The Man Who Bled Blue

Mike Lyons was Everton through and through. A boy from Croxteth who stood on the Goodison terraces, he rose through the ranks to captain his boyhood club during one of the most agonising eras in its history. He never won a trophy, but no player gave more of himself.

The Man Who Bled Blue tells the story of a footballer whose courage became legendary, from the diving header against Norman Hunter's boot that long adorned the walls of Everton's old Bellefield training ground to the bloodied face that remains synonymous with the player even today. It chronicles the near-misses that haunted a generation of Evertonians: a League Cup final trilogy, FA Cup semi-final heartbreaks, a title challenge that slipped away. And it captures the bond between a local hero and the supporters who loved him, even when the groans came loudest.

Beyond Goodison, the book follows Lyons to Sheffield Wednesday, Grimsby Town, Brunei and Australia as player, manager and coach, spreading his enthusiasm across four continents.

For author Simon Hart, this is a deeply personal story. His father coached Lyons as a schoolboy, building a connection that endured for decades. Drawing on that link and dozens of interviews, Hart has produced an intimate portrait of a man whose generosity of spirit matched his physical bravery, and whose dementia diagnosis revealed the devastating price of a life lived at one hundred per cent.