Everton (19 October 2022)

Many things come into our heads for games against Everton, including Jordan Pickford, who we very much like to tease.

As with many matches, we debated long and hard about what we would do, whether to include any digs at Pickford, but as usual, we decided to continue with our positive feeling about the club and support it.

For this game, we decided upon simplicity. That simplicity involved the We Are The Mags large surfer in the Leazes end, and flag chaos everywhere else.

The game being a Wednesday after the rugby World Cup opening match, where we had converted the majority of the stadium to the World Cup theme. We came in days after that to put out flags where they needed to be and get the surfer out. Simple? Not really. The surfer weighs over 54 stones and needs a large group of people to carry it, unfurl, gather and return. The anniversary game surfer has been put away on top, so to move one, we needed to get the first out. So a group of us pulled it out, then got the proper one out, orientated it so when we pulled it out it was the right way when in front of the Leazes. It’s a bit of a tricky beast though, doesn’t go round corners particularly well, and isn’t particularly easy to carry, so slowly it was carried to the Leazes, and made ready for the game. The forecast was for some rain, so we rolled it in plastic so it was relatively protected. That’s it for the prep. Oh, of course, mustn’t forget the presence of Dino in the Leazes end pre-match.

Match day, around 20 of us gather in the Leazes ready for the prompt, and we make the front rows ready to accept the surfer, and then we’re off. The surfer is at full height, we make ready for it coming back down and at the right time, down it comes, we gather ready for a quick move at the bottom, pick up and off we go back to the Gallowgate stores. And back to seats. Some effort that, more physical than normal, but worth the effort.

Villa here we come.