In the first of a three-part Christmas special, the ECHO celebrates the initiatives of Everton superfan Dr David France
Dr David France and (inset) Gordon West at a Gwladys Street's Hall of Fame Dinner at the Adelphi, flanked by former Everton team-mates Ray Wilson and Fred Pickering
Dr David France and (inset) Gordon West at a Gwladys Street's Hall of Fame Dinner at the Adelphi, flanked by former Everton team-mates Ray Wilson and Fred Pickering
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As we approach the end of 2025, the year that Everton made their momentous move from Goodison Park to Hill Dickinson Stadium, Blues superfan Dr David France is hoping that the new era will see the club embracing independent initiatives like his own. The Widnes-born former oil and gas executive has travelled over two million miles attending Everton matches having been based in North America for the past 48 years.
Christmas is a time for giving and the 77-year-old has done so much of that for the football club he loves over several decades, so to mark his achievements, the ECHO is producing a three-part special in which he reflects upon his incredible initiatives and here is the first instalment...
Gwladys Street’s Hall of Fame celebrates the men who have contributed to the history of Everton. Conceived by Dr France and inaugurated in 1996, initial inclusion was decided by a panel of players, journalists, shareholders and season-ticket holders who assessed the accomplishments of the candidates during their careers with the Blues.
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The Hall of Fame was celebrated annually at the Britannia Adelphi Hotel in Liverpool and after an eight-year hiatus, the 12th Hall of Fame Dinner was held at Liverpool Hilton in March 2017. Dr France said: “I thought our future wasn’t going to be too bright and we wouldn’t have too much to celebrate, so why don’t we celebrate being Evertonians? What my byline was, let’s celebrate the excellence at Goodison, the excellence associated with Everton.
“My intentions were that we would celebrate a broad, diverse range of people who have made the club what it is; that we would allow fans to meet their heroes; and also for players to meet their old team-mates because once they move on, they don’t see one another very often and they’ve all got great friendships and bonds. That was the motivation, and I wanted to do it in a professional way.
“It was the first hall of fame for any club in the United Kingdom. I went to Cooperstown in New York, the Baseball Hall of Fame, and they gave me a lot of good advice, which included making sure you cover all eras, don’t have it skewed towards people who are around nowadays or just the people who are still alive, make sure it reflects the true history of the club.
“At that time, we had about 11 or 12 decades in which we participated, so I got together 50 volunteers, or should I say, I frogmarched 50 people to take part in this, and we did the full spectrum of former players, shareholders, season ticket holders, and we gave them the information of 20 players from each of those decades from which they had to pick five or something like that. It was finetuned so they could also pick more players from periods when we were more successful and adjusted for less from when we didn’t do very much.
“We gave them the statistics on how many appearances, how many goals they’d scored and what they had won et cetera, and they picked them. I think the original was 70 players and five administrators, and that’s what we went with and we had the first Hall of Fame Dinner at the Adelphi Hotel.”
Bobby Collins speaks at a Gwladys Street's Hall of Fame Dinner
Bobby Collins speaks at a Gwladys Street's Hall of Fame Dinner
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Having laid the foundations with Gwladys Street’s Hall of Fame, the Everton Former Players’ Foundation, established in 1999, is the trailblazing initiative that led to Dr France receiving his OBE for services to football. The Foundation raises money for the physical and pastoral care of former football players who have previously been contracted to the Blues.
Dr France said: “That comes back from the Hall of Fame. We did 12 dinners in total, with 11 continuous.
“They were raucous events. At the first Hall of Fame dinner, I noticed that life hadn’t been good to some people, certain players after they had retired.
“Many of them don’t have the skills in life, they’ve been looked after and maybe they’re not as worldly as other people. Some of them were down on their luck.
“So, I decided that we’d look after them. At the Hall of Fame, we always paid everyone’s expenses, put them into hotels or whatever, let me just say, we took care of them.
“That was very important, because we wanted them to come back the next year. We identified a few that needed help.
“I established the Former Players’ Foundation, which I did with the help of Norman Jones and Brian Labone. I think it’s important to make clear that it’s always teamwork, I might have the idea to start things off, and I like to get things going, then I’ll withdraw from it, also, I was doing this from the United States.
“I think one of the best things in life is looking after people. I think we all have an obligation to do so, no matter what our role is in life.”
Everton manager Walter Smith and his assistant Archie Knox flank former Blues midfielder Barry Horne at a Gwladys Street's Hall of Fame Dinner
Everton manager Walter Smith and his assistant Archie Knox flank former Blues midfielder Barry Horne at a Gwladys Street's Hall of Fame Dinner
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One of the foundation’s most famous beneficiaries was former England international goalkeeper Gordon West, who played 402 games for Everton, winning two League Championships in 1963 and 1970 plus the FA Cup in 1966. Dr France said: “A couple of years earlier, Brian Labone had mentioned to me how his good friend, and my good friend, Gordon West, wasn’t in the best of shape. Gordon was out of work and Brian asked me to go around and cheer him up more than anything, I think it’s important that you actually spend time and listen to people.
