Everton to play Southport in pre-season at U23 home ground Haig Avenue
Everton have added to their pre-season schedule close to home with a friendly arranged against local non-league side Southport, according to the Liverpool Echo.
The Toffees are already heading to the United States of America for a period of their pre-season but they are keen to organise matches closer to home as they build their preparations for the earlier than normal start to the season.
The Premier League season, should Everton still be in it, begins at the start of August with the EFL even starting in July to make room for the World Cup in November.
It will be familiar territory for many of the club’s Under-23 players, who are most likely to play this game according to the Liverpool Echo’s information, as Haig Avenue, Southport’s home ground, is also where the academy play their games.
This fixture is set to take place on 30 July so the first-team squad will be back from the States but it is only ten days after their final game across the pond.
Local roots
Too many Premier League sides seem to spend their entire summers on tour in exotic locations to rake in the cash that those games bring but it is equally important to support the local football league and non-league sides too.
It is always a two-way street in these kinds of relationships because the next great player could suddenly appear at Southport, for example, and if the Toffees sever their bridge to the Sandgrounders, they won’t be given any kind of preferential treatment in negotiations.
Likewise, if we wanted to send a youngster or two out on loan to learn at non-league level, we need to have a good rapport with clubs to be able to do so with relative ease.
It might not be the first thing anyone thinks about, especially in the Premier League, but these local connections are more important than many people realise and without them, clubs could very easily cease to exist.
In other Everton news, this soon to be free agent is on the Toffees’ radar after a great individual season under trying circumstances.
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