Memory Lane – Match 29

Games against West Ham, Nottingham Forest, Ipswich and Leicester, the last of which saw devoted Blue Bernard Murphy tragically killed outside the Walkers Stadium.

Forty Years Ago – 1973-74

Ron Greenwood’s West Ham United side had begun a mini-revival during the previous few games as they won away at Ipswich Town (3-1) and at Leicester City (1-0) whilst drawing at home to Birmingham City (0-0) to give their survival hopes a welcome boost. Everton had bought Bob Latchford from Birmingham City in recent days and he was all set to make his debut for Everton at Upton Park. Everton would be keen to build on their last performance at Goodison Park when they had defeated Wolves (2-1) to move into joint fourth position in the league.

The previous meeting at Upton Park, between the two sides had ended with a defeat (2-0) and Everton hadn’t beaten the Hammers at Upton Park since September 1970, when goals from Joe Royle (31’) and Jimmy Husband (40’) had won the points for the Blues’, despite Bobby Moore’s (67’) goal for the home team Everton held on to beat West Ham United (1-2)

That win in 1970 had been the third consecutive occasion that the Toffees had returned with maximum points from their visits to East London as in December 1969 Alan Whittle (27’) had scored the only goal of the game to clinch the points, and in the previous season on Monday 19 August 1968, Everton recorded their best margin of victory over the Hammers at Upton Park, when they had beaten West Ham United (1-4).

Jimmy Husband (15’) opened the scoring for the Blues’ but Martin Peters (51’) equalised for the Hammers early in the second-half. A five minute double salvo for Everton from Joe Royle (66’) and Alan Ball (70’) took Everton out of reach and Colin Harvey (88’) made the points safe near the end of the game. Everton: West; Wright, Brown, Kendall, Labone; Harvey, Husband, Ball; Royle, Hurst, Morrissey.

In a section entitled “Viewpoint” a few national journalists had written their thoughts in the matchday magazine and those views are as pertinent in 2014 as they were some forty years ago.

Hugh McIlvanney of The Observer:

“Too many people in the game seem to have lost touch with basic truth that football, like all great sports, is a wonderful adjunct to life, not a substitute for it. It provides for all kinds of sublimation, feeds our craving for ritual and symbolism and identification with heroes. But once people stop playing it and start enduring it as if it is a war, then its validity melts away.”

Leslie Vernon of the Soccer Star:

“Even the most inexperienced writers – like myself – can tell you that football is a simple game. The object of the exercise is passing the ball to your colleague and scoring more goals than the opposition. If you pass the ball to an opponent, that is a bad pass; if you cannot score a goal from five yards, it is a bad shot; if you cannot control the ball, you are a poor craftsman. Simple isn’t it? What is there to understand? Does it need an Einstein to figure out that four goals scored by Red Star Belgrade represents a winning margin over the two scored by Liverpool?”

The Daily Telegraph’s Robert Oxby:

“The happy, bulging grounds at Christmas showed also that the time has come for football to be given back to the ordinary people who helped to build it. The game is more than an arena for hooligans and a pawn in the economics of television companies.”

The Match: New record signing Bob Latchford made his debut for Everton at West Ham United and Billy Bingham’s Everton made a terrific start as George Telfer (6’) gave the Blues’ the lead. Midway through the first half George Telfer (20’) doubled Everton’s lead and things were looking good for Everton, but within three minutes the Hammer’s recent signing Graham Paddon (23’) pulled a goal back for West Ham. Shortly before half-time Clyde Best (41) scored to level the game at two goals apiece. Clyde Best (50’) scored his second goal for West Ham as they took the lead for the first time in the game. Colin Harvey equalised for the Toffees’ but Billy Bonds (83’) grabbed all the points for the Hammers in what had been a remarkable debut game for Bob Latchford – three goals scored away from home for Everton and yet the new record signing hadn’t got on the scoresheet although he had set up George Telfer’s fifth minute opener.

