James Tarkowski interview: That goal against Liverpool made every bad moment worth the pain… aside from one terrible photo!

On the wall at Everton’s Finch Farm training ground there is a new photograph, placed there to commemorate one of the most famous moments in the history of Goodison Park.

The subject of it smiles and claims not to be that impressed.

‘Of all the pictures and angles they could have picked, the one they have put up I don’t love,’ says James Tarkowski.

‘My eyes are shut, my tongue is out. You can’t even see where the ball is going. It could actually just be a clearance for all I know.’

It wasn’t a clearance on that night of February 12, 2025. It was a goal, scored by Tarkowski at the Gwladys Street End in the eighth minute of added time to earn Everton a 2-2 draw against Liverpool in the last ever derby to be played at Goodison.

A right-foot volley crashed into the roof of the net by a 32-year-old central defender with all the poise of a No 9 and with the kind of sheer certainty that makes fillings rattle. Whatever happens to him during the rest of his career, Tarkowski has his place in Everton folklore.

‘Football isn’t a hobby, it’s a job,’ Tarkowski tells Mail Sport. ‘The pressure and intensity of it means it’s not always as enjoyable as it sounds. I mean I really love it but that’s the truth.

‘So when you get moments like that it makes the hard work – days of losing matches, driving away from Goodison having been beaten – all very worthwhile.

‘It’s a month ago now but it’s still all anyone actually wants to talk to me about. I have always wanted to part of a last-minute goal but never thought I would be in a situation like that. It was unforgettable.

‘I don’t generally get too excited but that night it all came out. I went home and tried to switch off and think about something else. But I didn’t. I just watched it over and over and over on my phone.’

Everton’s draw that night has formed part of a wider recovery under returning manager David Moyes. Indeed when Moyes takes his team to Anfield on the other side of the international break, Tarkowski should make his 500th career appearance and 300th Premier League appearance in a team that is now looking upwards.

‘David walked in and told us he wasn’t here for a relegation battle and we had to buck up our ideas and get some points on the board quickly,’ recalls Tarkowski.

‘He was quite pleased with the defensive structure and wanted to add some goals to that which he has done. We are now chasing teams rather than looking below and that feels good.’

Tarkowski is on a run of 103 consecutive league games for Everton. It’s a club record for a player who walked away from Blackburn as a youngster and rebuilt his career at non-league Maine Road in his native Manchester.

‘Maybe my journey just took a different path to what I expected,’ he says.

‘I enjoyed going there. I was playing with men. I was not an over thinker back then. I just went week to week. From there I went to Oldham. Another step.

‘I learned a lot of lessons at both those places. I was allowed to make mistakes and get better. Had I been an academy player all the way through I don’t think I would be the same player or person.

‘I learned some lessons about day to day life. People were playing to put food on the table. I remember playing first team at 17 at Oldham and suddenly realising what it was all about. Real life.’

Tarkowski is talking in a small room at the Everton in the Community facility across the road from Goodison Park. Real life is all around on this occasion too. He has just spent an hour meeting, cooking, playing and talking to youngsters – some economically disadvantaged and some with educational needs – from the Liverpool areas of Knowsley, South Sefton and Speke-Garston.

Tarkowski – an EITC ambassador – is here to mark the next stage of a long-standing partnership between Everton’s community arm and the Steve Morgan Foundation. 

The SMF has invested £7m in EITC since 2019 and the further £2.3m announced on Wednesday will help another 13,000 young people develop skills and make informed life choices.

‘It’s amazing,’ says Tarkowski. ‘I don’t come from a super-wealthy background. It was a little bit rough but nothing like some of the things these kids experience.

‘Just seeing the smiles on the kids’ faces. I enjoy it and am proud to be a part of it. I have two kids of my own and have grown up a lot. I have realised the impact we can have and I enjoy being here and making the most of this hour.

‘I feel lucky that I can come and enjoy it. You have to detach yourself a little bit as a footballer. Being out and about you get a lot of questions asked.

‘Since I have been at Everton we have had some tough times and sometimes you just wanna keep yourself out of the way. But to meet these kids and have a conversation and be around them is great. It doesn’t have to be deep and meaningful. You just have to enjoy it.

‘I met Shaun Wright-Phillips when I was at secondary school. I was mesmerised just by being in the same room. I come from a working class background. My dad was an electrician. My mum worked at Manchester City Council.

‘So this club suits me as I see what it means. When we get the wins and the bright days, they seem extra special here.’

Tarkowski was close to Moyes’ predecessor Sean Dyche as he also played for him at Burnley. He says he felt some guilt when Dyche left in January.

‘I had played every game so I had been part of a team that had put in performances that led to someone losing their job,’ he says.

‘Maybe because I had such a strong relationship with him I feel it a bit more. But the flip side is that I realise there is still a job to be done. You can’t dwell on stuff.’

It wasn’t all doom and gloom under Dyche. After Tarkowski and his wife Samantha appeared on the Married to the Game programme and talked fleetingly about their sex life, Dyche made the most of it.

‘It wasn’t ideal,’ Tarkowski laughs. ‘I like a joke and I like to mess around and wind people up so if you are gonna be like that you have to take it the other way.

‘Seamus Coleman was first at it the next day. And then Sean. It got put up in one his team meetings. If anybody hadn’t seen it, it was there for everybody to see at that one moment.

‘But it was a bit of fun. Like many footballers’ wives, Samantha lives in my shadow a little bit. She wasn’t desperate for fame but she wanted the chance to show her side. 

‘The clip doesn’t show that, it just shows me being a bit daft. If you watch the full thing, it’s about her and her journey and what she wants for her future and a little bit about us.

‘She did get emotional on the show. She is a very deep thinker but is also super supportive of me and my job while at the same time not being too fussed about it.

‘If I walked away from football – which I am not going to do – she would be just as happy.

‘We have a little daughter now and she wants to guide her and help her learn from mistakes she made herself when she was younger.

‘She wants to be more than my wife. She wants to be her own person living her own life. That was part of the show too.’

Tarkowski has only a year left on his Everton contract – he is open to talks – but it seems Samantha has made her views known already on options such as Saudi Arabia.

‘I have already been told I am not allowed to go,’ he laughs. ‘But there is nothing better than playing in the Premier League. Why would you want to go anywhere else really?’

With two England caps won back in 2018, Tarkowski has not given up on more. ‘I just look at myself and think I can bring something different to the England team,’ he nods.

As for the short-term, he plans to enjoy the final days of Goodison – starting with Saturday’s visit of West Ham – free from the shadow of relegation.

In more ways than one – some spectacular and some not – he has already done his bit.