Back in the 90s I occasionally used to take my nephew to Badfort, paid for by his dad, my eldest brother who, although he supported the Shyte, was a ref in the North west Counties League and a linesman in the (then) Gola League. We'd sit in the Kemlyn Road stand and watch Neal, Kennedy, Hansen and Lawrenson pass the ball to each other and occasionally back to Grobelaar. And I can say, truthfully, black players got it worse than they did at Goodison (it meant more, I suppose). One of the last games I took him to was in 1996 against Watford and the abuse the Watford left winger, a black lad called Barnton or something, was really bad. "F**K Off, yer f**kin' c**n C88t." and appeals for Steve Nichol to "Snap the black b*st*rd in half, Stevie lad!" were a couple of the more memorable shouts and the monkey noises were in evidence.

Then, the following season, they signed the aforementioned "Black b*st*rd" and started the myth that they'd never ever hurled racial abuse at black players.