Column

Memory Lane – Match 18

Games against Southampton (A), QPR (A), and one of those Premier League defeats at Old Trafford

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Forty Years Ago — 1973-74: Match 18

Southampton, for the first time in their recent history of matches with Everton, had taken to the field with Lawrie McMenemy as their Manager; Ted Bates, who had been the manager of the ‘Saints’ until Lawrie had taken over on 15 November 1973, had become the Chief Executive of the club he had served since before the Second World War. Ted had been the manager of Southampton since 1955, Mr McMenemy had joined The Saints in July 1973 with a view to becoming the manager, but he hadn’t officially been given the position until December 1973.

1973-74 was Southampton’s seventh consecutive season in Division One, and their compact ground and noisy atmosphere had made it a difficult place for visiting teams to play. The Saints had achieved seventh place in the top division on two previous occasions in 1968-69 and 1970-71. In 1972-73 they had finished in 13th place. Their 7th-place finishes had seen the Dell welcome European football and they had reached the third round of the (Uefa) Inter-Cities Fairs Cup in 1969-70, but The Saints had lost to the holders of the trophy, Newcastle United (1-1), on the away goals rule.

Only unbeaten Leeds United (2-1) had left the Dell with maximum points thus far in the 1973-74 campaign as The Saints had beaten Wolverhampton Wanderers (2-1), Sheffield United (3-0), Liverpool (1-0) and Stoke City (3-0). Southampton had drawn with Norwich City (2-2), Burnley (2-2) and also with Tottenham Hotspur (1-1) which had been Lawrie McMenemy’s first game as manager of the club.

On their travels, Southampton had suffered a couple of heavy defeats at Derby County (2-6) and more recently at relegation threatened Chelsea (0-4), whilst their only away victory had come early in the season at St James Park against Newcastle United (1-0). The Saints had taken a share of the spoils from their away matches with QPR (1-1), Manchester City (1-1) and Birmingham City (1-1). Norwich City, conquerors of Everton in the League Cup, had also knocked Southampton (0-2) out of the competition at the Dell.

Lawrie McMenemy had paid tribute to Ted Bates the long-serving former Southampton Manager in his programme notes and he expressed his surprise about how few tributes had been paid to Ted, especially in the national media. But Lawrie said the fact that players such as Terry Paine and Mick Channon had felt they owed everything to Ted for the successful careers they had enjoyed so far, said everything about Ted and no further comment was needed – for, when a professional in any walk of life is praised and respected so much by his fellow professionals, he can say he has reached the top!

Lawrie signed off his notes by saying how honoured he was to be the manager of Southampton and that everyone at the club was focused on eventually bringing success to the club and he added “I sincerely hope you will all stick by us in the process and remember at all times think and talk about winning things – because we will you know!”

Previous matches between Southampton and Everton were recalled in an article entitled Back-Tracking; the first game featured had been The Saints' heavy defeat at Goodison Park by Everton (0-8) in November 1971 where goals from Joe Royle (2), David Johnson (2) and Alan Ball had given the Toffees a five-goal half-time lead. In the second period, David Johnson had completed his hat-trick and Joe Royle had added two more to take his total to four in the match. The other game featured had been a Southampton victory against Everton (3-2) in a midweek fixture played in February 1968, where Joe Royle had given The Blues a half-time lead, but Frank Saul, Jimmy Gabriel and Ron Davies had all scored before an Alan Ball goal had made the score look more respectable for Everton.

In the 1972-73 season, Everton had only managed a single point from their encounters with Southampton; Everton had won that point from a goalless draw at the Dell, but Southampton had beaten Everton (0-1) in the encounter at Goodison Park, courtesy of a Ron Davies goal.

In The Saints' shop, an advertisement for various items on sale included ‘Club Anoraks’ which would have cost a supporter £2.95; as there were no illustrations, I assume that the anoraks were an article of clothing and not some bloke with a stack of notebooks packed full of rainfall details at the Dell since 1898! Other items available were a Jacobean Pint Pot with Crest (80p) and an Autograph book signed by Southampton players (50p). Finally (I initially misread the advert and then realised my mistake...), Retractable and Jumbo pens were available at 10p and 15p respectively.

