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Reader Comments (29)

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Stephen Brown
1 Posted 10/01/2022 at 17:19:20
Really enjoyed that article. I remember this all so well.
Shame it didn’t work out here like lots of others around that time.
Mike Gaynes
2 Posted 10/01/2022 at 17:25:30
That was a fun read, Danny. Cheers.
Brent Stephens
3 Posted 10/01/2022 at 17:33:00
Danny, a really good article. No if no butts.
Peter Warren
4 Posted 10/01/2022 at 17:41:50
Enjoyed that. Remember him, great character and enjoyed watching him. Going the match the was exciting we had other good player I think around time like Graveson and Dacourte.

Can’t believe he was nearly 25 I’m very doubtful on that but I guess must just have done your research!
Billy Roberts
5 Posted 10/01/2022 at 17:57:20
Excellent article Danny, I will have to Google a picture of that 16ft statue!!
What a topsy-turvy career he had, it still shows though that players can still kick on in their mid to late 20s.
Nicholas Ryan
6 Posted 10/01/2022 at 18:25:01
I once saw him shopping with his wife, in Sainsbury's in Woolton Village in Liverpool; he was huge! His feet were like Thames barges and must have been about size 15!

There were some photographs of him outside Goodison a year or so ago. He was in the city with his teenage son, who was wearing an Everton matchday shirt... which apparently he does all the time!

Danny O’Neill
7 Posted 10/01/2022 at 18:27:46
Good read that Danny. The Villa 0 - 0 was my son's first match. Thanks for the memory!

I always thought Materazzi would go onto better things and I read at the time, there was outcry in Italy that he'd been sold outside of Serie A. I always rated Dacourt as well and was made up when we signed John Collins as I'd always admired him as a player.

Now, onto that one-to-one strip. It surely rivals the Linekar white bib one for me as one of the worst we've had.
Dave Abrahams
8 Posted 10/01/2022 at 18:28:03
I remember that sending off when he pleaded, beseeched and even begged anyone near him who would listen to his claims of innocence to that offence, but like the boy who cried wolf nobody believed him.

Danny he might have been only one of three Everton players to win a World Cup medal but he was the only, without doubt, the complete fruit and nutcase off his rocker to win one.
Peter Mills
9 Posted 10/01/2022 at 18:47:47
I enjoyed reading your article Danny. It’s very strange that it should appear today, as I learned this morning of the death of Peter McFall, the former official Club photographer, a very nice man.

I became friendly with Peter in the 1990s through work. When he found out I was a Blue he invited me, my Dad and my kids to a pre-match photo shoot at Goodison, a thrill for all us. It was in April 1999, and we met Walter Smith and several of the players, including Marco who was a pleasant and polite guy. However, he was obviously overawed by meeting me, as he went on to have a nightmare afternoon against Sheffield Wednesday before having the indignity of being substituted by Peter Degn.

I let my daughter take my old autograph book with her that day. I’ve just checked and in it, alongside the signatures of Alan Ball, Howard Kendall and Brian Labone from outside Bellefield, March 1970, sits the name of Marco Materazzi, Goodison, April 1999.

Thanks for the memory.
Howard Don
10 Posted 10/01/2022 at 19:59:22
I remember the upbeat pre-match atmosphere first home game that season. We'd signed Marco, John Collins, Dacourt and thought we were on our way with Peter Johnson's “millions”, that he never had quite as many of as we thought! Sadly it all went very sour, sound at all familiar?
Paul Washington
11 Posted 10/01/2022 at 20:00:11
Peter #9,

I too also knew Peter McFall through work, he was a lovely man who invited me and my son to Goodison Park before a game. My lad loved it he met players and had photos taken by Peter with players.

God bless him.

Dave Abrahams
12 Posted 10/01/2022 at 20:04:47
Peter (9), you should put that autograph of Marco Materazzi for sale on the Italian “Flog It” you’d make a good few Euro’s!!
Peter Mills
13 Posted 10/01/2022 at 20:15:03
Dave#12, any helpful suggestions for what I should do with the autographs from Thomas Myrhe and Scott Gemmill?
Howard Don
14 Posted 10/01/2022 at 20:18:40
Bill Hawker
15 Posted 10/01/2022 at 20:38:41
"Fast-forwarding to the FA Cup 4th Round tie with Ipswich in the new year, Everton were languishing in a disappointing 15th place in the Premier League, and all hopes of achieving anything with their season lay with a potential cup run."

