Sean Dyche knows that his famous spat with Jurgen Klopp at Anfield has already won over Everton fans…despite his support of Liverpool as a kid.
The new Goodison boss though, has lifted the lid on his apparent love of the bitter rivals from across Stanley Park, by explaining the truth is rather more mundane…he was actually a Kettering fan, with the Reds as his second team.
Growing up in Northamptonshire, it was a 45 minute trek even to see a fourth division side, and top flight football was in the distant Midlands, as Dyche explained.
“I don’t mind telling you that as a seven year old in Kettering it’s not exactly the metropolis of football. I actually, physically had a season ticket at (non-League) Kettering - but obviously that doesn’t make a story!
“I was a 70s kid, and most kids in the 70s supported Liverpool. My mate Franny Feehan had a yellow Liverpool kit. You know the yellow one with the stripes down? I thought ‘that’s a nice kit, who is that?’ and he said ‘Liverpool’ so I thought ‘We are Liverpool fans from now on then’. He still is, so he’ll be buzzing to get a name check!”
It is an almost traditional pastime on Merseyside, wheeling out famous Liverpool or Everton players pictured as kids in the kit of their rival team from across the park.
There is one of Steven Gerrard in full Blues strip right down to his socks - which he won as a prize in a penalty shoot-out competition - with him standing next to the League Championship trophy at Goodison.
Dyche though, believes he’s safe in that regard. Asked if there’s is a picture of him in the bright yellow kit famously worn by Kenny Dalglish, he replied with a grin: “I doubt it. You will do well to find one! I did not have any memorabilia! Glenn Hoddle was one of my favourite players. That is what it was like as a kid in the 70s.
“I know that Kettering in non-League football doesn’t make a story and you’ll all agree with that, but those are my first memories of the football team. I can tell you all the Kettering stories, Freddie Easthall, Billy Kellock going to Wembley in ‘79 for the Vase, Jim Conde the legend. A million stories. I can’t tell you many Liverpool ones.”
Dyche only travelled to Anfield once, and only then because of legendary defender Phil Neal’s connections with his home town, though he revealed that it was a real memory for him, as a 14 year old.
He was selected as part of a team from Neal’s home town, to play a mini game on the pitch before the England star’s testimonial game in 1985…when Liverpool played Everton!
“I only actually came to Anfield once, with Phil Neal because he was from Irchester, a little place near Kettering. We got invited up as a local elite team, if you like, to play half an hour before his testimonial.
“I nearly scored an own goal actually. I whipped it off the line. I put it past my own keeper, ran after it and swept it off the line!”
Not that Everton fans will mind. Dyche had already endeared himself to them even before the magnificent win over Arsenal in his first game…and a near punch up with Klopp in the Anfield tunnel back in 2021.
The two had a heated exchange when he was the visiting Burnley manager, but the Blues boss is adamant that is part and parcel of football. “Look, I think fans don't mind that. They want to see two managers fight for their teams, for their clubs, standing up. After the game it's gone, for me it's done. That's it. End of.
"That used to be a more regular occurrence in football. Maybe not so much now. It used to be nothing [but] it makes a story."
