Everything about Everton F C totally explained
Everton Football Club is an
English football club located in the city of
Liverpool. The club competes in the
Premier League and have contested more seasons in the top flight of English football than any other. They are one of the top five most successful English clubs in terms of major honours, having won the
League Championship nine times, the
FA Cup five times and the
UEFA Cup Winners' Cup once. The club's most recent major trophy was the
1995 FA Cup. Currently managed by
David Moyes, the first team have made significant progress, with three European qualifications and four top eight finishes during his six-year tenure.
Everton were founded in
1878 and have a notable rivalry with
Liverpool F.C., known as the
Merseyside derby. Liverpool were formed fourteen years later than Everton (in 1892) after a dispute over the rent at
Anfield, Everton's old ground; since then Everton have been based at
Goodison Park as a result of the split. In 2006, it was announced that the club and
Knowsley Council were discussing the construction of a new 55,000 seater stadium in
Kirkby. The club have a large fanbase and regularly attract large crowds, averaging over 36,000 (90% of capacity) during the
2005–06 season.
Numerous well-known footballers have had a career at Everton F.C. Since 2000, the club has annually recognized successful former players as "Giants" of the team.
Dixie Dean, who played for the team in the 1920s and 30s, is the most prolific goal-scorer in English football history.
History
Everton were founded as St. Domingo F.C. in
1878 so that people from the parish of St. Domingo's Methodist Church could play a sport in non-summer months (
cricket was played in summer). A year later, the club was renamed Everton F.C. after the
surrounding area, as people outside the parish wished to participate. The club was a founding member of the
Football League in 1888, and won their first
League Championship title in
1890–91. They won the
FA Cup in
1905–06 and the League title again in
1914–15, but it wasn't until 1927 that Everton's first sustained period of success began. In 1925 the club signed
Dixie Dean who, in
1927–28, set the record for league goals in a single season (60 goals in 39 league games, a record that still stands to this day), helping Everton to achieve their third league title.
Everton were relegated to the
Second Division two years later but won the title and thus promotion at the first attempt. On their return to the top flight in
1931–32, Everton wasted no time in reaffirming their status and won a fourth League title at the first opportunity. They also won their second FA Cup in
1932–33 with a 3–0 win against
Manchester City in the final. The era ended in
1938–39 with a fifth League title. The advent of
World War II saw the suspension of League football, and when official competition restarted in 1946 the Everton team had been split-up and paled in comparison to the pre-war club. Everton were relegated again in
1950–51 and didn't return until
1953–54, when they finished as runners-up in their third season in the Second Division. The club have been a top flight presence ever since.
Everton's second successful era started when
Harry Catterick was made manager in 1961. In
1962–63, his second season in charge, Everton won the League title and in 1966 followed with a 3–2 FA Cup win over
Sheffield Wednesday. Everton again reached the final two years later, but this time were unable to overcome
West Bromwich Albion at
Wembley. A year later in
1969–70, Everton won the First Division, nine points clear of nearest rivals
Leeds United. However, the success didn't last; the team finished fourteenth, fifteenth, seventeenth and seventh in the following seasons. Catterick retired but his successors failed to win any
silverware for the remainder of the 1970s. Though the club mounted title challenges and finished third in
1977–78 and fourth the following season, manager
Gordon Lee resigned in 1981, after Everton slid down the table and fell further behind local rivals Liverpool.
Howard Kendall took over as manager and guided Everton to their most successful era. Domestically, Everton won the FA Cup in
1983–84 and two league titles in
1984–85 and
1986–87. They were also runners-up to neighbouring Liverpool in both league and cup competitions in
1985–86 and were again on the losing side to Liverpool in the 1984
League Cup final and the
1988–89 FA Cup final. In Europe, Everton won their first and only trophy in 1984–85, the
European Cup Winners' Cup. Having also won the league title that season, Everton came very close to winning a
treble, but lost to
Manchester United in the FA Cup final.
