THEY are the men who shaped and guided professional football on Merseyside, the six founding fathers who oversaw the growth of the worldwide institutions that are Everton and Liverpool.

Yet their names are noticeable only by their absence from Anfield and Goodison Park.

Dr David France hopes to change all that.

The man who created the first registered charity to look after the welfare of former footballers, the Everton Former Players Foundation, and collected the world’s greatest archive of football memorabilia, is hoping to bring the achievements of the six pioneers to a wider audience.

Dr France has commissioned magnificently detailed oil paintings of the six – and hopes that Everton and Liverpool can share possession of the images of Ben Swift Chambers, John Houlding, John McKenna, George Mahon, James Baxter and Will Cuff.

Produced by artist Wasan Suttikatem, the paintings are 18 x 24 inches in size.

Dr France said: “I think it’s vital that we remember the importance of the six founding fathers of Merseyside football. This is a nice way of paying tribute to some of the people that have been long forgotten in the history of the game and the city.

“I commissioned a celebration of the men who contributed to the development of the city's two great footballing institutions. I want to use the paintings to reach out beyond the boundaries of the divide.

“They’re ideal for a boardroom or a major entrance, but even more suited to areas accessed by ordinary fans of all persuasions. I want to keep them together as a set of six and rotate them around different important locations in the city so as many people as possible get to see them. I’d like Everton to have them for a short time, Liverpool to have them for a time and then a city museum. They could even go as far as the National Football Museum at Preston for a time if they were kept as a group of six and referred to them as ‘The Founding Fathers of Merseyside Football’.