Articles
Under New Direction
4 March, 2025
As the summer approaches, there will be an unprecedented number of players out of contract at Everton and either a new sporting director or a new structure to oversee a significant revamp
Everton and the FA Cup — Seasons 1886/87 to 1896/97
2 March, 2025
Though founded seven years after the FA Cup's inaugural season of 1871, Everton FC didn't enter the competition for the first time until 1886. A history of the Moonlight Dribblers' first decade or so in the competition
Everton in Europe — The First Five Seasons: 1962/63 to 1966/67
22 February, 2025
Despite boasting some of the finest teams in the Club's history, Everton's campaigns on the Continent in the 1960s were a decidedly mixed bag, sadly with no silverware to show for them.
A Summer Rebuild Beckons
18 February, 2025
The scale of what is required in terms of the squad this summer could either terrify or excite us. Everton have many positions in the squad to fill but how much money will Moyes be given to spend to complete the rebuild?
“Khyber” – The Ben Williams Story
17 February, 2025
Among the roll call of Welsh players to have played for Everton, arguably the Blues’ best player to hail from the Valleys was Benjamin Williams.
Another failed January window? It depends how you look at it
4 February, 2025
Thanks to David Moyes, Everton's outlook for the remainder of the season has changed significantly since the day he was appointed but the Club will be riding its luck where the centre-forward position is concerned and it could end up costing them financially anyway
Long-term injuries cast grave doubts on key duo’s Everton futures
29 January, 2025
The Club’s recruitment team were already up against it this month but potentially season-ending injuries for Calvert-Lewin and Mangala are not only big personal blows to each player, they'll require a shift in focus before the transfer deadline
Coming Full Circle
9 January, 2025
When it comes to the prospect of David Moyes returning to his old stomping ground, context is everything and that context has shifted significantly as Everton's fortunes have eroded in the years since he departed Goodison in 2013.
Graham Potter would be an unlikely ‘quick-fix’ option for Everton
9 December, 2024
Speculation surrounding Sean Dyche and who might replace him bubbles away on social media, discussion forums and in the betting markets, but if results between now and the New Year demand a swift change in manager, it's unlikely a man for whom the word “build” is foundational to the way he works would be the short-term answer
Dyche risks undermining his own argument regarding Ndiaye
21 November, 2024
The manager has responded to calls to move Everton’s best forward player into a No 10 role by suggesting that he doesn't yet have the experience or work-rate for it but neither the metrics nor the "eye test" seem to support the argument.
Blues Brothers — Jack and Bert Sharp
19 November, 2024
The story of two brothers: one an international-standard cricketer and footballer who was named an Everton Giant earlier this century; the other having a career in the same sports, but something of a footnote in the Club's history
Jamie Baker’s Beautiful Last Day
22 October, 2024
The touching story of a young Evertonian who was mascot for the Blues' clash with Manchester United in September 1986 and died from Leukaemia within hours of his special moment at Goodison Park.
Ted and Alan Storey — Guardians of Goodison Park's Pitch
4 September, 2024
For four decades, the responsibility for keeping the famous Goodison Park playing surface in top-top condition lay with the Storey family
Les Shannon — A Footballing Odyssey
29 July, 2024
Locally born, he served both Blue and Red during a long and varied career as a player, coach and manager that took him well beyond Britain's shores.
Billy Cook — The Original ‘Secret Footballer’ and his Peruvian Adventure
9 June, 2024
A member of Everton's 1939 title-winning team that was broken up by WWII, Billy Cook went on an extraordinary coaching journey that took him around the world, including to South America where he took charge of the Peruvian national team
Alf Milward — The Toffees’ First Great Left Winger of the League Era
1 May, 2024
Everton's original great left-sided partnership was formed by the contrasting but complimentary attributes of Edgar Chadwick and Alf Milward, a huge factor in the Club landing its very first Football League title in 1891
Alf Harland: The Irishman who became a Toffee and a Linnet
22 March, 2024
Hailing from County Tyrone, he had the unenviable task of taking over from Everton's pre-WWI championship-winning goalkeeper, Tom Fern. He went on to make 70 appearances for the Blues
Colin Harvey — An Evertonian Life
24 March, 2024
Immortalised as part of the Toffees’ midfield ‘holy trinity’ in the late 1960s and dubbed "the White Pele" by his adoring Goodison faithful, it could be strongly argued that Colin Harvey is currently the greatest living Evertonian.
