Everton in Europe — The First Five Seasons: 1962/63 to 1966/67

Everton had concluded the 1961/62 Football League season on a roll, hammering relegated Cardiff City 8:3 at Goodison Park on 28 April 1962 and, in their final match of the campaign, vanquishing tenth‑placed Arsenal at Highbury three days later by the rather less resounding margin of three goals to two. Their reward for what, in terms of Football League placings, had been their best performance since their 1938/39 Championship‑winning campaign, was, as England’s sole representatives in the Inter‑City Fairs Cup, the forerunner to the present‑day UEFA Cup, their first taste of European football. Unless Burnley had previously declined an invitation from the competition organizers before fourth‑placed Everton were approached, quite why the Goodison Park club should have been so honoured in preference to the second‑placed Turf Moor outfit (third‑placed Tottenham Hotspur won the FA Cup in season 1961/62 and thus entered, and eventually won, the European Cup Winners’ Cup competition in season 1962/63) is something of a mystery.

The programme from Everton’s first home game of the 1962/63 campaign versus Manchester United on Wednesday, 22 August 1962 sheds no light on the matter. Indeed, in the final paragraph of his message to supporters, Everton Chairman John Moores simply states: “Last season we finished a place higher in the League than in the preceding one. This was due in no small measure to the great encouragement we have received from our many loyal supporters. I feel sure that we shall have your support again this season, especially as we are entering a European competition for the first time.”

The Inter‑City Fairs Cup had originally been conceived as a two‑year invitation‑only competition for representative sides from trade fair centres, though the inaugural tournament actually lasted three years from 1955 to 1958, with Barcelona trouncing a London XI, which comprised players from Arsenal, Chelsea, Fulham, Leyton Orient, Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United, 6:0 at the Nou Camp on 1 May 1958 to win the two‑legged final tie 8:2 on aggregate. However, by the time Everton appeared on the Inter‑City Fairs Cup scene the competition was being staged on an annual basis, and from a 1962/63 first‑round hat containing such illustrious names as, inter alia, AS Roma, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Celtic, FC Porto, Red Star Belgrade and Valencia, the Toffees were handed a less‑than‑mouth‑watering first‑round clash with north‑of‑the‑border outfit Dunfermline Athletic, who were managed by an, at the time, unknown quantity by the name of Jock Stein and who were likewise embarking upon their inaugural European adventure.

However, according to the Everton versus West Bromwich Albion programme dating from Saturday, 29 September 1962, the draw had not quite been this straightforward. I quote: “Our original Greek opponents having withdrawn from the Inter‑Cities Fairs Cup, we have been given the Scottish First Division Club Dunfermline Athletic as our opponents in the first round of the competition. Although some of the team may have relished some sunshine, there are some who will be far from dismayed at playing in Scotland. The Fife team are one of the leading clubs north of the border.” This may well have been the case but, as Old Blue Bastard notes to graphic effect in his article entitled Royston Vernon – A Forgotten Hero, which appears in issue 105 of the When Skies Are Grey Everton fanzine, their technical merits left something to be desired. I quote: "They were what you would call a gang of dirty yard dogs with a big, hairy‑arsed, baldy centre‑forward who would have been drummed out of the Gestapo."

Attracting 40,224 spectators all of whom, according to the above‑mentioned programme (and James Corbett's wholly misinformed assertion in his arrogantly self‑styled "Definitive History of Everton Football Club", Everton – The School of Science, to the effect that "many fans had been priced out after ticket prices doubled and in some cases even trebled" notwithstanding), were charged the same affordable admission prices as for league games, the first leg of this tie was staged at Goodison Park on Wednesday, 24 October 1962.

The encounter was memorable not for the football on display, which, as Old Blue Bastard notes, was, "crap", adding that "I don't recall anything of note other than [...] the aforementioned centre‑forward depositing [Gordon] West into the back of the net on several occasions", but, as the same When Skies Are Grey contributor explains, for the fact that it was contested "on the night that the Russian trawlers with the nuclear warheads were going to run into the American warships blockading Cuba with the distinct possibility of WW3 breaking out. We wondered if we'd have a home to go to, although if it happened we hoped the Russians would have the good taste to bomb Anfield first. I've never seen a big crowd so subdued – it was weird, you could hear people's conversations twenty yards away." Looming mushroom clouds and "dirty yard dogs" notwithstanding, Everton, whose first European starting eleven featured Gordon West, Alex Parker, George Thomson, Jimmy Gabriel, Brian Labone, Brian Harris, Billy Bingham, Dennis Stevens, Alex Young, Roy Vernon and Johnny Morrissey, emerged with a slender lead for the second leg seven days hence or, in the blunt terms in which it is couched in the 10, 20, 40 Years Ago feature in the Everton versus Ipswich Town programme dating from 28 October 1972, "struggled to a 1:0 win", thanks to a solitary twenty‑fifth-minute strike by inside‑right Dennis Stevens, a Dudley‑born cousin of, in the words of Ivan Ponting in his Everton – Player By Player, "the great and much‑lamented Duncan Edwards", who thus claimed the distinction of netting the Toffeemen’s very first goal on the European stage.

However, the return encounter at Dunfermline Athletic’s East End Park facilities, which attracted a gate of 21,813, did not fare according to plan, at least not for Everton, who, with full Irish international Mick Meagan replacing George Thomson at left‑back, conceded one goal after just five minutes and, agonizingly, three minutes from time, a second, thus ignominiously exiting the competition. In the next round, Everton’s conquerors overturned a 4:0 away defeat at the hands of Spanish giants Valencia, first‑round vanquishers of Celtic by an aggregate margin of six goals to four, by triumphing 6:2 at home in the second leg, only to lose the subsequent play‑off, which was staged on neutral territory in Lisbon, by a narrow 1:0 margin, a very creditable performance indeed against the eventual 1962/63 Inter-City Fairs Cup winners.

En route to this success Valencia defeated yet another Scottish outfit, Hibernian, 6:2 on aggregate in the quarter‑final, AS Roma 4:0 on aggregate in the semi-final and Dynamo Zagreb 2:1 on aggregate in the final. For a very fine Everton side which would finish the domestic season as League Champions, a comfortable six points clear of nearest challengers and 1962/63 European Cup Winners’ Cup winners Tottenham Hotspur, the first British club to lift a European trophy, these would have been negotiable opponents one and all, but, thanks to Dunfermline Athletic, it was very much an Inter‑Cities Fairs Cup case of what might have been for the Toffeemen.