“So, I went around to see how he was and it was obvious that he needed help in life. I said to Gordon: ‘If you lose some weight, we’re going to help you’, because he was pretty immobile at the time.
“The first thing we did was buy him a new television and the second thing we did was put him on a diet. He lost some weight and Brian told me: ‘We need to get him out and to some of these functions’.
“The first thing he needed was a suit he could fit into. So, we took him to the big and tall shop on Church Street.
“He was embarrassed, he didn’t like people helping him as he was a proud man and went to the bargain rail. I told him: ‘No, get want you want’.
“Eventually he picked out a suit, and we also got him a few pairs of socks, shirts and ties. I paid for it and he and Brian scampered off, up Church Street.
“The guy behind the desk told me: ‘I’m a Red. You wouldn’t believe it’s your lucky day. It’s our football legends sale today and there’s 90% off’.
“I was just astounded. It was yet another example of genuine kindness from the people of Merseyside.
“When I told Brian, he was very shocked and emotional and he went back in to thank the guy. When he did so, he enquired: ‘Are you sure that Gordon doesn’t need another handbag?’ (a reference to when a Kopite presented the Yorkshireman with such an item, emblazoned with ‘Honey West’ on it in response to him blowing kisses at them during Derby matches).
“Over 100 players have been assisted. They’ve done over 100 knees and hips and nowadays there is the term ‘mental health issues’ and they also help with other substance issues, whether it’s alcohol or anything else.
“We also do funerals. We look after them, and we spend time with them, that’s the important thing.”
Dr David France alongside his wife Elizabeth at Buckingham Palace after receiving his OBE for services to football
Dr David France alongside his wife Elizabeth at Buckingham Palace after receiving his OBE for services to football
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The foundation also gave a new lease of life in his twilight years to one of Everton’s most-devoted servants, Gordon Watson. Dr France said: “I’ll mention Gordon Watson. I first met him when Everton tried to throw him out of the house that he’d lived in for 50 odd years.
“Gordon was 84. He’d been with the club for 62 years.
“He’d won the Central League, playing alongside Dixie Dean, he’d won the First Division title with Tommy Lawton, Joe Mercer and T.G. Jones. He lived on Goodison Avenue and had been the nightwatchman during the Second World War, making sure Goodison was in good shape at night.
“After the war he’d coached the likes of Alex Young, Bobby Collins and Alan Ball. Then he was a youth team coach and brought along people like Tommy Wright, Colin Harvey and Joe Royle, who all went on to become England internationals.
“Then, in fact, he was the first tour guide at Goodison. Brian Labone approached me and asked if I could just go along and talk to Gordon because he’d rented this house in Bootle, but now that he’d retired, the club wanted to sell it, without an occupant.
“He was in a wheelchair. His hip had gone, where you have a ball and socket in the joint, he didn’t have a ball, just jagged bone.
“After I’d been to see him, I was very upset. So, I went immediately to Goodison to see someone and mention that: ‘We can’t do this’.
“We’re a compassionate club, we’re compassionate people, we don’t do this type of thing. By the end of this very short meeting, Gordon got a commitment that he could live in the house for the rest of his life, so I must have had some influence.
“I got to talk to him and what a wonderful man he was. He’d love to get out photographs from all the different seasons and tell me about the players, not just on the field but off the field.
“He told me about all the training regimes they had and one of them was skipping down Walton Road. We had him at the Hall of Fame Dinner as he was elected to the Hall of Fame, which after the initial selections by the panel, was chosen by the fans, and it precedes the Everton Giants by about four years and the England Hall of Fame by many years.”
Everton's last trophy-winning captain Dave Watson helps Gordon Watson (no relation) to his feet at a Gwladys Street's Hall of Fame Dinner before his operation paid for by the Everton Former Players’ Foundation
Everton's last trophy-winning captain Dave Watson helps Gordon Watson (no relation) to his feet at a Gwladys Street's Hall of Fame Dinner before his operation paid for by the Everton Former Players’ Foundation
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Dr France added: “The first time he came into the dinner, when he was inducted, he was in a wheelchair, and Dave Watson had to carry him onto the stage. He silenced the crowd of 700 Evertonians with his tales of Dixie Dean, Tommy Lawton, T.G. Jones and Joe Mercer.
“Gordon promised that he’d come back and the next time, he’d walk into the ballroom at the Adelphi. So, a year later, we introduced all the existing members of the Hall of Fame in a very formal way, and they’d march through the doors, the likes of Peter Reid, Joe Royle, Alex Young, Alan Ball and Neville Southall.
“Then we had the new inductees come in, and I think it might have been the year that we had Paul Bracewell and Derek Mountfield. After that, Alan Jackson, who was on BBC Radio Merseyside, asked everyone to be silent while we introduced a very special guest.
“The theme of the evening was the FA Cup. We were bringing together all the FA Cup-winning teams and the doors of the Adelphi flew open and in marched Gordon Watson, holding the FA Cup.
“You’ve never heard anything like it, I think the walls actually shook. The important thing is that you give people a hand up, not a handout.”