Everton and technical partner hummel are proud to collaborate to present My Everton, a weekly series of first-hand accounts describing the most-treasured memories of fans, players, and staff both past and present.

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Logic dictates that I should have been a Manchester City fan.  

I was born in Moss Side, Manchester, and my primary school sat on the forecourt of Maine Road, so, from the age of four to 11, I played football every day in the shadow of the Kippax stand.  

But I wasn't interested in Maine Road or Manchester City… I was attracted to a different kind of blue.

My parents weren't really into football so I was free to choose my own club.  

I'd only realise years later that it was the Club that chose me.

I was obsessed with football from an early age and started supporting Everton around 1984/85. Yes, the glory years!  

In October '85, a few weeks before my eighth birthday, my mum told me Everton were coming to Maine Road and she was taking me to the game.  

It was the most exciting thing that could have happened to me.

I don't remember too much about that first game, except it finished 1-1 and I was in the away end with a load of noisy Evertonians!

The following season my mum took me again. This time we won 3-1 - Adrian Heath scored two and Paul Power got the other.

I was on cloud nine.

I dreamed of going to Goodison for a game but there was no chance. My mum couldn’t afford it and, even if she could, she wouldn't have known how to get there on a train.  

It's only 30 miles but, at that time, Merseyside felt a million miles away.

But that didn't slow my passion in any way, if I had to follow Everton through Match of the Day, newspapers and radio, then so be it.

Finally, in February 1995, 10 years after my first game, the opportunity arrived.

Some of my Manchester United-supporting mates were driving to Goodison for the game and there was room for me in the car. 

After years of hanging around Maine Road, wishing I was at Goodison, I was finally there.

I must have walked around the ground 10 times taking it all in before taking my seat in the Lower Bullens.

The feeling was indescribable, a mixture of excitement and nervousness. 

Magic.

Having waited so many years for this day, I prayed to the footballing Gods for an improbable result against that rampant Alex Ferguson side of the 1990s.
  
My prayers were answered when the only Ferguson I cared about - Big Dunc - rose highest at the back post with a towering header and then swirled his shirt over his head bare chested in the freezing cold.

A 1-0 win, a Ferguson header. It was the stuff dreams are made of.

I got a fair bit of stick growing up being an Everton fan in Manchester but it was all light-hearted banter.

It was a novelty for most people and everyone knew me as the Everton fan.
  
I loved that. 
 
The '90s were tough years for Everton and people would always ask me why I didn't just switch to one of the Manchester clubs but, of course, they don't know what it feels like to be an Evertonian.

I wouldn't swap that for all the trophies in the world.

After getting my own car I went to Goodison frequently over the next 10 years until I moved overseas in 2007.

I haven't lived in the UK for 14 years but my love for Everton is as strong as ever. 

I get back to Goodison when I can and flew to the UK for the FA cup final in 2009.

My prayers weren't answered on that occasion, but at least I got to see Everton at Wembley for the first time.

I know our time will come again.

I have two sons now, aged seven and two. The eldest is fully into it as I was at his age, while his brother doesn't understand what is going on yet but cheers along anyway!
 
Seeing them in their Everton kits makes me feel so proud and I can’t wait to share the experience of going to the match with them in the future.

Everton has been a massive part of my life for 38 years now.

I look forward to many more years and great memories to come.

By Gary Molloy, Evertonian