Blackburn Rovers
Born in Liverpool, England, McEveley started his career with Everton, where he played in the same youth team as Wayne Rooney. McEveley never played for the club and moved to Blackburn Rovers, where he was seen as a potential star of the future. His bulky build made it seem natural that he would be a centre back but ever since his early professional breakthrough, he has been used by successive managers as a left back.
He made his first team Rovers debut against Walsall as part of a 2–2 draw in the League Cup. McEveley hit the headlines after his performance in a League Cup semi-final first leg, where he displayed considerable self-confidence in a 0–0 draw. Much, in particular, was made of his aggressive tackling on Manchester United's David Beckham and a late goalline save from a Ruud van Nistelrooy shot.
In order to gain competitive match experience McEveley was sent out on loan three times whilst at Blackburn, spending time at Burnley; Gillingham, where he scored once against Stoke; and Ipswich, where he scored once against Plymouth Argyle. He intermittently featured in the Blackburn first team during this time, including in a match against Liverpool in October 2004 when his challenge resulted in a broken leg for Djibril Cissé. Though the challenge was legal and appeared innocuous, the gruesome footage of the incident shocked many.
McEveley has developed a history of unfortunate involvement in serious injuries – to himself and others. McEveley was the other party in a training ground incident that left Hakan Şükür, trialist at Blackburn, with a broken leg. Mark Delaney suffered a serious knee injury after a clash with McEveley. McEveley himself has suffered a few very serious knee injuries.
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