As League Champions, the following season Everton were included in the July 1963 draw for the preliminary round of the 1963/64 European Cup competition, and they were promptly handed a backs‑to‑the‑wall tie with Italian maestros Inter Milan, who were gunning to topple bitter local rivals and reigning European Champions AC Milan from their coveted European Cup throne. The daunting task facing Everton was rendered even more difficult by virtue of the fact that, having been first out of the hat, they, in the words of the editor of the Evertonia column (not to be confused with this website, naturally — Editor) in the official Everton programme for this match, “were obliged to stage the first leg of the tie at Goodison Park.” Pondering the luck or otherwise of the draw, this same Evertonia editor waxed philosophical:

“Has fate been somewhat unkind to us? There is no question that our task is difficult but even if we had been drawn against one of the weaker teams the position would not really be much different. A draw such as Ipswich Town had last season (against Floriana of Malta) virtually assures passage to the next round, but sooner or later clubs of the calibre of Real Madrid or the Milan teams have to be reckoned with. With us, this challenge has come right away.” He proceeded to display a similar Dunkirk‑like spirit with regard to the issue of ground advantage, remarking that “it is generally agreed that it is better to complete the away fixture first. Everton have been unfortunate in this respect perhaps, but it cannot be helped. Ground advantage should not count such a great deal. After all, Everton have gone to infinite trouble to build up a team that can do more than hold its own in Europe. It is not the intention just to qualify for the European Cup – the intention here is to win the trophy. Now is our chance to put Everton to the fore in the European scene.” Bold words, indeed.

On another note, having acknowledged that, on the occasion of this European Cup tie, “a great many people are looking forward to a football treat”, the Evertonia editor duly proceeded to ignore the burning issue of the day among Evertonians, namely the admission prices for this televised and, with the exception of the cash‑at‑the‑turnstile Boys’ Pen, all‑ticket affair which was staged at Goodison Park on Wednesday, 18 September 1963. David Catton, an eye‑witness, informs me that having refused to pay the, according to the admission prices published, without any explanatory comment, in the Everton versus Bolton Wanderers programme dating from Wednesday, 11 September 1963, forty shillings, or two pounds, per ticket for the Bullens Road and Goodison Road centre stands and thirty shillings, or one pound fifty pence, per ticket for the Bullens Road and Goodison Road side stands, instead of the usual asking price of eight shillings, or forty pence, and one pound five shillings for a “Gwladys Street and Goal Stand” ticket instead of seven shillings, or thirty‑five pence, the great majority of the 62,408 crowd were packed tightly together on the terraces, for which groundside tickets also cost a hefty five shillings, or twenty‑five pence, instead of the standard three shillings, or fifteen pence, in conditions of dangerous overcrowding and major discomfort. According to George Orr in his Everton in the 60s, Everton justified these extortionate admission price hikes on the grounds that if their supporters wished to see world‑class teams they would need to pay the going rate. A prawn sandwich, anyone?

With regard to the actual match, having been plagued by injury problems since the beginning of the season, which they had started poorly, Everton, sporting their change strip of all white despite enjoying home advantage, standard procedure in Europe at that time in the event of a clash of first‑choice colours, contested the tie without a recognized left‑back. Pipe‑smoking wing‑half Brian Harris did the honours in the number three shirt, deputizing for the injured Mick Meagan, who had recently been ousted from the side by new signing Sandy Brown who, unfortunately for Everton, was ineligible for European Cup purposes, this against a Milan side featuring Brazilian international wizard Jair da Costa, nicknamed the “Jaguar”, on the right wing, and, in the shape of Luis Suarez, a Spaniard for whom Inter Milan had paid Barcelona a king’s ransom totalling 204,000 pounds sterling, making him one of the most expensive players in the world, the finest inside‑forward of the era and a brilliant ball player who, according to the Were you there? feature on the Toffeemen’s 1963 European Cup clashes with Inter Milan contained in the Everton versus Panathinaikos programme dating from Tuesday, 9 March 1971, was “adept at transforming defence into attack with a feint, a step or two and then the measured, clinical “killer” ball to his front runners.”

This did not augur well for Everton since, despite the confidence‑trick remarks to the contrary uttered by their manager, Helenio Herrera, the highest paid coach in Europe, at the pre‑match press conference, Inter Milan had, according to Ken Rogers in his book Goodison Glory, arrived on Merseyside in an offensive rather than a defensive frame of mind. Indeed, in his account of the match, Ken Rogers states that “Milan stepped out in front of 62,000 fans to play a superb attacking game in the first half and while they packed their defence when they needed to, the emphasis was on swift and decisive attacking breaks which thrilled the crowd.” Indeed, the breathtaking ball skills displayed on the night by Jair da Costa and Luis Suarez, the latter of whom, according to Old Blue Bastard's account of the clash in his Royston Vernon – A Forgotten Hero article in issue 105 of When Skies Are Grey, was victimized by the bad‑tempered Everton captain, merited, as Ken Rogers notes elsewhere in his account of the affair, “an ovation from the crowd at the end”. This was appreciation indeed from the Blues faithful given the, for Everton and their supporters, disheartening 0:0 final score, a result which must have been all the more galling in view of the fact that a hairline offside decision by the Hungarian referee against Roy Vernon had nullified a late second‑half strike for the Blues which the television cameras present at the match subsequently revealed should have stood, since the Everton inside‑left was clearly on‑side when he steered the ball home.

This Inter‑friendly version of the encounter is confirmed by the Everton in Europe section of the Everton versus Keflavik programme dating from Wednesday, 16 September 1970, in which it is stated that the 62,000 fans present “had little time to be bored by a goalless draw as they gasped at the brilliance of coloured Inter winger Jair”, and by James Corbett in Everton – The School of Science, in which he asserts that "Herrera's promise for a defensive game was kidology" and that "while the Italians gave a superb performance at the back, all but blanking out Vernon and Young, cutting off the supply from Temple and Scott, they were lightning quick on the break and their Brazilian winger, Jair, provided a constant threat". However, it does not sit well with George Orr’s blunt observation in Everton in the 60s to the effect that the Italians, “the masters of defence, came to destroy the game”, though, in flat contradiction of Ken Rogers, the above‑mentioned Were you there? feature does lend some mean-spirited credence to George Orr’s assertion, stating that “Everton appreciated that they [Inter Milan] would come to Goodison defensively‑minded, but no British side had experienced the type of catenaccio system so skilfully employed by Inter. […] They used a sweeper behind the back four, a midfield trio and just two lone strikers – away from home, that was.”

