Everton History

This week — 16 years ago

David recalls a nice emphatic derby victory from what seems like a very long time ago.

Da daa d da. Andy Johnson

Don’t think I need to type any more. But I will.

Background

The early weeks of David Moyes’s 4th full season in charge. In that time, the blues had finished 7th, 17th, 4th and 11th. 

Last week, I talked about 1988-89, when Everton signed 4 outfield players (back in the days before it was a squad game) – Neville Southall brilliantly described it as both too much and not enough at the same time. Too much in that it was a lot of upheaval to the team. Not enough in the sense that the players failed to improve on what was already there. 

In 2005, the proceeds from the Rooney sale and the unexpected extra revenue from finishing 4th were reinvested in... I can think of 7 outfield players off the top of my head, there’s probably more, plus Matteo Ferrari on loan, and as in 1988, it was too much and not enough. It unsettled the team that had exceeded expectations the season before and, with the exception of Arteta and maybe Phil Neville (though some would disagree), the signings didn’t come off. If you were to list Moyes’s unsuccessful buys, most of them came in 2005 – Beattie, Davies, Krøldrup, Valente, Van der Meyde...

In 2006, they took a different approach. Quality not quantity. With Nigel Martyn retiring and Richard Wright just not living up to expectations, a new goalkeeper was needed, and Tim Howard arrived on loan from Manchester United.

The defence desperately needed reinforcing – during the previous season, Alan Stubbs had been brought back from Sunderland just a few months after going there, but more pace and athleticism were required, ideally someone to play on the left side to compliment Joseph Yobo. That someone was Joleon Lescott, costing around £6 million.

Wolves, relegated 3 years earlier, had no more parachute payments coming in and were in a predicament in which they couldn’t afford not to do the deal. Everton took full advantage of this and wore them down to accepting a deal involving instalments and a percentage of any future sale – and Wolves arguably had the last laugh when they pocketed another £6 million just 3 years later when Manchester City spent big on the defender.

Pace was also injected into the forward line with the arrival of Andy Johnson from Crystal Palace. Again Everton played hardball and only met Palace’s asking price when fellow northwest rivals Wigan and Bolton had bids accepted. Again, I believe the deal involved instalments and future incentives, and I distinctly remember the then Palace chairman, Simon Jordan, publically acknowledging that Bill Kenwright and Everton had done everything on the level, which may well have been a thinly veiled swipe at other chairmen who he felt hadn’t when pursuing talent from Selhurst Park.

Anyway, on to the action, and it looked like Everton’s good-season, bad-season pattern was going to continue. Bolstered by these new signings, the Blues had amassed 7 points from the first 3 matches. A rather fortuitous home win against newly promoted Watford (one of the few times I can remember benefitting from poor refereeing decisions!) was quickly cancelled out as Everton were denied a penalty at Mark Hughes’s Blackburn but still managed to gain a respectable point.

Most impressively of all, they then won at White Hart Lane for the first time in 20 years, a fate all the more impressive as the rapidly improving Tottenham had taken the race for 4th to the last day of the previous season. So optimism was in the air as Everton welcomed Rafa Benitiez’s FA Cup holders, Liverpool, to Goodison.

The Game

I’ve never been a fan of lunchtime kick-offs. Usually makes for a subdued atmosphere. Not for this game. Goodison was absolutely bouncing. Tim Cahill put Everton ahead with an emphatic close-range finish that I was convinced was going to be disallowed for a foul in the build-up. For once, it wasn’t. And it was added to before half-time as Andy Johnson (whose goal clinched the victory at White Hart Lane last time out) pounced on an error by The Spitter and finished clinically.

Prior to this game, there had been an international break. I think England played Andorra – I don’t really care, whoever it was; Gerrard was among the scorers, controlling the ball with his chest and unleashing a half-volley into the top corner. During this derby, the ball sat up for him in a similar way – same part of the penalty area, same angle, same control, same powerful half-volley... only this shot went closer to the corner flag than Tim Howard’s goal. From that moment on, you kinda knew it was gonna be Everton’s day.

And the day was complete shortly before full time, when – similar to Jordan Pickford’s horror show at Anfield 12 years later – Pepe Reina helped the ball onto his own crossbar. In the confusion that followed, he and Andy Johnson both went for the loose, bouncing ball. Johnson got there first, and, like something out of a silent comedy, Reina grabbed Johnson’s head and held onto for a couple of seconds thinking it was the ball.

3-0. The biggest derby win for I don’t know how many years. This win put Everton top of the table with 10 points from four matches, albeit maybe only for a few hours, thanks to that earlier kick-off time.

Epilogue

Expectations among the fans were by now more realistic, or maybe they’d just been worn down by years of disappointment, but no-one was kidding themselves that the title was imminent. Another push for a European place, though, seemed reasonable enough, and so it proved, as they finished 6th to qualify for the Uefa Cup (I think it was still called that in 2007).

More interestingly, the media’s expectations also seemed to have altered. This was the third time in 5 seasons that Everton would be challenging at the right end of the table and would finish in the top 7, and yet it was the first time that the expressions “overachieving” and “punching above their weight” (those buzzwords of 2003 and 2005) weren’t used.

Andy Johnson would join the likes of Kevin Langley, Wayne Clarke, Mike Newell and Joe-Max Moore in starting their Everton careers scoring like men possessed, only to burn out after a few weeks. Actually, the only example I can think of since him would be Jelavic. I guess the strikers just arrive burned out now.

If that’s putting a downer on things, the reaction in certain quarters went the opposite way, as this result was treated like a major trophy had been won. Souvenirs, tee-shirts, the full match released on DVD – I can’t help wondering if this contributed to Benitez’s “small club” comments after the return fixture.  

Speaking of Rafa, I couldn’t finish this epilogue without mentioning that he would go on to manage Everton one day. His tenure lasted about as long as Andy Johnson’s goalscoring streak, but would be nowhere near as enjoyable.

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