A 15-year-old from Australia used all his savings to attend the final league derby at Goodison Park, only for the match to be postponed four hours before kick-off.
The Everton fan from Sydney, Mackenzie Kinsella, asked his Liverpool-born mum at Easter whether he could return to England for the historic occasion.
His mum, Rita, told Radio Merseyside this past week: “When we came back, he said it was his dream to go to an Everton v Liverpool game at Goodison Park. I said: ‘You’ve got no chance, mate. We’ve just come back from England and there’s no way I can save that money in the time we’ve got.’
“He saved up the money, used all his savings and said two weeks ago: ‘I’d really like to go, Mum – will you let me go?’ I said: ‘I can’t stop you if you’ve got the money.’ We’re very proud of him.” The teenager added: “Everyone says I’m a lucky charm.”
Mackenzie, who is staying with an aunt in England, attended Everton’s 4-0 win against Wolves on Wednesday but his dream of seeing a derby at Goodison was shattered on Saturday morning.
However, there was some joy for the young supporter later when he was invited to Everton training on Monday by the club captain Séamus Coleman through a video message on the social media platform X.
The 245th Merseyside derby was due to be the last league meeting at Goodison after 130 years, with Everton relocating to Bramley-Moore dock next season. But the fixture was postponed at 8.30am on Saturday because of the impact of Storm Darragh.
