Source: Liverpool_Echo
Time for Everton FC to follow Barcelona model
EVERTON pride themselves on being a club of firsts.[LNB]They were the first club to proudly take possession of the League Championship trophy and the first to present medals for winning it; they were the first club to stage an FA Cup final; the first to be visited by a reigning monarch; first to issue a matchday programme; first to wear shirts numbered 1-11; first to win a penalty shoot-out in Europe and the first to use dug-outs .[LNB]They were also, proudly, the first football club to set up a registered charity to aid its former players.[LNB]But the Blues have been beaten to the punch this week by another club which has its roots here on Merseyside.[LNB] Barcelona - created by a couple of Merchant Taylors' old boys - followed Everton's model when they set up their own Former Players' Foundation.[LNB]But this week - in the marquee at Goodison Park - Barca's Ramon Alfonseda revealed that from now on 0.5 per cent of every player's salary at the Nou Camp would go into its Former Player Foundation coffers.
