The story begins at Goodison Park in the summer of 2012.
It is a balmy evening at the start of August, and Tony Hibbert is standing over a free-kick.
It is his testimonial against AEK Athens and he has, famously, never scored a goal for boyhood club Everton in more than 300 appearances.
A few seconds later and the stadium is united in pandemonium.
I do not remember the goal very well, but if my dazed memory serves me right, it was a vicious right-footed strike under the wall which no goalkeeper could stop in a million years. It was a Hot Shot Hamish rocket ignited by jet fuel.
Or something like that.
I know I could search YouTube and watch again, but I don't want to. Everything about the moment is perfect as it remains in my mind.
Tony Hibbert scored and for a few magical moments, we rioted. In the ensuing celebration, I fell over my chair and cut my hand.
My friend Bob, sitting next to me, ended up with blood on his new, dazzlingly white t-shirt. It was worth it.
By then, I was already a fully-fledged member of the Hibbert fan club, besotted with his old-fashioned defending and how he embodied the David Moyes era.
But little did we know as we rioted, he would play just 20 more times for Everton over the next four years before leaving under a cloud alongside long-serving team-mate Leon Osman, with the pair learning of their release on the club website in 2016.
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Weeks later, with Ronald Koeman at the helm after replacing Roberto Martinez, Hibbert broke his silence in a rare interview conducted by the Daily Mail.
In it, the veteran blasted Everton for how his departure was handled, claiming they were no longer the People's Club following the exit of Moyes and arrival of mega-rich Farhad Moshiri.
He also revealed he was 'embarrassed' to return to Finch Farm to conclude his recovery from injury as Koeman set strict restrictions on when he could enter the building despite 25 years of service.
"Everything from the club feels like a new smack in the face. My wife is even angrier at how I’ve been treated," Hibbert, who eventually clocked up 328 competitive appearances for Everton, said.
The journalist he spoke to, Joe Bernstein, remembers the mood well when contacted by the ECHO six years later.
Bernstein said: "I wanted to do something with Tony just to mark his career. To be a regular at a big Premier League club is rare, and even rarer to be a one-club man and local, and yet his profile was virtually zero.
"We had mutual friends so it was arranged, but it wasn't my intention to run a piece that made Everton look bad.
"I wasn't that aware of his feelings, but he was clearly very angry at the way the club had treated him and Leon Osman at the end and wanted it off his chest.
"Unfortunately some Evertonians thought Tony's motives were sour grapes but that's not the impression I got from him."
And then no-one heard again from Tony Hibbert.
Until, improbably, unbelievably, he was confirmed by tenth-tier French outfit ES Louzy as a new signing at the end of 2021.
The 40-year-old was back in the game and back scoring goals, too, as he announced his arrival by netting in a 2-1 defeat at Thouars in January.
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Rewind to the spring of 2020, and the entire world, it seemed, was locked down.
I had time on my hands, and as a special series for the ECHO, I spoke to former Everton players as varied as Nick Chadwick and Jan Mucha, Mateusz Taudul and Carlo Nash.
But I really wanted to find Hibbert.
And to track down a reserved, fishing-obsessed defender, retired more than five seasons, I reasoned I had to think like Tony Hibbert. What was he like as a person? What did others think of him? Why was he so private?
I initially turned to former Everton director of communications Alan Myers for insight.
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Myers told the ECHO: "Tony was a better player than most people gave him credit for.
"One hundred per cent, he was as reliable as they come and one hundred per cent committed in everything he did for the club and the total professional in the dressing room.
"David Moyes would never play players who didn’t give all of those things, and Tony was a player's player, respected by all of his team-mates.
"David had absolute faith in Tony which for me says everything, because Hibbo would not have to speak, he would just give you a glancing smile when he wanted to let you know what he thought of something or someone!"
And despite being employed by the club to communicate with supporters, Myers still respected the off-field Hibbert brand.
He added: "As someone who relied on players to talk publicly I never really had the opportunity to do much work with him because Tony was such a private man.
"It wasn’t that he didn’t like the media or speaking but it just wasn’t for him. I’ve known a few players like that in my career and that’s absolutely fine. Personally I got on really well with Tony - how couldn’t you?"
Myers continued: "I remember Tony as the quiet lad, coming through the ranks as a youngster but having the ferocity in his game of a senior-pro.
"I remember a very famous coach saying to me after a reserve game, 'I’m not sure he’ll have enough to make it in the Premier League.'
"How Tony proved him wrong and I know the person concerned was delighted that he did so, 265 Premier League appearances later!"
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Several months went by and I was still searching, asking around for contact numbers and leads on an almost daily basis, but nothing.
The country was emerging out of lockdown and Hibbert was nowhere to be found.
Former team-mates told me they had either lost touch, or felt uncomfortable doling out information on a notoriously private friend.
In the meantime, I was sent a friendly voice note from Segundo Castillo in Spanish, and had a missed call from Ibrahima Bakayoko.
Former Everton goalkeeper Mucha even sent me a smiling emoji wearing sunglasses.
Things were moving quickly, but still no holy Hibbert grail.