John Lindsay’s Unlucky Break
18 February, 2024
John Lindsay was a classy full-back who suffered injury misfortune that meant he never did get back to the level of fitness and sharpness required for a Blues first team comeback
John Hurst (1947-2024) — A Tribute
19 January, 2024
Brian Labone wasn't the only Everton stalwart of his era to embody the Corinthian spirit. "Gentleman Jack" leaves a legacy of being one of the School of Science’s most polished centre-backs and one of its finest men.
The Goodison Bugler’s Last Post — The Life of Francis Hamill
11 November, 2023
Rob Sawyer recalls the man who provided the Toffees with their own musical soundtrack in the late 1920s and 1930s
Nick Walsh and the First Biography of Dixie Dean
17 October, 2023
It would be nearly 40 years before the supreme Everton marksman’s amazing life story was properly told. The person to thank for capturing Dean’s memories in book form was fellow Birkenhead man, Nick Walsh.
Between the Devil You Know and the Deep Blue Sea
3 October, 2023
In light of the somewhat chaotic developments in the takeover saga in recent weeks, the question on Evertonian minds now is just who are 777 Partners and are they both capable and worthy of running one of England’s most storied and successful football clubs?
The Story of The Bullens
31 July, 2023
Now giving faithful service into its 97th year, the Bullens Road stand and its Archibald Leitch-designed cross-braced panels has provided Goodison Park its key motif since 1926 and the days of Dixie Dean
Peter Corr: Winning in Blue — and Green — at Goodison Park
28 July, 2023
Four decades before The Corrs made their musical breakthrough in the British and Irish pop charts, their uncle was an Irish international and Everton footballer. Less appreciated is his role in bringing Howard Kendall to the Toffees.
The Life of Barrie Rees
6 June, 2023
Turning pro in 1961, the versatile Rhyl-born player made his senior bow for the reigning Champion Toffees during the 1963-64 season before leaving for Brighton and tragically losing his life not long afterwards
Another Great Escape — Season 2022-23 in Review
29 May, 2023
2021-22 was supposed to be the nadir of the Moshiri era but Everton somehow ended up in even more peril by the end 2022-23. It took another managerial change, the fans going to the well of passion a few more times and one tortuous final day game before Premier League survival was achieved.
Seventeenth Not Going Under
28 May, 2023
It was the longest 43 minutes of our lives but Abdoulaye Doucouré’s 20-yard rocket would be just enough and the power of the spirit that courses through this wonderful institution proved indefatigable
Goodison Avenue — Everton’s Celebrity Street
30 March, 2023
Between the 1930s and 1950s, on this modest terraced cul-de-sac backing onto Goodison Park, you could have chanced upon Everton stars of their day going about their daily business
Sam Chedgzoy — A Star on Both Sides of The Atlantic
9 February, 2023
The Ellesmere Port-born player spent 16 seasons with Everton, forced a change in the rules of the game with his famous corner in 1924 and went on to have a 13-year career in North America
Less stardust, more salt-of-the-earth — Can Dyche's grounded approach save Everton?
28 January, 2023
Sean Dyche may be far removed from Farhad Moshiri's 'Hollywood manager' ideals but his no-nonsense, 'needs-must' style of football could be just what Everton need after the more idealistic Frank Lampard tenure. More importantly, he has pulled off this kind of 'Houdini act' before
Johnny Holt — Everton’s Little Devil
7 January, 2023
T.G. Jones is widely cited as the club’s finest centre-half, with the next generation of fans also holding Brian Labone in the highest of esteem. But let us not overlook Johnny Holt, the Little Devil
Remembering 'Chick' Meagan
30 November, 2022
The death, at 88, of Mick Meagan this week reduces the illustrious cadre of players who contributed to Everton’s first post-war League Championship title to just five. Rob Sawyer and David France pay tribute to 'Chick'
Tom Walker — Nonagenarian Toffee
26 November, 2022
In April 2022, Rob Sawyer and Sarah from Mint Collective caught up with venerable Toffee, 93-year-old Tom Walker in a café near his home in Upton.
