Everton mourn the passing of John Hurst

I hope the club give a fine servant a fitting memorial at the next match at Goodison.

In not hope. It should be a given. I'm sure they will.

He was quick and strong, a great tackler and header of the ball. He scored the winning goal, with a tremendous penalty, in the 2nd leg of the FA Youth Cup final at Goodison in front of 30,000.

He also scored the first 2 goals in our Championship winning season in 1969-70, helping us to 2 wins in our first 2 games, away at Highbury and Old Trafford, a useful start to a season.

I was in his company at a function, you could not meet a more modest man.

Sincere condolences to John's family and friends.

Condolences to the family.

I was lucky to see John play many times alongside Labone, always solid and dependable, no-nonsense type that couldn't be intimidated.

Condolences to all his family & friends.

Top bloke off the pitch and a class player, and solid on the pitch.

Deepest condolences and sympathies to the Family at this terrible time.

Comparing '67 to '71 with the shenanigans now. You could weep. I think I shall…

He was a player that nobody really noticed because he just did his job in such an efficient way. One of my favourite players in that team.

RIP, John.

God's getting a decent team of Blues together up there but I wish he'd give them some more time with us first.

When me dad first started taking me to Goodison Park when I was very young, he was one of the stalwarts of the team, a real unsung hero.

God bless, John.

Rest in peace, big man; you have some great company.

He also chipped in with important goals, 5 in the Championship season. Should have had a lot of England caps.

He was a handsome chap too.

I worked with a lad in the 70s, and he told me that he was a neighbour of John in Maghull, and that John's nickname at Goodision was "The Quiet Man".

RIP, John, and thanks for the memories.

That was my thoughts at the time, don't know if others agree.

A mate of mine and his wife lived in Rainford and he asked me and my wife to go with them to a BBQ at a farm near their house. Everyone got a steak and I went over to BBQ mine and my wife's and John Hurst came over and plopped his steak on the top but he'd had a few sherberts and he kept dropping it on to the coals.

Discretion was the better part of valour and I didn't laugh or say anything as he might have taken umbrage.

RIP, John,

He had a surprisingly delicate touch for a big man and was a very important part of that great team.

RIP and condolences to his family. A great player, great Evertonian and great man.

West, Wright, Newton, Kendall, Labone, Harvey, Husband, Ball, Royle, Hurst and Morrisey.

He was also the original Rhino with marauding runs from inside his own half.

A quiet hero.

Labone's family had a central heating business just before the Weld Blundell pub (the business replaced by housing since then).

Back then, all pros could control and pass a ball unlike modern equivalents, it was just a given.

Exceptional players were those who could beat a man and, while fans acknowledged good defenders, they weren't appreciated as much as creators and goal-scorers.

At the risk of upsetting the defenders union, you picked ball players first in schoolyard games with defenders being a last resort back in the day.

Hurst would be worth a fortune these days…

But he was okay and everything went well… Didn't it? Nurs!!!

Rest in Peace, John.

I remember his goal against Chelsea in April 1967 on the night Joe Royle scored two on his home debut. He crashed it home from the edge of the box into the Street End net.

In August 1969, we went to Old Trafford in the midweek having won the first game of the season with a goal from John a few minutes from the end at Highbury. We totally outplayed Man Utd and just needed to get the opening goal.

John had some skill on the ball and 10 minutes before halftime, he ventured up the field easing past a couple of defenders before rifling a low shot into the bottom corner.

At that moment, less than halfway through the second match, I thought we really could win the league that season.

On Easter Saturday 1970 we played Chelsea, winning 5-2. John suffered a head injury but, like Mykolenko last Sunday, played on with his head wrapped in a bandage.

John Hurst was far more than a very good centre-half. He could play.

Jeff Astle never read the script.

The world needs more Blues, not less, and we just lost another one.

RIP John.

RIP, John Hurst. Thank you for being a key part of my best days watching a fabulous Everton side.

Condolences to his family.

He never took any shit by anyone and could dish it out when needed but a very composed player. A bit of a masterstroke moving him back to centre-half.

Another loss to my favourite '60s teams.

RIP

Alan #26. Harry Catterick valued John Hurst so much that he played him in the 1968 FA Cup final despite, presumably, concerns about John's fitness. I have always thought those concerns led to Roger Kenyon being chosen as substitute rather than Alex Young. Who knows what would have happened that day had Alex been on the bench?