As Southampton’s hopes of appearing in the League Cup Final at Wembley had been scuppered by Norwich City, Saints Sidelines were offering a small number of terrace tickets for the game priced at 80p, which could be applied for by writing to the club secretary and enclosing the correct remittance.

The Match: Brian O’Neil (12’) and Mick Channon with a last minute penalty (90’) had sent Everton crashing to their third defeat of the league campaign, with all of the losses being suffered on the road. I don’t know why there were only five fixtures played on this particular Saturday; maybe it was due to the weather or perhaps due to the power shortages, but Leeds United continued their unbeaten run with a draw against QPR (2-2) at Elland Road and Liverpool had taken advantage of Everton’s defeat by beating West Ham United (1-0). With none of the other top five playing, it meant that Liverpool (24 pts) had closed the gap on Leeds United (30 pts) to six points and had put a two-point gap between themselves and the chasing pack. Southampton (20 pts), by beating Everton (22 pts), had reduced the gap on the Blues to just two points. Everton’s next fixture would be at Goodison Park, where they would play Liverpool.

1973-74 — First Division: Saturday 1 December 1973
Southampton @ The Dell, Score: 0-2, Attendance: 16,992
Everton: Lawson; Darracott, McLaughlin, Clements, Lyons; Hurst, Bernard; Harper (Seargeant), Royle, Buckley, Connolly.

Thirty Years Ago — 1983-84: Match 18

Everton’s inability to string consecutive performances and results together meant that a trip to QPR would be a stern test of their resolve and abilities. Everton hoped to pick up points on the road against sides similar to QPR, if they were going to make a successful challenge and secure a European spot.

Terry Venables, the QPR manager and Managing Director, had made good use of the players he had available to him as his team had continued to perform as well in the First Division as they had when winning the Second Division Championship in 1982-83. Terry Venables had also taken Second Division QPR to the FA Cup Final in 1982 where they had lost out to Tottenham Hotspur (0-1) at Wembley in a replay, following a 1-1 draw in the first game.

Newly promoted QPR had announced themselves in the top flight with victories over Aston Villa (2-1), Sunderland (3-0), Arsenal (2-0), Birmingham City (2-1) and Notts County (1-0) on their artificial surface at Loftus Road. They had however lost back-to-back games against Liverpool (0-1) and Luton Town (0-1), but the club could be rightly proud of their home form – although many opposition managers disliked the plastic pitch and some believed that it had given QPR an unfair advantage.

If there had have been an unfair advantage for QPR on their artificial surface, they could justifiably have argued that their results during the season weren’t solely reliant upon their plastic surface, as on their travels they had beaten Wolverhampton Wanderers (4-0), Ipswich Town (2-0), Norwich City (3-0) and West Bromwich Albion (2-1).

Out of their nine away fixtures, they had lost at Manchester United (1-3), Nottingham Forest (2-3), Coventry City (0-1) and Tottenham Hotspur (2-3); following those results, Terry Venables’s side were sat in 5th place in the First Division with 29 points from 17 games played, and they were only 5 points adrift of the league leaders.

Derek Buxton, QPR's very own statistics wizard, recalled the first meeting between Everton and QPR, which had come in an FA Cup Third Round tie played on 20 February 1915. Derek said that as QPR’s usual home ground, Park Royal, had been commandeered by the Army due to the necessities of fighting the First World War; the match had instead taken place at Stamford Bridge. A crowd of 33,000 had turned out to see the soon-to-be champions Everton beat Southern League side QPR (2-1).

The Match: Two goals from Jeremy Charles, one in each half, were enough to condemn Everton to defeat at Loftus Road, although missed chances and an Andy King missed penalty hadn’t helped The Blues’ cause, but in truth Neville Southall had also been kept busy.