Nevertheless, Everton’s failure to capitalize on home advantage left them very much facing an uphill struggle in the return leg at the San Siro Stadium in Milan seven days later. Due to injury, hard‑as‑nails first‑choice right‑half Jimmy Gabriel was unavailable for this do‑or‑die tussle, in which Brian Harris once again did the honours at left‑back, and, sensationally, his place in the side was handed to a completely unknown Liverpool‑born eighteen‑year‑old débutante by the name of Colin Harvey. In Everton Greats – Where Are They Now?, a joint effort by Jon Berman and Malcolm Dome, Colin Harvey reminisces upon his inclusion in the Everton starting eleven for this crucial European Cup encounter: "I thought that I was there just to carry the skips. It wasn't until the afternoon of the game that Harry Catterick told me that I was going to play! To make my debut in Everton's first‑ever away game in the European Cup was just tremendous, and I really enjoyed it. We ended up losing the game and the tie 1‑0, but I didn't have a bad game. I'm not saying that I was brilliant, but I did OK and I certainly didn't feel the pressure. In fact, I took it in my stride to a great extent."

In Gwladys Street's Holy Trinity, compiled by David France and Becky Tallentire, Brian Labone sheds some light on the primitive facilities which awaited the Everton players in the world‑famous San Siro Stadium that evening and the true state of the young Harvey's nerves: "Many players get pre‑match butterflies and this was a really big game – our first European Cup visit to the Continent. We had heard so much about the San Siro Stadium and had expected a 90,000 all‑seater stadium, but it was just a sea of concrete steps. Before the kick‑off, some players like to spend a few minutes on the toilet contemplating the next ninety minutes. Well in keeping with the stadium design, the dressing‑room facilities in Milan were little more than holes in the floor. It was a bit embarrassing for the seasoned professionals wanting to fulfil their pre‑match routine or for those desiring a private function. You feel inhibited with your mates glancing over at you. It was tough for everyone, but I have a lasting memory of an eighteen‑year‑old débutante doing what became known to us as the 'San Siro Squat.'" Butterflies or no, in his book Everton – Player By Player, Ivan Ponting states that "in the knee‑trembling atmosphere" of the San Siro Stadium "fireworks, smoke bombs and the baying of 90,000 (sic) Italians failed to intimidate Colin as, with determination not to fail etched all over his eighteen‑year‑old features, he gave a mature, self‑possessed display."

On the night a partisan crowd numbering some 70,000, including, according to James Corbett in his Everton – The School of Science, "130 Everton fans who had each paid twenty‑six pounds for a charter flight from Speke airport, hotel accommodation and a match ticket," witnessed a fiercely contested tussle in which Everton went desperately close in the first half when Roy Vernon forced Inter custodian Sarti into a fantastic save by driving “a rebound goalwards”, it was Brazilian winger Jair da Costa who, a minute into the second half, duly booked Inter’s passport to the next round. Although the Were you there? match report does acknowledge that the Italians “were far more attack‑minded on their own acreage”, it does so ungraciously, adding the rider that “they could hardly serve up the negative stuff they presented in the first leg before their own temperamental fans” and highlighting the negative aspects of the encounter, which apparently “degenerated into a physical battle – and thousands of Italian fans showed their feelings by leaving early. Even in partisan Italy, it seemed, it was still important HOW you won.”

For Everton, this end of the European Cup road was compounded by a 2:1 defeat against Liverpool at Anfield just three days later, Liverpool’s first success in a top‑flight Derby encounter with Everton since their 3:1 victory at Goodison Park on 16 September 1950 and their first at Anfield since they had carried the day by the same margin on 24 December 1949, but for Inter, their narrow 1:0 aggregate victory heralded the onset of their ultimately triumphant quest for European Cup glory. AS Monaco, Partisan Belgrade and Borussia Dortmund were all put convincingly to the sword before they succeeded in gilding the lily by slaying Real Madrid, quarter‑final conquerors of AC Milan, by the comfortable margin of three goals to one in the European Cup Final in Vienna on 27 May 1964.

This was a triumph which Inter Milan would repeat exactly twelve months to the day, defeating Benfica 1:0 in the European Cup Final on their own San Siro patch on 27 May 1965 after having eliminated English Champions Liverpool 4:3 on aggregate in the semi-final of the competition, a stage which, it almost defies belief, the Anfielders had only succeeded in reaching by virtue of a toss of a coin following three drawn matches with reigning West German Champions FC Cologne in the quarter‑final. On a final note, it is interesting to observe that the good wishes which, in the Evertonia section of the programme for the Everton versus Manchester United third round, second leg Inter‑Cities Fairs Cup encounter at Goodison Park on Tuesday, 9 February 1965, Everton had extended to Liverpool in their, mercifully, on this occasion, doomed quest for a European Cup triumph in advance of their third round, second leg clash in Cologne the next evening¹, were not echoed by their supporters. Indeed, the schadenfreude which Evertonians derived from the gratifying reverse which the Anfielders suffered at the hands of Inter Milan is well illustrated by the ditty which did the contemporary Everton rounds and which, for the amusement of his readers, is reproduced verbatim in George Orr’s Everton in the 60s:

It was sheer delight on a Wednesday night
When Inter Milan scored three
They kicked the dirty Kopites all over Italy
Oh, Inter Milano, oh, Inter Milano all over Italy

They kicked the dirty Kopites all over Italy
They kicked them here, they kicked them there
They kicked the Kopites everywhere
Inter Milano, Inter Milano
From sunny Italy.

Quite.

Depressingly, season 1963/64 had seen Everton displaced as League Champions by cross‑park pains‑in‑the‑neck Liverpool. Nevertheless, by virtue of having finished in third place in the First Division table the Toffees, along with second‑placed Manchester United, secured the consolation prize of a crack at the Inter‑Cities Fairs Cup in the 1964/65 campaign, the first season in which league placings constituted the sole criterion for qualifying for the competition. The draw for the first round pitted Everton against unknown Oslo‑based quantity Valerengen, though, quoting from the original notes contained in the Everton match programme from the second leg of this tie, the 10, 20, 40 Years Ago section in the Everton versus West Ham United programme dating from Tuesday, 15 October 1974 reveals that a quite different constellation had initially been under consideration: "Not long after the draw was made it looked as though Everton would not be facing Valerengen, but a representative team selected from the various clubs in Oslo. However, the Cup Winners' Cup paired Skeid Oslo with the Finnish club Valkeakosken Haka. As F.K. Lyn were engaged against another Finnish club in the European Cup it was felt that the fielding of a Combined XI would be too much of a strain on the general programme and it was decided that Valerengen should be the country's representatives in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup."