I decided to ask Michael Ball for more on his one-time team-mate. What about a different, unexpected angle? Were there any funny stories about Hibbert the dressing room joker, for example?
Ball laughed: “He was just a normal lad who wanted to come in training and do his job and do his bit.
“He was obviously a fantastic servant for us, although there aren’t many funny stories about him.
“I sort of missed the boat with him, to be honest, I was more with the first-team and as he started to get into the first-team I left.
“So there weren't many moments when we were together. There were a couple times when he was with the youth team out and about and having a few drinks in The Sefton, when they weren’t supposed to!
“He was like an old man when he was a younger lad. If you found Hibbo laughing it was quite funny because he never really broke a smile.
“But he’s a top lad and a top professional. He looked after himself and was a great servant to the football club, but he didn’t get the send off he deserved at all when he left.
"He deserved a good send off from the fans at that moment in time but he never got that unfortunately. I thought he deserved that and it is great to see that he has scored in France."
And Ball is another who respects how Hibbert handles himself away from the spotlight of professional football.
He said: “Look, it is great he is just enjoying life. He lives in a different country and we know he enjoys his fishing.
"Obviously he still enjoys a game of football and good luck to him. I hope he enjoys the rest of his life."
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I still had no concrete leads on Hibbert. Beginning to grow frustrated, the ECHO turned to a team-mate who helped Everton finish fourth in the Premier League under Moyes in 2005.
Perhaps Nigel Martyn could offer something more concrete about the Everton enigma.
The former England goalkeeper said: “In the changing room Tony was fairly quiet most of the time but he could be very cutting with the odd remark. He’d come out with something really funny.
“There’d be that little bit of mickey taking and he had that Scouse humour, he was very quick-witted.
“On the pitch he was the unsung hero a little bit. As a right-back he was hard-working, he was tenacious, he wasn’t afraid to overlap. He did exactly what David Moyes wanted from him.
“We as his team-mates certainly all appreciated him and I think the manager and the fans did as well.
“He never seemed to have a bad game even though his goal-scoring record wasn’t the greatest!”
And then, out of nowhere, a lead. I stumbled across an article in a fishing magazine, highlighting the work of Hibbert after purchasing a fishery in France named Lac De Premiere.
A review on the website Carpfeed confirmed as much.
"Premiere by name and Premier League by nature, this 33 acre venue two and a half hours south of Calais boasts some of the finest fish and facilities you could wish for, including decked-out pegs, plus an 80-seater restaurant, sports bar, and shower block.
"Fish here and you may bump into Everton legend Tony Hibbert who owns the fishery, while Brighton and Hove Albion goalkeeper David Stockdale is a venue regular too."
I had no idea what 'decked out pegs' meant, and no real desire to meet David Stockdale, but Carpfeed told me I could stay the week at Lac De Premiere for £480 if I wanted a direct route to Hibbert.
Yet with travel restricted due to coronavirus, I turned to the next best option. An official Twitter account.
And one post immediately caught my eye. It was the man himself!
"I’m sorry to announce that Lac De Premiere will not be opening in 2018," the tweet said.
"I made the decision to work on the lake to get it back to a standard that I’m happy with. People who have paid deposits for next year, please contact me though the website. Thanks, Tony Hibbert."
A tinge of excitement flowed through my veins as an email address for Hibbert appeared on the site. I put together a message, reading and re-reading, writing and re-writing. Was it too much? Over-the-top? Soppy?
I had so much to say, but Tony Hibbert did not strike me as a man with time to waste. After all, there were pegs to deck out and an 80-seater restaurant to run.
In the end I settled on a 139 word love letter, including my bleeding hand after his Athens goal, a thank you for his service, and a bizarre coincidence involving him playing alongside my best friend Matthew Pennington in his final Everton game in 2016.
I wrote: "Hi Tony, I'm Sam Carroll from the Liverpool ECHO. I was wondering if you would fancy a chat about Lac de Premiere and your time at Everton?
"I know you haven't done much media since retiring so no worries if not. Funnily enough, your last game against Bournemouth was the debut of my best mate Matty Pennington.
"My dad started crying in the Lower Gwladys afterwards when Matty came over and clapped the fans as well, so it was a strange day overall!
"Anyway, I hope you are well and if you do see this then thank you for all the memories and your service down the years too.
"I've still got the scar on my hand from where I fell down the aisles in Goodison when you scored the free-kick against Athens!
"Thanks for your time."
Three days went by and nothing.
And then it appeared, 72 hours later. The most beautiful sight: "(1) new message: Tony Hibbert."
The email, in 24 words, read: "Hi Sam. Sorry I’ve just moved to France so I'm a bit up the wall at the minute.
"Thanks, Tony. Sent from my iPhone."
This was June 2020, two days before my 25th birthday.
Although it was not the gift I had hoped for, I was tempted to frame the exchange and hang it on my bedroom wall.
I had found Tony Hibbert.
And okay, I didn't get an interview, but by that stage I didn't really care. I was happy to leave him alone.
He wants a quiet, peaceful retirement filled with family, catching fish and scoring goals for ES Louzy.
I don't think any Evertonian can begrudge Tony Hibbert that.
