Well the day I've been dreading for the past few years has finally arrived, but first let me give you a bit of background.
December 2nd 1963 and my first trip to my spiritual home, the reason Everton vs. Glasgow Rangers in the second leg of the British Championship. It was cold Monday night and the chill in the air took you breath away, or so I thought until I turned the corner and caught my first glimpse of the majestic stadium Goodison Park. I was seven years old and living in Crewe, I didn't know I was going till I came home from school, so to say I was excited is an understatement. The throngs of people around me, the shouting of the programme sellers, the old guy with his bible and cross telling us we were all sinners and that now was the time to repent (he must have had God on his side as he never seamed to get an older) the smell emitting from the chippies and cafes and the cigarette smoke filled the air.
The one thing that didn't surprise me was the accents, my Dad was from Garston (South Liverpool) and my Mum from Drumchapel (North Glasgow). Once inside (Old Park End Stand) we had a cup of Bovril (weirdly I've only ever had this at football grounds) and a pie. My Dad was very clever and took me up from the concourse to the seats just before the players came onto the pitch, the first strain of Z Cars started and was immediately drowned out by the cheers of just over 42,000 fans as the 22 gladiators took to the pitch. I know I stood there in awe as I took it all in as the floodlights concentrated you gaze on to the pitch with its billiard table smooth grass. The game started but I was to busy at the start taking in everything around me, but after about 10/15 minutes I started to watch the game and then that's when I saw him. He looked smaller than everyone else with the golden hair making him stand out in the floodlights making him look like a God. If I'm totally honest I don't remember that much about the game, but I do remember that God as I and many others where to call him scored, I remember that his balletic type movement made all the other players look like clog dancers in comparison and I know that at every game after this one I smiled like a Cheshire cat every time his name was read out on the team sheet. He was to be my first hero and while other players have come and gone not one of them can make me smile like the memories of this man can. I cried when he was sold to Glentoran, and later on went to watch him play for Stockport County before a knee injury forced him into retirement. I still got a tear in my eye every time he was brought out and introduced to the crowd before games at Goodison, well I'll be shedding a few tears tonight as he makes his way upstairs and thanks that other feller for keeping his seat warm, because today my hero Alex Young has left us, R.I.P Alex you will be forever in my heart.