According to the original match programme notes quoted in this same 10, 20, 40 Years Ago feature, the first leg of the tie in Oslo on Wednesday, 24 September 1964, just four days after an injury‑ravaged Everton side had triumphed 4:0 over Liverpool at Anfield, "was quite an exciting one and in the first half the home crowd [numbering 17,952] were delighted to see their team forge in front. The Norwegians scored with a penalty. In a quick exchange both sides scored, so that Valengeren led 2:1. It was not until the dying minutes that Valengeren suddenly weakend and Everton cashed in on this to come away with the 5:2 lead." Quoting the Everton match programme notes from the Everton versus West Ham United fixture on 3 October 1964, the 10, 20, 40 Years Ago feature in the Everton versus Wolverhampton Wanderers programme dating from Saturday, 14 September 1974 puts some flesh on these bare bones:

"It was the home team who drew first blood in the Oslo game, the Valengeren inside-right converting a penalty kick. It was Fred Pickering who notched the equaliser to this goal [thus becoming, it should be noted at this juncture, the first Everton player to net for the club in a European fixture in Continental Europe] but the state of equality did not last very long. In fact it extended less than a minute for Eriksen, the home captain, pushed the ball past Andy Rankin to give them the lead once more. It was well into the second half before Pickering headed another equaliser for us but this heralded some more incisive Everton attacks which brought further goals from Colin Harvey, Derek Temple and Alex Scott." In his Everton in the 60s George Orr attributes these "incisive Everton attacks" which transformed the contest in Everton's favour to the fact that the Norwegian part‑timers simply ran out of steam during the last fifteen minutes of the tussle, a view evidenced by the fact that no less than four of Everton's goals were notched in the final twenty minutes of the encounter.

The second leg of the tie at Goodison Park on Wednesday, 17 October 1964, which was witnessed by a crowd of just 20,717, saw the game Norwegians 2:1 ahead at the interval, though, thanks to second‑half notches from Alex Young, his second strike of the night, and Roy Vernon, and a Valerengen own goal, credited to Alex Young, Everton eventually prevailed, qualifying for the next round by the aggregate margin of nine goals to four. The Evertonia section of the Everton versus Blackburn Rovers programme dating from Saturday, 24 October 1964 contains the following observations on this Goodison Park encounter:

“The principal feature of the game against Valerengen was the great display given by Sorlie, the visiting goalkeeper. On his own this man defied the home attack to the extent that despite continual pressure on the Norwegian goal throughout the game, the Everton attack only scored four goals. This was no fault of Everton’s that no more goals went in. All the forwards were shooting well and the half‑backs also moved up in attempts to increase our safety margin. But four successes were all that they were allowed. This goalkeeper made some fantastic saves and undoubtedly proved himself man of the match. As for the goals, these followed a pattern of arrival not unlike that seen in the first leg match. Alex Young was our chief marksman. He notched three of our goals, although a defender helped the ball on its way to the net in the case of the third. Things did not go completely Everton’s way and for a time the visitors led by the odd goal in three. They very nearly made it 3:1 but the chance was lost and Everton restored the balance not long afterwards and then never looked back. Our fourth goal was registered by Roy Vernon.”

Round two of the 1964/65 Inter‑Cities Fairs Cup draw once again paired Everton with an opponent from north of Hadrian’s Wall, this time in the shape of Kilmarnock, whom, coincidentally, the Toffeemen had defeated 4:1 in a friendly at Goodison Park on Monday, 4 March 1963, a fixture which, having played no league games at all in January and only one in February due to the appalling winter weather conditions, Everton had arranged solely for the purpose of enhancing the match‑fitness of their players. However, this essentially non‑competitive success notwithstanding, high‑flying Kilmarnock, eventual 1964/65 Scottish Champions, posed a sterner test than that which Everton had dismally failed in the opening round of the same competition against their Scottish compatriots Dunfermline Athletic two seasons previously. Indeed, in nullifying a 3:0 reverse at Eintracht Frankfurt by emerging victorious to the tune of five goals to one in Scotland in the return leg in the previous round, in their first season in Europe Kilmarnock had already demonstrated their ability to compete at this elevated level.

On this occasion, however, Everton had other ideas and, in his Voice of Merseyside column in the Everton versus Keflavik programme dating from Wednesday, 16 September 1970, Colin Wood described injury‑weakened Everton’s convincing 2:0 and 4:1 successes at Rugby Park, Kilmarnock, on Wednesday, 11 November 1964 and Goodison Park, Liverpool, on Monday, 23 November 1964 respectively as “one of their finest performances in Europe”. Citing the programme notes from the Everton versus Wolverhampton Wanderers First Division clash on Saturday, 5 December 1954, the 10, 20, 40 Years Ago section featured in the Everton versus Birmingham City programme dating from Saturday, 30 November 1974 sheds some additional light on Everton's fine return leg performance: "The first part of the game saw some strained looks on the faces of Everton fans as the Scots were the more dashing team at the outset. Indeed, it was not long before they took the lead (in this game) and this reduced Everton's overall advantage to a single goal. However, there was no need, it transpired, to worry in case Kilmarnock gave us the same sort of treatment they had meted out to Eintracht in the previous round. (At one stage, they were 4:0 down on aggregate, but hit back to win 5:4.) Our rearguard stood up well to what Kilmarnock gave after their goal, then our forwards found their feet and after Colin Harvey had broken the ice, Everton never looked back and went on to give an exciting display of the fine arts of soccer – the sort of stuff we would like to see all the time. Our next goal came from Pickering and the same man scored our fourth after Alex Young had collected the third. Altogether, a most satisfactory evening's entertainment."

Everton's reward for these two sterling displays was a daunting third round clash with high‑flying Lancashire rivals Manchester United, whose Chairman was Harold Hardman, 1906 FA Cup winner and 1907 FA Cup finalist with Everton. The men from Old Trafford, who would finish the 1964/65 season as League Champions on goal average from Leeds United, had progressed to this stage of the competition, their first and final Inter‑Cities Fairs Cup campaign, by defeating Swedish part‑timers Djurgardens 7:2 on aggregate in the first round and Borussia Dortmund 10:1 on aggregate in the second. The two First Division tussles which had hitherto taken place between Everton and Manchester United that season had ended 3:3 at Goodison Park on 8 September 1964 and 2:1 for the Red Devils in the return fixture eight days later.

