The old Central League was the mainstay of reserve football for many years from 1911. But at ToffeeWeb, we go right back to the very roots of Everton's second-string...
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EVERTON SWIFTS AND EVERTON ATHLETIC
Initially, games with other clubs were a rarity and, when they occurred, the clubs usually agreed to play two games simultaneously. The best players would play at one club's home ground, and the second team would play at the other ground. So the pattern for first-team and reserve-team football was established.
But it took some time before it was organised into leagues we would recognise today. And the reserve teams often took on other names. There are records of some matches played in 1886-87 by Everton Swifts.
The first season of the Liverpool and District League was 1889-90. Its second season, 1890-91, featured a team called Everton Athletic — probably yet another name for the Reserves:
Season P W D L GF GA Pts Pos 1890-91 19 8 2 9 51 43 18 9th
An interesting precursor to the imminent split in 1892 that briefly spawned a new club in Liverpool, called Everton Athletic and Football Grounds Limited before the FA forced that name to be changed to "Liverpool".
THE COMBINATION
Everton Reserves joined The Combination in 1891, where they began a remarkable record, with three successive championships:
Season P W D L GF GA Pts Pos 1891-92 22 17 2 3 99 20 36 1st 1892-93 22 18 2 2 107 13 38 1st 1893-94 18 15 2 1 77 19 32 1st
In 1894-95, Everton Reserves switched to the Lancashire Combination, and were duly crowned Champions of that competition also:
Season P W D L GF GA Pts Pos 1894-95 24 20 3 1 137 33 43 1st
Look at that goal-scoring record — an average of almost six goals in each game! The next season, they returned to The Combination, continuing where they had left off:
Season P W D L GF GA Pts Pos 1895-96 14 11 2 1 54 12 24 1st 1896-97 18 14 3 1 61 14 31 1st 1897-98 24 15 5 4 65 25 35 1st 1898-99 28 23 4 1 112 18 50 1st
In the words of Everton historian, Thomas Keates: "The Superiority of our Reserves to the teams they opposed was overwhelmingly demonstrated by the single and aggregate results of the matches played, as shown in detail by these tables." (History of the Everton Football Club, 1878 - 1928).
LANCASHIRE COMBINATION
Season P W D L GF GA Pts Pos 1899-00 30 20 4 6 78 28 44 3rd 1900-01 34 29 2 3 114 22 60 1st 1901-02 34 24 3 7 86 35 51 2nd 1902-03 34 16 7 11 74 54 39 6th 1903-04 34 26 6 2 114 32 58 1st 1904-05 34 13 8 13 49 41 34 9th 1905-06 38 14 10 14 64 63 38 8th 1906-07 38 24 5 9 90 47 53 3rd 1907-08 38 26 7 5 109 38 59 1st 1908-09 38 23 8 7 104 51 54 1st 1909-10 38 22 8 8 87 39 52 1st 1910-11 38 21 7 10 82 35 49 2nd
Everton Reserves, along with a host of other reserves teams, left the Lancashire Combination in 1911 to join the new Central League.
