1930-1939

John Cuff – from Goodison Park to The Monte Carlo Rally

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…
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Jack Coulter: From Whiteabbey to Goodison Park

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…
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Warney Cresswell – The Prince of Full Backs

Warney Cresswell – The Prince of Full Backs

By Rob Sawyer Warney Cresswell at Goodison in 1929 The retirement of Leighton Baines in 2020 reignited the debate about who has been Everton’s finest left-back. Unsurprisingly, the Kirkby-born England international was in the mix, along with World Cup hero Ray Wilson and the combative but effective Pat Van Den Hauwe. A natural tendency to favour players we have seen with our own eyes makes ranking players spanning many decades fraught with difficulty. The tactical evolution of the sport is a further complication. The modern breed of full-backs play an important role in attacking movements whereas the likes of Billy…
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Tom Griffiths: The Player with More than one String to his Bow

Tom Griffiths: The Player with More than one String to his Bow

By Rob Sawyer Tom with Dixie Dean c.1927 Before Everton had T.G, there was T.P. On 16 March 1938, Tommy G. Jones (popularly known by his initials, T.G.) was sitting nervously in the changing room at the Racecourse Ground, about to make his debut for Wales. The 20-year-old was approached by his boyhood hero, Tom Griffiths, who was acting as an unofficial advisor to the squad. The older man gave the rookie a few quiet words of advice and encouragement’. Jones would later enthuse: ‘What a thrill those few words gave me. I’ll never forget it. I’ll always look back…
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Goodison Park and Women’s Football

Goodison Park and Women’s Football

December 2021 marked the centenary of the directive which flung the women’s game into the wilderness for five decades. Less than a year before this myopic edict, one of the most significant football matches in Goodison Park’s history took place – but it did not involve an Everton team. During the First World War, football matches played between women’s factory teams boosted wartime morale and raised funds for deserving causes. Goodison Park staged a charity match on 1 April 1918, contested by Aintree Munitions Ladies and North Haymarket Ladies Football Club. However, a fixture on a far grander scale took…
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Tom Robson – A Life too Short

Tom Robson – A Life too Short

By Rob Sawyer Everton Football Club has been ably served by many men and women with roots in the North East of England – Warney Cresswell, Harry Catterick, Howard Kendall, Jimmy Husband, Dave Thomas, Don Hutchison and Jill Scott spring to mind. Back in the inter-war years, Blyth Spartans, of the North Eastern League, gained an enviable reputation as a nursery club - developing young talent which blossomed at leading professional clubs throughout the land. The Toffees, notably, benefited from the loyal service of Gordon Watson – who joined from Blyth in a double-deal with his near-namesake Jack Watson in…
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George Green – Illustrator Extraordinaire

George Green – Illustrator Extraordinaire

By Rob Sawyer The Toffee Lady is an enduring and iconic image, intrinsically linked to Everton FC. Since the 1950s, a Toffee Lady, or latterly a Toffee Girl, has paraded around Goodison before matches, dispensing the eponymous humbugs. But for many, the definitive Toffee Lady image takes cartoon form. It’s the Mother Noblett, famous for gracing the front page of the Football Echo for decades, looking elated, deflated or indifferent, depending on the Blues’ fortunes that day. Her ‘rival’ character was the Kopite, who showed a similar range of emotions, depending on the Liverpool result. The creator of these enchanting…
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Ted Sagar – ‘The Boss’

Ted Sagar – ‘The Boss’

When talking of great centre forwards, it is easy to rattle off numerous contenders, but when thinking of goalkeepers, just three tend to dominate the discussion. Gordon West, a brilliant keeper and a larger than life character off the pitch; then Neville of course, who achieved so much in his seventeen years, making 578 league appearances (750 in all competitions) and breaking so many records along the way. Until 1994, the record for a goalkeeper stood at 497(463 league games), and was held by a man that my father never tired of telling me about - Ted Sagar. Ted joined…
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Teddy Glover

Teddy Glover

The first British Everton player to be inducted into the USA Soccer Hall of Fame in 1965 Charles Edward Glover, known as Teddy, was born in Bootle on 7 April 1902. Teddy would eventually be inducted into the US National Hall of Fame in 1965 — the first of four players to have been on Everton's books to achieve this honour, the others being: Predrag “Preki” Radosavljevic, 2010; Joe Max Moore in 2013 and Brian McBride in 2014. Predrag Preki Radosavljevic in 2010 Sam Chedgzoy Joe Max-Moore in 2013 Brian McBride in 2014 The first time Teddy pulled on an…
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The story behind the photograph – Tom McIntosh – Everton’s First Full-Time Secretary

The story behind the photograph – Tom McIntosh – Everton’s First Full-Time Secretary

Tom McIntosh is a significant off-pitch figure in Everton's story, yet, despite the club's achievements under his watch, he seems to have fallen through the cracks of the club's historical records and his contribution over 16 years is largely overlooked He came from humble beginnings. His Scottish father, Peter, left his native Nairn to become the resident baker at the lunatic asylum in Sedgefield, County Durham. Here he met Eleanor Hunter, an attendant at the asylum. Eleanor's sister Elisabeth and brother-in-law, Thomas Nokes, would also work at the institution (John rose to the position of Chief Attendant). Peter and Eleanor…
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