Liverpool and Everton have a rivalry that stems back to the late 1800s and the distaste between clubs has only grown stronger over the years, meaning crossing the park can be quite a difficult feat to achieve.
In the modern era we’ve seen the likes of Rafa Benitez, Conor Coady and John Heitinga switch allegiances but one man who dabbled with both sides may not be initially obvious.
Speaking on ‘The Football Historian Podcast’, Karen Gill revealed that her grandfather had a Goodison Park season ticket – that being the legendary Bill Shankly.
She said: “He had a season ticket for Everton and I know that did go quite a lot, he always had a good relationship with Everton anyway.”
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Bill Shankly is synonymous with Liverpool but felt neglected
After the legendary Scot left the Reds in 1974, he expected to be welcomed onto the board or be working in some capacity for the club but that never happened.
After being shunned from Melwood, the three-time league winner then felt more wanted at Goodison Park and so made the decision to watch them play instead.
We’ve heard stories of even whilst he was in charge of us, he would take players to the blue side of the city and that illustrated the connections he had there.
However, this is a sad indictment of how arguably the most important man in our history was treated when his legendary tenure came to an end.
As much as we see jokes made by the Toffees today, even by our own coaching staff, it’s nice to see he was given a home somewhere on Merseyside.
You can watch Gill’s Shankly and Everton revelation (from 14:18) via The Football Historian Podcast on YouTube:
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