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Memory Lane — Game 4

Patrick recaps games against Ipswich, Newcastle, Cardiff and Liverpool.

Forty Years Ago — 1973-74: Game 4

Ipswich Town were the visitors at Goodison and with Everton’s new manager Billy Bingham yet to register a league win, it was an opportunity for his side to put that right. But Ipswich Town and their manager Bobby Robson, who had been linked with the manager’s vacancy at Everton, during the summer, were a good side and had finished a creditable fourth in the division last term, where only the soccer powerhouses of Liverpool, Arsenal and Leeds United had finished above them. Ipswich Town like Everton had yet to taste victory in the league and they only had draws to show from their opening fixtures including a draw against Leicester City (1-1) at Portman Road and a high scoring draw with West Ham United (3-3) at Upton Park.

David Exall Everton’s Promotions Manager and Magazine Editor, reacts to criticism levelled at the club for being too commercial in its outlook and neglecting the football side of the business. He claims that it is only when the team is failing to perform out on the pitch that people look for reasons as to why this should be, and those critics, in his opinion, wrongly conclude that the club has taken its eye off the ball. He insists that most of the activities that his department promote are not for the sole reason of making a profit but to help to foster good relations with existing supporters and hopefully also attract new supporters to the club. Mr Exall also says that because of falling attendances, mostly due to poor results on the field, in the last couple of seasons, the need for extra income is paramount, in order to help the club continue to meet the demands of modern day soccer. To sum up he says that his department is there to help Everton Football Club and its supporters.

Ipswich Town is ‘a small town club’ according to the feature in the match programme and their team are admired by many for defying the odds and genuinely competing with the cash rich ‘big city’ clubs. During last season Ipswich saw their record attendance at Portman Road of 33,525 reached in their match with Arsenal. Many neutrals believed that they deservedly achieved a UEFA cup berth last term and the reward for their endeavours? – A trip to Real Madrid next month.

Undoubtedly shrewd management is the key to their success and the article claims that Bobby Robson has made them the Southern equivalent of Burnley by following the Lancashire club’s recipe of getting in young players and developing them into first team regulars. Bobby Robson had been at the helm for five years and it had not been plain sailing, especially at the start of his reign as some Ipswich fans believed he wasn’t the right man for the job. In an extract of an Interview with Matt D’Arcy for the Manchester Evening News, Robson says that he “can’t see anything going wrong for Ipswich for at least the next seven years”.

He adds that providing the side sticks together and the club can keep its best players which it has every intention of doing then there is no reason that Ipswich Town can’t win silverware in the next few years. A bold prediction by Mr Robson and a correct one as it turns out – Ipswich Town beating Arsenal to win the FA Cup in 1978 and adding the Uefa Cup in 1981 by virtue of beating the Dutch side AZ Alkmaar 3-0 in the final.

Everton’s most expensive signing Joe Harper is the featured player in today’s magazine, where Billy Bingham is on the record as saying that the two Joes – Royle and Harper will form a twin warhead which will bring the Blues a stockpile of goals this season. As for Joe Harper, he is looking forward to his partnership with Joe Royle and claims that it is the fittest he has been in his career and puts it mostly down to the rigorous training schedule which included time spent on the sands at Ainsdale. Training on the sand whilst unfamiliar to Joe has helped him to shave 5 seconds off his set-sprint times. As for the fledgling season Joe remarks ‘The facilities at Everton are the best I have ever come across’ and he thinks that the bookies may come unstuck by having Everton marked down as outsiders for the honours, this he claims is due to the ‘spirit and fire in the club’ at the moment.

If you had fancied attending the Blues away game at Derby the following Saturday you could either travel by train at the cost of £1.05p or by coach courtesy of Sunniways Travel for 90p. A Match ticket would cost a maximum of 55p for the terraces or 1.40p for the most expensive seat the cheapest seat available would have cost 90p. A new Everton Shoulder Bag was available at the club shops priced at £1.30

The vast majority of the 32,469 people who had turned out for the game would have gone home extremely happy as Everton beat Ipswich Town by three goals to nil, the goals coming from John Connolly (8’), John Hurst (28’) and Joe Harper (88’). As Joe had also helped to set up John Hurst’s goal, Billy Bingham’s fitness regime seemed to be paying dividends.
According to the caption accompanying Gary Talbot’s expert match photograph’s this was the first time Everton had scored three times in a league match since last December. Doubtless Mr Bingham went home a happy and relieved man now that he and the club had gained their first league win, although apart from the “goal gallery” there are no reactions in the subsequent programmes about this game.