Trailing a Manchester United side featuring the legendary attacking trio of George Best, Bobby Charlton and Denis Law by some distance in the First Division, Everton were very much the underdogs in this contest, the first leg of which was staged at Old Trafford on Wednesday, 20 January 1965. This being the case, it was all the more surprising that, following a goalless opening forty‑five minutes it was, thanks to a magnificent Fred Pickering strike in the forty‑ninth minute, Everton who snatched the lead in this initial encounter, only for outside‑right John Connelly to notch an equalizer for Manchester United in the seventy‑ninth minute. Nevertheless, now boasting home advantage, it was Everton who felt that they would have their finger on the quarter‑final pulse in the return leg at Goodison Park on Tuesday, 9 February 1965. According to the Everton versus Leeds FA Cup 4th round replay programme dating from Tuesday, 2 February 1965, a replay encounter which resulted in Everton’s elimination from the competition to the tune of two goals to one, following sluggish demand in the first instance, Everton’s “grand show at Old Trafford” had triggered an avalanche of ticket requests for the second leg. “Everyone wants to be here on February 9th”, noted the editor of the programme’s Evertonia section.

In matter of fact, given that the attendance for this match was a “mere” 54,347, whereas 63,024 had been present at the First Division clash between the two sides at Goodison Park earlier that season, this was somewhat of an overstatement. For their part, despite only having drawn at home, Manchester United were still the nation’s favourites to progress to the next round of the competition, but in the programme which was issued for that match, the Evertonia editor remained defiant: “We do not envy United their position of favourites for survival. That is only natural for they are many points ahead of us in the League, and claim a 2:1 League win over us at Old Trafford. Yet the record of the Matt Busby combine at Goodison Park is not exactly encouraging. Before last September’s draw the United had lost on their previous six visits to Goodison with a goals tally in our favour of twenty-one to five.” […] Delve into Cup football, and we find that United have never defeated Everton in the Cup at Goodison.” However, such bravado was misplaced and, a Fred Pickering equalizer for Everton in the fifty‑fifth minute notwithstanding, in a match largely dominated by Manchester United strikes from John Connelly in the sixth and centre‑forward David Herd, son of Alex Herd, who had featured at centre‑forward in the Manchester City side who were defeated 3:0 by Everton in the 1933 FA Cup Final, in the sixty‑ninth minute, sufficed to put the Red Devils into the draw for the quarter finals.

Disappointingly for Blues enthusiasts, Everton had thus succeeded in being eliminated at home from both the FA Cup and the Inter‑City Fairs Cup by the same 2:1 score line in the space of just seven days. However, gratifyingly enough, this most frustrating of seasons was still able to offer Evertonians a crumb of comfort in the form of a 2:1 victory over Liverpool at Goodison Park on 12 April 1965, a success which sealed the Toffeemen’s first league double over their insufferable rivals since their last but one Championship‑winning campaign of 1938/39. All this and a higher First Division finish, fourth, than the Anfielders, seventh, five points adrift, into the bargain, the last time Everton achieved this feat without actually topping the table when the fat top‑flight lady sings. However, typically, just typically, in the shape of their very first FA Cup Final triumph, a closely contested 2:1 after extra‑time affair versus Leeds United on Saturday, 1 May 1965, it would be Liverpool who would have the last laugh. “All’s well that ends well”, pioneering Everton historian Thomas Keates had remarked in his History of the Everton Football Club 1878-1928, first published in 1929, upon the 1892 rift which had resulted in the formation of Liverpool Football Club. The man should be dragged from his grave and shot.

There were three Inter-City Fairs Cup places for English clubs in season 1965/66, meaning that Everton’s fourth place finish in the 1964/65 First Division campaign had been sufficient to secure their place in the competition for the third time in four seasons. The first round draw, which saw Everton pitted against West German outfit FC Nuremberg, attracted the following observations in the Evertonia section of the programme for the Everton versus Northampton Town First Division clash on 21 August 1965, the first Saturday of the 1965/66 campaign: “We have participated in European competitions for the last four successive seasons. It must be admitted that our incursions into Europe have not been of a very long duration. This year again, we are competing in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, and in the first round meet one of West Germany’s most prominent teams. We do not underestimate the opposition which we shall have to face in playing Nuremberg. The game is to take place in mid‑October and by that time the team will have got into its stride and I am hoping that Mr. Catterick will have had the opportunity of seeing Nuremberg play, so as to size them up. We have the advantage of being drawn away in “the first leg” and so it is up to us to benefit by it and leave ourselves with a reasonably safe margin for “the second leg” at Goodison Park.”

Inauspiciously, Everton eventually travelled to Germany for the first leg of this tie on Tuesday, 28 September 1965 on the back of a 5:0 thrashing at Anfield three days previously, their heaviest defeat against their local rivals since the record 6:0 reverse which they had suffered at the same venue on 7 September 1935, though, as is evidenced by the photograph of the smiling Everton party just about to embark upon the journey to Germany which Ken Rogers reproduces in Goodison Glory, this does not appear to have exercised a negative impact upon their spirits. Appearances may be deceptive but, despite the fact that the encounter, dubbed the “Battle of Nuremberg” by contemporary Merseyside journalist Michael Charters a year hence in his EUROPE – HERE WE COME! article in the programme for the Everton versus West Bromwich Albion First Division match on Saturday, 17 September 1966, was a bruising, ill‑tempered affair which saw five players booked and the Everton coach banished from the ground, his duties being assumed by Everton substitute Andy Rankin, on this occasion they most certainly were not. Under these intimidating circumstances, which, according to George Orr in his Everton in the 60s, had prompted Everton manager Harry Catterick to comment that he had thought that the Second World War was still in progress, the Toffeemen did well to recover from a twenty‑fourth minute reverse and tie the contest at 1:1 thanks to a splendid Brian Harris header in the fiftieth minute.

This had been a very fine backs-to-the-wall performance indeed by Everton for, as the Ten, Twenty, Forty Years Ago article featured in the Everton versus Liverpool programme dating from Saturday, 27 September 1975 noted, the match programme for the return clash at Goodison Park on Tuesday, 12 October 1965, which attracted a crowd of 39,033, almost three times as many spectators as had attended the first leg, revealed that injury‑plagued Everton had been "very much the underdogs in Nurnberg (sic)" and given precious little chance of securing a result against the much‑fancied Nuremburg side: "No British club when facing Continental opposition can afford to be without its international stars. [...] We were deprived of two internationalists let alone one. Brian Labone injured himself in the Anfield game and Alex Scott also went out through injury, so that Derek Temple had to switch to the right with Johnny Morrissey on the left. Yet the lads put on a sensational display to hold the German stars to a 1:1 draw. Let us not forget that this strong Nurnberg (sic) team had in August defeated Manchester United at the same stadium. East Lancashire still contends that United are the finest side in Britain, but whereas they lost to Nurnberg (sic), our lads not only drew but they did so after being a goal down. Our players certainly proved that the spirit of Everton is as high today as it ever was."

