“I’m sure you’ll be very disappointed today – we all are, all us Evertonians are. We were all looking forward to the game.”
Ireland and Everton captain Séamus Coleman made a wonderful gesture to a desperately unlucky young fan, who travelled all the way from Australia to watch the Toffees host Liverpool last Saturday.
However, because of the chaos caused by Storm Darragh that match had to be postponed.
15-year-old MacKenzie Kinsella had used all of his savings to travel to England, and thankfully was able to catch Everton’s 4-0 win over Wolves on Wednesday.
But the main event was an extra-special Merseyside derby, given the fact that this will be the last season that Everton play in Goodison Park, before moving into their new ground at Bramley-Moore Dock.
BBC EXCLUSIVE. I can reveal #EFC Captain Seamus Coleman has invited 15 year old fan Mackenzie Kinsella from Australia to Everton's training ground
The teen used his savings to fly from Sydney for the last Merseyside Derby at Goodison but it was postponed. More on @bbcmerseysport pic.twitter.com/1JdOk7YdI6
— Giulia Bould (@GiuliaBould) December 7, 2024
After hearing of the boy’s plight, Coleman sent a video message on Twitter, inviting him to meet the team.
Coleman said: “Hi Mackenzie, it’s Séamus Coleman here.
“I just wanted to send you a video message to say that I know you will be so disappointed today. I know how hard you saved up to travel from Australia for the Merseyside derby, I know you were looking forward to the experience of being at the last Merseyside derby at Goodison.
“I’m sure you’ll be very disappointed today – we all are, all us Evertonians are. We were all looking forward to the game.
“We’d love to see you down here at the training ground here on Monday, if that’s okay with you. Hopefully you can see a few of the lads and hopefully it’ll make up for some of the disappointment and we can have a chat then.
“All the very best Mackenzie, and take care.”
Earlier today, Sky Sports released a video of Kinsella meeting the squad, while also being presented with a signed jersey.
15-year-old Australian Everton fan Mackenzie, who flew all the way to England to watch the Merseyside Derby which was called off due to Storm Darragh, was invited to the Everton training ground where he was surprised by the players with gifts and tickets to Arsenal v Everton 💙👏 pic.twitter.com/KRBM2B3nZI
— Sky Sports (@SkySports) December 9, 2024
The FootballJOE quiz: Were you paying attention? – episode 10