The following season,
1996–97, wasn't as successful and the club finished in fifteenth place. Royle quit in March. Club captain,
Dave Watson, was given the manager's job temporarily and he helped the club to Premiership survival. Howard Kendall was appointed Everton manager for the third time in 1997, but the appointment proved unsuccessful as Everton finished seventeenth in the Premiership; only avoiding relegation due to their superior
goal difference over
Bolton Wanderers. Former
Rangers manager
Walter Smith then took over from Kendall in the summer of 1998 but only managed three successive finishes in the bottom half of the table. The current manager,
David Moyes, was his replacement and delivered Everton to a safe finish in fifteenth place. After that harrowing season, Everton finished seventh, seventeenth, fourth (their highest ever Premiership finish) and eleventh. It was under his management that
Wayne Rooney broke into the first team, before being sold to Manchester United for a club record fee of £23 million.
Moyes has broken the club record for highest transfer fee paid on three occasions, signing
James Beattie for £6 million in January 2005,
Andy Johnson for £8.6 million in summer 2006, and
Yakubu Aiyegbeni for £11.25 million in summer 2007.
2006–07 saw Everton finish sixth in the league and attain
UEFA Cup qualification. In 2007, Everton completed the takeover of the Toxteth Tigers basketball team, with the rebranding of Liverpool's first ever top-flight basketball franchise, the
Everton Tigers.
Colours
When the club moved to Goodison Park in
1892, they first played in salmon shirts with blue shorts before switching to ruby shirts with blue trim and dark blue shorts. The famous
royal blue jerseys with white shorts were first used in the
1901–02 season.
The kit today remains royal blue shirts, white shorts and white socks although when playing teams away who also wear white shorts Everton typically wear all blue. For the
2007–08 season, the away kit is a white shirt with black shorts and socks.
Crest
At the end of the
1937–38 season, Everton secretary
Theo Kelly, who later became the club's first post-war manager, wanted to design a club
necktie. It was agreed that the colour be blue and Kelly was given the task of designing a crest to be featured on the necktie. Kelly worked on deciding it for four months, until deciding on a reproduction of
Prince Rupert's Tower, which stands in the heart of the
Everton district.
The club rarely incorporated a badge of any description on its shirts. An interwoven "EFC" design was adopted between 1922 and 1930 before the club reverted to plain royal blue shirts, until 1973 when bold "EFC" lettering was added. The crest designed by Kelly was first used on the team's shirts in 1980 and has remained there ever since, undergoing gradual change to become the version used today. Some old crests are illustrated on the right; the top is the original shirt crest, the second is the first shirt crest with beacon and laurels and the third is the first shirt crest to use the club motto. The word "toffee" was also slang referring to
Irishmen, of which there was a large population in the city at the turn of the century and who tended to support Everton rather than city rivals Liverpool.
Everton have had many other nicknames over the years. When the black kit was worn Everton were nicknamed "The Black Watch", after the
famous army brigade. Since going blue in 1901, Everton have been given the simple nickname "The Blues". Everton's attractive style of play led to
Steve Bloomer calling the team "scientific" in 1928, which is thought to have inspired the nickname "The School of Science". When David Moyes arrived as manager he proclaimed Everton as "The People's Club", which has been adopted as a semi-official club nickname.
Stadium
Everton originally played in the southeast corner of
Stanley Park, which is the site for the new
Liverpool F.C. stadium, with the first official match taking place in 1879. In 1882, a man named J. Cruitt donated land at Priory Road which became the club's home before they moved to
Anfield, which was Everton's home until 1892. At this time, a rent dispute led to Everton leaving the ground and to the formation of a new, rival team. The new club,
Liverpool, set up at Anfield and Everton moved to
Goodison Park, which has been their home ground to this day. Ever since those events, a fierce rivalry has existed between Everton and Liverpool, albeit one that's generally perceived as more respectful than many other
derbies in English football. This was illustrated by a chain of red and blue scarves that were linked between the gates of both grounds across Stanley Park as a tribute to the Liverpool fans killed in the
Hillsborough disaster.
