The driving force behind a campaign to create an Everton mural in the city’s Baltic Triangle says the new artwork allows supporters to enjoy a view of “icons and colours they relate to”.
Paul Morgan received an “amazing response” from Evertonians after asking for help to generate the £5,000 required for the city’s first Everton-inspired design.
Images of five legendary Everton figures – Dixie Dean, Alan Ball, Howard Kendall, Neville Southall and Leighton Baines – are depicted on a surface measuring roughly 12-foot wide and eight-foot high.
Choosing who should make the cut was a complex task, admits, Morgan, and involved extensive consultation and deliberation.
The mural was unveiled on Friday – three months after Morgan launched a GoFundMe page to finance the initiative and following a painstaking effort to find a suitable location.
“We wanted at least one mural in the city centre for Evertonians to see icons and colours they can relate to,” Morgan told evertonfc.com.
“We are a successful club with a proud history and we want to recognise those facts.
“We had an amazing response and it only took one month to raise the money.
“Someone from America donated £500 and we had contributions from all over the world.
“We spoke to a lot of supporters, from fans’ groups and influential people, about who we should include on the mural.
“Dixie Dean is immortal. Alan Ball and Howard Kendall did so much for Everton and this is a way for the next generation of Evertonians to learn about them.
“Neville Southall’s name repeatedly came up – he was the best goalkeeper in the world.
“And we wanted someone from the present-day who was at the Club a long time.
“Leighton Baines is a legend and a fans favourite.”
The artwork was produced by MurWalls and features on the wall of the Lee Floorstok business unit in Baltic Triangle.
Morgan hopes the setting enables maximum eyes on the Everton quintet and creates an enduring impression, given the Club’s proposed stadium move to Bramley-Moore Dock.
“I was looking for a location where – in normal circumstances – a lot of people spend time,” said Morgan.
“Hopefully, when we move to the new stadium, people can visit the mural, then make their way down to Bramley-Moore.
“We also wanted a tourist location, so as many people as possible see the design.
“I have been looking at blank walls for the past three months and we’ve had so many disappointments.
“Walls which would have been amazing but were falling down.
“Businesses which said we could use their wall but a hotel was due to be built next door so eventually you wouldn’t be able to see it.
“There have been so many bumps in the road, so it is just a relief to see it come to fruition.
“I came up with the concept but it is the fans' money and ideas which made it happen.
“It will be something for them enjoy, somewhere to go to have a photo in front of these brilliant Everton players.”
Inscribed above the players' faces is Ball’s celebrated “Once Everton has touched you, nothing will be the same,” quote.
And while the former midfielder was guaranteed his position on the design, Morgan admits leaving out innumerable Everton greats represented a mighty conundrum.
“There are so many who deserve recognition,” added Morgan.
“Ratcliffe, Sharp, Duncan Ferguson, we thought about Seamus Coleman because of what he means to Evertonians.
“If you gave me £50m I could fill the whole city.
“But we had to choose five and they were the five who shone through.”
Everton FC
