prize at Goodison. He was a proper swashbuckling English centre-forward. I had the pleasure of meeting him a few years ago and telling him that. He’s such a lovely bloke.