Howard Kendall said that his Everton side had coped quite well on the artificial pitch, but that the lapse of concentration just before half-time, which had allowed Jeremy Charles the time and space to head his first goal from a looping corner-kick, had been bad defending by his team and that they shouldn’t have allowed it to happen.

Everton were sat in joint 14th place alongside Ipswich Town (22 pts) and Birmingham City (22 pts), as the defeat by QPR had seen their chances of qualifying for Europe through their league position significantly reduced.

The win for QPR had lifted them into 4th place in the table level on points (32 pts) with Coventry City. Manchester United (36 pts) had won their ‘live TV’ game at Old Trafford against Tottenham Hotspur (4-2), whilst Liverpool (37 pts) had bounced back from their shock defeat at the hands of Coventry City by going nap against Notts County (5-0) at Anfield, whilst West Ham United (33 pts) had lost ground on the leaders by losing at the City Ground to Nottingham Forest (0-3).

1983-84 — First Division: Saturday 17 December 1983
QPR @ Loftus Road, Score: 0-2, Attendance: 11,608
Everton: Southall; Stevens, Harper, Ratcliffe, Mountfield; Reid, Irvine, Heath, King, Johnson, Sheedy. Unused Sub: Darren Hughes.

Twenty Years Ago — 1993-94: Match 18

Everton’s fourth home fixture out of five competitive matches saw Southampton arrive at Goodison Park, in what turned out to be a significant day in the history of Everton Football Club. Former Everton star Peter Reid had been in the Southampton squad and would have been hoping to put one over his former boss, Howard Kendall.

Peter had already faced The Blues at Goodison Park, when he had come on as substitute for Manchester City earlier in the season, whilst he had been the player-manager of the Manchester club.

Everton and their manager Howard Kendall looked to complete their first league ‘double’ of the season and achieve a win against a side they had already beaten on the opening day, whilst simultaneously dispelling the disappointment of having been knocked out of the League Cup by Manchester United in their previous match at Goodison Park.

Southampton had occupied a bottom-three place in the Premier League for the majority of the season, but The Saints had kept faith with their manager, Ian Branfoot, who had only been the fifth manager to be employed by the club since 1955. Southampton had escaped the dreaded drop in May 1993 by a single point and they had been in somewhat of a decline for the previous few years, unable to replicate the 6th-place finish that they had achieved in 1990.

Although Southampton had lost their final game to Oldham Athletic (3-4) at Boundary Park, the point they had picked up in the goalless draw against Everton at the Dell, late in the season, proved to be invaluable, as Crystal Palace had crashed at Highbury against Arsenal (0-3) in their final game, and The Saints survived to add another season to their 15-year presence in the top flight.

During the 1993-94 campaign, Southampton had picked up only one win in their first eleven Premier League games which had come at the Dell against fellow strugglers Swindon Town (5-1). But their form had improved and in their previous six fixtures they had won three of them, against Newcastle United (2-1) and Tottenham Hotspur (1-0) at the Dell, and in their most recent game on the road where they had beaten Aston Villa (1-0).

Going into the game with Everton at Goodison Park, Southampton sat fourth from bottom in the table, courtesy of having a superior goal difference to Chelsea and Oldham Athletic who also had 14 points from their 17 games played.

In the matchday programme, a concerned Everton supporter from Woolton had written to the Club to ask some pertinent questions that related to the proposed development of the ground and the Park End of the ground in particular; Jim Greenwood, the Chief Executive of Everton, saw fit to answer some of the concerned fans' questions...

The supporter had wished to know why the original scheme first mooted in April 1991, which he said had been for a two-tier cantilever stand at a cost of circa £5m, had been amended by the club?

Mr Greenwood replied, “It will be a single-storey stand because of problems on the depth of the development site, which has to be within certain limits.” In response as to why Everton have adopted a more modest scheme, Mr Greenwood said that the costings from 1991 had been an estimate, and that the switch to a single tier would ensure an improved view and would give additional leg room for the fans.