According to a future edition of a West Ham magazine FNS Creek of the Sunday Telegraph wrote “What a magnificent match….both sides kept at it hammer and tongs throughout. Except for one foul late in the game, it was a clean, hard, and at times brilliant display.”

David Lawson was reported to have said “We just didn’t expect so much from a team in trouble.” Referee Vince Jones revealed that even if Billy Bonds’ header had not entered the Everton goal – he would have awarded a penalty to West Ham because Tommy Taylor had been fouled as Billy Bonds had met the ball with his head.

As this was a designated FA Cup weekend, the defeat for Everton (31pts) did not have any real effect on their league position save that Derby County (32pts) moved a place above the Toffees due to the point they had gained from their encounter with Manchester United (2-2).

1973-74 – First Division; Saturday, 16 February 1974
West Ham @ Upton Park, Score: 4-3 (Telfer 3, Harvey) Attendance: 29,347
Everton: Lawson; Darracott, McLaughlin, Hurst, Kenyon; Bernard, Harvey, Buckley; Latchford, Jones, Telfer.
Unused Sub: Lyons.

Thirty Years Ago – 1983-84

Just four days following their sixth round FA Cup triumph in the same city, Everton the FA Cup Semi-Finalists returned to Nottingham to play Forest in a First Division fixture. Brian Clough’s team were placed in the upper echelons of the table and had recently beaten Sturm Graz (1-0) in the first-leg of the Uefa cup. The City ground hadn’t been kind to Everton over the years and Howard Kendall’s men would hope to retain their unbeaten league run since the turn of the year.

When Steve McMahon (75’) had scored the winning goal against Nottingham Forest (0-1) on 3 April 1982, he had ended Everton’s long wait for a league victory at the City Ground as the Blues had failed to win at the venue for some 20 years. Everton: Southall; Borrows, Ratcliffe, Higgins, Wright; McMahon, Irvine, Heath; Sharp (Ainscow), Eastoe, Ross.

Everton’s earlier triumph had come in the title winning season as the Blues had beaten Forest in the game played at the City Ground on 13 November 1962. The match had started badly for the Toffees when Nottingham Forest’s Colin Addison (2’) had given the home side an early lead and with less than fifteen minutes having elapsed, Everton conceded a penalty following Alex Parker’s impersonation of a goalkeeper, which Calvin Palmer (14’) converted to double Forest’s lead.

Roy Vernon (20’) pulled a goal back for Everton and the Welshman (28’) struck the equaliser less than ten minutes later. Ray Veall (43’) with his first goal for Everton, shortly before halftime gave Everton the advantage going into the break as the Blues had turned the game on its head.

Nottingham Forest remained behind until twenty minutes from time when John Quigley (70’) equalised for the home team but within a minute Jimmy Gabriel (71’) scored what proved to be the winning goal for Everton as they hung on to beat Forest (3-4). Evertonia in the following Everton home programme (Sheffield United) described the match as one of the best games seen on the City Ground for a long time as both teams gave a fine display of football and the big crowd (31,610) was kept excited right up to the final whistle. Everton: West; Parker, Meagan, Gabriel, Labone; Harris, Bingham, Stevens; Young, Vernon, Veall.

Everton had also been involved in high-scoring games at the City Ground during their Second Division days when the sides had drawn (3-3) in consecutive seasons. The first draw was played on 17 January 1953 when Tommy Eglington, Wally Fielding and Eddie Wainwright had scored for the Toffees and Capel (2) and Adron had scored for Forest. Everton: O’Neill; Clinton, Lindsay, Farrell, Jones TE; Lello, Wainwright, Fielding; Hickson, Cummins, Eglington.

Later that year on 19 August, Everton returned to the City Ground and the team lined up showing three changes to the side that had played in January as Don Donovan (Jock Lindsay), Ted Buckle (Eddie Wainwright) and John Willie Parker (George Cummins) were in the side that also drew (3-3) with Nottingham Forest. On this occasion John Willie Parker (2) scored twice and Tommy Eglington scored the other for Everton as Capel (2) scored another brace against the Blues and Collindridge scored Forest’s other goal.

