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Memory Lane — Match 19

Games against Birmingham City (H), Manchester City (A), Sunderland (H) and Liverpool (H) are recalled with the help of old matchday programmes from 10, 20, 30 and 40 years ago...

Forty Years Ago — 1973-74:  Match 19

Forty years ago, Everton had gone into the derby game with local rivals and reigning champions, Liverpool, two points adrift of the reds, who had beaten Ipswich Town last time out and had thus preserved their 100% record at Anfield, whilst on the same day Everton had lost to Southampton at the Dell.

Regardless of the relative positions of the two sides, this match always had an edge, but with the two clubs vying for at least second-place in the division it had more at stake than had been the case for a couple of years. Everton would have to reach their highest levels of performance to overcome a Liverpool side full of confidence following their dismissal of a good Ipswich Town side in their recent fixture.

Whilst Liverpool had been imperious at Anfield, on their travels they had only gained maximum points at Highbury where they had beaten Arsenal (2-0). They had lost at Coventry City (0-1), Derby County (1-3), Southampton (0-1), and at Elland Road against fellow title rivals and league leaders Leeds United (0-1) whilst they had drawn the other four fixtures including their most recent away fixture at QPR (2-2).

Promotions manager David Exall explained the decision not to include the usual write-up about Everton’s opponents, in this issue of the magazine; he said that as both clubs had had plenty of column space in the local media and that most local fans were well informed on the merits and abilities of the two sides and their recent history, it would have been superfluous for the programme team to have added their views and thoughts. Instead, the team decided to reprint a 1932 issue of the programme involving the two sides.

Inside the reprinted programme from 1932, was a match preview entitled Breezy Briefs by “The Gleaner” – which had been written from a red perspective:

Our two clubs served up the wrong sort of double on Saturday.
Goodison’s record attendance stands at 66,737, when Liverpool was here five years ago.
The receipts for that day were over £4,000.
The ground was full at 2:30 and thousands were turned away. The game was notable in that Dean failed to score for the first time after running up a wonderful sequence of 17 goals in the first nine matches of the season.
But Jimmy Jackson, at centre half, hung on to his famous opponent like grim death.
Riley and Lucas were also seen at their best.
Edmed got Liverpool’s goal. By the way what has become of the former Liverpool right winger? He wasn’t even in Bolton’s reserve team last week.
In the 1927 match referred to Liverpool had Devlin at Centre forward and Tommy Reid inside left.
Wee Alec Troup notched Everton’s goal.

When Everton won 2-1 over Liverpool the previous January, they were without Cresswell, Gee and Stein and the Blues were voted a shade lucky to win, thereby avenging their Cup-tie defeat. The latter was a blow to Everton’s hopes particularly as Dean had led off with a goal in the first minute. Barton figured at centre forward in the Cup-tie and at outside right in the league match. In the League match however Hodgson went centre forward before the finish to try and pull the game out of the fire….

I think that the 'wrong sort of double' referred to the fact that both sides had lost their previous games, Everton at Highbury against Arsenal (1-2), and Liverpool at Anfield against Bolton Wanderers (0-1).

For the Everton perspective, the pre-game notes Everton Jottings by "Blue Mantle" said:

So near and yet so far: it was wretched luck to lose the day, late on, to Jack’s goal, and such a goal!
Starting first and then Jack: we fancy Everton will in the future, clear first and appeal afterwards.
Despite hurricane Hulme, Cresswell once again came through with “flying colours.”
Four away defeats! Yet Dean and Co. crossed over 1-0 at the Hawthorns and 1-1 both at Sunderland and Highbury.
It isn’t like our men to fall away at the interval.
A year ago Everton won three of their first four away games.
We must look for a revival of that form.
Ted Critchley’s goal at Highbury was his first since last February: but it was a beauty.
It was the Everton outside right who scored the winning goal for his side when Liverpool last visited Goodison.
Some defenders seem to take fright of the very name. Arsenal, when they see Jack and Co., looming.
This is the cause of so many of the Gunners’ snap goals.
McGourty’s debut was fairly satisfactory on the whole, but the Scotsman himself, doubtless feels he can do better.

The Editor’s Note Book covered both sides of the derby divide and here is a taster of the editorial:

Red (and Blue) Letter Days

There are some events along life’s way-sides that never pale. And an Everton-Liverpool meeting is one of them.
To-day, all roads will lead to Goodison for this, the 63rd league meeting between our two great local rivals. The stage is set for yet another mighty, pulsating, struggle for supremacy.
In the earlier meetings between the pair victory almost invariably fell to Everton; indeed there were periods when some said “put any old team in a blue jersey, call it Everton, and Liverpool are as good as beaten!”