Goodison Park has staged more top-flight football games than any other ground in the United Kingdom and was the only English club ground to host a semi-final at the
1966 FIFA World Cup. It was also the first English ground to have undersoil heating, the first to have two tiers on all sides and the first to have a three-tier stand. Goodison is the only stadium in the world that features a church in its grounds—St Luke the Evangelist—at the corner of the Main Stand and the Gwladys Street End.
On matchdays players walk out to the theme tune to
Z-Cars, called
Johnny Todd, a traditional Liverpool children's song collected in 1890 by
Frank Kidson which tells the story of a sailor betrayed by his lover while away at sea.
Everton's reserves play at
Halton Stadium in
Widnes.
New stadium
There have been indications that Everton will move to a
New Goodison. In 2000, a proposal was submitted to build a 55,000 seat stadium as part of the
King's Dock regeneration. This was unsuccessful as Everton failed to generate the £30 million needed for a half stake in the stadium project, and it was dropped in 2003.
Late in 2004, driven by Liverpool Council and the Northwest Development Corporation, the club was in talks with Liverpool regarding sharing that club's
proposed new stadium at Stanley Park. Negotiations broke down over ownership of the new facility – Liverpool wanted to retain sole ownership of Stanley Park while Everton sought an even share. On
January 11,
2005, Liverpool announced that groundsharing wasn't a possibility, and they continue to plan for their own stadium.
On
16 June 2006, it was announced that Everton had entered into talks with
Knowsley Council and Tesco over the possibility of building a new 55,000 seat stadium in
Kirkby. The club took the unusual move of giving it's supporters a say in the club's future by holding a ballot on whether or not to move to Kirkby. This ballot ended up in a yes vote (59.27% in favour) so negotiations will continue.
Supporters
Everton have a large fanbase with the seventh highest average attendance in England. The majority of Everton's matchday support comes from the
North West of England, primarily
Merseyside and
Cheshire. Everton also have many fans who travel from
North Wales and
Ireland. Everton also have many supporters' clubs worldwide, in places such as
North America,
Singapore, and
Thailand. Everton also have a large supporter base in
Australia, with midfield player
Tim Cahill being Australian. The official supporters club is
Evertonia, and there are also several
fanzines including
When Skies are Grey and
Speke from the Harbour, which are sold around Goodison Park on match days.
Everton supporters sing several
songs on matchdays but the most common is "
It's a grand old team"; it's adopted from the version sung by
Celtic supporters, making changes like "we don't care what the red side say"—a reference to red-wearing-rivals
Liverpool. Also popular is singing the club name "Everton" to the tune of "
Here we go". They are generally very welcoming to former players returning to Goodison while playing for new clubs. Notable exceptions include
Wayne Rooney, who has become extremely unpopular with fans after he left Everton for
Manchester United, having previously been pictured wearing a t-shirt declaring: "Once a Blue always a Blue" and is now roundly booed whenever he returns. Rooney claims Moyes forced him out of the club in his book, however David Moyes has taken legal action denying the claims made.
Everton's biggest rivalry is with fellow Merseyside team Liverpool, against whom they contest the
Merseyside derby. This stems from Liverpool's formation after a dispute with Everton officials and the owners of
Anfield (the ground Everton were using at the time). Religious differences have been cited as a division, with Everton usually placed on the Catholic side; however, both teams were founded with
Methodist involvement, somewhat undermining the notion of a
Catholic–
Protestant split. The Merseyside derby is usually a sell out fixture and tends to be a scrappy affair; it has had more red cards than any other fixture in Premiership history.
On
January 14,
2007,
Sylvester Stallone was at Goodison Park to promote
Rocky Balboa, and to watch
Everton take on
Reading in an
English Premier League game. The match ended as a 1–1 draw. Stallone paraded on the field at half time adorned in a home team scarf and received a warm reception from the 40,000 fans. Stallone has claimed to be a keen football fan since filming
Escape to Victory in the 1980s and now claims to be an official Everton fan.
The musician
Paul McCartney also confirmed his official support for Everton, in an interview given to Liverpool's CityTalk FM.
