http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Tony-Hibbert-c35447 completes a milestone of playing ten years with Everton
The oldest of Everton FC defenders, Tony Hibbert, has shown extreme happiness on completing a mammoth 10 years of football with Everton.
The 30-year-old shared his experience on spending a memorable time at Goodison Park by saying, “From day one, I've loved Everton - this is just the club where I've always wanted to be. But to be here for 10 years is a big number for me and I'm really grateful
for that.”
The Merseyside born Hibbert started playing football as a member of Everton http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/U-17-Youth-team-c40787 while he was 18. He has not looked back ever since. On the back of some exemplary performances for the junior team, he was given his senior debut by Everton against West
Ham United in 2-0 victory almost a decade ago.
Hibbert, speaking to the club’s website, further added: “It's great to have been here this long. It has gone so quickly that you don't realise it's been 10 years. The Club has changed an awful lot – the squad, the team, the league position and the facilities.
I’ve seen a lot of changes and it is great the way things have improved.”
The experienced Toffees defender has served the club in more than 250 games for the club. He also holds the record for giving most number of European appearances. Having featured for Everton in both the finals of FA Cup and FA Youth Cup, he is considered
as a legend in the team.
Everton has witnessed a lot of changes in the last ten years; the players, the ground and the dressing room. Tony, however, has remained the same. The unsung hero of Everton, the defender who made life difficult for forwards with his crunching sliding tackles,
Hibbert started playing under David Moyes a decade back and the same Moyes continues to cherish his services.
Hibbert has seen so many highs and lows in his enormous journey with Everton. He cemented his place in the team as a regular member in 2003, and in the next year he was ranked as the best right-back by a private sports authority.
After seeing two good years, Hibbert missed the latter stages of 2005/06 English Premier League season due to hernia. The misfortune continued for him as he was then affected by another problem of cryptosporidium parasite, which seriously affected his preparation
for the 2006-07 Barclays Premier League season.
Hibbert is genuinely a midfielder who plays out of position on the right back berth. The player, talking to the media, thanked the management and the club representatives by referring to Everton as his home, a place that he will never leave.
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