THE CENTRAL LEAGUE
Season P W D L GF GA Pts Pos 1911-12 32 14 8 10 66 51 36 3rd 1912-13 38 18 5 15 79 68 41 10th 1913-14 38 20 9 9 83 57 49 1st 1914-15 38 14 6 18 71 77 34 12th 1915-16 1916-17 Central League suspended 1917-18 during World War I 1918-19 1919-20 42 19 8 15 83 66 46 8th 1920-21 42 21 6 15 85 74 48 8th
The Football League's Division Three (North) was formed in 1921 and amongst its founder members were all the local clubs who were at that time playing their first teams in the Central League:
The composition of the Central League was relatively stable for the next 60 years, with 22 reserves teams from the north of England imitating the structure of the Football League's First Division. This is the record for Everton Reserves, who won the Championship on just three more occasions:
Season P W D L GF GA Pts Pos 1921-22 42 19 13 10 76 58 51 3rd 1922-23 42 23 11 8 96 63 57 3rd 1923-24 42 14 18 10 68 72 38 12th 1924-25 42 27 6 9 90 49 60 2nd 1925-26 42 14 12 16 73 62 40 16th 1926-27 42 18 9 15 81 71 45 9th 1927-28 42 16 10 16 108 90 42 13th 1928-29 42 18 4 20 88 94 40 13th 1929-30 42 15 6 21 85 96 36 14th 1930-31 42 19 4 19 98 100 42 12th 1931-32 42 17 4 21 100 86 38 13th 1932-33 42 20 8 14 94 65 48 6th 1933-34 42 16 8 18 83 90 40 13th 1934-35 42 22 8 12 96 75 52 3rd 1935-36 42 20 4 18 85 79 44 11th 1936-37 42 15 15 12 85 81 45 10th 1937-38 42 31 3 8 109 44 65 1st 1938-39 42 20 7 15 69 74 47 6th 1939-40 1940-41 1941-42 Central League suspended 1942-43 during World War II 1943-44 1944-45 1945-46 40 12 4 24 72 99 28 20th 1946-47 42 18 8 16 79 75 44 10th 1947-48 42 22 8 12 87 63 52 5th 1948-49 42 18 4 20 49 58 40 13th 1949-50 42 13 14 15 45 49 40 13th 1950-51 42 19 11 12 77 74 49 5th 1951-52 42 25 8 9 86 47 58 2nd 1952-53 42 16 13 13 73 65 45 8th 1953-54 42 24 10 8 90 46 58 1st 1954-55 42 21 9 12 72 46 51 6th 1955-56 42 24 9 9 82 50 57 3rd 1956-57 42 20 9 13 88 65 49 6th 1957-58 42 22 9 11 89 56 53 2nd 1958-59 42 11 9 22 61 83 31 18th 1959-60 42 15 13 14 72 62 43 10th 1960-61 42 12 11 19 60 79 35 18th 1961-62 42 13 12 17 62 69 38 15th 1962-63 42 20 11 11 80 60 51 7th 1963-64 42 17 7 18 77 59 41 11th 1964-65 42 26 8 8 103 50 60 2nd 1965-66 42 24 5 13 92 62 53 4th 1966-67 42 26 7 9 100 50 59 2nd 1967-68 42 24 10 8 93 45 58 1st 1968-69 42 21 7 14 54 50 49 6th 1969-70 42 20 12 10 75 42 52 5th 1970-71 42 22 12 8 69 41 56 3rd 1971-72 42 25 9 8 82 41 59 2nd 1972-73 42 20 9 13 55 41 49 7th 1973-74 42 20 11 11 68 41 51 4th 1974-75 42 19 10 13 51 38 48 5th 1975-76 42 18 8 16 70 57 44 8th 1976-77 42 15 14 13 51 46 44 9th 1977-78 42 19 15 8 54 39 53 4th 1978-79 42 18 7 17 50 49 43 13th 1979-80 42 20 10 12 73 46 50 6th 1980-81 42 17 11 14 58 53 45 8th 1981-82 42 30 3 9 98 32 63 2nd
CENTRAL LEAGUE � DIVISION ONE
Season P W D L GF GA Pts Pos 1982-83 30 17 8 5 47 20 42 3rd 1983-84 30 16 3 11 53 35 51 5th 1984-85 34 16 3 15 73 59 51 9th 1985-86 34 12 6 16 36 44 42 13th 1986-87 34 17 8 9 58 31 59 5th 1987-88 34 14 5 15 57 46 47 8th 1988-89 34 19 7 8 70 35 64 2nd 1989-90 34 16 5 13 58 53 53 8th
PONTINS CENTRAL LEAGUE
Season P W D L GF GA Pts Pos 1990-91 34 16 5 13 59 51 53 5th 1991-92 34 10 7 17 44 67 37 15th
Everton Reserves were relegated for the first time ever... but they bounced right back into the top flight:
Pontins League, Division 2 Season P W D L GF GA Pts Pos 1992-93 34 21 10 3 78 44 73 2nd
The best season for Everton Reserves in the Pontins League (1994-95) coincided with the year that the senior team won the FA Cup, and preceded one of the best early seasons for Everton in the new FA Premier League:
