History

Everton: League Champions – a Review of the 1986/87 Season

Everton started off the new campaign licking their wounds after conceding the league and FA Cup double to their rivals Liverpool the previous season. In came new signings Dave Watson who became Everton's record signing for £1m, also Paul Power, Kevin Langley and Neil Adams. Out went Gary Lineker as he left to join his new manager Terry Venables at Barcelona. Everton started their campaign where they had become accustomed by playing at their 'second home' Wembley, in the charity shield against Liverpool. Like so many times before, the name of Ian Rush cursed Everton as he cancelled out Adrian…
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The Life of Ken Birch

  Kenny Birch, who played forty-five times for the Blues in the 1950s, passed away on 24 April 2015 after a long and brave battle with illness. Born in Birkenhead, he joined Everton as a junior and made his debut in April 1956 in a 1-1 draw at Sheffield United, alongside the likes of TE Jones, Peter Farrell, Tommy Eglington and Jimmy Harris. The following season he played thirty times in League and FA Cup, scoring his one and only goal for the Club in a 4-2 victory at Maine Road against Manchester City, finding a way past the legendary…
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Why Leicester Fosse?

History will be made today when the present Premier League champions take to the field for what is their first ever FA Cup tie at Goodison Park. The visitors were formed in 1884 by a group of young men from a local evangelical chapel who decided to form a football team that they chose to call Leicester Fosse. This suffix was chosen because the old Roman Road, known as the Fosse Way, had once passed through the area and a military encampment was constructed to protect it from attack near to the spot where it forded the River Soar. The…
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George Harrison – Grave Dedication

George Harrison – Grave Dedication

A MOVING tribute was paid to 'one of our own' as representatives of some of Britain's biggest football clubs descended on South Derbyshire. George Harrison was a Church Gresley teenager with a dream of making it to the top when he started playing football for his local team, Gresley Rovers, back in 1910. It was the beginning of stunning career that later saw him win a top flight title with Everton and two caps for England. Amidst it all he was called to fight for his country on the front line during the First World War. THE Everton FC Heritage…
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A Tribute to Matt Woods

A Tribute to Matt Woods

Matt Woods (1 November 1931 - 26 September 2014) Skelmersdale-born Maurice 'Matt' Woods, a centre-half on Everton’s books in the 1950s, passed away on 26 September aged eighty-two. He had been playing as a wing-half in the Wigan Sunday League, when his uncle wrote to Everton requesting a trial for his nephew. Having impressed in the B team, he signed amateur forms at fifteen, and by the 1949-50 season he was a regular in the Reserves – alongside the likes of Don Donovan, Tommy Clinton, Wally 'Nobby' Fielding, Jimmy O’Neill and Harry Catterick. An early Reserves appearance brought praise in…
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The Old ‘Un wanders through Walton, lonely as a cloud. With Bill.

The Old ‘Un wanders through Walton, lonely as a cloud. With Bill.

This article, written by early 20th century Everton historian Thomas Keates, originally appeared in the Liverpool Evening Express, of 23 November 1912.  Tom Keates, (or is it John Keats?), dreamily wanders through the rural byways of Walton with his old pal Bill, trying to reimagine the excursion as preparation for his epic poem the 'Eve of St Domingo'.  Nevertheless, there are a few points of interest here for students of early Everton history. GOODISON PARK Memories of Everton's Ground. Famous Cricketers Visit By the Old ‘Un, “Goodison Park eh –a funny park,” said my cousin Bill.  He was down from…
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Alec Brady – Anfield legend honoured by Everton Heritage Society

Alec Brady – Anfield legend honoured by Everton Heritage Society

Everton's first title winner - at Anfield - has his grave rededicated     Alec Brady   EVERTON and Celtic supporters share a line from a famous old song. Separated by 200 miles and a national border, both sets of supporters still sing about “a grand old team to play for” - and in that song celebrate each club’s “history.” Those words were made real last weekend, when the Celtic Graves Society and the Everton Heritage Society joined forces to rededicate the grave of a Victorian pioneer who graced both clubs. Alec Brady was an Everton original. A Scottish inside…
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Reverend and the Makers’ unlikely links to Everton legend Dixie Dean

Reverend and the Makers’ unlikely links to Everton legend Dixie Dean

Pop star's Great Uncle was a Toffees' star     Reverend and the Makers      The lead singer of Reverend and the Makers has been reading up on his family links to one of Dixie Dean’s team-mates, thanks to Everton FC Heritage Society.   Jon McClure, lead singer of the Sheffield based band, revealed his links to the Toffees on Sky TV’s Saturday morning Soccer AM show.   Jon is a passionate Sheffield Wednesday supporter, but revealed that he’d been told his Great Uncle, Joe McClure, used to play for Everton. Which is where the Heritage Society got involved.…
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Everton Heritage Society to hold Remembrance Day Service at Park End plaque 2015

Everton Heritage Society to hold Remembrance Day Service at Park End plaque Service will commemorate Everton and CD Everton players who have fallen in wartime conflict   David France with the memorial plaque to Everton's war heroes Evertonians and other football fans will gather at Goodison Park on Wednesday to pay respects to players who lost their lives during wartime conflict. A remembrance service, organised by the EFC Heritage Society, will be staged at the plaque based at the Park End that commemorates those who have fallen. The service, which begins at 10.50am, will be conducted by the Reverend Harry…
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Blues pioneer Will Cuff to be saluted

Blues pioneer Will Cuff to be saluted

Everton Heritage Society to rededicate Will Cuff’s grave Mr. William Charles Cuff The Anfield grave of long-serving Everton administrator Will Cuff will be rededicated next Monday, thanks to the Everton Heritage Society. Cuff served the Blues for more than half-a-century until his death in 1949 – and oversaw two FA Cup wins, three league championships and the growth of the club from Victorian pioneers to modern 20th century football club. He was a president of the Football League and vice-president of the FA, and on the weekend of his death all league and cup matches observed a period of silence and every…
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