The Match: Brian Clough believed that his team had been unfortunate when his Forest side had lost at Goodison (1-0) earlier in the campaign and it was a similar story at the City Ground, but this time the roles were reversed as Howard Kendall’s Everton fell to their first League defeat of 1984.

Kevin Richardson had rattled the Forest crossbar late in the match but with time running out Forest had been awarded a free-kick and Steve Hodge (89’) had reacted the quickest to the loose ball and he had beaten Neville Southall to give Forest all the points as Forest gained revenge for their loss at Goodison.

Howard Kendall felt that the lapse in concentration from his players late in the game had cost his team a point but he also admitted that Forest on their own patch were a particularly difficult team to play against.

1983-84 — First Division; Wednesday, 14 March 1984
Nottingham Forest @ City Ground, Score: 1-0, Attendance: 13,647
Everton: Southall; Stevens, Bailey, Ratcliffe, Mountfield; Reid, Irvine, Richardson; Sharp, Gray, Harper.
Unused Sub: Steven

Twenty Years Ago – 1993-94

Everton welcomed Ipswich Town to Goodison Park for the second game of a four game home programme and if they could take maximum points from the encounter with Ipswich Town they would be a step closer to retaining their place in the Premier League for another season. Ipswich Town sat a place above Everton in the table with a point more than their hosts. As Everton had won away at Ipswich Town earlier in the campaign they would be hoping to do the league double over the East Anglian side and manager Mike Walker would be looking for his new charges to earn him personal revenge as his former club Norwich City had succumbed to a last minute goal against Ipswich Town shortly before he had joined Everton.

The early encounters with Ipswich Town were recounted in the ‘”Matches of the Past” feature as the East Anglian club visited Goodison Park for the first time in a top-flight fixture on 16 September 1961. Ipswich Town’s only previous visit to Goodison Park had been in the FA Cup when Everton had beaten the visitors (2-1) in a third round tie held on 10 January 1953 thanks to a brace of goals from Dave Hickson and another goal scored by Wally Fielding.

Newly promoted Ipswich Town – who were on their way to winning the First Division title – arrived at Goodison Park full of hope but they found Everton’s Derek Temple in sparkling form as he netted a hat-trick to help defeat the East Anglian side. Billy Bingham and Alex Young added to the Blues’ tally so that Ted Phillips’ and Doug Moran’s goals were little more than consolation goals for the visitors as Everton beat Ipswich Town (5-2). Everton: Dunlop; Parker, Thomson, Gabriel, Labone; Harris B, Bingham, Young; Wignall, Temple, Fell.

Alan Harper had been invited to give his views on a previous Ipswich Town versus Everton match for the ‘Matches of the Past’ feature and he chose the game played on 16 November 1985, when the reigning champions travelled to Portman Road for a First Division fixture. Alan Harper had left Everton to join David Pleat’s Luton Town earlier in the season (93-94) but he still trained with Everton for about three days a week.

Alan said that Everton’s start to the defence of their title had been mixed as they had won away at Sheffield Wednesday (1-5) and lost at West Ham (2-1), but had also beaten Arsenal (6-1) at Goodison Park, so prior to the match with Ipswich Town they were a little unsure of how the game would pan out. As it happens, the Toffees fell behind early in the game as Mich D’Avray gave the hosts the lead after six-minutes. Worse was to follow for the Blues as Kevin Wilson curled a glorious shot past Neville Southall from the edge of the penalty area to double Ipswich Town’s lead.

