No One Hates Everton More Than the Everton Fans Do | Jez Clein | Football for Breakfast

Jez Clein played football from the age of 14 to 44. Then a prolapsed disc ended it - not on the pitch, but batting at the crease in a cricket match. A friend suggested he take up refereeing. He hasn't stopped since. Ten to fifteen matches a week. Never been more certain of anything in his life. In episode six of Football for Breakfast, Jim Johnson sits down with Jez in the greasy spoon cafe to talk about Everton, refereeing, the Jewish football community in Liverpool and what the game does to you when it becomes the thread running through everything. They start in 1977. Jez's first game - Everton versus Manchester United at Goodison, an evening match, the floodlights on, the Upper Park End. From there the conversation moves through the 1984 Milk Cup final at Wembley, the golden goal ticket that paid out £125 when Jez was 14, his son playing in the same grassroots team as Curtis Jones - their paths have gone in different directions since - and Harold Dean's, the only Jewish football club in Liverpool, where Jez started playing senior football at 14 and kept going until his back gave way. One line comes early and stays with you. "No one hates Everton more than the Everton fans do." Delivered with the wry resignation of someone who has been going to Goodison since 1977 and means every word of it. In the second half, Jez talks about twenty years at Heinz, voluntary redundancy at 44, student houses, becoming a landlord - and then picking up the whistle. What refereeing taught him surprised even him. He was shy. The courage of his convictions - believing you are right even when you might not be - came from standing in the middle of a pitch with a whistle and having to mean it. That belief spilled into everything else. He brings the whistle to the table. Jim blows it. It's very loud. His one result he'll never get over? Everton winning in Kharkiv. He went to Ukraine on a day return. He really needed them to win. This is Football for Breakfast. Cafes. Clubs. Communities. Culture.⏱ ⏱ CHAPTERS 00:00 Introduction 00:33 Welcome to Football for Breakfast 01:00 Roy of the Rovers - robots, revolutions and the 1986 World Cup 02:26 Jez's first game - Everton v Manchester United, 1977 02:56 Walking into a floodlit ground for the first time 04:25 Going to Liverpool too - the Kremlin and the Kop 05:40 Being outed as an Everton fan in the Liverpool end 06:42 Jim's first game at Goodison - Arsenal and the cast of Brookside 08:26 Jez's dad - pharmacist, camera shop, bookmaker 10:21 The golden goal ticket - £125 at 14 12:22 Jim's mother in law won the pools 13:34 Harold Dean's - the only Jewish football team in Liverpool 14:00 Playing senior football at 14 in the Manchester Jewish League 15:35 The shrinking Jewish community and grassroots football 18:36 OSS Security - presented by OSS Security 19:46 John Moores University, Heinz and 20 years in procurement 21:49 Asked to move to Holland at 44 - and why he said no 22:09 Voluntary redundancy and becoming a landlord 24:31 The prolapsed disc - batting, not football 26:24 No one hates Everton more than the Everton fans do 28:11 David Moyes, relevance and what Everton need 29:17 What football taught you - refereeing changed everything 30:53 The referee's whistle - Jez's object 33:40 Courage of your convictions 35:35 Penalty shootout - five quickfire questions 36:49 VAR - but only for objective decisions 37:01 Kevin Ratcliffe - best captain 37:34 One result Jez will never get over - Everton in Kharkiv 37:38 Jez becomes a Good Companion 🎙 ABOUT JEZ CLEIN Jez Clein is a lifelong Evertonian, former midfielder and active football referee in the Liverpool Football League. He played for Harold Dean's, the only Jewish football club in Liverpool, from the age of 14 and referees up to fifteen matches a week. 🔗 LINKS OSS Security: osssecurity.com Football for Breakfast newsletter: footballforbreakfastpod.com/newsletter 🎧 Search Football for Breakfast on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Football for Breakfast is a production by The Good Companions, presented by OSS Security. New episode every Tuesday morning. #FootballForBreakfast #JezClein #Everton #EvertonFC #Goodison #FootballReferee #JewishFootball #FootballPodcast #FootballCulture #Liverpool #Leadership #GoodCompanions #HaroldDeans