Sean Dyche stood on the terraces of Kettering Town’s Rockingham Road but he couldn’t escape the lure of Liverpool in the 1970s.
It was the brilliance of the dominant Reds in that era as well as the bright yellow shirt of his friend Franny Theanne which drew him to the Merseysiders.
But now he is in charge of the blue half of the city and there is no longer any affinity to the great Liverpool sides of the past, only admiration. The Everton boss moved to explain his previous comments about being a fan of Liverpool in the past as he prepares to take charge of his first Merseyside derby as Blues boss.
“I don’t mind telling you that at seven years old I’m in Kettering, not exactly the metropolis of football I will tell you,” said Dyche.
“I was actually a Kettering fan, which by the way never makes a story. I actually physically had a season ticket and I used to physically go and watch Kettering.
“The sideline of Kettering, because obviously Kettering doesn’t make a story and you’ll all agree with that, is that a 70s kid, most kids in the 70s supported Liverpool.
“My mate Franny Theanne, he had a yellow Liverpool kit. That is my first memories of the football team. You know the yellow one with the stripes down it?
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“We have a picture of me and him together with it. So that was my first reference point of supporting Liverpool.
“I could tell you a story about Kettering Town, Freddie Easthall, Billy Kellock going to Wembley in 79 for the Vase, Jim Conde the legend who was the assistant and son I played with.
“I could tell you a million Kettering stories, I can’t tell you many Liverpool stories other than the ones you all know.”
Dyche actually played at Anfield as a teenager when he was brought as part of a development squad with Reds legend Phil Neal. “I only actually came to Anfield with Phil Neal because he was from Irchester, a little place near Kettering,” said Dyche.
“We got invited up as a local elite team if you like to play half an hour before the kick off when you play two 15 minutes, you know what I mean? I nearly scored an own goal actually. I whipped it off the line. I put it past my own keeper, ran after it and swept it off the line.”
Dyche has shown as Burnley boss he has no divided loyalties when he’s in charge of a club. He’s battled with Jurgen Klopp on the touchline and his Clarets side ended a 68-game unbeaten run at Anfield for the Reds when they won there in 2021.
But, as he explains, it was hard not to be a Liverpool fan when you grew up in a town which didn’t have a major league side.
The Everton boss added: “I was a 70s kid and Liverpool were the top side, that’s it. Franny, he will buzz if you name check him and he had the yellow kit. I thought ‘that’s a nice kit, who is that?’ and he said ‘Liverpool’ so I thought ‘We are Liverpool fans from now on then’.
“He still is!”
For sure, Dyche isn’t though. He will want to make sure his old pal is not celebrating a win tonight.