Tony Hibbert has broken his silence on leaving Everton, claiming he only learned of the decision from the club’s official website.
The Huyton-born defender was one of three players released by the Blues this summer following a lifetime association with his boyhood club that spanned a quarter of a century.
But Hibbert alleges that both he and fellow academy graduate Leon Osman discovered their Goodison Park exits on June 30 from second-hand sources.
“‘I was in Formby with my dad and brother when my wife Samantha rang to say she’d been getting text messages from friends that I wasn’t being retained. It was on the website,” he told the Daily Mail.
“I couldn’t believe it so I rang a friend at the club to check. They said, ‘Tony, I honestly don’t know why nobody has spoken to you’. I contacted Leon and he was in exactly the same boat.
“I won’t tell a lie, I was really hurt. Surely someone at the club should’ve realised it wasn’t right.
“I’d rather have been told at any point during the season there wouldn’t be a contract so I’d have a chance to plan my future and say a proper farewell.
“No player deserves that whether they’ve been at a club for five minutes or 25 years.
“In what other job would someone be let go or fired without a senior manager talking and explaining what was happening?
“I never got that and I honestly don’t know why. I didn’t get the chance to properly say goodbye to the fans.”
The 35-year-old also launched a scathing attack on a perceived culture shift within Everton in the wake of David Moyes’ 2013 departure.
He added: “Since David Moyes left, I have noticed the club hasn’t got the same feeling.
“The People’s Club, it’s no longer that. It’s a ruthless, horrible business and a lot of good people have gone.
“I understand a new manager wants to work a different way but it is a dog-eat-dog culture inside the club now. People are only looking out for themselves.”