From Barry to the Blues — The Keith Webber Story
24 October, 2022
The Welshman's time at Everton got off to a dream start but he would later admit to ruing the decision to leave Goodison Park in search of first-team football in 1963
The Transformation
21 September, 2022
Largely written off at one time by the bulk of the Everton fanbase, Alex Iwobi has undergone a metamorphosis unlike any in living Evertonian memory... and it has come just when the club desperately needed it
Warney Cresswell — The Prince of Full Backs
7 September, 2022
A natural tendency to favour players we have seen with our own eyes and the tactical evolution of football makes ranking players spanning many decades fraught with difficulty. But this cerebral, balding, defender, who played for Everton into his 39th year
The Avatar
15 August, 2022
For most of last season, Anthony Gordon channeled the passion, desperation and energy of a fearful fanbase on the pitch. 2022-23 was supposed to be a season of further development for him at Goodison but a big-money offer from Chelsea has thrown up a hard choice for the club.
Tom Griffiths: The Player with More than one String to his Bow
12 August, 2022
T.P. Griffiths may have understandably been overshadowed at Everton by his countryman and fellow centre-half T.G. Jones but he enjoyed a distinguished career with some of the greatest clubs in the land
O Guerreiro
16 June, 2022
Committed and loyal, talented and misunderstood outside of Goodison Park, Richarlison has cemented himself in the hearts of Evertonians, especially this season when he rose to the fore as the warrior who scored many of the goals that assured the Blues' Premier League safety
Salvation Achieved on a Night for the Ages
19 May, 2022
Just like that “That Game” in 1994, Everton refused to lie down and over 45 minutes that are now irrevocably woven into Goodison folklore, amid an atmosphere that somehow surpassed those that have stunned neutral observers in recent weeks, they dug deep and pulled off a thrilling comeback victory.
The Luxury
9 August, 2021
James Rodriguez is one of the best players of his generation; a Rolls Royce of a player at a club blighted by so much mediocrity in the modern era. Sadly, he looks to be a luxury Everton can no longer afford.
Moshiri's Big Gamble
30 June, 2021
His prior association with Liverpool and diminished reputation mean the appointment of Rafael Benitez is fraught with difficulty and he will have very little margin for error with many Everton fans. It's either a hugely courageous or tone-deaf decision by Farhad Moshiri that could be mad enough to work or go the same way as his last four managerial appointments
Nuno Espírito Santo: Seal of Mediocrity or Hero-in-Waiting?
12 June, 2021
With his seemingly imminent appointment as Everton manager, Blues fans are having trouble seeing past Wolves' sorry 2020-21 season under Nuno Espirito Santo. Worrying metrics thrown up in this past campaign are definitely pause for thought but observations from students of the game reveal a more complex, astute and driven man than his reserved demeanour suggests.
Christophe Galtier — A Gallic Gamble Worth Taking?
10 June, 2021
Untried in the Premier League but with demonstrable success under his belt with Saint-Étienne and Lille, the 54-year-old with the piercing eyes has been described as France's hottest managerial property. In a field devoid of exciting candidates, might he be the outsider option to ignite Everton's revival?
The Number One
8 March, 2021
Jordan Pickford has come in for criticism at Everton for his past mistakes and apparent lack of focus and it wasn't that long ago that many were doubting his role as first-choice keeper. Fast forward past the hysterical media reaction to his part in the Van Dijk incident to today and you have a player who appears to have matured tremendously in the harshest of spotlights
El Muñeco — Could Everton go for “the next great Argentine manager”?
12 April, 2019
An international team-mate of Diego Simeone and Mauricio Pochettino, Marcelo Gallardo has spent the last seven years building an impressive resume of trophy wins in South America and has restored River Plate as one of that Continent's giants. On the landscape of potential replacements for Marco Silva, the 43-year-old is easily one of the most intriguing and, interestingly, he has leapt into pole position in the betting to be Everton's next manager.
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