Asked to define what football means on Merseyside, Peter Reid’s eyes sparkle. And the proud Evertonian, the man who played 159 times for his boyhood favourites, the dynamic heart of the most successful side in the club’s history, chuckles as he recalls a derby match at Anfield in the mid-eighties, when the two Liverpool clubs were vying for the title.

“We haven’t had a kick for 20 minutes and the ball goes out to Barnesy [John Barnes] and I absolutely smash him,” he remembers. Such was the vigour of his assault the home crowd were immediately on their feet, yelling their fury. Above the shouts, however, Reid could pick out the comments of one particularly enraged Liverpool follower.

“I hear: ‘you bluenosed ****, you big-eared *******’. He’s absolutely giving it to me. I looked in the crowd and went: ‘Uncle Arthur, sit down’. On my life. My own uncle. And I’d got him players’ lounge tickets. That is what [Merseyside] football is about. He was the nicest man in the world and he was giving it to me.”

Watching from the Goodison stands this season, however, the once-a-blue-always-a-blue Reid reckons Uncle Arthur can rest easy. He thinks it is unlikely any of the current side would provoke such a reaction.