Pontins League, Division 1 Season P W D L GF GA Pts Pos 1993-94 34 12 7 15 54 50 43 13th 1994-95 34 17 10 7 63 32 61 2nd 1995-96 34 14 10 10 50 41 52 7th
PONTINS PREMIER DIVISION
Season P W D L GF GA Pts Pos ToffeeWeb Links 1996-97 24 8 6 10 31 42 30 10th Everton Reserves 1997-98 24 9 6 9 33 32 33 7th Everton Reserves 1998-99 24 11 5 8 35 28 38 5th Everton Reserves
FA RESERVE/U-21 PREMIER LEAGUE (North Section)
Season P W D L GF GA Pts Pos ToffeeWeb Links 1999-2k 24 7 10 7 44 40 31 9th Everton Reserves 2000-01 22 14 2 6 35 22 44 1st Everton Reserves 2001-02 24 8 8 8 30 30 32 9th Everton Reserves 2002-03 28 12 7 9 44 36 43 6th Everton Reserves 2003-04 26 10 8 8 37 33 38 7th Everton Reserves 2004-05 28 8 11 9 23 34 35 8th Everton Reserves 2005-06 28 10 8 20 31 35 38 8th Everton Reserves 2006-07 18 3 7 8 18 25 16 9th Everton Reserves 2007-08 18 4 4 10 21 31 16 8th Everton Reserves 2008-09 20 5 7 8 19 25 22 8th Everton Reserves 2009-10 18 5 3 10 17 30 16 9th Everton Reserves 2010-11 19 4 3 12 23 34 15 4th Everton Reserves 2011-12 22 9 8 5 38 29 35 3rd Everton Reserves
Subsequently, in recent years, the role and even the name of the Reserves has come more and more into question, with a thinner and thinner first-team squad, and younger and younger support players from Everton's Youth Academy who can in no way be considered as true "reserves". This progressive diminishment of the Reserves was accelerated in 2006 with the decision to remove from the FA Premier Reserves League all clubs whose first teams were not in the FA Premier League proper. Hence the reduction to 10 teams (north section) and only 18 games in the season.
In 2010-11, the North section was split into Groups A and B, each team playing 19 games under some more bizarre fixture changes in response to Fulham, Birmingham and Newcastle pulling their sides out of the League. Everton were bottom of the five teams in Group B for most of the season until they moved up with only their 4th win of the season.
The reserves represent the often overlooked and commonly maligned flipside from the glamour of first-team professional football. Yet this history demonstrates the roots of Reserves football can be traced right back to the earliest years of organized league football, at a time when Everton held absolute supremacy over all their local rivals at this level. With the latest incarnations, however. the "reserves" tag has finally been discarded...
FA PREMIER UNDER-21 LEAGUE (Group 1)
On 3 August 2012, in line with the Premier League's Elite Player Performance Plan, it was formally announced that the Premier Reserve League would cease to exist, replaced by a new Professional Development League 1, to be commonly known as the FA Barclays Premier Under-21 League. A similar U18 league was also created. Teams were ranked according to the categorising of the club academy (a categorisation that would be re-assessed every three years). Everton are a Category A team.
It marked the beginning of a new era for the increasingly irrelevant Reserves, whose history stretches back to an age that pre-dated the formation of the Football League in 1888. The Under-21s were designed to represent the end product of the Academies being strongly promoted at Premier League clubs to address the increasing dearth of decent English players coming up through the ranks as foreign players dominated the senior competition, arguably damaging the English National side.
