Mick Higgins , The Original True Blue- Tony Onslow

29/01/201929/01/2019 by Tony Onslow Comment Closed

Mike Higgins No Other player can claim a tighter bond with the early development of Everton Football Club than “good old” Mike Higgins who can surely lay claim to the title of “Original True Blue” From the start of club records, he can be found representing them when they first appeared on Stanley Park. Higgins was with the club during their one-year tenure at Priory Road and took part in the first game Everton played at Anfield. He the longest serving member of the playing staff, when they became founder members of the Football League in 1888. His Irish born Father, Michael, and his Carlisle born Mother Eleanor, were living at Great Yarmouth when their first child Thomas was born in 1860. They then moved to the Southend of Liverpool and were living on Essex Street when they brought their second child to be baptised, on the 20th of September 1862, at the church of St John the Baptist. The names they choose were William Michael. The 1871 census find...

Gray Wolves – Simon Hart

29/01/201901/02/2019 by simon hart Comment Closed

League Cup Winner With Wolverhampton Wanderers 1984 Fa cup winner and Goalscorer alongside fellow Goalscorer and Frontman Graeme Sharp “I loved playing at Everton. Once you got on that pitch, the atmosphere was great – the comments you got when you were taking a corner or throw-in were brilliant.” These are the words of Kenny Hibbitt, a Wolverhampton Wanderers stalwart of the 1970s and 1980s – and a member of the last Wolves side to win a league fixture at Goodison Park fully 40 years ago. It was on 15 September 1979 that John Barnwell’s visitors prevailed 3-2, with the help of a debut strike from a player who would later earn a place in Evertonian hearts, Andy Gray. Everton’s goals came from Brian Kidd and a Trevor Ross penalty but Gray wrote the headlines, seven days after his arrival at Molineux from Aston Villa. The circumstances of the Scot’s transfer had been controversial – he signed only after Barnwell had threatened to resign when a specialist advised the Wolves board to abandon the transfer owing...

Henry F Briggs, An Everton Goalkeeper – Tony Onslow

25/01/201925/01/2019 by Tony Onslow Comment Closed

Signed as cover for the controversial “Happy Jack” Hillman, Frank Briggs joined Everton, from Darwen, in January 1906 having first played football in the Nottinghamshire Coalfield. He had been born at number 84 dwelling – on the Alfreton Turnpike at Eastwood - in 1872 and was the 3rd of child of John, a Domestic Servant, and his Wife, Lucy. Henry Briggs is missing from the1891 census but contemporary newspaper reports place him keeping goal for a Midland League side who were the forerunners of the Mansfield Town of today. His skills quickly caught the attention of struggling Football League Division One outfit Darwen who gained his signature in February 1894. The Cricket and Football Club ran side by side in the Peaceful Valley and the community offered Briggs, a cricketer of proved ability, terms that would also guarantee him a wage throughout the months of Summer. He immediately took his place under the crossbar but could not prevent the Darreners from being relegated at the end of the season. During the summer he returned home...

Blue plaque unveiled at Dixie Dean’s primary school in Birkenhead

14/12/201814/12/2018 by David Prentice Comment Closed

Legendary goalscorer's daughter and another Everton striking legend perform unveiling ceremony Everton legend Graeme Sharp, left, together with Barbara Dean, right, daughter of the club's goal-scoring legend Dixie Dean,pictured below the EFC Heritage Society plaque at Portland School in Laird Street, where the football hero first went to school in Birkenhead. Photo by James Maloney The EFC Heritage Society commissioned plaque at Co-Op Portland Academy in Laird Street, where Everton legend Dixie Dean first went to school. A blue plaque commemorating the site of the school where Everton and England legend Dixie Dean first studied has been unveiled. Dixie's daughter Barbara Dean, and the second highest goalscorer in Everton's history, Graeme Sharp, unveiled the plaque at the Co-Op Academy Portland on Laird Street. The unveiling ceremony was witnessed by pupils and staff from the Birkenhead primary school, Everton legend Derek Mountfield, officials from Conservation Areas Wirral and members of the Everton Heritage Society who commissioned the plaque. Everton legend Graeme Sharp, right, together with Barbara Dean, left, daughter of...