The former chief football correspondent of a regional daily has told tales of more than 45 years covering one of its patch’s clubs in a new book.

Ken Rogers, left, has penned ‘Born Not Manufactured’, which charts his time following the fortunes of Everton FC for the Liverpool Echo.

Extracts of the book have been serialised by the Echo following its release last week.

In one extract Ken, who was born and raised in the area of Liverpool from which the club takes its name, told of how he came to hear of the club’s signing of future legend Andy Gray in 1983.

It reads: “Back in the 1980s, when I was covering Everton and Liverpool, your newspaper didn’t just hope you might get most or all of the big stories. They expected and demanded it.

“When you lost out to a journalist on a rival title, it was as if you had stabbed your own organisation in the back. There was never any point trying to explain to an exasperated editor how it might have happened. It was as if you had let everyone down, like scoring an own goal in a derby match or a World Cup final.

“You could argue as much as you liked that it was circumstantial and a matter of timing, perhaps due to a surprise announcement by the other club involved, be it an in or out transfer. But that simply didn’t wash. In my case at the Liverpool Echo, I was expected to have an infallible network of contacts with other evening newspaper journalists across the UK and there could be no excuses if I missed out, at least none that an office-based editor who didn’t have to work the training grounds or the corridors of power could understand or wanted to understand.

“It didn’t matter that, in my case, I was one evening newspaper journalist against five vastly experienced national reporters. These guys knew what they were doing and operated as a cartel to ensure they had the best possible chance of cornering the market. They even called themselves ‘The Mafia!'”

Ken recalled how he received a call from a newsagent, who claimed to have seen Gray buying a newspaper opposite Everton’s Goodison Park ground.

After failing to get hold of manager Howard Kendall, he asked chief executive Jim Greenwood to question whether Gray was signing.

Ken added: “The phone went silent for a few seconds. I instinctively knew that Jim had Howard in his office, ready to sign the transfer document. Jim was the master of telling me something without actually saying it. ‘Give me 10 minutes,’ he said, ‘and do not write anything until Howard rings you back.’

“I knew it was on, but didn’t have time to kick my heels with the deadline looming. I immediately sent a request to our newspaper library for the press cuttings on Gray, plus his photo bags. I also alerted the sports desk and put in a back-up call to my opposite number at the Birmingham Post and Mail.

“By the time Howard rang me back to confirm the deal was about to be done, I had a full story written, plus a backgrounder on Andy who had made a big name for himself, first in Scotland with Dundee United and then with Aston Villa and Wolverhampton Wanderers, who had just accepted Howard’s £250,000 offer.”