The country was just recovering from the Big Freeze.
There had been very little football for months, but here we were, Everton versus Tottenham, my first-ever game... 20 April, 1963, Goodison Park.
My grandad, dad and 10-year-old me, just an ordinary lad from L8 who was soon to learn Latin. Well, the meaning of Nil Satis Nisi Optimum, at least.
It was billed as the title decider, which would prove to be true come the end of the season as we went on to lift the title. The Spurs side included the great Jimmy Greaves and would go on to win the European Cup Winners’Cup the next month by defeating Atletico Madrid 5-1 in the final. We proved to be a different proposition, though.
When Alex, The Golden Vision, soared above everyone else on the pitch to head in the only goal of the game, a crowd of 67,000 erupted. I was smitten and a love affair with the Vision and Everton Football Club had begun.
Fast forward eight years and after many great times at The School of Science, The Holy Trinity, Labby, Moggsy, et al. It was the Blues versus Arsenal on 18 September 1971. A 2-1 win and another love affair began... It was a first date for us and a first game for Patsy, who was to become my wife.
Everton has played a huge part in our lives and we have a stone engraved on Everton Way at our future home on Bramley-Moore Dock to mark that.
Until we move, I will continue to pay homage from the Gwladys Street with our son, Steve.
I still get the same buzz from Z Cars as I did as a 10-year-old all those years ago. Everton is in my DNA and my family's DNA.
Nothing could ever change that.
By Fred Clark, Evertonian
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