Brian Labone - 1957 - 1971:

Brian Labone joined Everton in 1957 and impressed so well in a trial, were he was up against Dave Hickson, that he was rewarded an immediate place in the club's reserve side. He made his senior debut in March 1958 against Birmingham City at St. Andrews, it was an unspectacular first game in which Everton lost 2-1, his next game was against Tottenham Hotspurs and their forward Booby Smith gave him the run around. Labone was quick to learn and was soon on his way to become one of the greatest defenders of his era, leading Harry Catterick to label him " The Last of the Corinthians". Fitting praise from a man famous for being at times a ruthless authoritarian who rarely lavished praise on anyone.

Not blessed with real pace, although he was no slouch. Labone was superb at reading the game, crisp in the tackle and dominant in the air. He was also comfortable while in procession of the football and was often seen striding out of defence with it. His abilities did not go un-noticed and he won his first international cap in 1962, surprisingly the first Everton player to do so since the war, and went on to play 26 times in all for England.

In 1962-63 he was part of the first great side that Harry Catterick put together that won the League title. It wasn't long before his natural gift for leadership was rewarded and he became Everton captain for the 1964-65 season, following the jailing of the previous captain Tony Kay. In 1966 he led the club in one of the greatest comebacks in FA Cup history when Everton beat Sheffield Wednesday in the final 3-2.

A year after the FA Cup win he announced he was to retire, this stunned both the club and the fans, the reason given was to concentrate on the family business. In truth he had not been playing well but all agreed the retirement was a little drastic, thankfully his form returned and he had a change of heart.

In 1968 he led the team to another FA Cup final, this time to be surprisingly beaten by West Bromwich Albion. Everton had been one of the top sides in England since winning the league in 1962-63, finishing only once outside the top six. But the team that last won the league had been broken up and Catterick had assembled another great side which stormed to the league title in 1969-70, winning by a massive nine points at a time when there was only two points for a win.

Labone's form was such that he was picked to go to the World Cup in 1970, he would have been in the 1966 squad only he declined in order to concentrate on his wedding. He was to feature in three of England's four games including the quarter final defeat to West Germany.

The 1970-71 season was ultimately to be Labone's final season with Everton, although he did play four games the next season, when an Achilles injury sustained in a reserve game brought the curtain down on a glorious Everton career. He was only 31 years of age.

During his playing career with Everton he was only booked twice in over 500 games for the blues, a club record for an outfield player.

He entered the world of finance after retiring but eventually returned to his beloved Everton to take up a roll as a matchday ambassador looking after corporate clients.

Brian Labone was never afraid to show how much he loved Everton and Evertonians and on the BBC's History of Everton his blue-blooded partisanship came through when, at the end of an interview, he finished with the words "Don't forget lads - one Evertonian is worth twenty Liverpudlians".

Brian Labone died 24th April 2006 and typical of the man, he had earlier in the evening attended a prize giving at the Wimslow pub opposite Goodison Park. Many tributes were made with of the most fitting coming from Kevin Ratcliffe " Brian was Everton. If you could put together a team of every player that has ever captained Everton, every one of us would turn to Brian to lead us out. He will always be known as the captain of Everton".

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Brian Labone's Everton record:

Honours:

Two league titles 1963 and 1970

One FA Cup win 1966, one runners 1968

Two Charity Shield wins1963 and 1970

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Playing Career :

League appearances 451, goals 2

FA Cup appearances 45, goals 0

League Cup appearances 15, goals 0

European appearances 19, goals 0

Other appearances 3, goals 0