Footballer with a heart! Naismith buys Everton season tickets for jobless
Everton striker Steven Naismith's gesture has added further credence to the fact that footballers do have have a heart.
He bought tickets for for his side's English Premier League games for the jobless on Merseyside.
Taking a cue from a QPR striker who helped a fan replace match tickets that had been mauled by his dog, the Scotland international procured an undisclosed number of tickets for matches at Goodison Park and gave them to JobCentre Plus, a UK support service for job hunters.
The 27-year-old former Rangers forward was quoted by the Guardian as saying: "I come from Ayrshire in the West of Scotland and spent a lot of my life in Glasgow - a city that, at times, has suffered from high unemployment.
"Liverpool have a similar history and I am aware that, through no fault of their own, there are many unemployed in Liverpool trying hard to find a job and may not be able to afford a ticket.
"I thought this might be a small gesture to help those in that situation to enjoy a day out at one of our league matches. Hopefully it can bring some joy to many people.
"I have asked the Jobcentre Plus if they could give the tickets to different job centres across the city each week and select people who are unemployed, and are trying hard to find employment and who would enjoy watching a Premier League football match."
Naismith is an ambassador for Dyslexia Scotland and has also launched a project to help Glasgow's community of servicemen injured in war find employment.
Man with a big heart.
Source: AFP, The Guardian
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