The latest guest in our ‘Bred a Blue’ series has had quite an eventful football journey since making his one and only first team appearance for Everton.
Chris Long netted a friendly goal against Paderborn as a teenager and played at Goodison in the Europa League before accepting that the level of competition for striking places was just too much...although in hindsight he wishes he'd signed the three-year deal that Roberto Martinez offered him.
“I was fuming when we signed Samuel Eto’o,” he grins, looking back at his struggle to break through. “We had Jelavic, and Lukaku was on fire. Arouna Kone was there too, but I knew I was better than him!”
Chris Long can also name Harry Kane and Eric Dier as teammates, and he admits that he never saw an England record breaker when he first partnered the current Three Lions captain in an international youth team. And he credits a current Everton Academy staff member with helping Dier become an international Premier League footballer.
After leaving Everton, Long played for Sean Dyche, worked with David Weir, got knocked out on his debut for Motherwell and quickly learned that being a professional footballer isn’t always the glamorous existence it seems.
“Everyone thinks it’s sunshine and rainbows but it’s actually not. I’ve had more lows than highs and I wish I’d had more highs than lows but it’s the best job in the world and I love it. I thought I’d be Everton’s number nine for years and be the main man but football isn’t like that. And life isn’t like that. But at least I can tell my son I played for Everton.”
Chris Long’s career has been something of a rollercoaster but he’s back enjoying his football and is looking forward to the start of a new season…on the other side of the world!
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The latest guest in our ‘Bred a Blue’ series has had quite an eventful football journey since making his one and only first team appearance for Everton.
Chris Long netted a friendly goal against Paderborn as a teenager and played at Goodison in the Europa League before accepting that the level of competition for striking places was just too much...although in hindsight he wishes he'd signed the three-year deal that Roberto Martinez offered him.
“I was fuming when we signed Samuel Eto’o,” he grins, looking back at his struggle to break through. “We had Jelavic, and Lukaku was on fire. Arouna Kone was there too, but I knew I was better than him!”
Chris Long can also name Harry Kane and Eric Dier as teammates, and he admits that he never saw an England record breaker when he first partnered the current Three Lions captain in an international youth team. And he credits a current Everton Academy staff member with helping Dier become an international Premier League footballer.
After leaving Everton, Long played for Sean Dyche, worked with David Weir, got knocked out on his debut for Motherwell and quickly learned that being a professional footballer isn’t always the glamorous existence it seems.
“Everyone thinks it’s sunshine and rainbows but it’s actually not. I’ve had more lows than highs and I wish I’d had more highs than lows but it’s the best job in the world and I love it. I thought I’d be Everton’s number nine for years and be the main man but football isn’t like that. And life isn’t like that. But at least I can tell my son I played for Everton.”
Chris Long’s career has been something of a rollercoaster but he’s back enjoying his football and is looking forward to the start of a new season…on the other side of the world!
Our latest Bred a Blue podcast features a boyhood Toffee whose football journey thus far has taken him from Kirkdale to Berlin, with several outposts in between!
Jonjoe Kenny progressed through all the Academy age groups to make 69 appearances for the Everton senior team before leaving in 2022 to join Bundesliga outfit Hertha Berlin.
Along the way, he had loan spells at Wigan Athletic, Oxford United FC Schalke 04 and Celtic, as he battled to displace Seamus Coleman at Goodison.
In this episode of Bred a Blue he speaks about how he’s adapting to life in Germany, learning sufficient language to be able to enjoy a night out with his Hertha team-mates, and the differences between the Bundesliga and the Premier League.
He also reflects on his time at Everton, from first being scouted and not really wanting to take up the offer of a trial because his Sunday team had a big game, to replacing Matty Pennington for his debut at Goodison Park in 2016.
Jonjoe also relives some the highlights of his career so far – playing at Wembley with Oxford United, winning the 2017 Under-20 World Cup with England and, of course, playing in that incredible, never-to-be-forgotten Premier League match against Crystal Palace at Goodison in May 2022.
Jonjoe admits that his Celtic experience didn’t go well for him, although in fairness playing anywhere new during the ‘empty-stadium’ Covid lockdown period was always going to be challenging. And he confesses to being frustrated at never really being classed as an Everton regular before adding that the most supportive colleague he had was his right-back rival Seamus Coleman.
The Official Everton Podcast
The latest guest in our ‘Bred a Blue’ series has had quite an eventful football journey since making his one and only first team appearance for Everton.
Chris Long netted a friendly goal against Paderborn as a teenager and played at Goodison in the Europa League before accepting that the level of competition for striking places was just too much...although in hindsight he wishes he'd signed the three-year deal that Roberto Martinez offered him.
“I was fuming when we signed Samuel Eto’o,” he grins, looking back at his struggle to break through. “We had Jelavic, and Lukaku was on fire. Arouna Kone was there too, but I knew I was better than him!”
Chris Long can also name Harry Kane and Eric Dier as teammates, and he admits that he never saw an England record breaker when he first partnered the current Three Lions captain in an international youth team. And he credits a current Everton Academy staff member with helping Dier become an international Premier League footballer.
After leaving Everton, Long played for Sean Dyche, worked with David Weir, got knocked out on his debut for Motherwell and quickly learned that being a professional footballer isn’t always the glamorous existence it seems.
“Everyone thinks it’s sunshine and rainbows but it’s actually not. I’ve had more lows than highs and I wish I’d had more highs than lows but it’s the best job in the world and I love it. I thought I’d be Everton’s number nine for years and be the main man but football isn’t like that. And life isn’t like that. But at least I can tell my son I played for Everton.”
Chris Long’s career has been something of a rollercoaster but he’s back enjoying his football and is looking forward to the start of a new season…on the other side of the world!
