In Liverpool it seems that you’re either a Blue or a Red with no in between – unless you’re former Beatle Paul McCartney who joked he’d got special dispensation from the Pope to cheer for both – but a new book looks at those select band of footballers to have represented each of the city’s professional clubs and crossed Stanley Park.
Crossing the Park: The Men Who Dared to Play for Both Liverpool and Everton comes out on April 24 and its author Peter Kenny Jones admits that such individuals (there are now just 10 left after the death of David Johnson – Johnny Morrissey; Kevin Sheedy; Steve McMahon; Peter Beardsley; David Burrows; Don Hutchison; Nick Barmby; Abel Xavier; Sander Westerveld and Conor Coady) – have put themselves in a position that few fans would ever consider.
He told the ECHO: “Switching sides is something as a supporter that you could never imagine yourself doing. At the back of the book I also have a section called ‘The Carraghers’ because Jamie Carragher is the most famous example of someone who as a child was a staunch Blue and now he’s a massive Red.
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“It shows that if most of us were put in that position professionally, we would make that change, even if you never thought you would. If you don’t make it at one club, as a footballer you have to go where you’re wanted.
“You can perhaps understand it more with the out-of-towners, the people who weren’t brought up in the city making the move but there’s a fair few Scousers on the list as well which makes it more interesting. I spoke to Rafa Benitez for the foreword and his seemed much more like a professional decision, especially with his family.
“Then you look at someone like Conor Coady and you wonder whether he’s burned his bridges with his family but then looking at my own relatives, half are Blue and half are Red. Coady could be a good one to leave it on because I think he’ll be the last person to represent them both before Everton move to their new stadium so he might be the final one to officially cross the park.”
It might be Valentine’s Day on Tuesday but there won’t be much love lost when Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool and Sean Dyche’s Everton sides go head-to-head at Anfield the night before, yet Peter’s research shows that wasn’t always the case between these footballing neighbours. He said: “I thought it was interesting because the way that Liverpool and Everton’s rivalry used to be was that they were friends. I wondered ‘at what point did it turn from being happy to help each other’ to what we have now, which in many cases is now hatred.
“I tried to analyse how that relationship changed over time through looking at the kind of receptions that players received from both sets of supporters after making their moves. I think there was a turning point and it’s something I’m scared to say because I know some people might disagree and it could polarise opinion but I do think that much of it stems from Heysel and the ban from Europe as there seemed to be a souring of the relationship from there.”
While many have spoken of a so-called ‘friendly’ rivalry between the pair in days gone by, Peter admits that even before the First World War, certain tensions did exist. He said: “It’s not as cut and dry as saying: ‘On this day we didn’t hate each other and then this day we did’, there are much more subtle nuances that accompany each individual transfer but the feeling did go back much further than I thought it would do.
“Looking through club minutes I could find occasions where the two clubs were happy to consider offers for their players from their neighbours but even going back over a hundred years I found the example of Arthur Berry (who played for Everton first before a spell at Liverpool via Wrexham) whose father Ted played for Everton before serving as chairman and director at Liverpool, scared to make the move as a player, thinking ‘I might upset people moving between the clubs.’ So it seems even back then, there was a certain stigma of being a traitor for going over to the other side.”
While Everton loan man Coady became the latest player to have represented both clubs at first team level earlier this season, there hasn’t been a direct transfer across Stanley Park since Portuguese international Abel Xavier joined Liverpool some 21 years ago and Peter doesn’t envisage such dealings being revived any time soon. He said: “Going back to Xavier, the last direct transfer between the clubs, Everton fans weren’t too upset to see him go and Liverpool fans weren’t that bothered about him arriving. It was all very different to the Nick Barmby transfer just 18 months before when people were fuming and setting shirts on fire.
“If a squad player moves between them, it might not be a problem but if, for example, Liverpool were to sign one of Everton’s main men like Dominic Calvert-Lewin, there would be great fury but I don’t think we’re close to seeing another one. I can’t tell you why because the most recent case study was Xavier when nobody seemed that bothered but like the transfer situation has become between Liverpool and Manchester United, it never seems to be very close.
“If you look at making the move for a player, there are practical reasons for doing it, he wouldn’t need to sell his house or take his children out of school. While I was writing the book I thought that someone like Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain could potentially be a good fit for Everton when his contract at Liverpool comes to an end but you feel that deal would just never happen.”
Peter, who will officially launch his book at an event at Hotel Anfield on Friday April 28 with McMahon and Sheedy in attendance along with food and music (click here for event tickets), acknowledges that the fickle nature of fans might go a long way in determining whether they are upset by one of their players joining their local rivals as there is likely to be a rather different reaction to losing one of your stars compared to letting someone go who is deemed surplus to requirements.
He said: “For each of the post-war players I went around Anfield and Goodison to ask fans, how much out of 10 would you consider them to be a legend for your club and was he a traitor for crossing the park and Peter Beardsley had the highest average legend status at both clubs. Given that Beardsley was one of Liverpool’s best players, turning out alongside John Barnes, you’d have thought the fans would be upset to see him go but Graeme Souness was trying to rebuild the side at the time and that’s why I think I had to look at each case individually and assess why Beardsley’s departure wasn’t viewed as a travesty among Reds.
“Maybe if it had happened a couple of years’ earlier it could have been quite different and you might have had a scenario like when there were protests outside Goodison because Everton had sold Dave Hickson to Liverpool. Local players now who are in their 30s, 20s and younger will have been brought up in an era in which the rivalry is much more intense so it will be interesting to see how young Scousers react compared to just a generation ago given how the relationship between the two clubs and their supporters has changed that much.”
You can click here to pre-order your copy of Crossing the Park: The Men Who Dared to Play for Both Liverpool and Everton from Amazon or here from Peter's website with exclusive pre-order extras available.
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