Everton to Wigan and Back - The Connections

With the clubs being less than twenty miles apart its not surprising that over the years there have been many connections between the two teams, Wigan has a large Scouse contingent living in its Borough and so it is only fitting that there have been players who have made the short journey from Goodison Park down the East Lancs Road and settled at the Latics

Personnel that have been on the books of both clubs include:

Stuart Barlow , Joe Parkinson, Leighton Baines, Kevin Kilbane, Carlo Nash, Eamon O'Keefe, Warren Aspinall, Kevin Langley, David Unsworth, Matt Jackson, Neill Rimmer, Gary Powell, Phil Jones, Jimmy Carberry, Marcus Bent, Peter Beagrie, Mark Leonard, Paul Lodge and Mike Newell

Stuart Barlow was definitely a fans favourite during his time at the Latics and who can forget the fastest goal ever scored at Springfield Park in the last game played there against Manchester City in the 2nd division play-offs, Barlow was fantastic for the Latics and if it hadn`t been for his fall out with John Benson his goals would have fired us to promotion in 1999

Matt Jackson its hard knowing where to start with Matt, he was an FA Cup winner with Everton but he was Mr Wigan Athletic playing 167 games for the Latics and scoring four goals, but he was much more than that, always had time for the fans, where ever they bumped into him, and was the consummate professional and club skipper a true gent.

Eamon O`Keefe O`Keefe was signed for the Latics from Everton by then manager Larry Lloyd in 1981, a fee reported to be around £60,000 was to be paid in instalments and we had got ourselves one gem of a signing.

To put in to context it was a bit like Jason Roberts or Darren Bent signing for Rochdale today!

O`Keefe wasn`t exactly first choice at Everton but he had played 40 times for the Goodison Park club in two seasons and was a current Republic of Ireland international.

Lloyd said that he signed O`Keefe to get Wigan promoted and sure enough the little Mancunian Irishmans goals did exactly that, he scored a hat trick in the last game of the season at Springfield Park against Mansfield to guarantee promotion to Division 3

O`Keefe was a bit of a character to say the least and he was extremely fiery on the pitch but his wages were a big drain on Latics resources and he was sold to Port Vale in 1983









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