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EVERTON will deliver on a promise first made more than a century ago when they honour one of the most tragic figures in Scottish football history next week.

A party from Goodison Park will arrive at Seafield Cemetery in Leith to pay tribute to Sandy Young, a former St Mirren and Falkirk striker so skilful in front of goal at the Toffees he was bettered only by the legendary Dixie Dean.

In a decade with Everton from 1901, Young scored 127 league goals, including 12 against arch rivals Liverpool, and paved the way for other Scots strike heroes in the blue half of Merseyside, including Graeme Sharp, Andy Gray and Duncan Ferguson.

His place in the club’s history is assured but Young attracted notoriety in 1916 following a move to Australia when he shot his farmer brother John dead after a series of arguments over money.

Distraught, Young then turned the gun on himself but survived the blast and subsequently stood trial for murder after the incident in the town of Tongala, 140 miles north of Melbourne.

He could have been sentenced to death but his sisters travelled from their home in Edinburgh to Merseyside to make a desperate plea for assistance to the Everton manager Will Cuff.

And Cuff promised written evidence would be sent to Australia from two doctors on the Goodison board, stating Young had received help for mental health issues during his time there.

The charges were subsequently reduced from murder to manslaughter and Young was found guilty, serving three years between the brutal Pentridge Penitentiary on French Island and a local asylum.

He returned to Britain 10 months after his release in July 1919 and lived for another 39 years, although where and how he lived remains shrouded in mystery, aside from occasional letters to Everton asking for money.

Young died in September 1959 in a mental care facility in Portobello and was buried without fuss, ceremony or a headstone in Seafield.

Everton and the club’s heritage society will put that right next Wednesday when guests will include two of their best known Scots, former striker Sharp and graceful attacker Alex “Golden Vision” Young.

Paul Wharton, of the Everton Heritage Society, said: “It’s a very sad story.

“But it’s one that has closure as we’ve brought all sides of the family together, from Australia to the UK. They all knew the history but the generation of John and Sandy didn’t talk about it and it was brushed under the carpet, a black mark on the family’s name.

“John’s great grand-daughter, Catherine Yarham, is coming over from Melbourne and in total 21 members of the family will gather at Seafield.

“They didn’t really know each other before and now they are all in touch.

“Everton chief executive Robert Elstone agreed the club would match any funds we gathered for a new headstone and we raised the £1400 we needed in one day.

“Neville Southall, our patron, did a book signing with all proceeds going to the cause and people donated fivers and tenners, with one anonymous donation of £500.”

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Young, who started his career at Slamannan FC in Stirlingshire, also had spells at Spurs and Manchester City and he won two caps for Scotland – but it’s at Everton where he is remembered most fondly.

However, even during the height of his striking powers there were hints of the mental distress that would flare up with such devastating consequences when he emigrated Down Under in 1914.

In 1915, Young was described in a report in the Liverpool Echo as having been “a very sombre man” who was “highly strung and had peculiar habits”. It added: “He would live alone, as far as possible, and many a time when out training he slinked off to some long walk and no one would get a word out of him.

“A curious temperament was Sandy’s and there were periods when he stroked the single lock of hair that adorned his forehead, which suggested he suffered severe pains in the head.”

It was an assessment that was backed by the Everton board, who sent a telegram to magistrates in Australia following his arrest, testifying to his mental health difficulties.

Everton and the citizens of Liverpool raised £200 to pay for his legal bills in Australia.

And just before his release Young sent the Everton board a letter asking for money and was forwarded £20.

Young had funded the original purchase of his brother’s farm in Tongala in 1911 and joined him in his own plot three years later but the relationship was fiery and they frequently fought.

John continued to borrow money from his brother, never repaid, and matters came to a head in November 1915.

Threatening to seize back cattle, Young confided to a friend: “I cannot stop here, I am afraid John will murder me.”

Separately, John told the friend: “Don’t go away yet, I am afraid Alex will come out and shoot me.” His words proved prophetic.

Wharton added: “There are huge gaps in Sandy’s life after he returned to the UK, although he wrote to Everton twice for money and they sent it.

“It’s clear Sandy had mental health issues. There are reports of him walking away from training in the middle of sessions and match reports state how frequently he’d drift out of games.”

Everton fans were up in arms when their hero was sold to Spurs in May 1911.

Chairman James Baxter addressed the club’s annual meeting and said: “Everton have never treated their players like oranges. At the proper time, his services will not be forgotten.”

That promise will now be honoured at Seafield on Wednesday at 12.30pm.