Recently by David Prentice

BUT what about the misses?

For once the question didn't involve the former England captain's nearest and dearest.

But it still added up to trouble and strife for John Terry.

The Chelsea defender's problems were Gallic in their conception once again - but this time it was Everton's frustrated French striker rather than a Parisian lingerie model who caused his pain.

CLUBS who sample the intoxicating aroma of a Wembley Cup final have a habit of going back for more.

Arsenal graced four finals in five years at the turn of the millennium, Newcastle and Sheffield Wednesday made unexpected back to back visits in the 90s while the previous decade the atmospheric old stadium almost became a second home for the Toffees.

Everton savoured their Wembley experience in May.

But it was a different Everton defending that Cup tradition in January.

EVERTONIANS are cussedly different - some would say downright bloody awkward. Because while most football supporters celebrate goals, salute star players and roar their approval at victories, Blues fans are quirkier.

Sure, they love their triumphs, but the greatest roars are reserved for the unconventional.

Goodison folklore is littered with idiosyncratic cameos, moments you won't find in any history books, but incidents still spoken of with dewy-eyed pride years later.

Mersey derby reaction: Liverpool got lucky, Everton didn't

GIVEN the afternoon he'd endured, David Moyes' reaction was understand- able. "Do you want this leaving on?" enquired an eager to please press officer, as the Blues boss trudged into the press room while Sir Steven Redgrave and Kelly Smith were still plucking balls from the FA's drum.

"No," he rapped, probably fearing a third round trip to Melchester Rovers with Roy Race on a hot scoring streak.

He needn't have worried. Carlisle at home was a good draw. But it was the only thing which went right for him all day.

SO Kirkby is now a termination, not a destination. The deal of the century has joined Kings Dock as a footnote in Everton's home-owning history.

And you know what, I'm kind of glad.

NO-ONE ever took offence at Bill Shankly's merry one-liners, did they? Delivered with a twinkle in his eye and tongue firmly in cheek, surely they were intended - and received - as a bit of harmless fun?

I've always had my doubts, especially after a conversation many years ago with that redoubtable Evertonian Jimmy Gabriel.

But further evidence has just emerged that Shankly's lacerating wit wasn't always so well received, especially across Stanley Park.

IF you've ever left Christmas shopping until the last minute, you'll understand the perils of panic buying.

You dash around desperately, spend more than you intended and end up with something not as appropriate as you'd hoped you'd get.

JOLEON LESCOTT stopped short of saying he'd joined a bigger club - after all, his new manager had already done that for him.

But the inference was clear at Wednesday's press conference.

"Everyone outside the top four is aiming for the same thing, but I think City are better equipped to get there faster than Everton," said Lescott.

ON the morning of Monday, May 11, 2009, Mark Ward left behind his prison identity of NM6982 and re-entered the real world. After serving four years of an eight-year jail sentence for renting a house for a drugs baron, the former Everton hero paid dearly for the biggest mistake of his life. "I've been to hell - and I'm never going back," he declared. He has put his experiences into print. "Mark Ward - From Right Wing to B-wing . . . Premier League to Prison" is published by Football World. It's a compelling account of a once idolised footballer's fall from grace. Today the ECHO carries Part 1 of a week of extracts.

I'LL never forget the look on the face of the policeman who had the duty of handcuffing me. He was breathing heavily and bore the look of someone completely and utterly stunned.

ON Monday, May 11, 2009, prisoner NM6982 stepped back into the real world and became Mark Ward, former Everton footballer once again.

It was the end of an appalling, yet enlightening journey.

Sentenced in May 2005 to eight years imprisonment for renting a house in which cocaine with a street value of £645,000 was found, Ward accepts he had been extraordinarily stupid - "I made the biggest mistake of my life," he declared.

But now he is trying to pick up the pieces.