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With all the interest around the last game at Goodison for our famous team it got me thinking about this cracking board.

I don’t post a lot and when I do it’s shite haha but just wanted to post a few words of thanks.

I’ve been lurking since the late 90’s and this is the first place I visit every single day. I know a couple of you but most of you I don’t but you all feel like mates.

Amongst other things I’ve been suffering with MS for 6 years and to be fair it’s been a lot longer than that before diagnosis. I’m 49, married with an 11 year old daughter. My diagnosis has floored my daughter and regularly has panic attacks as she mourns her dad’s decline from a disease that has ultimately put me in a wheelchair. She misses dad taking her to Goodison amongst other things. I remember her first game, a night game. She just looked at me and just said “wow” and has hooked ever since.

My last memory of Goodison will be against Leeds when a Leeds fan thought it would be funny to punch me, an Everton fan walking down priory road with a limp and a walking stick. That’s when it dawned on me how vulnerable I’d become and I haven’t been to a match since and gave up my season ticket. I never got the chance to say goodbye to the grand old lady in the company of my hero, my 11 year old daughter.

I’ve been really struggling over the past year but coming on here has always made me laugh and cry so just want to say thanks to you all.

My mental health is so much better now and maybe one day I’ll return to a football match.

To everyone who is lucky enough to go tomorrow take it all in, enjoy every moment as you are part of history.

Thanks again everyone and let’s hope for a bright future in our new humble abode.