The Evertonian Roger Bennett behind 'Men in Blazers'

The Echo features an extensive interview with lifelong Evertonian Roger Bennett, who directed his passion for football into a podcast he strangely called Men in Blazers back in 2010. 

After NBC purchased the rights to broadcast all Premier League games live in the United States, the network offered Bennett and his partner Michael Davies the opportunity to create a weekly Men in Blazers TV program for NBC Sports, reviewing the events of each matchweek. It premiered across the USA on 22 September 2014 and has established a special niche for its own brand of slightly wacky football punditry in the land of American Throwball. 

Here's just a part of the interview;

“It’s still such a potent experience coming to Everton Football Club, even here at Hill Dickinson Stadium, where it feels like a spaceship has landed on the banks of the Mersey. I’m ecstatic that Everton have been able to raise their levels but keep their tradition, authenticity and sense of real locality.

“That’s what is special about Everton to me in 2026. Football has moved to embrace the global but a lot of the Americans who come over find this to be the most riveting atmosphere, Everton and Crystal Palace, that’s what you hear and the matchday experience at the new stadium still feels very much authentically local.

“On the one hand, it’s been a tough 30 years, but the joy of football is that you choose your own adventure and it’s the lens through which you view the world and Everton are always mine. I think there’s so much about this club, even in times of challenge – and there have been many true challenges – the spirit of the fans is the best of football.

“At times it has been the fans that have saved this club. Their values are loyalty, tenacity, eternal belief.

“I’m talking about the relegation battles under Sean Dyche or even the Paul Gascoigne and David Ginola era of the early 2000s. Then, when something good does happen, when Denis Stracqualursi does score, you dance like you’re at your own kid’s wedding.

“That could even be the escape under Frank Lampard. It was ridiculous, but it was beautiful.

“The bolt cutters, the dog being carried aloft through the streets outside Goodison, finding strength, finding goodness, finding a sense of collective spirit in a time of real darkness.

“That’s the greatest joy of being an Evertonian. You don’t take anything for granted.

“For me, it’s not just the best of football, it’s how to approach life.”

Read the full interview with Roger Bennett of Men in Blazers

 

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