Liverpool’s Lean Years

Doubtless there was something in this inferiority complex notion, but not all. For in those days of yester-year Everton certainly were the stronger side: they had teams of wonderful all-round ability, personality and penetrative power. Liverpool meanwhile were but sort of feeling their way. They hadn’t the same experience, nor quite the same big match temperament, if we may put it that way. And so there was a period of twenty years – between 1899 and 1919 – when Liverpool, at home, went without victory over Everton.

Facts and Figures

On the other hand, beginning in1909 Liverpool have to an extent pulled up some of the leeway on to-day’s venue. Thus, in their last 18 visits to Goodison they have won 8, drawn 5 and only lost 5. For the full 30 meetings to date at Everton’s home the record reads: - Everton won 14, Liverpool 10, drawn 7, goals: Everton 55, Liverpool 41.

At Anfield Road Everton have also won 14, Liverpool 8, drawn 9 with the goal average 48-42 in Everton’s favour. There was one spell when Liverpool at Anfield lost seven times in succession to their present opponents! The match played on 1 October 1932 had ended in a victory for the Blues as WR Dean (2) and Ted Critchley had scored against Liverpool (3-1).

As a last look at the old programme, some of the advertisements on display showed that if you had wanted to take a taxi it would have cost you two-shillings and sixpence (12½p) as the advert stated “From this Ground to any Railway Station and Pier Head, 2/6 four persons (Approx.,).” After the match, readers were enticed to visit The Carlton in West Derby ‘The Picture House Most Worthy of The City Of Liverpool’, the only suburban picture house with an organ, claimed the advert, trailing The Trial Of Vivienne Ware starring Joan Bennett and Skeets Gallagher which had been scheduled for the Monday following the derby; the following Thursday, you could have seen William Boyd and Lilyan Tashman in Murder By The Clock.

If you had fancied going into town, you could have visited the Princes Picture House on Granby Street where Good-Night Vienna had been on show which had starred Jack Buchanan. Failing that, why not take your better half to Ye Olde English Tavern ‘The Bear’s Paw’, in Lord Street for a dance and a meal.

The Match: Whilst Everton may have been the victors back in 1932, this encounter ended in a defeat by the only goal of the game as Alan Waddle (68’) had grabbed the winner which had given Liverpool (26 pts) a 4-point lead over Everton (22 pts) in the table.

But the match at Goodison Park had not been without its controversy as Mike Lyons had leapt highest and beaten Alec Lindsay to the cross and had duly put the ball into the Liverpool net at the Park End but, although referee John Homewood had signalled for a goal, the linesman had flagged for offside, and the referee had then changed his mind and instead had awarded a free-kick to Liverpool.

Howard Kendall, who had been out injured, commented upon the incident: “I was not at the match as I was giving my knee a workout with the reserves, but from the lads I have talked with and from what I have seen on TV, it seems to me that Mike Lyons scored what looked a perfectly good goal and to be beaten in those circumstances is doubly disheartening for the side.”

League leaders Leeds United (32 pts) had won at Portman Road where they had swept aside Ipswich (3-0); Burnley (24 pts) had beaten Norwich City (1-0); while Newcastle United (22 pts) had lost at Birmingham City (0-1) and Southampton (21 pts) had gained a point from their goalless draw at Old Trafford.

1973-74 — First Division: Saturday, 8 December 1973
Liverpool @ Goodison Park, Score: 0-1, Attendance: 56,098
Everton: Lawson; Darracott, Mclaughlin (Harvey), Clements, Lyons; Hurst, Bernard; Harper, Royle, Buckley, Connolly.

Thirty Years Ago — 1983-84:  Match 19

Boxing Day 1983 saw Alan Durban’s Sunderland visit Goodison Park for a traditional fixture on a traditional date in the football calendar. Sunderland’s away campaign had started poorly with defeats at Aston Villa (0-1), Luton Town (0-4) and QPR (0-3), but Sunderland had improved as they had followed a shock victory over Liverpool (1-0) at Anfield with a goalless draw at Nottingham Forest (0-0) and two more victories at Highbury where they had beaten Arsenal (2-1) and at St Andrews against Birmingham City (1-0). However, in their last away fixture prior to Boxing Day, they had been thrashed by Notts County (1-6) at Meadow Lane.

