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Chairman's Tribute To 'Blue-Blooded' Terry Darracott

Chairman Bill Kenwright says Terry Darracott was a “footballer with the heart of a lion… and staunch, blue-blooded Evertonian”.

Darracott, who played 179 times for Everton following a debut in April 1968 and returned as a coach under 1980s managers Howard Kendall and Colin Harvey, has died at the age of 71.

A tough-tackling left-back, Darracott became the youngest man to play for Everton at Goodison Park when, aged 17 years and 122 days, he replaced injured World Cup winner Ray Wilson in the starting XI for a 2-0 victory over Arsenal.

He would figure more prominently from 1971/72 and recorded his highest number of appearances in a season in 1973/74, when only three teammates played more than Darracott’s 36 games.

Darracott chose Everton over Liverpool to sign youth forms and was with the Club 13 years before leaving for Tulsa Roughnecks in USA in summer 1979.

The former defender was taken back to Goodison by ex-teammate Kendall for five years on Everton’s backroom staff from the mid-1980s.

“Terry was a fearsome defender, who cared passionately about Everton and was so proud to play for the Club,” Kenwright told evertonfc.com.

“You could see in him an authentic ‘they-shall-not-pass’ attitude, he would gladly put his body on the line for Everton and was a footballer with the heart of a lion.

“Terry was a member of one of my favourite Everton teams under Gordon Lee and it is so sad that we have lost these two special men in such a short space of time.

“With a stroke of fortune, Terry and Gordon would have won the League Cup after those epic finals against Aston Villa in 1977 and for a period the following season we competed at the top of the league.

“Terry was still the same, enthusiastic, knowledgeable and driven man – with that familiar fondness for a joke – when he came back to Goodison to work with Howard and he cared deeply about our club. He was a staunch, blue-blooded Evertonian and we will miss him enormously.”

Darracott, from Edge Hill, finished his playing career with Wrexham following a short spell in Tulsa.

He went back to the Welsh club as assistant manager in 2008 following coaching positions with Manchester City and Blackburn Rovers, where Darracott was on the backroom team of manager Kenny Dalglish in the club’s 1994/95 Premier League title-winning campaign.

The second stint at Wrexham, assisting boss Dean Saunders, lasted one year and Darracott subsequently worked as European scout for Bolton Wanderers, before a role as video analyst at Hull City.