Tony Hibbert carries the scars, literally, of 25 years’ service to Everton. Particular pride of place is the imprint left by Stuart Pearce on his first-team debut against West Ham in 2001.

‘I flicked the ball over Nigel Winterburn and Pearce came steaming in and smashed me with his leg up on the groin. It left a big scratch you can still see today,’ says the one-club defender whose long career at Goodison Park was ended abruptly this summer without a word from anyone at Everton.

‘Pearce was sent off, we got a penalty and I saw Fergie (Duncan Ferguson) and Paolo Di Canio going berserk with each other. Welcome to the Premier League.’

Tony Hibbert was released by Everton at the end of last season after 25 years at the club

Hibbert and Leon Osman only found out they were being released via Everton's club website

Hibbert came up through the club's youth ranks and only ever played for the Toffees

Hibbert has enough tales about Everton to last a lifetime. Just as Steven Gerrard, his school pal from Huyton, embodied Liverpool, Hibbert represented the spirit of the ‘People’s Club’ across Stanley Park.

On the books from the age of 10, an FA Youth Cup winner at 17, first-teamer at 21, and a total of 328 appearances under Walter Smith, David Moyes and Roberto Martinez, he was the second longest serving one-club man in the Premier League last season after John Terry.

It therefore makes it all the more bewildering that Hibbert and fellow local hero Leon Osman were left to find out about their departures from Goodison Park in June via the Everton website without any personal contact.

Hibbert, pictured tackling Angel Di Maria in 2014, made 265 Premier League appearances

He never scored a competitive goal for his club, but did find the net in his 2012 testimonial

They took the lack of contact as a sign that a new deal may be in the offing given their existing contracts were due to run out on June 30. Instead, they found out via telephone calls from family that they were out.

Nobody senior at Everton, from chairman Bill Kenwright, chief executive Robert Elstone or new manager Ronald Koeman, has spoken to Hibbert since.

‘I was in Formby with my dad and brother when my wife Samantha rang to say she’d been getting text messages from friends that I wasn’t being retained. It was on the website,’ reveals the player.

‘I couldn’t believe it so I rang a friend at the club to check. They said, “Tony, I honestly don’t know why nobody has spoken to you”. I contacted Leon and he was in exactly the same boat.

‘I won’t tell a lie, I was really hurt. Surely someone at the club should’ve realised it wasn’t right. I’d rather have been told at any point during the season there wouldn’t be a contract so I’d have a chance to plan my future and say a proper farewell. No player deserves that whether they’ve been at a club for five minutes or 25 years.

Hibbert, with former team-mate Wayne Rooney, admitted he was hurt by his departure

He has still not been contacted by any member of Everton's senior management

‘In what other job would someone be let go or fired without a senior manager talking and explaining what was happening? I never got that and I honestly don’t know why. I didn’t get the chance to properly say goodbye to the fans.’

Admittedly, Everton were in a state of flux at the end of last season. They got a new owner in Farhad Moshiri, although lifelong supporter Kenwright remained chairman. Martinez was sacked in the final week.

For Hibbert, the hurt is as much for the club as himself. He isn’t saying he automatically deserved a new deal, just that being shoved out the door shouldn’t be the Everton way.

He didn't expect to automatically receive a new contract, but didn't expect to be 'shoved out'

Everton have been taken over by Farhad Moshiri (left) with Bill Kenwright staying as chairman

The People’s Club tag coined by Moyes might have seemed corny to some, but not to the 100 per cent committed right back who used to catch the bus into training as a Youth Training Scheme boy and became a cult figure to the ‘bluenoses’ on the Gwladys Street End.

His time at Everton spanned Neville Southall to Romelu Lukaku with David Ginola, Paul Gascoigne and Wayne Rooney in between.

Now Hibbert feels the times are changing at Goodison Park — and not for the better.

‘Every contract I had at Everton, I never questioned it or demanded more money,’ he says. ‘I have never kicked up a storm even as a kid. But since David Moyes left (in 2013), I have noticed the club hasn’t got the same feeling.

Hibbert feels times are changing at his former club - and not for the better

David Moyes once described Everton as 'The People's Club'. Hibbert insists that's not true now

‘The People’s Club, it’s no longer that. It’s a ruthless, horrible business and a lot of good people have gone.

I understand a new manager wants to work a different way but it is a dog-eat-dog culture inside the club now. People are only looking out for themselves.’

Kenwright has always prided himself on being a custodian of a club he supported as a boy. He sat next to Koeman at the new manager’s unveiling to show he still has influence, but health problems have meant he is less of a hands-on presence.

‘Bill used to text me good- luck messages as a player. But I’ve not heard from him now,’ adds Hibbert.

Hibbert described Everton as a 'dog-eat-dog club' where everyone looks out for themselves

‘It’s hard to blame only him because of his own issues but you’d like to think there are other people who know how to do the right things.’

By the time Moyes left for Manchester United in 2013, Hibbert was already a club legend; even his failure to score a first-team goal until his testimonial earning him special status among fans.

Hibbert is recovering from an ankle operation after he suffered damaged ligaments before the end of last season. The club have let him do rehab at their training ground but under strict conditions. He can only go in during afternoons after first-team training has finished and he changes in the academy locker rooms.

The 35-year-old has been allowed to train at the club, but only after the first team have left

Once fit he will decide whether or not to continue his career at a different club

‘It’s hard for me to go in. It’s a horrible feeling,’ he says. ‘I feel embarrassed. Everything from the club feels like a new smack in the face. My wife is even angrier at how I’ve been treated.’

The good news is that he’s been able to start running again. In a few weeks he should be able to take part in light contact games. If Everton don’t allow him to do that, he’ll try and find somewhere else to train before deciding whether to carry on playing.