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<\/p>\nIn the 60th minute of Everton\u2019s home game against Sunderland this weekend, supporters will rise in union to pay tribute to a departing club icon.<\/p>\n
During Sunday\u2019s emotional send-off, \u201c60 grand, 60 grand, Seamus Coleman\u201d \u2014 the popular song referencing the meagre fee Everton paid Sligo Rovers for his services in 2009 \u2014 will reverberate around Hill Dickinson Stadium for the last time with the Irishman in a matchday squad.<\/p>\n
There is, to be frank, much sadness in that.<\/p>\n
For many associated with the club, Coleman has come to be seen as the living, breathing embodiment of modern Everton. The conduit between players and fans. As such, it has become increasingly hard to detach one from the other; to imagine an Everton without Coleman.<\/p>\n
While most of his team-mates choose to live further away in a glitzy Cheshire bubble, he has remained in Liverpool\u2019s southern suburbs \u2014 first in Aigburth, then Woolton. It has been common to see the Irishman and his young family in cafes and restaurants around the city\u2019s Sefton Park, and with his kids clad in either Everton or Ireland shirts.<\/p>\n
The reasoning behind it all was two-fold.<\/p>\n
After 17 years, Coleman is an adopted Scouser. But he has also wanted to stay close enough to check the pulse of supporters and communicate that message back to the dressing room. During Carlo Ancelotti\u2019s time at the club around the start of this decade, he showed the squad Howard\u2019s Way, the documentary depicting Everton\u2019s successes under legendary boss Howard Kendall in the 1980s, in an attempt to help his fellow players understand the history and traditions of the club they were representing.<\/p>\n
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\n Seamus Coleman cost Everton only \u00a360,000 when he joined in 2009 (Matt McNulty\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
This announcement that he will depart at the end of his contract next month<\/a>\u00a0does not come as a surprise. It has been a long time coming, with Coleman weighing up for at least the two previous summers whether he still had enough to give Everton on the pitch.<\/p>\n Successive managers, including the incumbent David Moyes, have been aware that the 37-year-old\u2019s body is creaking, but also seen enough of his impact behind the scenes to want to keep him around.<\/p>\n This was very much Coleman\u2019s decision; one made on his terms. He always said he would leave Everton when he felt he had nothing left to offer on the field.<\/p>\n Attempts were made to keep him around, including the offers of various coaching and off-field roles, but the Irishman is expected to continue playing for the Republic of Ireland through their matches this summer. He will decide his club future after that, but helping his national team build towards a 2028 European Championship their country will co-host with England, Scotland and Wales remains a possibility.<\/p>\n Beyond that, a role at Everton will still be there for him if he wants it, and he has already completed his UEFA A and B coaching badges.<\/p>\n \u201cLosing Seamus is a big blow,\u201d Moyes, the manager who brought Coleman to Merseyside 17 years ago during his first spell in charge, said in Friday\u2019s press conference. \u201cWe\u2019ve offered him every job there is. But the thing I admire is that he wants to keep playing, keep playing for his country. There will always be a desk here for him when the time comes.<\/p>\n \u201cFor me, he\u2019s right up there (in terms of value signings). He\u2019s been a great servant to the club. Recently, he\u2019s been the glue that has kept an awful lot together behind the scenes. When it was difficult, he stood up and galvanised the players.\u201d<\/p>\n \n David Moyes brought Seamus Coleman to Everton in 2009 (Chris Brunskill\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n There are two sides to the Coleman story that need to be stressed.<\/p>\n The first is of the young player from Killybegs, County Donegal, on Ireland\u2019s Atlantic coast, who defied the odds to become a household name in the Premier League and Everton\u2019s captain. That, by itself, was remarkable enough.<\/p>\n Mick Doherty, the scout who recommended him to Moyes, described him upon arrival as \u201cvery raw\u201d<\/a>. Speaking to The Athletic in 2020,<\/a> the club\u2019s current assistant manager Alan Irvine said Coleman had \u201cmaximised everything\u201d in his game and it had been a \u201cmagnificent achievement to have played for Everton at all\u201d.<\/p>\n Pathways like his scarcely exist anymore. It has been a fairytale; a case of everything clicking in the most unlikely of ways for one of the league\u2019s biggest bargains.<\/p>\n Coleman toyed with a career in Gaelic football and had no real academy background, but developed into one of the Premier League\u2019s best full-backs, being voted into its 2013-14 team of the season by his fellow Professional Footballers\u2019 Association members.<\/p>\n Even in recent years, with his legs fading, there have been moments when Everton managers turned to him to lock down tricky wingers. He never let them down.<\/p>\n \n Seamus Coleman will always hold a special place in the hearts of Everton supporters (Gareth Copley\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n Then there was the recent public declaration, one shared privately by many current and past colleagues, from team-mate and fellow defender Michael Keane on Ben Foster\u2019s recent Fozcast show<\/a> that he felt Everton would not have avoided the relegation they\u2019d flirted with repeatedly in recent seasons without Coleman.<\/p>\n When times were toughest during the end of former owner Farhad Moshiri\u2019s reign, Coleman often filled important leadership vacuums. He was normally the galvanising force around the squad as they successfully battled relegation.<\/p>\n Late in the 2021-22 season, with a Frank Lampard-managed Everton struggling to beat the drop, he gave a rousing speech that has stayed with many in the room. Raising his voice alongside their director of football at that time Kevin Thelwell, he told the squad they would not be the ones to send Everton down. He would not allow it, and nor should they.<\/p>\n Trailing 2-0 at half-time in the penultimate game of that season at home to Crystal Palace, he made another key intervention.<\/p>\n \u201cSeamus reminded them how much this club means to people,\u201d their then goalkeeping coach Alan Kelly told The Athletic<\/a>. \u201cBringing the reality of what losing means to the club, the fans and people who worked there long-term. It was, \u2018Do you want to look in the eyes of someone in the ground and know you\u2019ve let them down?\u2019.\u201d Everton won that match 3-2, confirming their survival.<\/p>\n As captain, Coleman welcomed new players to the club. He would offer advice to young players and signings. He did due diligence on at least one potential signing with a view to mentoring them if they joined the club. Those familiar with his communication style believed that he was capable both of stripping paint off the dressing room walls when things were going wrong, and providing a more personal touch when needed.<\/p>\n He commanded respect inside the club like few others. Ancelotti called him one of the best captains he had worked with. Former Everton goalkeeper Asmir Begovic labelled him \u201cthe ultimate leader\u201d who \u201cepitomises Everton and everything the club can be\u201d<\/a>.<\/p>\n Underpinning it all was a deep-rooted affection for the club who gave him a chance, and had become his adopted home.<\/p>\n![\"David](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/GettyImages-166498764.jpg\")
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