The competition was not optional, and participation from all 20 Premier League clubs therefore confirmed (although Wigan, QPR and Swansea were initially in Professional Development League 2, sitting outside of the U21 Premier Reserve League). The new FA Premier Under-21 League format included 17 Premier League sides and 6 Championship sides. Participating clubs were split into three National Groups for the first stage of the season, the 8 best then playing in an Elite Group for the second stage, with two Qualifying Groups of 7 teams each beneath them. .
These seasons started to see more detailed internet coverage of all teams at the excellent Youthhawk Wiki site (season links included below).
Season P W D L GF GA Pts Pos ToffeeWeb Links 2012-13 26 12 8 6 37 30 44 4th Everton Under-21s 2013-14 21 8 6 7 28 29 30 11th Everton Under-21s 2014-15 22 8 3 11 32 37 27 10th Everton Under-21s 2015-16 22 10 7 5 35 27 37 3rd Everton Under-21s
In the first season, Everton finished 4th in Group 1 and just missed qualification for the Elite Group but won their Qualification Group 1 in the second stage and did get into the playoffs where they beat Newcastle Utd fell at Spurs, who had the best combined league record but lost the Playoff Final to Manchester United.
The format changed in subsequent seasons:
However, with a high turnover of young players and very few able to step up to the senior squad, the revamped Under-21s took a while to really raise the profile of the Academy among most rank-and-file fans, whose focus remained firmly on the senior squad and the excitement of new foreign players injected every six months via the far more interesting transfer window.
FA PREMIER LEAGUE 2 (Division 1)
Premier League 2 debuted in the 2016-17 campaign as the new top tier of the Professional Development League. It was rebranded from the previous Premier Under-21 League, with the age range changed from Under-21 to Under-23. Clubs were also still permitted to field three 'over-age' outfield players and one 'over-age' goalkeeper. The match calendar was set to be fixed at the start of the season with no movement of match rounds permitted; clubs were only be permitted flexibility regarding on which weekend day (Friday to Monday) the games would be played.
Promotion and relegation of two teams would continue to apply, with the teams finishing 11th and 12th in Division 1 relegated, with the team finishing top of Division 2 automatically promoted. Those teams finishing 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th in Division 2 would compete in a promotion playoff. In addition, a slew of mini-league/cup competitions were introduced in an effort to increase competiveness and narrow the gap to first-team football.
In the first and third seasons of the new competition, Everton did superbly well under manager David Unsworth to clinch the Premier League 2 Championship trophy:
Season P W D L GF GA Pts Pos ToffeeWeb Links 2016-17 22 15 3 4 48 21 48 1st Everton Under-23s 2017-18 22 9 3 10 32 36 30 7th Everton Under-23s 2018-19 22 12 5 5 31 14 41 1st Everton Under-23s 2019-20 18 5 7 6 32 33 22 8th Everton Under-23s 2020-21 24 10 6 8 44 28 36 5th Everton Under-23s 2021-22 26 8 5 13 33 54 29 11th Everton Under-23s 2022-23 26 10 4 12 39 50 34 8th Everton Under-21s
With a financial incentive to retain young players and very few able to step up to the senior squad, the revamped Under-23s attained greater visibility for the second string, with the recognition that an effective production line could pay for itself through the sale of promising youngsters to the lower leagues if they did not make the highly competitive Premier League grade.
But these successes would later be viewed sourly by a section of the Everton fanbase, who believed David Unsworth was holding on to older players longer than he should so he could win trophies at the expense of preparing youngsters to play for the first team in the Premier League.
David Unsworth left his post in the Everton Academy soon after Kevin Thelwell became the Director of Football in April 2022, and PL2 chnaged the age limit fro the following season, bringing it down to Under-21 again with Paul Tait in charge and realising some small improvement over what had been one of the worst seasons (Unsworth's last).
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