Alan said “We seemed to be in big trouble until Trevor Steven and Kevin Sheedy took hold of the game and Adrian Heath put us back into it with a header from Kevin’s corner kick just before half-time.”…The lads felt even better within two minutes of the restart when Graeme Sharp headed us level from a typical Sheedy free-kick.’ In an exciting encounter Everton were beginning to show their class and on the hour mark Kevin Sheedy threaded his way past four defenders to put the Blues’ into the lead for the first time during the match. Alan Harper said “Just when we looked as if we had the points sewn up, Terry Butcher equalised from what must have been Ipswich’s only chance of the second half.”

“We had to go in search of another goal and Trevor Steven got it from the penalty spot after Lineker had been brought down about twelve minutes from the end. “This time we held out to clinch a tremendous win and I remember Howard Kendall running on to the pitch to congratulate all the players.” I couldn’t recall seeing him do that since we had won the European Cup Winners Cup in Rotterdam six months earlier.” Everton: Southall; Harper, Van Den Hauwe, Ratcliffe, Watson, Stevens; Heath, Steven, Bracewell, Sheedy; Lineker, Sharp.

The Match: Everton had failed to beat Ipswich Town, but it wasn’t through a lack of endeavour or creativity, and for the first time in Mike Walker’s tenure the defence had kept a clean-sheet, but the Blues’ should have gained maximum points from this encounter as they had created plenty of chances to make a breakthrough but unfortunately they couldn’t convert any of those good chances and two valuable points were squandered.

1993-94 — Premier League; Saturday, 12 February 1994
Ipswich Town @ Goodison Park, Score: 0-0 Attendance: 19,588
Everton: Southall; Jackson, Snodin, Moore, Hinchcliffe; Radosavljevic (Watson), Stuart, Ebbrell, Beagrie: Angell, Rideout (Cottee).
Unused Sub: Kearton.

Ten Years Ago – 2003-04

The Match: Unfortunately the events at the stadium had been overshadowed by the tragic news that a fellow Evertonian had lost his life following the team that he adored. In the following home programme [Middlesbrough] the club paid tribute to Bernard Murphy with a full page obituary.

Last Saturday, Bernard Murphy died in tragic circumstances as he followed the team he loved.

Forty year-old Bernard from Huyton was killed by a piece of flying debris as he and a group of fellow Evertonians made their way to the Walker’s Stadium for the Premiership game against Leicester City.

A season-ticket holder, Bernard was a dedicated and loyal supporter of this club for many, many years, attending senior fixates all over Britain and abroad.
A factory electrician by trade, Bernard gave up much of his spare time to help coach the Salerno Eagles Under-10s football team, a hobby which served to combine his love of football with his desire to help others.

In the wake of Bernard’s tragic death Everton Football Club received messages of sympathy from the supporters of many clubs – Leicester City, Liverpool, Leeds United, Brighton, York City, Millwall, West Ham United to name but a few.

Our Chairman, Sir Philip Carter, also received faxed messages of condolence from the President of FC Barcelona and from the National Coach of the Samoa Football Federation.
The Chairman, Board of Directors, management, players, staff and supporters of Everton Football Club wish to extend their deepest and most heartfelt sympathy to Bernard’s son, John, to John’s mother, Barbara, to his family and to his friends.

Today we remember Bernard Murphy – father, son, friend and Evertonian. I’m sure all fans would echo those sentiments some ten years after the loss of Bernard and would extend the same deepest sympathies to his family and friends.

Wayne Rooney (75’) gave Everton the lead and Marcus Bent (92’) equalised for the home side following the dismissal of Duncan Ferguson (41’) in the first-half. But once the news had filtered through of a fellow fan having lost his life the details of the match were irrelevant.

2003-04 Premier League Saturday 20 March, 2004
Leicester City@ Walker’s Stadium 1-1 (Rooney) Attendance: 31,650
Everton: Martyn; Yobo, Stubbs, Pistone, Naysmith; Watson, Gravesen, Linderoth, McFadden (Radzinski); Rooney (Campbell), Ferguson,
Unused Subs: Wright, Unsworth, Nyarko

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