I try not to dwell on things, these are just the incessant musings of a 12-year-old who was at Wembley that day. Equally, how would the match have gone had all the players not gone out wearing brand new Puma boots on a greasy surface? I must let these thoughts go.

John #29, moving forward a couple of years, my brother Charlie went to Highbury for the first game of the 69-70 Championship winning season. At 13, I wasn't allowed to go.

But a couple of days later, I was at Old Trafford with Charlie, standing in the open Scoreboard End, watching John Hurst crack a shot into the Stratford End goal. As you say, those two wins made everyone believe something was happening.

EDIT: Case in point, Neil Lawson's post below

I have a clear recollection of a dreadful game played on a rock hard, frozen pitch where the players could barely stand. My memory is of John Hurst picking up the ball about 30 yards out, taking a few strides, before hitting a beauty into the top corner. Pretty much the only shot on target all night.

A great memory of a much underrated true blue. It would to good to know if others on TW remember that goal and game as I do, and who the opposition were.

Such happy days of combative and competitive footie played by talented and committed true professionals. On a freezing night, not a pair of gloves, leggings or neck snood in sight.

Always so sad to lose one of our own.

I was a little too young, but my first memory of John Hurst was my joy when either walking to or from Ursuline Primary his face popped out on the footy cards I'd just bought with the chewy inside it at the kiosk in Blundellsands and Crosby station.

I did get to watch him: stylish, calm, collected, dependable, cracking shot. Forgive me, but my early memories of JH are in the middle but I guess his number confused the wee me.

Pete, I was just watching highlights of that Arsenal game (hope you're doing well). Those not old enough might enjoy the goal!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHkEpJPqDdk

Another favourite of mine is, I think it was the first game of the season in 1967/68 (can anyone over 70 help me out here!) when we beat Man-Utd, who I think were reigning champs. John Hurst is playing and just look at the team HC put out! Dear God, what joy it must have been to watch that lot week-in-and-out!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Be2wP2JCdQg

RIP John Hurst

The pitch was frozen solid during the interregnum between undersoil heating systems. I was in the Gwladys Street terrace in the days when we were packed so tightly we never felt the cold.

The shot flew into the net at the Park End from some distance – 30 yards was probably right but, by the time we were on the bus on the way home, the shot was said to be from 40 yards. It would undoubtedly have been a goal of the season contender had there been such a thing in those days.

Were any of you lot there that day?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFhz_Qz1DVc

We also signed at the same time Bally and Westy from The Sea-siders, and present-day Seamus developed there on loan for one mere season to become another of our legends.

RIP, John, a top man and player.

I also missed the Highbury game but stood in the Scoreboard End at Old Trafford. Wasn't it a fantastic night?

I remember it raining at one point. You may recall our second goal was at our end and notable for a role reversal in that Joe Royle crossed for Alan Ball to head in.

Many of the Manchester United supporters applauded our play towards the end of the game. That was something I had not previously witnessed during the course of a match. We were on the march to glory. I loved that season.

A very good but underrated player.

I suspect if you asked Evertonians of a certain age to name a top 11 from the 2nd half of the 1960s, then the team that hammered Man Utd at the start of the 67-68 season:- West, Wright, Wilson, Kendall, Labone, Harvey, Young, Ball, Royle, Hurst, Morrisey would be it. What a joy that day was.

I was at Haig Avenue for that 3rd round tie against Southport in 1968. Somewhat randomly, I was also there for the previous tie when Southport played Runcorn, the day I reached into my pocket for some sweets during the 2nd half only to discover the hand of the man standing behind me was already there!

He was a quick-thinking, skilled, strong defender who read the game extremely well. He became an integral part of the 1970 Championship-winning side. His quiet unassuming demeanour was similar to Paul Bracewell's, another unsung hero of the all-conquering mid-80s team.

Rest in Peace, John Hurst, you deserve to take your seat in the history of EFC as one of the greats.

I always remember the 1965 FA Youth Cup winning run with John in the team and Tony McLoughlin from Garston, Jimmy Husband and Aiden Maher scoring the goals.

I think Jarrad Branthwaite has a bit of John in him the way he plays cool in defence.

RIP, John, you did us proud.

Paul @44,

I went to the match at Southport, Billy Bingham was their manager. It was a tight game, Joe Royle scoring the winner with (I think) a header.

Again I've checked and can confirm that John played in that one. The gate was 18,795, possibly a record for Haig Avenue. I do remember it was very uncomfortable.

