Everton History

The inaugural one-season wonders

This is the story of 11 one-match wonders who made just one appearance each in Everton's inaugural season in the new Football League, 1888-89.

One-match Everton wonders

The inaugural Football League season of 1888-89 witnessed Everton contest 22 fixtures, of which they won 9: 8 at home and 1, a 4-2 success at Derby County on 20 October 1888, on their travels. They lost 11, 3 of which on home soil, and drew 2, both on opposition territory. They eventually finished a less‑than‑respectable 8th, just above the four re‑election places, having scored 35 goals and conceded 46 goals in the process.

During the course of these 22 fixtures, the 'Moonlight Dribblers' fielded 35 different players, a total which would not be exceeded until the 1919-20 season. In that campaign, as reigning Football League Champions of an expanded First Division, the Toffeemen contested nearly twice as many matches, namely 42.

Of these 35 players, 11 registered just a single outing in that historic first season, and of these, no fewer than 9 failed to re‑appear in a starting XI for the Moonlight Dribblers in any shape or form in that or any other season. For what it is worth, this, in brief, is the story of these eleven 1888-89 one-match Everton wonders — all of whom occupy a place, however minor, in the club’s sometimes illustrious, sometimes less so, Football League history.

Left-half Mike Higgins holds the distinction of featuring in Everton’s first-ever Football League defeat on either home or opposition soil, namely a 2-1 setback at Aston Villa on 22 September 1888. His appearance in this historic reverse notwithstanding, his real claim to Everton fame lies in having appeared in all four of Everton’s inaugural FA Cup encounters, beginning with a 1-0 defeat at Bolton Wanderers on 15 October 1887. The tie was ordered to be restaged and, following two draws, was eventually won 2-1 by Everton at their facilities in Walton Breck Road, Anfield, on 19 November 1887. But Everton were subsequently disqualified for fielding no fewer than seven illegally poached players. Having failed to cut the Football League mustard, Higgins departed Walton Breck Road sometime in 1889.

Uniquely among these 11 one-match wonders, Robert Jones, a centre-half born in Wrexham in 1869, actually featured in the very first Everton starting XI to take the field of play in a Football League fixture, the occasion being a home meeting with Accrington on 8 September 1888. In the encounter, Everton narrowly emerged victorious by the margin of 2-1, though, so it would seem, with precious little assistance from Robert Jones, whose performance was caricatured in the Liverpool Daily Post match report as “of little or no use”.

However, he did register a further appearance the following season in a 4-3 victory at Bolton Wanderers on 21 September 1889, three consecutive outings in season 1891-92, 1-0 home and away successes over Stoke, and a 3-0 home triumph over Accrington on 5, 12 and 19 March 1892 respectively, and two final appearances a year later, a 4-2 victory versus Wolverhampton Wanderers at Molineux on 19 March 1893 and a 4-0 home demolition of Blackburn Rovers on 1 April 1893. He was eventually transferred to Manchester City in June 1894, though not before debuting for Wales in a full international fixture versus Ireland on 24 February 1894.

Born in Cardross, Dunbartonshire, on 2 October 1865, bone‑crunching defender and full Scottish international Bob Kelso, an altogether different kettle of footballing fish than his fellow 1888-89 one‑match Everton wonders, joined the Moonlight Dribblers from Newcastle West End in 1888. He made his debut for the club on the occasion of the Toffeemen’s first-ever Football League defeat on home soil, a 2-0 reverse versus Preston North End on 19 January 1889 — his first and last appearance for the club during this inaugural Football League season.

Kelso left Everton for Preston North End later that same year and played a key role in their 1889-90 Championship-winning side before rejoining the Toffeemen in the summer of 1891. He made his second Everton debut in a 4-0 defeat at West Bromwich Albion on 5 September 1891.

Prior to joining Dundee in May 1896, Bob Kelso had featured in a total of 89 Everton league matches, including the 3-0 victory over Liverpool in the inaugural Merseyside derby at Goodison Park on 13 October 1894, notching 5 goals in the process.  One of those goals was Everton’s first‑ever strike as the visiting side at their old Walton Breck Road stamping ground in the return clash with their Johnny-come-lately rivals on 17 November 1894, which ended in a 2:2 draw. 

Kelso played in 14 FA Cup clashes, including the club’s unexpected and controversial 1-0 defeat in their first FA Cup Final appearance versus Wolverhampton Wanderers at Fallowfield, Manchester, on 25 March 1893. The curtain finally came down on his Everton career in a 4-0 FA Cup 2nd Round defeat at Sheffield Wednesday on 29 February 1896. Bob Kelso died in August 1942, aged 76.

Like left-half M Higgins, centre-forward John Keys sported Everton’s Cambridge blue and white halved shirts and white shorts for the first and final time in this inaugural Football League season in the Toffeemen’s historic 2-1 defeat at Aston Villa on 22 September 1888. Having evidently failed to impress Everton’s Management Committee, Keys parted company with the club, destination unknown, in 1889.

Another centre-forward, James Morris, debuted for Everton in the club’s first‑ever 0-0 draw in the Football League at Stoke on 15 December 1888. It was a result which the Toffeemen would not repeat in a Football League fixture on opposition territory until 21 November 1896 at, of all places, their original Football League stamping ground of Walton Breck Road, Anfield, in their first no-score draw with the new kids on the Anfield block, Liverpool. Never destined to re‑appear in an Everton starting eleven, Morris eventually left the club, though the details relating to when he actually departed and for which outfit have been lost in the mists of time.

Left-half Henry Parkinson sported the club’s colours for the only time in a 3-1 defeat at Accrington on 29 December 1888, the final Football League game of the year and Everton’s seventh reverse in 10 outings on opposition territory. Another failed acquisition, he left the club, destination unknown, in 1889.

Right-half Hugh Pollock made his first and last appearance for the Moonlight Dribblers in a dire 6-2 thrashing at Bolton Wanderers on 29 September 1888, the club’s heaviest reverse of the inaugural Football League season. That defeat would not be surpassed until Everton succumbed 7-3 at Derby County almost 5 years later on 9 September 1893. Having failed to stake a claim to a first-XI place, Pollock left the Toffeemen’s books in 1889, destination unknown.

Centre-half Ike Roberts featured in his one and only Everton game, a 2-1 setback versus Wolverhampton Wanderers at Walton Breck Road on 9 February 1889, Everton’s second and penultimate defeat on home soil that season. Another disappointment, he departed the club for pastures new later that year.

Right-half George Stephenson took the field of play for the first and final time in Everton’s colours in a 4-0 setback at Wolverhampton Wanderers on 26 January 1889, a reverse which marked the Toffeemen’s eighth and final defeat in eleven outings on opposition territory, a dismal record indeed, and the second of three doubles which they would suffer that season. Another right‑half who failed to make the first-team grade, Stephenson eventually departed for pastures new, year unknown.

Like the Everton left-half and centre-forward that day, centre-half Harry Warmby sported the club’s Cambridge blue and white colours for the first and final time in the historic 2-1 loss at Aston Villa on 22 September 1888. Having failed to establish his footballing credentials, he left Walton Breck Road for an unknown destination some time in 1889.

Left-back Walter Wilson made his sole outing for the Moonlight Dribblers in a 3-1 home win over Blackburn Rovers on 30 March 1889, Everton’s final Football League fixture of this inaugural season, parting company with the club later that same year.

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