ECHO Everton reporter Chris Beesley offers up his final tour diary from the Blues' time in the USA in the Premier League Summer Series
ECHO Everton reporter Chris Beesley has covered Everton and Liverpool both in the Premier League and abroad since 2005. He cut his teeth in professional sports journalism at the Ellesmere Port Pioneer and then the Welsh edition of the Daily Post, where he also covered Manchester United. Prior to that he worked on the student newspaper Pluto at the University of Central Lancashire, a role in which he first encountered David Moyes. Chris is well-known for his sartorial elegance and the aforementioned Scottish manager once enquired of him at a press conference: "Is that your dad's suit you've got on?" while the tradition continued in 2023 with new Blues boss Sean Dyche complimenting him on his smart appearance.
I’ve mentioned this before on this trip but as Everton’s time in the USA comes to an end, I think it’s only right that I focus my final tour diary on the Blues’ global family.
Along with myself from the ECHO, there’s been a heady mix of travelling supporters from the UK, mostly Merseyside, and fans from across North America who have been following David Moyes’ men throughout the Premier League Summer Series over the past dozen days or so. I wish I could mention all the friendly faces that have spoken to me in all three cities, but each one of them have brought a little brightness into my life and I hope the conversations we had did the same for them.
In my previous tour diary, I gave a shout-out to Paul Cushion, originally from Roxburgh Street in L4, but to my surprise a US resident for the past four decades. Paul’s bubbly personality and personal story with his daughter Kendall named after Everton’s most successful manager and son Graeme after former centre-forward sharp, ensured he stood out, but in truth he was just one of so many.
I’ve crammed so much into less than a fortnight and, like many of these Blues fans, travelled so extensively across three major US cities, New York, Chicago and Atlanta, it almost makes me feel like I’ve been away for nearly a month. Later this week, on August 7, I mark my 25th anniversary at the company that is now Reach PLC that owns the ECHO, national titles the Mirror, Express and Star plus a wide stable of other major regionals.
When I started with the Ellesmere Port Pioneer in 2000 we didn’t even have a single computer in the office that was connected to the internet or ‘World Wide Web,’ as it was often called then.
Now, with all my content going online, including podcasts where the audience hears your voice and sees your face, when embarking on these trips, many of the fans already know who you are and while it never comes close to the kind of attention that the players and staff receive, lots of supporters are eager to engage because you are the window on their Everton world, especially if they’re following the team from far afield.
John Lally, originally from Huyton but now a resident of Colorado was one particularly enthusiastic well-wisher who I posed with to take a selfie on board of the Everton fan cruise on Lake Michigan in Chicago. Like plenty of others I’ve met on my travels, he was also present at the ToffeeFest fan event in San Diego in April, came to all three cities, and is a colourful character, both in terms of his cheery demeanour and extravagant Blues-themed outfits.
Also on the cruise, there was an Irish Evertonian who I was able to reminisce with about voyages on the Sea Cat between Dublin and Liverpool that I remember going on as a foot passenger for just £15. In Atlanta, I was going down to the lobby in a lift or ‘elevator’ and a man got in and then asked me to repeat what he’d set to him just so he could tell where I was from.
He’d travelled to Georgia to see the game from his home in Canada where he has lived for many decades since his family emigrated. But within seconds, out came his phone to show me photos of him wearing the Everton ‘Hafnia’ shirt and holding the FA Cup in 1984 and even one of him as a young child in the 1970s, posing for a photograph with Alan Ball at Bootle Strand, when it really was the ‘New Strand.’
The turnout at Limerick Junction Bar where Atlanta Evertonians are based was sensational with possibly the largest numbers of each of the three fan welcomes throughout the trip, all of which were roaring successes. Lyndon Lloyd, who ran the Toffeeweb website for many years and now has Evertonia, received a trophy for the Trailblazer award from Tony Sampson, who had handed over a similar gong to Hill Dickinson Stadium architect Dan Meis in Chicago four days earlier.
Widnes-born Everton superfan Dr David France, who has travelled over 2million miles from his homes in North America to follow the Blues and received the inaugural Toffee Trailblazer award along with Tim Howard in Orlando, Florida in 2021, told the ECHO: “Given his objective and analytical writing, I call Lyndon ‘the US Conscience of Everton Football Club.’”
There were familiar faces from back home at Limerick Junction like photographer and Everton season ticket holder Laura Gates, plus families from North Carolina, Arkansas and even Australia while I recorded another fan podcast with Atlanta Evertonians, two of which Christopher Harding and Bridget Bryson, both originally hail from Wirral, while the third Ben, was Bridget’s American son. Then of course on the morning of the final game, there was the Blues Brunch Quiz and Pre-Match Party at Atlanta’s Hudson Grille Midtown.
Using interactive technology on phones, this was a far slicker run affair than the infamous quiz on Phoenix Nights – there was no Japanese lager to be won either – with Darren Griffiths taking on the role of master of ceremonies along with the Cooligans. Invited to have a go myself, competing under the name ‘Tarky’s Big Tackle’ I won the first round but gave my prize of a big bag of Everton toffees to the runner-up.
In the end, despite answering the most questions correctly (25 out of 32) – I was in a bit of a no-win situation given that if I won, people would say: ‘You should do,’ and if I didn’t they’d say: ‘You should have done,’ I had to settle for second place overall behind ‘Ya Da Sells Avon,’ which turned out to be Peter McPartland of Toffee TV who, what in was a timed competition, must have been a bit quicker than me in the double points round!
It all reinforced what a special, closeknit community the Everton ‘family’ is and makes you wonder about how large the potential could be if they get the football side of things right again, which is obviously the biggest priority at any club. Over to you David Moyes and The Friedkin Group on the Mersey waterfront...