Evidently, this fine result had been achieved despite, in the shape of the officiating referee, Everton having had "the dice loaded against" them due to the fact that, as the same programme notes observe, they had "had to contend with Continental tactics upon which a British referee would have taken quick and stern action, and also with the fact that the Continental referees never appreciate the British way of football life." As the Ten, Twenty, Forty Years Ago section in the Everton versus Notts County League Cup round four programme dating from Tuesday, 11 November 1975 reveals, in his observations contained in the programme for the Everton versus Leicester City First Division clash on Saturday, 6 November 1965, Michael Charters went even further, taking no prisoners whatsoever in his condemnation of the same official : "Everton's experience in Nuremburg in this season's Inter‑Cities Fairs Cup is too recent and too painful to need repetition, but the Czechoslovakian official at that match was as inadequate for that important role as it has been my misfortune to witness."

As for the return clash at Goodison Park, in the words of George Orr in his Everton in the 60s, it was “another cracking game with West getting carried off [with, so the Ten, Twenty, Forty Years Ago feature in the Everton versus Ipswich Town programme dating from Saturday, 6 December 1975 reveals, a broken collar bone] and Rankin taking his place. The German goalie played a blinder and it was only when Jimmy Gabriel scored [in the sixty‑third minute] that things looked safe.” For the record, it should be noted at this juncture that not only did Andy Rankin earn the distinction in this Everton versus Nuremberg clash of being the first substitute whom Everton ever fielded at home or on their travels in a European fixture in this, the first season in which substitutes were permitted in both domestic leagues and European competitions, he also holds the distinction of being the first substitute ever to appear in a winning Everton side.

In round two of the competition an injury‑plagued Everton side, minus team manager Harry Catterick, who was sidelined by illness, travelled to Budapest to face Ujpest Dozsa, the, as the official Everton programme for the return encounter noted, “third club in Hungary” after Vasas and Ferencvaros. Ten months later in his above‑mentioned EUROPE - HERE WE COME! article, Michael Charters, while noting that the fallibilities of players can, and in this case did, undo the most carefully crafted preparations, waxed admiringly at the sheer detail in which Everton had studied their opponents in advance of this first encounter: “Before Everton played Ujpest Dozsa, in Budapest last season, I saw the scouting reports which had been drawn up, assessing the Hungarian team. I was astonished at the detail and tremendously expert approach which had gone into the work and quite obviously all the Everton players had been comprehensively briefed on what to expect from the Magyars. But although a manager can advise and instruct his players on what to watch for, it is unhappily true that some of them can forget in the heat and tension of a vitally important game.

This is undoubtedly what happened in Bucharest. Special attention had been given to the danger of that big, powerful wing‑half Solymozi when he took free kicks from 30-40 yards out. His trade mark was the swerving kick, hit hard and low into the goalmouth. He delivered it twice early on, the Everton defence was not prepared and the result – two goals down. “The best laid schemes of mice and men, etc. etc.”” On this cold afternoon of Wednesday, 3 November 1965, the Toffeemen failed to recover from these early setbacks at the hands of Hungarian internationals Erno Solymozi and Ference Bene, a twenty-year-old centre-forward who, according to Colin Wood in his Voice of Merseyside article in the Everton versus Keflavik programme dating from Wednesday, 16 September 1970, was “at his brilliant best”, in the ninth and twenty‑third minutes respectively. Indeed, conceding a third goal to another Hungarian international, inside‑left Bela Kuharszky, in the sixty‑third minute in surroundings in which, the Everton in Europe article in the same programme notes, “a 4000 crowd was sprinkled eerily around the 100,000‑capacity Nep Stadium”, Everton, struggling in the lower reaches of the First Division table at this time, were left with a mountain to climb in the second leg at Goodison Park on Tuesday, 16 November 1965.

In the Evertonia section of the official Everton programme for this mission virtually impossible return leg against the Magyars, whose name is, the same programme helpfully explains, pronounced “Wee‑pesht Dough‑zha”, adding that “the club was formed in 1885 in the Ujpest district of Budapest, the word “Dozsa” being added in honour of the leader of the great peasant revolt in 1514”, the editor, Everton director Fred Micklesfield, adopted a cautiously upbeat stance in the face of near‑insurmountable adversity: “Europe comes to Goodison for the second time this season. We hope it will not be the last despite the magnitude of the task which faces us in this the second leg of the Inter‑City Fairs Cup. Mr. Tommy Eggleston, who stood in for Mr. Harry Catterick in Hungary, is quite optimistic about the outcome, and so are the players who seem to be able to produce their best football when it is needed and when the opposition is strongest. […] It should be a boost to our hopes to reflect that in European competitions we have failed to progress only once after having played away in the first leg.”

However, despite a flying start in front of 24,201 home fans in which Brian Harris put the Toffeemen ahead on four minutes, it was not to be. Notching his second strike of the tie, Bela Kuharski negated Everton’s lead fourteen minutes before half-time, and an own goal from Erno Nosko in the eighty-third minute of the encounter was simply too little too late, with Everton duly departing the Inter‑Cities Fairs Cup stage by the aggregate score of four goals to two. For their part, after having defeated FC Cologne, 17:0 conquerors of Union Luxembourg in the first round of the competition, 6:3 on aggregate in the next round, Ujpesti Dozsa succumbed to Leeds United in the quarter‑final with barely a whimper, exiting the competition by the comprehensive aggregate margin of five goals to two.

Having finished a poor eleventh in the First Division in season 1965/66, Everton’s European bacon was only saved by virtue of the fact that they had, famously, overcome Sheffield Wednesday by three goals to two in the 1966 FA Cup Final, meaning that they automatically qualified for the 1966/67 European Cup Winners’ Cup competition. In matter of fact, as Michael Charters notes in his above‑mentioned EUROPE - HERE WE COME! article, this was no mean feat on Everton’s part. I quote: “Eleven days from now, Everton set off once again on another venture into Europe – their fifth in five years. They have played in the European Champions’ Cup once, the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup three times and this season it is the Cup Winners’ Cup, which is a record unequalled in that time by any other British club.”