1973-74 First Division Saturday, 1 September 1973
Ipswich Town (Goodison Park), Score 3-0 (Connolly, Hurst & Harper) Attendance: 32,469
Lawson; Darracott, Newton, Kenyon, Hurst; Kendall, Harvey (Bernard); Lyons, Royle, Harper, Connolly.

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Thirty Years Ago — 1983-84: Game 4

Ipswich Town were not the force they had been under the tutelage of Bobby Robson, having lost seven of their home league fixtures in 82-83, but a good away record had helped them too finish in ninth place. Ipswich Town’s start to the season had been encouraging having taken seven points from a possible nine and they had seen off Tottenham Hotspur, beating the London side 3-1, at Portman Road. Everton on the other hand, had had a mixed start to the season, with a win a draw and a defeat from their opening three games and scoring a meagre two goals in the process.

Ipswich manager, Bobby Ferguson was optimistic for the forthcoming fixtures, but whilst pleased with the good start, he informed the supporters that he and his team would not be resting on their laurels. Ferguson also looked on in envy at the transfer funds available to Everton and highlighted the fact that International players, Mick Mills, Arnold Murhen, Frans Thijssen and Alan Brazil had all left the club the previous season and that rather than buy in new players, he had had to replace them from within.

In their ‘Flashback’ feature, Ipswich Town look back on matches from the past, with a brief mention of Everton’s results on the same day. In 1963, Everton lost at home to Burnley 3-4 and in 1973 lost 2-1 at Derby, not good omens for today’s fixture. In the section focussing on the visitors, the author contradicts Bobby Ferguson’s envy of Everton’s available transfer funds, as they say that the amount of money available to buy players is now a shoestring budget when compared to the funds available to Everton FC in the not too distant past.

Ipswich Town’s sponsors of the day, Pioneer, show off their new hi-tech product in a full page advertisement, they say you won’t believe your ears when you use the LaserDisc and invite potential customers to a wine and cheese event at the Theatre Royal in Norwich, in order to see and hear the product for themselves. The same company are offering one of these new machines to the winner of the Superfan competition, who is to be nominated by other Ipswich fans. This is a generous looking prize, as the RRP of this new machine is £600, the equivalent of 120 visits to Portman Road where a maximum of a Fiver is charged to stand on the terraces. Cinema goers who had the opportunity to visit the Gaumont could view ‘Porky’s The Next Day’ or if you were under 18, the latest Bond movie ‘Octopussy’ was the alternative movie.

Those who preferred to support the live music scene could visit the same venue as they had a variety of artistes booked to appear in the coming month, including Elvis Costello, Level 42, Shakatak and my personal favourite? Mr Sidney Devine. If you fancied a pint then Tolly-Cobbold was the local brew being served in the ground, I bet I’ve had a few pints of that in my time, but I don’t actually remember, although if you did happen to attend a Sidney Devine concert it would probably help to down a few pints of the said brew, before, during and after his performance.

Ipswich Town midfielder Tony Kinsella selects his ‘hero’ and in a full page feature he recalls how he attempted to meet his personal hero, Stevie Wonder. The opportunity arose whilst he was playing for Tampa Bay Rowdies against New York Cosmos in the North American Soccer League. Unfortunately for Tony, due to the number of people hanging about after the game, he didn’t manage to realise his dream. Frans Thijsenn, an ex-player of Ipswich Town, who is now plying his trade in Canada is given a two-page interview and he talks about how there is less pressure on him at his new club the ‘Vancouver Whitecaps’ than there was playing in the European leagues. Pictured is the home of the Whitecaps, BC Place which according to the caption cost £60m to build. [I wonder if it still exists? And if so, how much would it cost today?]

As the portents of previous matches on this day had foretold, Everton left Portman Road with a flea in their ear suffering a 3-0 reverse as Ipswich maintained their good start and Everton’s start was beginning to look slightly worrying. After a goalless first half, Paul Mariner, John Wark and Robin Turner scored the goals for the home side and the Everton Manager, Howard Kendall lamented John Bailey’s error for Ipswich Town’s opening goal and how it had allowed Ipswich to show just how good a team they could be when going in front, although disappointed, Howard felt that his Everton side had more than matched the home team in the first 45 minutes. Coincidentally two of the three scorers that day had appeared in the 1981 Movie ‘Escape to Victory’ and Paul Mariner wasn’t one of them.

