A Boy's Own treasure!

I just had to write about a great piece of Everton Memorabilia that I just picked up on Ebay. I am certainly not a collector in the David France league - who is? But I do keep an eye out for things on particular interest. And this is absolutely lovely.

It is a collection of all the Home and Away Programmes from the 1961-1962 Season. This was of course the season before we won the title with Roy Vernon and Co.

But what makes the collection so wonderful is that it has been so carefully catalogued by the hand of someone who was probably no more than about 10 years old. When you think of it he is now in his 60s! I was 5 years old at that time. Nobody outside of Liverpool or Hamburg had heard of the Beatles, John F Kennedy was a new, young President and the idea of a man setting foot on the moon was science fiction.

All of the scores have been meticulously recorded on a separate page, and the whole collection is placed within the pages of an old hard back exercise book. I just read through it with the same level of excitement with which was gathered all those years ago.

There are some fascinating games too. For the 18th October 1961 there is the Liverpool Floodlit Cup game against Liverpool. Of course there was no league derby then as they were languishing in another place!

There is a fascinating FA Cup 3rd Round Tie against Kings Lynn -

And how about a mid season friendly against Dynamo PS of Kiev -

But to be honest every page is a gem. The condition is hardly mint but that just adds to the charm. It isn't going to re-sell for a fortune but I intend to keep it in the family for my Blue grandkids to enjoy!

For the record; this was Harry Catterick's first full season in charge. We finished 4th in the First Division that was won by Ipswich Town managed by one Alf Ramsey. Top scorer was Roy Vernon followed by Alex Young!

Tim Howard for President

The USA seems to have gone football – real football – mad over the last three weeks.

This hasn’t gone down well in some quarters. Conservative columnist Ann Coulter went as far as to say that her country’s newly found enthusiasm for the beautiful game was a sign of moral decay –

http://www.anncoulter.com/columns/2014-06-25.html

She showed her immense wisdom on the subject by going on to say – ‘There are no heroes, no losers, no accountability, and no child's fragile self-esteem is bruised.’ 

I wonder whether she brought to herself to watch last night’s epic encounter between USA and Belgium. Although the USA lost, they were all heroes. None more so than our own Tim Howard. At one point he was keeping Belgium at bay single handed. His sixteen saves in one game is a record for any World Cup. 

His performance has drawn unique praise from the American media –

http://www.mlssoccer.com/worldcup/2014/news/article/2014/07/01/world-cup-usmnt-goalkeeper-tim-howard-sets-world-cup-record-16-saves-vs-belg

The Americans also turned to Twitter to show their admiration.

NBA commentator David Aldridge tweeted –

‘That was incredible. Proud of that US Team and in awe of Tim Howard’.

NFL ‘insider’ Adam Shefter weighed in with –

‘Belgium has been relentless but Tim Howard has been flawless’.

But the best tweet of all came from NBC Weatherman John Morales –

‘Regardless of the outcome…@TimHowardGK for President’.

In a brilliant piece of internet mischief someone changed the Wikipedia entry for Secretary of Defence of United States of America to a biography page about our hero. Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, whilst not wanting to approve such acts of vandalism called the move 'exquisite' - 

http://ftw.usatoday.com/2014/07/tim-howard-wikipedia-united-states-secretary-of-defense

Some fans have even called for Washington Airport to be renamed in his honour -

http://www.politico.com/story/2014/07/tim-howard-airport-white-house-petition-world-cup-108510.html

Now it was a great performance but that is pushing it a bit far! Imagine if USA had won...

Of course we Evertonians already knew how good he was but it is good to bask in his reflected glory. The individual performance of the world cup from our own Tim Howard. And this after Tim Cahill – still ours at heart - scored the goal of the tournament against Holland.

My only worry is that Barcelona will have taken notice! Or worse still that he will be persuaded to go for the White House. 

Of course Tim was not the only Blue hero last night. Kevin Mirallas was a massive influence when he came on. Lukaku made one and scored one, after a poor World Cup until now. Who knows where his future lies? But for now, he’s one of ours.

But the night belonged to our beloved keeper even in defeat.

The premier league watch out.

We are after you and we now have a future President in our ranks!