'We've lost a cherished member of the Everton family'

Everton have paid tribute to the club's long-standing stadium tour guide Lily Barnes, who has died after a short illness.

The 79-year-old had started working at Goodison Park in 1979, after responding to an advert for casual hospitality work she saw while watching a match at the stadium.

The club said she was a "much-loved stadium tour guide who filled her role with pride, enthusiasm, passion and an encyclopaedic knowledge".

Barnes, who was also a season ticket-holder at the club, recently spoke about her connection to the Toffees in the BBC podcast Everton: Nothing Will be The Same.

She said: "When I was a child, my grandmother was an Evertonian. On a Saturday night, if Everton won, the table would be set with a blue and white tablecloth, cakes and all kinds of goodies, and if they got beat - don't bother! Every Saturday night, if Everton won, we would have a feast - all the kids would be around eating cakes."

Captain Seamus Coleman paid tribute to her on Friday and said: "Lily was a lovely, lovely lady and her passion and enthusiasm for Goodison Park was obvious every time you met her.

"We've lost a cherished member of the Everton family."