Players
Everton F.C. have a training ground at
Finch Farm which provides facilities for both the first team and the Academy. A number of players have successfully graduated from the Academy to the first team, including
Wayne Rooney and
Francis Jeffers.
Current squad
» As of 20th May, 2008.
Notable former players
Everton Giants
The following players are considered "Giants" for their great contributions to Everton. A panel appointed by the club established the inaugural list in 2000 and a new inductee is announced every season.
As of May 9, 2007.
Greatest ever team
|
| Greatest ever Everton team |
At the start of the 2003–04 season, as part of the club's official celebration of their 125th anniversary, supporters cast votes to determine the greatest ever Everton team.
English Football Hall of Fame members
A number of Everton players have been inducted into the
English Football Hall of Fame:
2002 - William Ralph 'Dixie' Dean, Paul Gascoigne
2003 - Alan Ball, Tommy Lawton, Gary Lineker
2005 - Howard Kendall
2007 - Peter Beardsley, Mark Hughes
1985 - In 1985 Everton were made World team of the year by English Football magazine World Soccer Magazine, making them the first English side to have been given this accolade, since then only two more English clubs have been awarded this, Manchester United in 1999 and Liverpool in 2001
Testimonial players
A number of Everton players have received testimonials, normally for playing 10 or more years for the club.
1964 Dixie Dean England XI vs. Scottish XI (both sides consisted of players from the 3 Merseyside clubs)
1972 Tommy Lawton vs. Great Britain XI
1972 Brian Labone vs. Liverpool
1974 Brian Harris vs. Newport County
1989 Kevin Ratcliffe vs. Athletic Club
1995 Neville Southall vs. Celtic
1997 Dave Watson vs. Rangers
2000 Joe Parkinson vs. Manchester City
2001 Alex Young vs. Espanyol
2002 David Unsworth vs. Athletic Club
2003 Colin Harvey vs. Bolgona
2006 Howard Kendall vs. Athletic Club
Notable managers
The following managers have won at least one significant trophy with Everton:
Honours
(Old) First Division: 9
- 1890–91, 1914–15, 1927–28, 1931–32, 1938–39, 1962–63, 1969–70, 1984–85, 1986–87
(Old) First Division Runners-up: 7
- 1889-90, 1894-95, 1901-02, 1904-05, 1908-09, 1911-12, 1985-86
(Old) Second Division: 1
FA Cup: 5
- 1906, 1933, 1966, 1984, 1995
FA Cup Runners-up: 7
- 1893, 1897, 1907, 1968, 1985, 1986, 1989
Football League Cup Runners-up: 2
Charity Shield: 9
- 1928, 1932, 1963, 1970, 1984, 1985, 1986 (shared), 1987, 1995
European Cup Winners' Cup: 1
European Cup Semi-Finalists: 2
FA Youth Cup: 3
World Soccer Magazine World team of the year: 1
Records and statistics
Neville Southall holds the record for the most Everton appearances, having played 751 first-team matches between 1981 and 1997. The late centre half and former captain Brian Labone comes second, having played 534 times. The longest serving player is Goalkeeper Ted Sagar who played for 23 years between 1929 and 1953, both sides of the war, making a total of 495 appearances. The club's top goalscorer, with 383 goals in all competitions, is Dixie Dean; the second-highest goalscorer is Graeme Sharp with 159. Dean still holds the English national record of most goals in a season, with 60.
The record attendance for an Everton home match is 78,299 against Liverpool on 18 September 1948. Goodison Park, like all football grounds since the recommendations of the Taylor Report were implemented, is now an all-seater and only holds just over 40,000, meaning it's unlikely that this attendance record will ever be broken at Goodison. Canada's Ontario Soccer Association, and the Football Association of Thailand where they've a competition called the Chang-Everton cup which local schoolboys compete for.
The club also own and operate a professional basketball team, by the name of Everton Tigers, who compete in the elite British Basketball League. The team was launched in the summer of 2007 as part of the clubs' Community programme, and play their home games at the Greenbank Sports Academy.
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