1983-84 First Division Tuesday, September 6th 1983
Ipswich Town Portman Road Score 0-3 Attendance: 16,543
Arnold, Harper, Bailey (Reid), Ratcliffe, Higgins, Richardson, Curran, Steven, Sharp, Johnson, Sheedy

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Twenty Years Ago — 1993-94: Game 4

St. James Park was the venue for Everton’s second away game of the season. Newcastle had drawn at Old Trafford and lost at Coventry City’s Highfield Road. They had also lost to Tottenham in their opening Premier League home game. Having gained maximum points from their opening fixtures Everton would surely see this as an opportunity to add another away victory to the maximum points that they had gained in their first day win at Southampton.

Kevin Keegan was the man in charge of the Geordies on their return to the top flight after an absence of four seasons. As it turned out a 1-0 defeat was the result of the long journey to the North-East and a crowd of nearly 35,000 most of whom went home happy having defeated an up to then unbeaten Everton, courtesy of a first half goal from Malcolm Allen.

1993-94 Premier League, Wednesday 25th August 1993
Newcastle United St. James’ Park Score 0-1 Attendance 34,833
Southall, Holmes (Barlow), Jackson, Ablett, Hinchcliffe, Ward, Stuart, Ebbrell, Beagrie (Preki), Rideout, Cottee with the unused Substitute being Jason Kearton

As I don’t have the match-day magazine for this particular fixture and because Cardiff City was Everton’s last opponent, I thought I would have a trawl through my collection to find a match involving the two teams. Due to Cardiff City’s long absence from the top flight matches between the two clubs are few and far between.

Prior to the current season, Cardiff’s last adventure in the top flight was in 1961-62 when they were relegated after finishing in 21st place a point behind Fulham and four points above bottom club Chelsea. Cardiff’s penultimate game in that relegation season saw them visit Goodison Park where they suffered an 8-3 defeat, as Roy Vernon grabbed a hat-trick and saw Billy Bingham, Jimmy Gabriel, Dennis Stevens, Derek Temple and Alex Young joining him on the score-sheet. As I don’t have any matchday magazines from that season, the game I will focus on is the last occasion the two teams met in a competitive fixture, which was a League Cup second leg tie that took place in September 1979.

The Ninian News item reports that the last time Cardiff Skipper Phil Dwyer and Everton Captain Mike Lyons had met prior to this two-legged League Cup tie was for the TV Superteams contest when they were on the same side in a star-studded football team which competed against a team of athletes. Unfortunately for Mike and Phil they lost out to the athletes who beat the footballers in the final event a Tug-of-War.

Cardiff manager Richie Morgan was in high spirits in his programme notes as his side had just beaten Wrexham at the Racecourse and he felt that it was the ideal boost for his team before their attempt to overturn a two goal deficit from the first leg at Goodison a week earlier. Brian Kidd had scored both goals in that first leg tie.

Brian Harris former Everton player and now the assistant manager of Cardiff, in his notes says how it is the first time in his life that he has wanted Everton to lose as it’s the first time he has been on the opposite side of the fence to his beloved Blues. He said by the coming Saturday he will be back to normal and hoping that Everton have won and he will be awaiting the arrival of the Football Echo which is sent down to him every week. He also reveals that he grew up supporting Liverpool and signed for them as an amateur, but due to a typing error he was sacked but was then invited to join Everton.

The typing error according to Brian was made on the card sent to him stating the Kick-Off time for a Colts match was an hour later than it ought to have been and Brian decided he wasn’t turning out for just one half of football and so he decided to play the full 90 minutes for his local youth team. Having lost the opportunity to impress Liverpool, Les Bryan, who at this time is a scout employed by Hull City, advised him to give Everton a go, Brian took his advice and that led him to signing for Everton on amateur forms.

But Brian didn’t put all his eggs in the football basket and continued to serve as an apprentice and he became one of the few part-time players of his era. He made his full debut against Burnley at the age of 19 and did not sign full time professional forms until he was 22. Brian was extremely proud of his time at Everton where he had won a First Division Championship and FA Cup Winners medal.
If you were a fashion conscious person in Cardiff you would have been able to visit Bona Toggs who claimed that they were the only official stockists of Gentlefolk jeans. Other jeans were available including Levi, Wrangler, Lee, Falmer, Easyjeans and Ritzy. If you wanted to use the telephone, Cardiff Telephones show that the cost of a 3 minute cheap-rate trunk call would be 9p whilst showing that the same call in 1935 would have been 5p. An advert for the forthcoming West Germany v Wales game to be played in October 1979 states that 3 day tours by coach and air could be purchased from £80pp.

Cardiff City didn’t quite manage to turn the tie around as they beat Everton 1-0, which probably disappointed Brian Harris and pleased him all at the same time. A crowd of 9,698 (18,061) witnessed the game where Buchanan scored in the 87th minute and the Bluebirds had spurned an opportunity in the first half when Everton keeper George Wood had saved Ronson’s penalty. Gordon Lee was proud of the defensive display that his team had given and was delighted that Everton were in the draw for the next round.