As the Football Grounds Improvement Trust’s £1.3M would still leave the club needing to find £1.2M, the supporter asked how will Everton FC find the money to finance the new stand?

The CEO replied “Out of club funds. Like all other clubs engaged in ground improvements, we have to raise the money from our own resources.”
More questions regarding the re-location of the scoreboard and types of seats to be used were answered by the CEO, but a further question about the removal and or reduction of obstructed views was posed, to which Mr Greenwood answered, “Such seats are part of the construction of the stadium, and other than building more new stands, we can’t alter that. Any obstructed seat is clearly sold as such.”

Mr Greenwood responded to the supporter's accusation that Everton FC had been complacent in assuming that 40,000 seats would be enough for a successful football club and that its proposed redevelopment of Goodison Park had been modest and had showed a lack of ambition in comparison to some other Premier League clubs, including comparatively modest ones such as Nottingham Forest and Leicester City, by saying “If there has been less major reconstruction here, it is only because we have been ahead of the field. Goodison Park was close to being an all-seated stadium well before legislation was brought in. Many of the other clubs mentioned have, to this day, continued with large terraced areas which have to be replaced whatever the cost.”

Mr Alan Waterworth, a former Chairman of Everton FC who had served on the club’s board since 1969 and who had become the Chairman of the club in August 1973, had decided to leave the Board to take up his appointment as Lord Lieutenant for the County of Merseyside. The Directors offered their congratulations to Mr Waterworth, but they had also been very sad to see such a man of integrity, loyalty and knowledge leave Everton FC, which they believed he had served so well.

The Match: Tony Cottee scored the winning goal in the first-half (35’), and helped Everton to beat Southampton for the second time in the Premier League that season. Peter Reid didn’t manage to make his second appearance at Goodison, but Everton gained a valuable three points which helped them to put further distance between themselves and relegation-threatened Chelsea (14 pts) who sat third from bottom with 18 games played, in fact, Everton (24 pts) found themselves only 6 points adrift of 5th-placed Arsenal (30 pts).

Following the victory over Southampton, Howard Kendall tendered his resignation as Manager of Everton FC. In a short statement, Everton Chairman Dr David Marsh said “Everton and Howard Kendall jointly announce that his position as manager with the club has been terminated by him in accordance with the terms of his contract.”

Whilst Howard Kendall’s resignation has largely been put down to the Everton FC board’s refusal to stump up the extra-cash that Alex Ferguson and Manchester United had demanded for Dion Dublin, which in all probability is the most likely reason for his resignation. Personally, I can’t help feeling that the defeat to Manchester United in the League Cup earlier that week, and the irresistible form that Manchester United had shown in that particular season, had also affected Howard Kendall – in so much that he realised just how far his beloved Everton had fallen from the place that Manchester United occupied, and how much money and effort would have been required for the love of his life, Everton FC, to return it to its former glories.

1993-94 — Premier League: Saturday 4 December 1993
Southampton @ Goodison Park, Score: 1-0 (Cottee), Attendance: 13,667
Everton: Southall; Jackson, Snodin, Watson, Ablett; Ebbrell, Ward (Warzycha), Horne; Beagrie, Cottee, Stuart. Unused Subs: Kearton, Preki.

Ten Years Ago — 2003-04: Match 18

Boxing Day 2003 and Everton, with just one away win to show for their efforts, would have liked nothing better than to upset the odds when they arrived at Old Trafford, buoyed by their wins at Portsmouth and at home to Leicester City; the fact that they had been finding the net more often, would have put them in good heart for this trip down the East Lancashire Road.

But both the Evertonians and Everton’s players would have been acutely aware of the Club’s poor record at Old Trafford. Everton had taken only a single point from Old Trafford in 10 Premier League visits, since Everton (3-0) had triumphed in August 1992, and that solitary point had come over seven years earlier, in August 1996 (2-2).