John was a true Everton great, the 69-70 team was for me our finest ever.

RIP.

My strongest memory, however ,was coming through the tunnel that led out of the ground after the game. One of only two occasions I have been truly frightened at a football match.

Too many men trying to get through too small a gap. I was caught up in the press and remember fighting to stay on my feet because I knew, if I went down, I would at best have been seriously trampled. I wonder if anyone else remembers this?

It sounds like there was some trouble at the game (I used to go to those pre-season Tranmere friendlies, one reason that I have no time for Tranmere!).

He is and forever will be, an Everton Legend and a member of a Blues Championship Winning Side. RIP. Condolences to his family and friends.

A great tribute. This goal by Alex, if scored by the PSG, Barca, and City fellas, would be serenaded to the highest heavens. I hope it was back then. I can't stop watching it.

RIP John Hurst

I remember the news coming through on the radio that he had scored at Highbury. We were dancing around our block. It was only the first game of the season, but we were well fancied that year and everyone knew we were on our way.

He wasn't an extrovert, that's for sure, but all the girls in our street used to fancy him. As a player, you won't find much footage of him, but, for me, the best (modern) comparison for anybody too young to have seen him play, would be young Branthwaite.

Fast (deceptively so). Good in the air. Strong tackler and very very cool under pressure. If young Jarrad can be as good as John Hurst, we won't go far wrong.

RIP JH

Plane trips from Machester to Finch Farm? John would've walked it to play for the blues.

RIP John, thanks for the memories.

RIP, John

RIP John💙💙

Brian Labone made his famous comment about this.

Obviously as a generational thing; I talk incessantly about Sheedy, Reid, Steven, Bracewell and Southall.

In terms of unsung heroes. Alan Harper and Kevin Richardson.

My youngest brother about Jagielka and Baines.

We all have fond memories. But the future is more important.

Perfect temperament to match his displays nearly every game and as a few have mentioned a very humble and modest man.

I went over to him on Goodison Road after he had long retired and just shook his hand and thanked him for his time at Everton, he honestly looked amazed that he was remembered, which he certainly was, and gave me a quiet "Thank you" back.

Thanks again,John, it was my pleasure watching you.

Don't remember seeing any trouble and, to be honest, I don't remember how I got there. In those days, I could have been fired out of a rocket! 😉

I know it wasn't for me but thanks for that link, brilliant to see how that team worked so hard and so well for each other, the different way the game was approached by both teams, the different rules and, to top it off, Alex Young's fabulous goal.

That link was followed by a link to the 2-0 derby win at Anfield in our Championship 1970 season with Joe Royle scoring a header and Ron Yeats claiming it as an own goal by himself in his Echo column the next week, Alan Whittle scored the second with 20 minutes to go and half of the red support went home!

Lovely to look back on those triumphant days but so sad to see where we are now.

But he wasn't a dirty player. Wholehearted and versatile, not the star of the team by any means but a vital cog in the late sixties team which was as good as any I've seen in my time supporting the Blues.

RIP, John Hurst

From memory, the crowd problem was caused by them not having proper terracing but rather a bank of ash and shale which made the crowd surges resemble a ski slope.

Another memory they had a yard dog centre forward called Eric Redrobe who roughed up some of our smaller players. Needless to say, Sandy Brown came off the subs bench and sorted him out, as you could in those days.

He could read a game well and was a totally reliable defender.

A great man and a player from an era when players were proper people and not jumped up wannabe's.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Be2wP2JCdQg

Enjoy, what a goal, but look at that team, dear God, what a team

A great Evertonian. All tributes to him are so well deserved.

Not sure how to express my thoughts properly but John belongs to quite a large group of players who I think don't get the recognition they deserved. Not sure exactly why this is but I would include the following in this group – although this does not include all I could name:

Jimmy Husband, Mick Buckley, Martin Dobson, Dave Clement, Joe Parkinson, Dave Thomas, Dave Watson and many others.

I drove my dear dad mental asking which one is George Best. Dad warned me if I ask again he would put me in a home in Manchester.

God bless John, one of the finest.

RIP, John.

I said on another post last week that teams of the era would not succeed today; I was wrong. That team would have without doubt.

It really warmed my heart watching that game, Paul, although I was in the Paddock with my Uncle Jimmy, I remembered why I love Everton. Indeed these days we scoff and laugh sarcastically at that line in the song that goes, "Everton's the team that plays beautiful football" but there it is... Ball, Harvey and Young... great, great side.