At Roker Park, Sunderland had only managed three wins, against Wolverhampton Wanderers (3-2), Coventry City (1-0) and Watford (3-0). Defeats to Southampton (0-2), Manchester United (0-1) and West Ham United (0-1) and draws in their other four home games, including their most recent fixture with Leicester City (1-1), meant that Sunderland (23 pts) occupied 14th position in Division One, one point and two places above Everton.

In his regular piece Team Talk, Howard Kendall reported that the injury that Kevin Richardson had received in the gym prior to the game at QPR had not been as bad as the player and the club had feared and in fact Kevin had played in the reserves fixture the following night.

Howard Kendall also said that he had considered buying a new machine – although he hadn’t identified it by name – which had been designed to speed up recovery time for injuries such as those that Mark Higgins and Terry Curran had suffered; he said that Billy McNeill at Manchester City had brought one down from Glasgow Celtic and he understood that Aston Villa also had one in their treatment room at Villa Park and, judging by the reports that he had heard, he thought it would have made a good investment for Everton FC.

The Youth and Reserves section reported good news for the Everton youth side as they had won through to the Third Round of the FA Youth Cup, having beaten Huddersfield Town (1-0) in their Second Round replay at Leeds Road, Ian Marshall had scored the all-important goal from the penalty spot, following a one-one draw at Goodison Park. The winners of the Blackpool v Bolton Wanderers tie had been drawn to play Everton at Goodison Park in the Third Round of the competition.

The Everton youth team line-up for the game with Huddersfield, played on 12 December 1983: Hall, O’Brien, Marshall, Macowat, Hughes, Richmond, Hood, Fielding, Diggle, Wakenshaw, Neil Rimmer. Substitute: McKenzie.

If you were fortunate enough to have had a generous partner or family member back in 1983, perhaps they would have ordered you a 9-ct solid gold football boot as a belated Christmas box, for the paltry sum of £79, as had been advertised by a company located in Birmingham. I think mine must have gone missing in transit, as I had received the usual naff multi-coloured sweater with matching socks that particular Christmas, and practically every Christmas since; I think my nearest and dearest’s mantra must be ‘heart of gold equates to gifts of low quality knitwear’...

The previous First Division meeting between the two sides at Goodison Park had taken place in October of 1981, when Everton had beaten Sunderland (3-1); David Johnson, Graeme Sharp and Kevin Richardson had each scored for Everton whilst Ally McCoist had scored Sunderland’s consolation goal

The Match: Another game where the Toffees had failed to find the net, which meant that Everton had only scored a grand total of five goals in ten home matches so far in the 1983-84 season; however, Howard Kendall said that he hadn’t been too disappointed with his team’s performance against Sunderland but, as had often been the case, a couple of good chances had been missed.

Despite Sunderland having had only ten men for the last quarter of the game – following Gordon Chisholm’s dismissal – Mr Kendall said that Sunderland had defended well and that their keeper had made some good saves. He also mentioned that luck had not been on Everton’s side as Sunderland’s defenders had blocked the ball on the line or when Everton had on one occasion managed to beat the defenders and the goalkeeper, the ball had hit the post.

Stoke City, Notts County, Wolves and Birmingham City had all lost and remained in the bottom four places in the league, whilst Leicester City had beaten QPR (2-1) and Watford had beaten Aston Villa (3-2) at Vicarage road to close the gap between themselves and Everton who remained in 16th place in the league.

Manchester United had only managed a draw at Coventry City (1-1) and had lost ground on the league leaders Liverpool who had beaten West Bromwich Albion (2-1) at the Hawthorns. Luton Town climbed into 3rd place courtesy of their victory at Notts County (3-0) and Southampton had also won at West Ham United (1-0) and held 4th place in the table.

1983-84 — First Division: Monday, 26 December 1983
Sunderland @ Goodison Park, Score: 0-0, Attendance: 18,683
Everton: Southall; Stevens, Harper, Ratcliffe, Mountfield; Reid, Irvine, Heath; Gray, Johnson, Sheedy. Unused Sub: Richardson.

Twenty Years Ago — 1993-94: Match 19

Everybody associated with Everton FC had still been taking in the shock news that their manager Howard Kendall, had decided to leave the club, when the relentless pursuit of points had taken the team and its supporters to Maine Road, Manchester. Former Everton player Jimmy Gabriel had been tasked with looking after the first team until such time as the club were able to find a suitable successor to Howard Kendall.

Manchester City had opened Everton’s Goodison Park campaign and the Toffees had beaten the Manchester side with a single goal scored by Peter Beagrie, so the game at Maine Road offered the Blues another opportunity to record a league double.

