Revealed - secret life of ex-Beatle Paul McCartney as Everton fan
Story by Mike Chapple
ONE of the best-kept secrets in Beatles history has finally been revealed - Sir Paul McCartney is an Evertonian.
Sir Paul, who has always been notoriously tightlipped about his allegiance to being either a Red or a Blue, came clean in the latest edition of a magazine as a gesture of support to the British Paralympic team.
When asked to settle the argument, the 65-year-old former mop-top initially replied that "against all the rules of sport and supporters" he was a fan of both Liverpool and Everton.
Then confessed: "Here's my deal: my father was born in Everton, my family are officially Evertonians, so if it comes down to a derby match or an FA Cup Final between the two I would have to support Everton. If it comes to the crunch, then I'm an Evertonian." This follows Ringo's admission when he returned to his home city to launch Capital of Culture year that he supported Liverpool because he "liked the colour red".
In reality, however, none of the Beatles were really that interested in football or sport in general, as McCartney also admitted. "I used to enjoy football in the street, but by the time it got a bit formalised I wasn't very good at it. That puts you off when there are always guys mightily bigger or better than you are. And that's how it was with the Beatles, none of us was very sports minded. I like watching the footie on the telly, I go to the occasional match but I'm not a massive fan."
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He added: "You'd think we'd be rabid fans but we weren't. I think we had been those kind of guys who didn't really like sport at school. And, when we were in the band, we were on tour all the time so we never became mad sports fans. We were sports wimps and proud of it."
It didn't prevent them from choosing ex-Liverpool centre forward Albert Stubbins as one of the figures used on the legendary Sgt Pepper album cover. The idea was for the band to choose their heroes to stand around them "but this being the Beatles this was only taken half seriously," said Sir Paul.
"I think John eventually came up with Albert Stubbins. I know Dixie Dean was also mentioned.We really didn't know much about them."
Despite his Everton allegiance, though, Sir Paul's visit to Anfield for the historic Liverpool Sound concert last month was a life highlight.
"When we got to Anfield, it was like 'Wow, this is the hallowed ground' - one of the hallowed grounds, anyway."
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