John Hurst, the quiet man, got on with the job, you only knew his value when he wasn't there. RIP, John, thank you from the little girl in the Paddock that day.

One of my first heroes, a no-nonsense defender who was equally adept in midfield.

Vastly underrated hard player and a vital cog in Catterick's 1969-70 title-winning team.

I had the pleasure of meeting him once outside the Old Lady and what a lovely humble man he was. He said to me, "You should be talking to Bally or Alex" – and burst out laughing.

I was genuinely shocked when I heard this earlier great man and great player was dead. Rest in peace, Jack.

RIP, John.

I'm so glad that you enjoyed the 1967 Man Utd game and it's lovely to hear your comments about your feelings about that team and the game and us.

It's great thinking that you were there watching it in the Paddock!

Great Everton players and what an era for Everton and British Football.

In a week of adversity which Everton and Evertonians will overcome and prevail, what a tribute to show the spirit of the game as it was and should be.

John Hurst would be very proud.

Now's the time for Everton's KC to show no mercy with the Premier League cronies.

UTFTs!

Alex Young's goal is a thing of beauty but I was out of my seat when his chip from just outside the box went just over the bar.

That was one of the days when my Dad was in Upper Bullens, M12, and I was having to play with a strange shaped ball at Hall Rd at the Merchant Taylors sports ground.

I have sent the link to my 2 sons who are in their thirties and have suffered so much with so little success to enjoy as true blues. To me, it is proper footie. Real footie as it should be played.

A whole different debate maybe, but those of us "seniors" have had the best of times and the modern game full of cheating and primadonnas bears no comparison.

And the crowds inside Goodison? Just wonderful. Superb memories.

Also, the footballers from that era were well paid, but when they retired, most seemed to get jobs. Alex Young had a carpet business, Ray Wilson became an undertaker and so on.

The top players today will never need to work again in their lives unless they squander it all and people like Messi, Ronaldo, Haaland could become billionaires. The working man's game!!!

His grandson cut my hair for years. I haven't got much hair left now, thanks to Everton.

RIP John Hurst and my condolences to you, Dave.

I'm going to watch it on YouTube and freeze the opening 30 seconds frame by frame on my laptop to see if I can see the 9-year-old me!

How can we have gone from that to this? So many memories. It makes you want to weep.

A side issue for me is always the contrast with MotD now. Then we had an understated commentator, Mr Kenneth Wolstenholme (whom we all considered a Man Utd fan) and a full 45 minutes of a game so that we could watch it "warts and all".

Now, we have a glorified goals round up with half of the programme devoted to the ramblings of a bunch of has beens. They spend time with analytical bullshit "enhanced" by computer graphics to tell us what we already know.

Is it, God forbid, because Generation X, Y or frigging Omega doesn't have the attention span to just take in ALL aspects of the game. Or do people now only watch it to enjoy seeing a millionaire do a celebratory knee slide in front of gurning shirtless oafs gathered by the corner flag???

As you can gather, my Chalfonts are playing me up.

This was because younger people and followers in the East (I don't mean Runcorn) were only interested in the result, not the match, the build up etc. Too short an attention span!

So sad that to hear the news of his death.

God, I'm a ray of sunshine today!

I think applause instead of silence is more appropriate in paying your respect to the departed. I know nowadays at some funerals the coffin is clapped out of the church and, listening to relatives of the person applauded, is very much appreciated by those closest to him or her.

As for your Chalfonts playing you up, stand up and move around a lot more, it might help. Luckily that's one complaint that hasn't reached me yet!

I'm pretty sure he scored the winner away to Burnley in the 69-70 season. Great player.

RIP, John, and thank you.

Once you venture onto YouTube, you can't help clicking on to the next link inviting you down memory lane. Before long, I was watching a Sheedy-inspired Everton absolutely destroy Man Utd — he could play a little bit, couldn't he?

What I didn't remember was that we went to Old Trafford and dumped them out of the cup a few days later. I guess it was hard to keep track of the wins back then.

Man Utd fans must have left Old Trafford wondering how they were ever going to bridge the gap between themselves and the mighty Everton.

How the mighty have fallen…

My son set me up with the Sky Go ap via his Sky service and you can watch all the games condensed to about 3 minutes. And with the sound off if it suits.

Means us oldies can have our Horlicks and go to bed early without having to suffer all the MotD bollocks.