The preliminary round draw for the 1966/67 European Cup Winners’ Cup competition, in which, henceforth, as in the other two European competitions, away goals would, for the first time, count double, had, as the Evertonia section in the Everton versus Burnley programme dating from Tuesday, 6 September 1966, noted, handed Everton a tie with the red‑and‑white‑striped Danish amateur outfit Aarlborg, new kids on the European competition block, adding that: “Naturally we are hoping that we can overcome this obstacle to give us more Cup football before the end of the year. We are already prepared for the challenge of the Danes for in the pre‑season days Aarlborg toured Scotland and the North East and Manager Harry Catterick and his talent‑spotters seized the opportunity to run the rule over our opponents. We are assured that they were impressed by the skill of the Continentals whom they saw draw with Hearts, which is no mean achievement. No doubt a blue-print is being drawn up as in the case of all matches.” In his above‑mentioned EUROPE - HERE WE COME! article, Michael Charters elaborates upon this blue-print, noting that Aarlborg “have already been vetted by manager Harry Catterick, and he reports their ability as little better than the Norwegian sides whom Everton have already conquered in the Fairs Cup and in pre‑season warm‑up matches. The dashing Danes should not present too much of a problem to Everton’s progress.”

In matter of fact, the Danes proved to be much sterner opposition than expected, as the Everton in Europe feature in the Everton versus Keflavik programme dating from Wednesday, 16 September 1970 noted: “The first match against the Danish amateurs looked a formality on paper, but, in reality, it was a tremendous struggle.” Indeed it was, for, against a side which, as the pen pictures of the Aarlborg team included in the Everton programme for the second leg of the tie at Goodison Park on Tuesday, 11 October 1966 reveal, inter alia, featured a warehouseman, a milkman, a lithographer, an insurance agent, a machine worker, a high school pupil, a schoolteacher, a shipbuilder, a typographer and a clerk, Everton, minus their injured centre‑forward Fred Pickering, could only manage a scoreless draw in the first leg in Denmark on Wednesday, 28 September 1966, a result with which, George Orr in his Everton in the 60s notes, “we were more than happy.” Perhaps a little ungraciously, the editor of the Evertonia section of the programme for the second leg did not share this view, preferring instead to highlight the negative attitude which the Danes had adopted, the failings of the Everton strikers and the absence of Fred Pickering as the underlying causes of this semi‑debacle:

“Obviously their [Aarlborg’s] objective was not so much to beat us, but to ensure that they did not lose to us. Aarlborg played it defensively and exceptionally well too. There is no doubt that we created sufficient openings to have returned home with a few goals to our credit, but unfortunately our finishing, as in some recent League games was not as good as our approach. There was no Fred Pickering to draw defenders away and create the space for his smaller colleagues.” This having been said, it is still the case, as Harry Catterick acknowledges in the same programme section, that, their detailed dossier notwithstanding, Everton had underestimated their opponents: “ They revealed themselves as a better team than on any of the previous occasions I had seen them. The Danes are big and powerful who play with the enthusiasm of schoolboys. That means everyone working all the time, and such combinations take some beating.” So it proved for, on the night, as George Orr notes, a far‑from‑convincing Blues side made heavy weather indeed of their, on paper, straightforward task in a “hard‑fought 2:1 victory”.

With the tussle having been, from Everton’s point of view, surprisingly, goalless at the interval, it was left‑winger Johnny Morrissey who, earning the distinction of notching Everton’s first‑ever Goodison Park goal in the European Cup Winners’ Cup competition in the process, finally broke the deadlock on fifty‑seventh minutes, only for the Danes to equalize twelve minutes later through centre‑forward Bjarne Lildballe, a twenty‑three‑year‑old typographer and Danish Under‑23 international. However, this restoration of parity was short‑lived and, two minutes later, England World Cup Winner Alan Ball sent a huge sigh of relief through the 36,628 Goodison Park crowd by netting the winner from close range on seventy-one minutes. Nevertheless, it had been a close call, for, as one Evertonian eye‑witness, Jim Lynch, informs me: "We nearly committed suicide. We didn't take them seriously, especially after Johnny Morrissey had put us ahead. We took our foot off the gas, pissed about and let them equalize, which put us out on the away goals rule. We then got serious and Alan Ball got the winner with about ten minutes left, to great relief all round."

Everton’s reward for struggling to overcome the Danish part‑timers was a first round tie with crack Spanish outfit Real Zaragoza who, their far‑too‑close‑for‑comfort last‑ditch 5:4 aggregate victory over Norwegian part‑timers FK Skeid in the preliminary round of the competition notwithstanding, were an altogether different kettle of fish than the game, but technically deficient, Danes. Commenting on this draw in the Evertonia section of the Everton versus Leicester City programme dating from Saturday, 29 October 1966, Fred Micklesfield, the editor, reveals that this state of affairs was most definitely not lost on Everton: “Now in our first venture in the European Cup Winners’ Cup we have been pitted against Real Zaragoza, the beaten finalists in last year’s Inter-City Fairs Cup competition. Real last year defeated Leeds United in Zaragoza 1:0, lost the second leg in Leeds 2:1, but then went back to Elland Road for the play‑off and won handsomely 3:1, only to lose to Barcelona in the final.

Now any club capable of going to Elland Road and winning, let alone by a margin of two goals, must be great. We can assure our supporters that Real really are GREAT.” Gilding the Real Zaragoza lily, in the programme for the Everton versus Arsenal clash on 12 November 1966 Fred Micklesfield issued a veiled call to Everton arms: “Zaragoza we know as one of the finest of all European teams, and we strongly advise you to get in early for your tickets for the game, for the demand could be big. It will be one of the toughest international tests we have ever experienced, yes, even as tough as that clash with Inter Milan.” Not only that, Everton also had a vested financial interest in a bumper gate for, as Fred Micklesfield revealed in the above‑mentioned Everton versus Leicester City programme: “They [the Real Zaragoza clashes] should prove winners, and we think that Zaragoza will pull into Goodison more people than the 62,408 who flocked to see Inter Milan. We hope this proves to be right, for the Goodison leg is OUR game, with Real taking the receipts from their home match.” In the event, the gate on the night totalled 56,077, thus falling short of his expectations, though it is still the second-largest crowd which has ever assembled at Goodison Park for a European fixture.

The first leg of the tie in Spain on Wednesday, 9 November 1966 was a stormy affair, with Johnny Morrissey receiving his marching orders in the first half, this after Real Zaragoza had taken an early thirteenth‑minute lead through link‑forward Santos. Unable to retrieve the situation or stem the tide, ten‑men Everton went further behind when they conceded a second goal in the sixty-third minute through Spanish international centre‑forward Marcelino Martinez, another of the “Magnificent Five”, as the Real Zaragoza strikers were nicknamed, leaving Evertonians, as George Orr comments in Everton in the 60s, “wondering if we could pull it back at Goodison”. Judging from the programme for the return leg at Goodison Park on Wednesday, 23 November 1966, there had been rumours of sleep‑depriving disturbances at Everton’s hotel in Zaragoza, rumours which, in the Evertonia section of the programme for the return match, Fred Micklesfield was at pains to quash: “It is our hope that the occasion will go off without the incident we had in Zaragoza and which was the only thing to mar our three day trip. Take it from us that nothing untoward happened in the club hotel as alleged by some people in Madrid. There was absolutely nothing to upset the sleep of our party which included no fewer than eight British pressmen who surely would have been duty‑bound to have reported anything out of the ordinary. They were there, remember, as reporters. They sent nothing because there was nothing to report. The Zaragoza officials did their very best to make us welcome and comfortable.”

