Lifting Up Everton

Magnus Lönnberg, Sweden

Magnus Lönnberg, 43, lives in Umeå on the east coast of Sweden. He is a member of Swedish Toffees and has become notorious for his ‘lifting’ of Everton legends over the years.

I am originally from Vilhelmina, a small village in the north of Sweden close to the mountains.

I was born in 1978, exactly 100 years after Everton FC (St. Domingo FC) was founded. Coincidence? I think not!

My love for Everton started in 1985, a great year for the club! I was aged seven and playing in a junior football team which happened to be named after Everton.

The system at our local club Vilhelmina IK had every team named after a famous club - Liverpool, Everton, Roma, and so on. Fate landed me in Everton. I played my first games for Everton!

Since then, my love for Everton has grown every day. Supporting a club is about so much more than just winning football matches.

I can't imagine life without football. How would that even work?! How people can live their lives without football goes beyond me!

The Swedish Toffees play a big part in my life. I have made friends for life. We have our group chats and we talk about everything with each other, we are like family.

Other English clubs have a larger fan base than Everton in Sweden, but the Swedish Toffees grow every year and we have over 600 official members today.

I would like it to still be a small group rather than being super big, as it is like a family right now and that is worth more.

We usually go on an official trip to Goodison Park once a year, but most of the group go a lot more.

I think my kids, Elmer Leighton (7) and Elsie (5), will tag along in a year or two because I really want them to visit Goodison Park before we move to the new ground and create some lasting memories.

They love wearing the kits and cheering when we score. They are of course already members of the Swedish Toffees!

I named my first born after Leighton Baines, the greatest left back who ever played. I only managed to make it his middle name, but in the future, he can choose to be called Leighton rather than Elmer.

My first lift was Duncan Ferguson in 2013. The Everton U18s came to play in the Gothia Cup in Gothenburg (and won the tournament). Duncan was the coach at the time. We gathered a bunch of Swedish Toffees and watched the games. Duncan stayed behind after one of the games and talked to us all for a really long time - he was such a great guy!

I do not really know how it came about, but as we were talking, I asked if I could lift him up, it was not planned at all. He said yes and it went really well, so it then became a thing that the Swedish Toffees would do on trips to Merseyside.

Since then, I have lifted up former players including Bobby Latchford, Ian Snodin, and Pat Van den Hauwe.

Some people have declined the lift, but most of the time I just show people the picture of me lifting Duncan and then it is hard for them to say no!

Recently I lifted Everton legend and 1995 FA Cup hero Joe Parkinson. Every year when the Swedish Toffees are in Liverpool, we gather in Segura Bar and get the company of one or two Everton legends, telling stories and chatting with us.

Joe had heard about a Swedish guy who likes to lift people, so he was prepared. We had a nice evening speaking with him and at the end of the evening the lift took place.

I usually lift players, but Joe also demanded to lift me and of course I said YES! He is a strong guy; it is not easy to lift this giant meatball of 91kg!

Since my child’s middle name is Leighton, I would like to lift Leighton Baines. I am also up for the challenge of Dave Unsworth or Neville Southall, but I would need to step up my training in the gym for that to happen!