Rob Sawyer – Page 3 – Everton FC Heritage Society

John Cuff – from Goodison Park to The Monte Carlo Rally

16

May

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1930-1939, 1940-1949, Articles, Latest, Players, Rob Sawyer

John Cuff – from Goodison Park to The Monte Carlo Rally

Rob Sawyer John Cuff in Everton colours in 1936 I was, for many years, puzzled by a photo in The Everton Story, a book by Derek Hodgson, showing a youthful player in the 1930s. It was captioned as being 'Will Cuff' - yet Cuff, the vulnerable Everton Chairman and former club Secretary, was well into his 60s, at this point. So, who was the mislabeled player featured in the book? With help from Everton historian, and custodian of the Blues Chronicles website, Billy Smith, he was identified as John Cuff - the shared surname explaining the confusion on the part…

Tom Fern – Everton’s Evergreen Goalkeeper

06

Apr

By Rob Sawyer

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1910-1919, 1920-1929, Articles, Everton Collection, Latest, Players, Rob Sawyer, WW1

Tom Fern – Everton’s Evergreen Goalkeeper

By Rob Sawyer The 1914/15 season was played under the cloud of the First World War, with many criticising the football authorities for letting it run to its conclusion. An ostentatious celebration of the title win by Everton would not have been welcomed by the press or the nation at large. This muted response is something of a disservice to the likes of Bobby Parker, Harry Makepeace, Sam Chedgzoy, Jimmy Galt and Tom Fern. The latter was a custodian who amassed over two hundred outings for the Toffees - it would have been many more, were it not for the…

29

Mar

By Rob Sawyer

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1990-1999, 2020-2029, Everton Women, Latest, Rob Sawyer

Emma Wright-Cates – Blueblood

by Rob Sawyer Emma with Everton Ladies in 1996 Amongst the former Everton Ladies players attending the March 2023 reunion to mark 25 years since the Toffees' only national women's league title so far, was Emma Wright-Cates. She jetted in from Texas to link up with her former teammates and receive an ovation from supporters when introduced on the Goodison turf before the kick-off of the women's derby. Her maiden name, Wright, gives a strong clue to her Everton credentials. Back in 2020, for the Toffee Soccer book, she told me about her life in football and her debt of…

A Night of Acclaim for Everton’s Pioneering Women

29

Mar

By Rob Sawyer

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1990-1999, 2020-2029, Articles, Everton Women, Latest, Rob Sawyer

A Night of Acclaim for Everton’s Pioneering Women

by Rob Sawyer The Lap of Honour back in 1998 (photo: c/o Louise Ryde) Shortly before kick-off of the women's Merseyside derby on 24 March, a group of people stood in the centre circle of Goodison Park and received the acclaim of the 22,000-plus attendees. This was the culmination of intensive planning by Everton FC Heritage Society and Everton FC, to pay fitting tribute to the achievement of the Everton's women's team of 1997/98 in winning the National League title for the only time, so far, in the club’s history. The 1997/98 season was only the third in which the…

23

Mar

By Rob Sawyer

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1950-1959, 2020-2029, Articles, Everton Clubs Abroad, Latest, Republic of Ireland, Rob Sawyer

The Story of Everton AFC of Cork

By Rob Sawyer with Eric Fitzgerald Club crest on shirt You may be aware of a number of football clubs (past and present) taking their name from Everton. They have been founded in South America, New Zealand and the Caribbean. Closer to home, Armagh City once operated under the Everton name (as Milford Everton); but another club on the island or Ireland is proud to have a connection to the Merseyside Blues, going back over sixty years. In the summer of 1958, Everton, under the stewardship of Ian Buchan, had a pre-season tour in Ireland. On 13 August, in the…

Celebrating Everton Women’s Class of ‘98

19

Mar

By Rob Sawyer

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1990-1999, Articles, Everton Women, Latest, Rob Sawyer

Celebrating Everton Women’s Class of ‘98

by Rob Sawyer Twenty-five years ago, a remarkable group of women representing Everton Football Club lifted the Women's Premier League trophy for the first and only time. Louise Ryde, ex-Doncaster Belles The history of the side goes back forty years, to when Billy Jackson and June Gordon merged their teams to form Hoylake WFC, morphing into Leasowe and, later, Leasowe Pacific. Under the latter name, the club upset the odds to win the Women's FA Cup in 1989, in a match staged at Old Trafford. Six years later, thanks to lobbying by club officials of new Everton chairman Peter Johnson,…

T.G. Jones and Bangor’s Enduring Spirit of ’62

27

Feb

By Rob Sawyer

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1960-1969, Articles, Players, Rob Sawyer

T.G. Jones and Bangor’s Enduring Spirit of ’62

Rob Sawyer A youthful T.G. Jones Thomas George Jones – T.G. for short, and Tommy to his friends and admirers - is acclaimed as the classiest centre-half to have set foot on Goodison’s turf. Imperious in the air, cool as a cucumber with the ball at his feet in his own penalty box and capable of delivering a rocket shot, no less than the great Dixie Dean declared Jones to be the greatest all-round player he had ever seen. Seasoned observers dubbed him the Prince of Centre-Halves. Part of the hallowed Toffees title-winning team of 1938/39, he was robbed of…

Sam Chedgzoy – A Star on Both Sides of The Atlantic

17

Feb

By Rob Sawyer

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1910-1919, 1920-1929, Latest, Players, Rob Sawyer

Sam Chedgzoy – A Star on Both Sides of The Atlantic

Chedgzoy is a brilliant raider, a clean player and a companiable man. Athletic News - 1921 Rob Sawyer In 1924, Samuel Chedgzoy wrote himself into the annals of football history for his role in forcing a hasty change to the rules of the sport. This stunt (more of which later) was but a small part of the remarkable, and sometimes intriguing, life of one of Everton and England’s finest outside rights – and, alongside Joe Mercer and Stan Cullis, one of Ellesmere Port’s greatest sons. The surname has a slightly exotic feel – Eastern European maybe? The truth is more…

Jack Coulter: From Whiteabbey to Goodison Park

10

Jan

By Rob Sawyer

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1930-1939, Articles, Books, Latest, Players, Rob Sawyer

Jack Coulter: From Whiteabbey to Goodison Park

Super fan lifts lid on the story that puts Everton's 'greatest winger' back in the spotlight Everton super fan David France reviews a new book that tells the story of Jackie Coulter - who he regards as the Blues greatest-ever winger Just who is the greatest winger in Everton history? That’s an awfully big question to ask. The likes of Andrei Kanchelskis plus Steven Pienaar and Mikel Arteta – although probably more wide midfielders in their style – have starred in the Premier League era while Kevin Sheedy and Trevor Steven were legendary figures of Howard Kendall’s great side of…

26

Nov

By Rob Sawyer

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Latest, Mike Royden, Obituary, Players, Rest in Peace, Rob Sawyer

Neil Robinson (1957-2022)

A Tribute The sudden, unexpected, passing of Neil Robinson, at the age of sixty-five, has come as a shock to Everton FC Heritage Society members and the fanbases of his former clubs. Neil had the Bluest of credentials. Born into a family of Evertonians, he spent his early years round the corner from Goodison Park on Spellow Lane. His father, Jim, had been head barman at the Winslow Hotel on Goodison Road in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Sadly Jim was paralysed in an industrial accident when Neil was a child. The Robinson family in 1957, Neil the infant…