Former Everton player Michael Ball will attend a live event at Waterstones Liverpool on November 25 to mark the publication of the book Spirit of the Blues
Spirit of the Blues is a book celebrating Everton’s most memorable matches and Goodison Park’s greatest games
Spirit of the Blues is a book celebrating Everton’s most memorable matches and Goodison Park’s greatest games
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Football fans are being invited to join former Everton player Michael Ball by attending a special evening at Waterstones Liverpool on November 25 to mark the publication of the book Spirit of the Blues.
Lifelong Evertonian Ball got to live the dream and was handed his first team debut for the club by fellow Scouser Dave Watson, when he was aged just 17 against Tottenham Hotspur on April 12, 1997, and made 139 appearances, scoring eight goals. After a career that also took in spells at Rangers, PSV Eindhoven, Manchester City, Leicester City and England, the 46-year-old is now a highly respected columnist for the ECHO as well as running CCR Sports Agency.
Spirit of the Blues: Everton’s Most Memorable Matches & Goodison Park’s Greatest Games written by ECHO Everton reporter Chris Beesley, brings to life all the fixtures that mattered over the Blues’ 133 years at Goodison Park, the first purpose-built football ground in England. Readers are taken on an absorbing ride through 100 Everton matches with some of the finest stories told in football across 16 action-packed chapters from the Blues’ first game at Goodison in 1892 to their last one in 2025.
The book contains tales of glory days as Everton defeated Bayern Munich on ‘Goodison’s greatest night’, powered towards league titles and thrashed Manchester United 5-0 to prompt one football legend to remark he’d just seen “Brazil play in Blue.” Thrilling high-scoring encounters like the Everton goal glut that broke a pioneering Goodison feature, the Blues’ record league win and a unique double hat-trick.
Spirit of the Blues is out now
Spirit of the Blues is out now
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Merseyside derbies, including Everton’s biggest victory over Liverpool for 42 years, the greatest derby winner that many never saw and the incredible scenes when the Blues avoided a losing record against the Reds at Goodison after over 130 years of derby combat by netting with their final kick, are contained within.
There are the super-human efforts of Dixie Dean from his hat-trick against Arsenal to reach 60 league goals in a season, single-handedly destroying Manchester United with a five-goal blitz and doing the same against Chelsea as he netted a 10-minute hat-trick.
There are also quirky occasions like Kevin Sheedy’s twice-taken free-kick goal, Sylvester Stallone adding a touch of Hollywood stardust, an Everton player forcing a change in football’s laws and even an abandoned match when an angry mob threatened to burn down Goodison’s stands.
Joined by master of ceremonies Sam Carroll, and fellow author Steve Zocek, who has written Kendall’s Glory Years: In Their Own Words, Chris will be talking about Spirit of the Blues at Waterstones before he and Michael conduct a Q&A session on all things Everton. Tickets must be booked in advanced and can be obtained from the link below.
Click here to get your tickets for the Spirit of the Blues event at Waterstones Liverpool.