In assessing the daunting second leg task facing an Everton side shorn of the intimidating hard‑man presence of the suspended Johnny Morrissey and featuring reserve left‑back Sandy Brown at inside‑left, bizarrely, given the fact that a narrow 2:1 success, and a success courtesy of an own goal seven minutes from time at that, can hardly be termed a fight‑back when victory by a four‑goal margin is the order of the day, Fred Micklesfield invoked “the Everton fighting spirit” of yesteryear in the programme for the potentially volatile return clash: “You need to go back only to November 16 of last year for an example of the Everton fighting spirit. That evening we received in the Fairs Cup the Hungarian team Upesti (sic) Dozsa who stepped out with a three goals lead. Agreed that Dozsa went into the third round, but our lads made a great fight back and actually won 2:1. Such an achievement we think can not only be equalled, but bettered.”

In matter of act, against a Real Zaragoza side “not small either in stature or ability” and quite able to “play it tight in defence”, Everton did not better this dubious achievement, but they did emulate it to the extent that they failed to overcome the first leg deficit and exited the competition stage left, a humbling experience given the fact that cross‑park rivals Liverpool had actually reached the final of the same competition twelve months previously. Not that Everton could be faulted for effort. In the words of Evertonian eye‑witness Jim Lynch: "The Real Zaragoza game was one of the most exciting games I can remember at Goodison. I watched from under the stand in Gwladys Street. We'd lost the first leg 2-0 with stories of Spanish chicanery and dodgy refereeing. I seem to remember that in those days the same ref did both legs but UEFA took the unusual step of appointing a different ref (from Germany) for the home game.

We decided on a physical approach and put Sandy Brown up front alongside Alex Young. In the first half attacking the Park End we battered away but missed a couple of good chances. In the second it was more of the same with Brown scoring with about fifteen minutes to go. After that it was a total siege with corner after corner but we couldn't get an equaliser. They wasted every second they could, even to the extent of the ref giving an indirect free kick in their area for the goalie wasting time." In his Everton in the 60s, George Orr also recalls the spoiling tactics deployed by the Spaniards: "As hard as we tried they just fouled anything that moved, dived to the floor if you put a tackle in and wasted time – even their goalie was booked for time‑wasting.”

An article in number 26 of the now defunct Football League Review dating from 18 February 1967 sheds some additional light on the time‑wasting tactics of Real Zaragoza’s Basque goalkeeper, Giocochea, observed by both Jim Lynch and George Orr: “Portugal at the end of the World Cup 1966 were popular. Deservedly. But, at the start, they were bad lads. In their first match at Old Trafford, the goalkeeper deliberately wasted time – you know, bounce, bounce, bounce, a step or two, then bounce, bounce, bounce again.” Pondering what could be done to rectify this situation, the author, Ivan Sharpe, noted with approval the actions taken by the (West German) referee during the Everton versus Real Zaragoza encounter: “It was left to a foreign referee at Everton, however, to do the right thing. In the European Cup Winners’ match there in November the Zaragoza goalkeeper was playing the same old game until the (foreign) referee ended it by giving both a free‑kick and a caution.”

Real Zaragoza duly received their just desserts for their lack of sportsmanship in the next round, suffering elimination at the hands of Glasgow Rangers on the toss of a coin following a 2:0 home victory and a 2:0 away reverse, but for Everton their “achievement” in failing for the second season in succession to overcome a first leg deficit on home soil meant the end of the European road for four long years, thanks to the restrictive one club, one city rule which, Thomas Keates please note, given that Liverpool finished higher in the table than Everton in the 1967/68 and 1968/69 First Division campaigns, barred their entry into the Inter‑Cities Fairs Cup in seasons 1968/69 and 1969/70, the club’s protests against their exclusion on this ground notwithstanding. How different it might have been had they not suffered an unexpected extra‑time defeat at the hands of West Bromwich Albion in the 1968 FA Cup Final.

In the following season, the West Midlanders, having encountered opposition no sterner than Bruges and Dynamo Bucharest in the first two rounds, were eliminated from the European Cup Winners’ Cup competition at the quarter‑final stage by blast‑from‑the‑Everton‑past Dunfermline Athletic, who, on this occasion, would surely not have been a match for the very fine 1968/69 Everton side featuring the Holy Trinity of Kendall, Harvey and Ball at, arguably, the peak of their powers. Slovan Bratislava would subsequently have played the lambs‑to‑the‑slaughter semi‑final role en route to what, for Everton, would have been the glittering European Cup Winners’ Cup Final prize of Barcelona in Basle, Switzerland, on 21 May 1969.

Still, we will always have Rotterdam.

---

¹ I quote: “Why bring Liverpool into “Evertonia”? Well, just because we want to wish Liverpool all success tomorrow, and may they become the first British club to win the European Cup. Let’s get it on Merseyside. That’s our primary wish.” Good grief.

Sources:

Publications:
Jon Berman and Malcolm Dome, Everton Greats – Where Are They Now? 1997
James Corbett, Everton – The School of Science, 2003
David France and Becky Tallentire, Gwladys Street's Holy Trinity, 2001
George Orr, Everton in the 60s, 1995
Steve Pearce, Shoot. The ultimate stats and facts guide to English league football, 1997
Ivan Ponting, Everton – Player By Player, 1992
Ken Rogers, Goodison Glory, 1998
Various official Everton programmes, 1962-1975
When Skies Are Grey, issue 105, December 2003

Databases:
Tony Brown and Andy Ellis, Everton F.C. 1887-1999. A Year-by-Year History, 1999
Jeff Hurley, Everton AFC Database (1887-1996), 1996

Principal Web sites:
Euro Cups Online (galeb.etf.bg.ac.yu/~mirad/archive.html)
European Cups Archive (rsssf.com/ec/ecomp.html)
Fussballdaten (fussballdaten.de)
UEFA (uefa.com)

---

Reader Responses

Selected thoughts from readers

---

Add Your Thoughts

Only registered users of Evertonia can participate in discussions.

» Log in now

Or Join as Evertonia Member — it takes just a few minutes and will allow you to post your thoughts on artices across the site.