6 May 14:34
Not that he ever let cancer or a leg amputation stop him from following Everton. He was an amazing little man who would stop at nothing to follow the blues and take his seat in the Lower Gwladys or at the various away grounds. He could have had a seat in his wheelchair in front of the away fans at Goodison, which was a fantastic view, but his reservations about that spot came to a head we were due to play Liverpool in September. He point blankly refused to sit with the kopites and from that point onwards always used his crutches to take his season ticket seat in the Gwladys Street. This became more difficult as time went on, he had to have morphine at half time to get him through games, but there was absolutely no way he was missing games or sitting anywhere else.
I would like to take a moment to thank the whole of Everton football club who made a massive difference through to the end of his life. Jimmy had a lot of support given to him, none more so than his own supporter's club, the Southport Independent Blues, the chairman Tony Prince and all the other members who so took Jimmy to their hearts and also raised money at last year's end of season bash which helped Jimmy to go to EuroDisney. Special mention must go to Membership Secretary Paul Watterson who as well as being a good friend has been a link man to Everton for so many things such as emails etc which just go over my head.
The Independent Blues, Barry and Karen Murray, Ian MacDonald, Frank Hargreaves and Joe who also raised a lot of money for Jimmy and gave us a night to remember in Kirkby with blue Elvis ! NSNO website who have awarded Jimmy the supporter of the year award, a very proud achievement for his Father, Satis website have also shown support. Joe Jennings who saw fit to use their photo from Finch Farm on the cover of his book 'Ever the Optimist' and for his kind words. Andrew Kirby who read about Jimmy in the Echo and through his company, Dermott Gallagher, set up a VIP day out at St James Park through Collingwood insurance, where we sat in the director’s box and were made a real fuss of. Tony from no. 7 Goodison Road and Roy at no. 9 who very kindly let us leave Jimmy's wheelchair there before home games so he could take his normal seat. Mike Parry from Talksport who he met at Tottenham watching the cup draw with and who got him on the radio, which made Jimmy's day.
The club itself has gone way beyond anything we could have expected. Players past and present but above all, Darren Griffiths, who has gone and really pushed the boat out for me. He made us all feel at ease, when we were invited to watch the players train at Finch farm. Upon hearing that Jimmy wasn't going to get better, he arranged for him to be mascot at Bolton, realising that his little brother William may be feeling left out, arranged for him to be mascot against Villa in the cup and also arranged for Jimmy to have a shot against Tim Howard in the warm up. The reception he got when he scored and when he was walking off will live with me forever. Tim Cahill, who phoned Jimmy from Chicago to invite him to watch training and made a big fuss of him whenever they met along with Tim Howard and Phil Neville. Howard Kendall who he met a couple of times and kept sending his best wishes and who arranged for Duncan Ferguson to phone Jimmy from Spain. That was such a special and surreal moment. Jim Pearson who upon hearing our Jim was named after him has always kept in touch, giving him money to put his weekly bets on, Jimmy always bet on first goal scorer and correct score after his chips and curry from the hatch at the top of Gwladys Street. Steve Maudsley for the trip to Portsmouth, Jimmy's last ever away game.
There are many others who I haven't met who have shown support and it was all appreciated. Tony Kelly and Andrew Dean at Bolton Wanderers who really looked after him and kept in touch. Tottenham Hotspur who gave the family a box for our trip down there.
His celebration of life was so well attended I would like to thank everyone who took time to come along, Tim Cahill, Howard Kendall, Jim Pearson who travelled down from Newcastle and Ian Welch from ESSC who drove up from Winchester.
Thank you to everybody, you all made a difference....discuss this on the forums Discuss this on our forums
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