Everton: Sandy MacIver dissects club’s ‘underwhelming’ season & reveals Euro 2022 aim

For Sandy MacIver, professional women’s football was something she was unaware existed until the age of 12. 

At the time, she was playing for Crewe, not as a goalkeeper but outfield, and was lucky enough to win a Lionesses team photograph, signed by England icon Rachel Brown-Finnis. 

To this day, the photo adorns her bedroom wall at her family home –– a reminder of the player who inspired her to transition from boys to girls football and who formerly sported the same Everton jersey she does now. 

“She [Brown-Finnis] was the first player I’d even heard of and looked up to, especially from a goalkeeper point of view as one of England’s greatest keepers,” MacIver told GiveMeSportWomen, in association with athleisure brand Gym + Coffee. 

Indeed, the Everton and England shot-stopper has followed in the footsteps of her idol –– representing her country and becoming one of the Toffeees’ most influential players.  

Since joining the Merseyside club in 2020, MacIver has already reached an FA Cup final and helped her side achieve a fifth-place finish last year.

This season, however, Everton currently sit 10th in the Women’s Super Leagueand MacIver admitted the campaign has been “underwhelming” for the most part. 

“I think we were very bold and brave in pre-season with what we wanted our goals to be,” she reflected. “We brought in a lot of quality players, but I think looking back now it was always going to be a tall order, just because you don’t know how all those players are going to fit into the team. A lot of the players came from outside the WSL, and you don’t really know how players are going to react in a new league and a new country.” 

MacIver explained that teams like Everton, who are striving to compete with the likes of