Manchester United were finding life tougher at the top (40 pts) than they had been used to, although they were 5 points better off than they had been at the same stage last season, and were known to be notoriously slow starters. Arsenal (39 pts) and Chelsea (39 pts) were only a point behind the Red Devils in the table and it appeared that only those three sides had a realistic chance of winning the Premier League, as there was a 13-point gap from the top three to 4th-placed Southampton (26 pts). Therefore, if Everton (20 pts) dented United’s title challenge, they could have found themselves with enough points to contemplate finishing in a European berth which, given the trials and tribulations that they had endured leading up to the Portsmouth game, was quite remarkable.

2003 Champions Manchester United had won all but two of their nine Premier League fixtures at Old Trafford, one a goalless draw with Arsenal and the other a shock defeat to Fulham (1-3); on their travels, they had lost twice at their title rivals Chelsea (0-1) and at Southampton (0-1) but they had won their other six games on the road, keeping them in the race to retain the Premier League Title. The European Champions League had also remained in their sights as they had a last-16 tie with Porto to look forward to in the New Year, but they would not be adding the League Cup to their trophy haul as they had lost to West Bromwich Albion (0-2) at the Hawthorns.

In a feature on the various shirts worn by Manchester United throughout their history, unusually for a club that has predominantly sported red shirts since the Second World War, they had won the 1948 FA Cup Final – Manchester United’s first appearance at Wembley – and the European Cup at the same venue, in 1968, wearing Blue shirts; the 1948 garment also adorned with a white collar, although it did have a red badge – typical United, forever stealing The Toffees' best traditions.

On a page devoted to Everton Facts and Figures, many of which most of us are fully aware of, there are a couple that may be of interest: like during the First World War, Goodison Park hosted a baseball match between New York Giants and Chicago White Sox... or that Bill Kenwright appeared in Coronation Street as Betty Turpin’s illegitimate son... and that Bill had once owned the rights to Joseph and his Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat... or that the Z-Cars theme is played at Goodison due to a supporting cast member of the TV show being an ardent Evertonian?

David Prentice of the Liverpool Echo had been the guest Journalist in the magazine feature Inside Write, and he had written that, following a defeat to Manchester United (0-3) in October 2002, "A devastated David Moyes had said that he wanted players who could come to Old Trafford and not simply sit back fearing the worst." Mr Prentice believed that Moyes’s Everton had matched and occasionally alarmed United that day but had eventually lost the game in a flurry of goals.

The Match: Manchester United had taken the lead by virtue of Nicky Butt (8’) beating Nigel Martyn from the edge of the penalty area, but Everton regrouped and five minutes later, from a typical Tommy Gravesen delivery of a free-kick, Manchester United’s Gary Neville (13’) under pressure from Everton’s Kevin Campbell, headed the ball past a stunned Tim Howard and Everton were on level terms. Just prior to half-time, Kleberson (43’) had restored Manchester United’s lead and mid-way through the second-half David Bellion (68’) had given United a two-goal cushion. Although Duncan Ferguson (89’) had scored late in the game, it had been too little too late and Everton’s search for a win at Old Trafford continued.

Everton’s defeat meant that The Blues were only three points clear of third from bottom, Leicester City, as they had gained a point in their home draw with Newcastle United (1-1). Manchester United (43 pts) were still a point ahead of Arsenal (42 pts) as the Gunners had beaten Wolves (3-0), whilst Chelsea had lost at Charlton Athletic (2-4). Fulham (28 pts), who had beaten Southampton (2-0), moved into the last of the Champions League places at the expense of their visitors.

2003-04 — Premier League: Friday 26 December 2003
Manchester United @ Old Trafford, Score: 2-3 (GNeville OG, Ferguson), Attendance: 67,642
Everton: Martyn; Hibbert, Stubbs, Unsworth, Naysmith; Li Tie, Gravesen, Kilbane, Linderoth (Jeffers); Rooney (McFadden), Campbell (Ferguson). Un and ed Subs: Simonsen, Yobo

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