Bio: Rev. Harry Ross is the Everton club chaplain, who has been vicar of St Luke The Evangelist, next door to Goodison Park, since 1977, he is also a Trustee for the Everton Former Players’ Foundation.

Q1.Why Everton?

All my family were Reds, so I became the BLUE SHEEP of the family. I maintain I am the only one with any sense & I am from Merseyside!

Q2. I remember standing amongst a glum chain gang of fans at Kirkdale train station in the late 90′s, we’d just been beaten at Goodison, the rain was pissing on us, and some cheeky Liverpool fans were laughing and mooning us from the top of the stairs. That was the lowest I felt as an Everton fan. What is your all time high/low as a fan?

Highest point watching Everton in Rotterdam winning the Cup Winners Cup. Lowest point being beaten 5 nil by the other lot at Goodison!

Q3. What player from the past would you sign for our current team?

Dave Hickson. A tiger on the field & a gentleman off it.

Q4. Who is your favourite all time player?

As a Trustee of the Everton Former Players’ Foundation I have met so many of them & feel it would be wrong to choose one. Ask me privately!

Q5. What’s your take on our motto Nil Satis Nisi Optimum?

That everyone associated with our Club, from top to bottom & including fans should always give their best in every situation.

Q6. Do you think this summer will be a positive one for Everton in terms of buying players?

I don’t think in the present economic climate that this summer will be any better or worse than every other summer when it comes to buying players. David Moyes is very astute in the transfer market.

Q7. The press are awash with rumours about bids for Everton players like Rodwell and Baines. What are your thoughts on selling some of our bigger names?

Obviously I wouldn’t want to see them go but if it means we have to sell to bring in new talent so be it. David Moyes has sold & bought well in the past and brought in some young lads from the Academy. I don’t see why this year will be any different.

Q8. What are your thoughts on a sharing a stadium with Liverpool?

NEVER!

Q9. Where do you think the majority of Evertonians lie, with “Moyes Out”, “In Moyes We Trust” or somewhere in the middle?

“In Moyes we trust.”

Q10. Is money necessary to compete at the highest level, and if so – should Bill Kenwright step aside?

Unfortunately money plays too higher part in football these days. Bill Kenwright is an Evertonian through & through. I would not like to see him go.

Q11. Where do you see Everton in ten years time?

Top of the league, Cup winners & European Champions. And I hope I am here to see it all happen!!!

 275 appearances, 119 goals

 Merseyside-born and home-grown, Joe made his debut aged 16 versus Blackpool. A precocious talent who was a superb header of the ball and an imposing physical presence, Royle scored 23 goals in the 1969/70 championship season at the tender age of just 21. Under Catterick’s inventive management, Joe frequently operated as a lone striker in front of a five-man-midfield, long before the formation became commonplace. His penalty-taking technique was literally stunning….hit the ball as hard as you can!

 349 appearances, 93 goals

 Sheedy’s talent lay fallow at Liverpool, until Kendall took him to Goodison for £100,000 – it speaks volumes that Bob Paisley was both against the deal and unhappy with the tribunal-set price. Blessed with a left foot that was responsible for countless perfect passes – aiding and abetting Gary Lineker during the striker’s smash-and-grab tenure at Goodison – and wonderful free kicks, he was a vital part of Everton’s heady mid-eighties success. Look beyond his left foot – I know it’s hard – and you see an excellent 97 goals in 368 appearances. Another genius signing by Kendall, he gave the two-fingered salute to the Kop after scoring, pushing him higher up this list.

 399 appearances

 Harry Catterick’s first signing; £27,000 from Blackpool in March 1962, for what was then a record fee for a ’keeper, turned out to be one of his most astute. West was an agile goalie whose excellent handling, shot-stopping and judgement of angles made him a virtual ever-present during two championship winning campaigns. Had he not had the misfortune to be a contemporary of the legendary Gordon Banks, he would certainly have had more than just three England caps. West turned down a chance to join the squad in the World Cup finals in Mexico in 1970 because he wanted to stay at home with his family.

 243 appearances, 111 goals

 “I would have died for Everton. I would have broken every other bone in my body for any other club, that’s how I look at it, you know. I would have died for this club.”

 As Everton’s “Cannonball kid”, Dave Hickson hurtled around the field, fighting for his team during a fruitless era and securing his place in the Goodison firmament. Hickson played for all three Merseyside clubs, but it was Everton that he fell in love with. Dixie Dean coached this courageous striker who memorably reopened a stitched up head wound in looking for his second goal against Man United in 1953.

 283 appearances, 58 goals

 Trevor Steven provided ammunition for Sharp and Gray in the mid-eighties and scored his share of goals too. Steven was the archetypal winger and the brilliant crossing and sheer cunning of the man known as “Tricky Trev” was a wonderful asset in a hugely successful team. Like almost all of the mid eighties Toffee alumni Steven took a while to bed-in but his four medals are steeped in success.

 428 appearances, 82 goals

 Eglington had the pace that launched a thousand attacks during a career that had a wingspan of more than a decade. He came across from Shamrock Rovers in 1946 in a £10,000 deal that included Peter Farrell, and played on the left wing scoring a healthy number of goals, including a fabulous five against Doncaster Rovers in 1952.

 115 appearances, 70 goals

Fred was a beefy forward with a sensational goal to game ratio. A Catterick signing from Blackburn Rovers in 1964 for a club record £90,000, he was nicknamed “Boomer” because of his massively powerful right foot. Sadly Pickering never really recovered from being dropped from the 1966 FA Cup Final. Despite scoring in every round up to the semi final, Pickering watched his replacement Trebilcock score two at Wembley. A knee injury and a loss of form made for a muted ending to Pickering’s Everton career – but at his best he was an astonishing goalscorer.

 52 appearances, 38 goals

“There’s no doubt at all that Everton was the best team I ever played in.”

For months the Gwladys Street looked upon Andy Gray’s replacement with suspicious eyes, but eventually this goal-glutton won over huge swathes of Goodison. Lineker spent only one season at Everton, but it was punctuated by goals at every turn. He scored 40 goals in 57 appearances in total for Everton, won the Golden Boot at the 1986 Mexico World Cup – and then moved to Barcelona. His short Everton career was the perfect season for a striker, and if he had stayed longer he would surely be even higher on this list.

434 appearances, 59 goals  

Mick Lyons had the misfortune to play during the barren years of gradual decline at Goodison following the 1969/70 title win. Not skilful but powerful and physically imposing, not even his iron will was enough to resist the slide which culminated in the bleak Gordon Lee years. He said he would run through a brick wall for Everton……..and frequently did.