It sounds so familiar but I can't quite place my finger on it...

Jim Bennings
16 Posted 10/01/2022 at 20:49:50
I remember him for having a really cultured left foot, twatting a curling free kick down at the Kop in the derby rattled the post.

That picture for this article, Gary McAllister looks younger now than he did then… lol!

David Pearl
17 Posted 10/01/2022 at 21:08:23
I hated Huckerby after that. He also went off one game with one eye closed after an elbow to the face that was unpunished.
Mike Allison
19 Posted 10/01/2022 at 21:15:26
I loved Materazzi. I'd just moved to Liverpool for university at the age of 18. It was my first season as a Season Ticket Holder.

I sat in the Top Balcony and you could see from there that he hadn't got near Huckerby.

Tommy Carter
20 Posted 10/01/2022 at 22:21:40
That summer of 1998 was really exciting I have to say. And I also rate Walter Smith in terms of his transfer dealings. He could spot a player and when initially backed with funds, he spent. Save for Bakayoko of course.

That team he put together to begin with was just missing a striker. That was all, and when Kevin Campbell was added later in the season, the performances and results were largely outstanding.

He had inherited an abysmal squad really and just as he was building the squad, the money was gone and asset stripping took place. The fact we spent the following season (99-00) completely untroubled by relegation and losing just 2 games at home – to Arsenal and Newcastle was impressive work I felt by the late Walter Smith.

Paul O'Neill
22 Posted 11/01/2022 at 09:26:24
Really enjoyed that article! Great writing (although in that context it’s imply, not infer). Sorry, punch me in the face sometime. Marco was part of my first ever season ticket at Everton in 1998-99. Long time ago!
Andrew Ellams
23 Posted 11/01/2022 at 10:19:10
I was at the Ipswich game and I still insist his reaction to David Johnson for the red card was to more than just a push in the chest. I guess we'll never know.
Kim Vivian
24 Posted 11/01/2022 at 10:52:53
Marco Materazzi -one of my favorite nutters in the blue jersey. Good fun read that. One of the squad when I first started going with my eldest son.
Kim Vivian
25 Posted 11/01/2022 at 10:53:02
Marco Materazzi -one of my favorite nutters in the blue jersey. Good fun read that. One of the squad when I first started going with my eldest son.
Dave Abrahams
26 Posted 11/01/2022 at 11:28:44
Peter (13),come on Peter you know where your bin is !!

Thomas Myrhe wore contact lenses same as George Wood, I think sometimes they wore them and sometimes forgot to, I think one of the times Wood forgot them was the 4-4 draw with Newcastle.
Justin Doone
27 Posted 11/01/2022 at 14:09:28
We have had some crazy players and he probably tops the list.

But his ability to defend, pass and will to win is sadly lacking in the current squad. If Mina could stay fit things could be different.

But overall a lot of my memory has been wiped clean form what was season after season of dross in those terrible dark days.
Justin Doone
28 Posted 11/01/2022 at 14:09:35
We have had some crazy players and he probably tops the list.

But his ability to defend, pass and will to win is sadly lacking in the current squad. If Mina could stay fit things could be different.

But overall a lot of my memory has been wiped clean form what was season after season of dross in those terrible dark days.
Phil Wood
29 Posted 11/01/2022 at 16:03:16
I loved Marco.
Gutted when he left.
Never a dull moment and glimpses of a great player.
Guy Rogers
30 Posted 11/01/2022 at 19:43:58
Wasn't Dacourt a bit of a liability too?
Roger Helm
31 Posted 11/01/2022 at 19:45:53
I remember Graham Stuart writing that he was the type of defender who would let the ball go past him, or an attacker, but never the two together. He tried it once in training and ended up flat on his back wondering what had just happened.

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