Did You Know?

Things you may or may not know about Everton Football Club:

• In 1904, Sheffield Wednesday provided the only instance of a club failing to win after leading 5-0 at half-time... because Everton scored 5 in the second half.
• When Everton secured the League Championship in 1931-32, they lost an amazing 12 games (out of 42) in the process – a dubious record!
• Everton won successive home games 9-3, 8-1, 7-2 and 9-2 on their way to the League championship in 1932.
• Everton's worst start to a League season came in the 1994-95 season under Mike Walker. The Blues did not record a victory until the 13th match but went on to win the FA Cup the following May under Joe Royle!
• The sale of Dixie Dean's medals realised £28,000 in 1991.
• Legendary goalkeeper Ted Sagar spent 23 years at Goodison Park between 1929 and 1952 but he only played 16 league seasons because of World War II
• The first complete match to be televised was when Everton lost 3-2 at Arsenal on 29 August 1936
• Everton (1986) are one of seven clubs to have finished runners-up in both the League championship and FA Cup in the same season.
• Shirt numbers were first worn as an experiment in the 1933 FA Cup Final when Everton beat Manchester City 3-0.
• In 1958, Goodison Park was the first stadium with under-soil electric heating to beat the winter frost.
• The last Wembley attendance to top 100,000 was for the 1985 FA Cup Final between Everton and Manchester United.
• Before the demise of the old Wembley Stadium in 2000, the last time England played a home fixture away from Wembley was in January 1966 for a friendly against Poland at Goodison Park.
• England also played an away fixture at Goodison Park in May 1973, when "the Troubles" in Northern Ireland led to their home game being played there for safety reasons.
• Everton were one of the three clubs who were founder members of the Football League in 1888 and the Premier League in 1992 – Blackburn and Aston Villa being the other two.
• Of the title-winning players have gone on to win championships as managers, fFormer Evertonians Joe Mercer and Howard Kendall are two of them.
• Everton jointly held the record with Liverpool for most points accumulated in a top flight season before Manchester City racked up 100 2017-18.
• Liverpool is the only city – through Everton or Liverpool – to have staged top-flight football in every League season since 1888.
• Just four clubs have won the (old) 2nd Division and the First Division titles in successive seasons: Everton (1931-32), Liverpool, Tottenham and Ipswich Town
• The first FA Cup tie to be shown on closed circuit television was the 5th round match between Everton and Liverpool in March 1967.  A combined total of 105,000 people saw the game, which remains the biggest single attendance for an FA Cup tie other than the final
• The lowest ever top-flight attendance since the war was for the Wimbledon v Everton match at Selhurst Park in 1993
• The record number of career hat-tricks scored was by William "Dixie" Dean for Tranmere and Everton between 1924 and 1938
• Dixie Dean scored in 12 consecutive games in Division 2 in the 1930-31 season.
• The most goals scored for one club was 349 by Dixie Dean for Everton.
• Dean still holds the record for the most league goals in a season with 60 in 39 matches in the 1927-28 season.  He scored 82 in all competitions that year!
• The last time an Everton player finished League top scorer was when Gary Lineker scored 30 in 1985-86
• Everton are third behind Liverpool and Sheffield Wednesday for the greatest number of opening-day games won - 46 out of 97.
• Everton have never won the League Cup
• Until the 21st Century, Everton had appeared in more FA Cup Semi-Finals than any other club; they're now third behind Manchester United and Arsenal
• Only Manchester United and Arsenal (both 20) have appeared in more FA Cup Finals than Everton
• Goodison Park staged the FA Cup Final in 1894
• David Moyes was Everton's 15th manager since the War; Carlo Ancelotti is the 20th
• Despite securing their lowest points haul (using 3 pts for a win) since 1888-89, Everton somehow avoided relegation in 2003-04
• Everton were until very recently top of the all-time top flight league table