Manchester City had also seen managerial changes during the 1993-94 campaign as Peter Reid had been replaced by Brian Horton, who had taken charge of team affairs, from Tony Book who had had a very brief spell as Caretaker Manager. City had been near to the relegation places for most of the season, but had been confident that they could manage to escape the dog-fight due to them having a mix of youth and experience in their team; however, their morale had taken a blow with the news that Niall Quinn had been side-lined with a serious injury which looked as if it would keep him out for the rest of the campaign.

Since their defeat at Goodison in August, Manchester City had won away at Swindon Town (3-1) and Sheffield United (1-0) and had drawn with Arsenal (0-0), Norwich City (1-1) and Chelsea (0-0) but they had lost the remainder of their away games including their most recent fixture at Elland Road where Leeds United (3-2) had beaten them.

At Maine Road, Manchester City had had to wait until the middle of September before recording their first and only home Premier League victory of the campaign, when they had beaten QPR (3-0) and they had lost three and drawn four of their other league fixtures. Those results meant that City (16 pts) were level with Sheffield United and two points ahead of Chelsea who had occupied the final relegation place. Everton were eight points better off than City and were situated in 11th place in the Premier League prior to the game with Manchester City at Maine Road.

Brian Horton’s side, unlike Everton, had retained an interest in the League Cup but they needed to overcome Nottingham Forest in a replay as they had drawn the first tie at the City Ground (0-0). If City were to progress to the Semi-Finals, they would also have to beat Tranmere Rovers at Maine Road. To reach the Fourth Round, Manchester City had beaten Reading (3-2) on aggregate whilst Chelsea (1-0) had been vanquished at Maine Road.

Everton had beaten Manchester City (5-2) in their final game of the 1992-93 campaign when Peter Beagrie had scored two goals for the Toffees against two different goalkeepers: the first keeper that Peter had beaten was Martyn Margetson in the first-half and the second was Andy Dibble who had been unable to prevent Peter from scoring his second goal. The other scorers in that game were Matt Jackson, Peter Beardsley and Preki for Everton, whilst Keith Curle had successfully converted a penalty and David White had also scored for the home team. Not only did City have two goalkeepers involved in that game but so too did Everton as Neville Southall was substituted and his replacement Jason Kearton had made a rare outing in the first team. Four keepers and seven goals — not much of a film title, that one!

The Match: Once again, Everton had failed to find the target and they had lost at Maine Road (0-1) where a goal from Carl Griffiths (10’) had been enough to secure all three points for the Manchester side. Jimmy Gabriel bemoaned his side’s lack of height in the forward-line but had explained that his plan to play the ball out from the back at Maine Road had to a certain extent worked; however, the wet and windy Manchester night had undermined his plans, as it had been difficult for his players to get the ball down and play in the manner that he had wanted them to. Mr Gabriel also said that he believed a team that tried to keep the ball would eventually create chances as the opposition began to tire and holes would begin appearing in their defence.

No doubt a laudable plan from Jimmy Gabriel, but what Everton required at that moment were a few goals and a good win... and, most of all, the stability that a permanent manager may have provided. The defeat for Everton meant that, although the gap between them and the bottom three clubs in the Premier League had remained at 10 points, the managerial situation and the rumours of boardroom unrest had begun to undermine what was happening out on the pitch and many fans were worried that the Board may have taken their eyes off the ball at a crucial period in the club’s history.

1993-94 — Premier League: Wednesday, 8 December 1993
Manchester City @ Maine Road, Score 0-1, Attendance: 20,513
Everton: Southall; Jackson, Snodin, Watson, Ablett; Horne (Warzycha), Ward; Beagrie, Cottee, Stuart, Ebbrell: Unused Subs: Kearton, Grant

Ten Years Ago — 2003-04: Match 19

Everton returned to duty just two days after their Boxing Day defeat to Manchester United at Old Trafford in the hope that they could continue their run of good results at Goodison Park. Steve Bruce’s Birmingham City side would doubtless provide the stubborn resistance that reflected the character of the man himself.

Steve Bruce had been in charge of Birmingham City since December 2001, and he had taken them to the Premier League via the play-offs in May 2002. It had been a welcome return to the top-flight for the long-suffering Birmingham supporters who had witnessed many failed attempts by the club, after a long period in the lower divisions. In his first full season in charge in 2002-03, Birmingham City had finished in a respectable 13th place in the Premier League, but there had been a large turnover of the playing staff during the twelve months prior to this visit to Goodison Park.