Football League Cup, Round 2, 2nd Leg; Wednesday 5 September 1979
Cardiff City (Ninian Park) Score 0-1 (Everton win 2-1 on aggregate)
Wood; Barton, Bailey, Lyons, Higgins; Ross, Hartford, Stanley; King, Kidd, Eastoe.

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Ten Years Ago — 2003-04: Game 4

Liverpool were the visitors to Goodison Park for the earlier than usual meeting between the old rivals in the latest game of the series. Gerard Houlier’s charges arrived at Goodison as League Cup holders but he and his team’s ambitions were loftier and they itched to be competing for that elusive league title win which in the last couple of season’s had seemed to be attainable. Liverpool had beaten Everton in the corresponding game at Goodison last April and they were confident of doing the same again today as they had added Harry Kewell and Steve Finnan to their already expensive squad. But they had endured a stuttering start to the league campaign losing to Roman Abromovich’s Chelsea at Anfield by the odd goal in three and gaining two points from successive goalless draws with Tottenham and Aston Villa.

David Moyes was disappointed that he was unable to secure the services of Fulham’s Sean Davis prior to the transfer window closing. The player was keen on joining the Blues and David Moyes had still wanted to purchase the player, but an injury problem meant that Sean was unable to pass a medical and David Moyes didn’t think that it was prudent to spend £5m on a player who might spend a long time on the treatment table. Moyes warned that new additions would be required and he doesn’t want a repeat of last season when he felt that the squad wasn’t big enough to cope with the demands of the Premier League. David Moyes is to make an approach to Philip Don who is part of the referee’s association to complain about the treatment that young Wayne Rooney is getting from the referees particularly the booking that the Everton striker received in the mid-week game at Charlton which Mr Moyes felt was out of context within that particular game.

Michael Dunford says that the board has an open mind as to whether Everton remain at Goodison Park in the long term or whether they move to a new facility. The collapse of the Kings Dock a few months ago was due to ‘escalating cost’ according to Mr Dunford and he adds that if any viable alternatives are forthcoming then the board will consider them but they will not be rushed into any hasty decisions. Mr Dunford is pleased that Goodison will be the venue for next month’s under 21 International between England and Portugal.

In a two page spread dedicated to the City of Liverpool being named Capital of Culture for 2008 and in an interview with Sue Woodward the creative director of Liverpool’s successful bid, she says that having two football clubs certainly helped to sway the judges in their decision to award the prize to the city. ‘Media Watch’ interviews ITV’s commentator Peter Drury and he says that ‘Everton is what I would term a ‘proper football club’ and added ‘if you watch football all over the country, as I do, you never come across anybody who’ll say that they hate Everton. There seems to be an acceptance that Everton stand for something almost old fashioned.’

Claire Sweeney, the Everton supporting, actress was another celebrity interviewed, she took time out of her busy schedule to say ‘that she has always been an Evertonian’ and she reveals that her mother worked in the old Everton 500 Club. Her dad let the family down as he was the only red in a family of Blues. The first game she saw at Goodison was the classic FA Cup encounter between Everton and Liverpool in which eight goals were shared.

‘Bits ‘n’ bobs’ informs us that the first time Liverpool FC lost whilst wearing their all red strip was in April 1965 at Goodison Park, when Everton beat them by two goals to one. ‘Premier Points’ cites Kevin Keegan the Manchester City manager and his belief that his club’s new Stadium makes them the ‘luckiest club in the world to have a stadium like this. It will be the making of Manchester City.’

[If only Manchester had won capital of culture and Liverpool had held the Commonwealth games – never mind eh!]

There was to be no repeat of the 1965 victory for Everton as Liverpool, ran out 3-0 winners, as Michael Owen scored twice and Harry Kewell got the other in front of a sold out Goodison Park and a Live TV audience, to gain their first win of the Premier League season. David Moyes was bitterly disappointed with the result he didn’t think that the margin of the defeat was merited as it didn’t reflect the game as a whole. He thought that the Blues had opportunities but once again, it was Liverpool’s day and not Everton’s.

2003-04 Premier League, Saturday, 30 August 2003
Liverpool (Goodison Park), Score 0-3; Attendance: 40,200
Simonsen; Watson, Pistone, Stubbs, Yobo; Unsworth(Gravesen), Linderoth (Ferguson); Radzinski, Rooney, Naysmith, Pembridge.
Unused Subs: Turner, Weir, Chadwick.

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