Football pundit and former Everton star to speak at Carmarthen Town AFC dinner

Football commentator and pundit Ian Snodin, best known for being a dynamic Everton midfielder, will be the guest speaker at the Carmarthen Town AFC annual celebrity dinner at the Ivy Bush Royal Hotel, Carmarthen, on Friday, May 20.
Snodin was a regular analyst on Sky Sports' coverage of the Football Conference, before taking on a similar role at Setanta Sports following a change in the broadcasting rights.
He co-hosts Terrace Talk, a football magazine show, with Liverpool legend Ian St. John every Saturday at midday on Liverpool music station Radio City 96.7 and City Talk 105.9 and occasionally commentates on Everton for the same radio network. He writes a weekly column for the Liverpool Echo.
Snodin is almost unique in modern football insomuch as he declined an invitation (which few receive and virtually no one declines) when he turned down the chance to join Liverpool in January 1987.
Having established himself an an aggressive, yet thoughtful, midfielder in a struggling Leeds United side during the mid-80s, Snodin was pursued by several leading clubs but only two - Everton and Liverpool - were willing to meet an asking price of £840,000.
Having agreed personal terms with Kenny Dalglish, Snodin was expected to move to Anfield but an 11th-hour intervention by Howard Kendall proved to be decisive and within a matter of hours he had pledged his future to Everton.
Although his never-say-die attitude was warmly received by the Goodison public it was not until Snodin was pressed into service as an emergency right-back that he truly began to flourish.
His transformation from midfielder to defender was accomplished with such speed and in such style that he was called up into the full England squad for a friendly international in Greece in February 1989.
Unfortunately, Snodin was forced to withdraw because of injury and his problems were compounded a matter of only a few weeks later when he was carried off during a game against Sheffield Wednesday with a serious hamstring problem.
Despite lengthy periods of rest and several operations, Snodin struggled to regain his fitness and spent the whole of the 1991-92 season convalescing.

Factfile:

• Position: Midfield
• Born: Rotherham 15.8.63
• Previous clubs: Doncaster, Leeds
• Joined Everton: January '87 (840,000 pounds)
• League games: 356
• League goals: 33
• Cup games: 73
• Cup goals: 7
Honours: 1 England B Cap, 4 Under-21 Caps, League Championship ('87)

Tickets for celebrity dinner: 07814262656 or email garethojones@hotmail.com