Birmingham City had only been beaten on the road twice so far in 2003-04, by Manchester United (0-3) and Liverpool (1-3), but they had won four matches on the road at Newcastle United (1-0), Leeds United (2-0), Bolton Wanderers (1-0) and Leicester City (2-0), which – for a side that had still been finding their feet in the Premier League – had been impressive.

Wins at St Andrews had, however, been more difficult to achieve as Birmingham City had only won three of their Premier League fixtures, against Tottenham Hotspur (1-0) on the opening day, Portsmouth (2-0) and on Boxing Day when they had beaten Manchester City (2-1). Heavy home defeats to Arsenal (0-3) and Blackburn Rovers (0-4) had preceded the win over Manchester City. Blackpool (0-1) had ended Birmingham’s hopes of a League Cup run by beating them at Bloomfield Road. But Birmingham City would have hoped to avenge that heavy defeat by Blackburn Rovers as the two sides had been paired together in the Third Round of the FA Cup which had been scheduled to be played at St Andrew early in the New Year.

Alan Biley and Alan Ainscow had been mentioned in David Buckland’s Bits n Bobs section, due to the pair both having scored on their Everton debuts, in what had been Howard Kendall’s first game in charge of the Toffees, versus Birmingham (3-1) at Goodison Park in August 1981. The two players had been only the second pair of debutants to score in the same game since 1889. David also related the fact that Archie Styles had become the first former Everton player to score an own-goal in favour of the Blues; this event had happened at St Andrews in January 1975, where Bob Latchford had scored twice and Everton had run out three-nil winners.

Losing managers often say that the best way to get over a defeat is to go out and win your next game as soon as possible, which to many people may be seen as a bit of cliché but, as David Buckland had revealed in his section, that is exactly what Everton had done in December 1955. On Boxing Day 1955, Everton had lost to Birmingham City (2-6) at St Andrews and then on 27 December 1955 had beaten Birmingham City (5-1) at Goodison Park. As the two games ended seven-all on aggregate, would that have meant that Everton had won the encounters on the away goals rule? Only joking!

An article entitled Everton in China interviewed the club’s International Liaison Officer Mei Zhang and she explained some of the aspects of her job and how she had been enjoying her role at the club. Mei had said that the Chinese fans’ favourite Everton moment had been when Li Tie and Li Wei Feng had both appeared in Everton’s first team for the game with Southampton (0-1) in September 2002. Mei then told the magazine that “Everton have an exclusive opportunity to show footage in China” and that the TV show she was helping to make was called Everton and Kejian’s moment — this programme had been about 10-15 minutes in duration and it had been shown 70 times a week in 52 cities across China.

Mei said that Everton had been well received in China and that she had received plenty of correspondence every week in praise of the club and many wrote to say how much they had liked the team. Mei ended the article by saying “Everton are totally different to any other Premiership club because we have a Chinese player, a Chinese sponsor and we’ll have a Chinese website soon. It shows that we care about the Chinese fans, so the Chinese fans do love Everton.”

The Match: Not for the first time, young Wayne Rooney (69’) had grabbed the winning goal for Everton late in the second-half which had been enough to win all three points for the Toffees. Rooney had put the ball in the Birmingham City net in the first half, but the attempt had been ruled out by the linesman for offside. Rooney also had an audacious attempt at goal from the edge of the penalty area in line with the six-yard box which Maik Taylor Birmingham City’s goalkeeper had done well to save.

The win had taken Everton (23 pts) up to 11th place in the league and 5 points away from the danger zone as Leicester City (18 pts) had only drawn at Bolton Wanderers (2-2) while Tottenham Hotspur (18 pts) had lost at White Hart Lane against an in-form Charlton Athletic (0-1).

Charlton Athletic (30 pts) had remained in 4rth place, 2 points clear of Fulham (28 pts). At the very top, Arsenal (45 pts) had won at Southampton (1-0), Chelsea (42 pts) had beaten Portsmouth (3-0), and Manchester United (46 pts) had won away at Middlesbrough (1-0).

It had been a more than reasonable end to the year for Everton as they had taken 9 points out of a possible 12, which had helped to lighten the mood at Goodison Park and enable the club and its fans to look forward to 2004 with renewed optimism.

2003-04 — Premier League: Sunday, 28 December 2003
Birmingham City @ Goodison Park, Score: 1-0 (Rooney), Attendance: 39,631
Everton: Martyn, Hibbert, Stubbs, Unsworth, Naysmith, Carsley (Rooney), Gravesen, Kilbane, Nyarko (Yobo), Ferguson Radzinski (Jeffers) Unused Subs: Simonsen and McFadden

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