Former Everton player Fred Pickering has had a new street named after him in his hometown of Blackburn. Pickering, who died in 2019 aged 78, joined the Blues from Blackburn Rovers for £85,000 in March 1964 – a record fee at the time between two British clubs – and boasted an impressive scoring rate of 70 goals in 115 matches for Everton.
‘Fred Pickering Place’ is located on the new Great Places development at New Wellington Street in Mill Hill – poignantly, where he lived all of his life. Blackburn with Darwen Council were keen to recognise the role he played locally for Rovers as well as his contribution to English football in general.
Fred’s daughter Debbie and son Andrew joined their family and delegates on Monday for the official unveiling of the street named after their dad. Debbie said: “This means so much to us all as a family.
“My dad used to always joke that Pickering Fold was named after him – he would have been over the moon to have seen this. It’s so fitting that the street is in Mill Hill where he lived all of his life. We all live close by too and it’s so nice to walk past and see our dad’s name proudly on show.”
Councillor Jim Smith, Blackburn with Darwen Council’s Executive Member for Environment and ward councillor for Mill Hill and Moorgate, knew Fred and led the campaign for him to be honoured. He said “Naming the street after Fred is a way of us recognising the massive contribution he made to English football both locally for Blackburn Rovers, for Everton, Birmingham and Blackpool and on the international stage for England.
“Fred was born in Blackburn and lived in Mill Hill all his life. Having a street named after him felt like a poignant way for his life to be celebrated and his achievements to be remembered.”
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Fred Pickering Way is part of a new development of 42 two and three bed homes all offered for affordable rent, built by Great Places’ contractor, Hargreaves and is one of four sites that Great Places and its contractors have worked on in Blackburn as part of a wider £19million housing regeneration scheme.
Helen Spencer, Executive Director of Growth at Great Places, said: “Our focus at Great Places is on building strong communities and so it’s incredibly fitting that this street is named after Fred who was so well known in Mill Hill. It was also lovely to see how much it meant to all of his family – including his great-grandchildren who were at the unveiling too.”
Pickering struck 37 times in all competitions in 1964/65 – his first full season at Goodison Park – but suffered the disappointment of being left out of the FA Cup final team the following year by manager Harry Catterick.
A cartilage problem had become increasingly painful and despite having scored in each of the previous rounds, Pickering was forced to miss the 1-0 victory over Manchester United in the semi-final. Although he declared himself fit for Wembley, Pickering was not selected by his manager who instead chose to stick with understudy Mike Trebilock – a fringe player whose Everton career would ultimately consist of just 14 games.
Catterick’s choice was vindicated as Cornishman Trebilcock bagged a brace in the Blues 3-2 comeback victory over Sheffield Wednesday while a besuited Pickering was forced to watch from the sidelines, much like England’s Jimmy Greaves at Wembley later that year when Geoff Hurst netted a hat-trick against West Germany in the World Cup final. From then on, Pickering’s days at Everton seemed numbered, especially with youthful homegrown prospect Joe Royle emerging and 15 months after the final he was sold to Birmingham City for £50,000.
