League Details

Top Scorers

- Roy Vernon 24 goals
- Alex Young 22 goals

Highest Scores

- 5-0 v Blackpool at home 
- 4-1 v Sheffield Wednesday at home
- 4-1 v Fulham at home

- 4-0 v West Bromwich albion away

From left to right :
Back row : Young, Gabriel, Scott, Parker, West, Heslop, Labone Meagan, Kay.
Front row : Harris, Veall, Temple, Vernon, Stevens, Bingham, Morrissey

FA Cup Details

Inter City Fairs Cup

The 1962-63 season started with a tricky trip away to league and cup runners-up, Burnley, but Everton came away with a highly impressive 3-1 victory and just four days later 69,500 people turned up at Goodison Park to see the home side defeat Manchester United, also 3-1. Just like the previous season Harry Catterick did not bring in any players during the summer but on the day of the United game he made a rather surprising signing. Johnny Morrissey was unhappy at not being able to break through into the Liverpool first team and Catterick swooped with a £10,000 bid that was accepted by the Anfield board, much to the displeasure of their Manager, Bill Shankly.

Everton’s impressive form continued and they won seven of the first nine games before they met Liverpool in a Merseyside derby for the first time in 11 seasons. The game took place at Goodison and was witnessed by 72,488 spectators; if Shankly was still upset by the sale of Morrissey he must have been seething after the game as the player scored his first for the Blues when he opened the scoring in the first half. The match ended all square at 2-2, a result that saw Everton remain in second place but the fans were happy that the Merseyside derby was back on the footballing calendar.

The team’s relentless form continued and their championship credentials were confirmed when they drew 0-0 at title rivals Tottenham hotspurs on the 1st of December. Another win and a draw saw Everton top of the league for the trip to Sheffield Wednesday, which ended in a 2-2 draw to keep the side in top place. What happened after the game overshadowed the game itself when Catterick pulled off a major coup by signing Wednesday’s highly rated Tony Kay. The defender cost the club a record fee of £50,000 and was also a record for a British half back, Kay’s debut for the Blues was delayed as the whole of the country was soon in the grip of the ‘big freeze’ of 1963.

Football was virtually wiped out for almost two months while the country was gripped by ice age type weather, conditions which were responsible for the deaths of hundreds of people and animals, the ruination of crops and the bringing of air, rail, and road transport to a stand still. Following the Sheffield Wednesday game two days before Christmas, Everton did not play again in the league until 12 th February 1963. Catterick was not idle during this enforced break and he strengthened his squad further when he signed right winger Alex ‘ Chico’ Scott from Glasgow Rangers for £40,000, fending off Spurs to his signature.

When football returned to normality Everton found themselves behind both Tottenham Hotspurs and Leicester City, but with games in hand as the other two sides had managed to play an odd league game during the period of severe weather. The club’s first match after the break was away to rivals Leicester and saw the team defeated 3-1; three wins and a draw followed and helped Everton gain ground on their two main rivals. Away defeats to Arsenal and Sheffield United threatened to disrupt the title charge but it was only to a blip and when they drew and beat Birmingham City over the Easter period in mid April Everton found themselves level with spurs on 50 points and one behind league leaders Leicester.

The next game was a huge match against Tottenham Hotspurs at Goodison Park and 67,650 turned up to watch a tense, tightly balanced affair. Jimmy Greaves, Tottenham’s England forward, was on fire and he would become the countries leading scorer but in this game he was held in check superbly by Jimmy Gabriel and only had one chance in the game. The deadlock was broken when Alex Young met a Roy Vernon cross to powerfully head Everton into a half time lead. The Blues, led by the ever impressive Tony Kay, continued to press after the break and created several chances to increase their lead but they could not add to Young’s goal. The win took Everton to the top of the league for the first time since before the enforced Winter break.

The next match saw Everton draw with Arsenal at Goodison to increase their lead by another point and wins away at West Ham and at home to Bolton ensured that they kept their three points lead over Tottenham. The penultimate game of the season saw the Blues travel to the Midlands for the visit to West Bromwich Albion, who had all but ended Leicester’s title challenge with a 2-1 win. Everton did not slip up and returned home with a highly impressive 4-0 victory.

With Tottenham having three games left, but now five points behind, Everton went into the last game of the season against Fulham, at Goodison Park, knowing that a win would secure the championship.

Another huge crowd of 60,578 turned up to roar their hero’s to the title, and the players did not disappoint. Everton dominated the match from the first to last whistle and three goals from Vernon and one from Scott meant the Blues had won the first division title for the first time since the great side of 1938-39. For John Moores the winning of the championship was just reward for the massive investment he had put into the club and with the controversial sacking of Johnny Carey now a distant memory, the fans chanted the chairman’s name as the players did a lap of honour.

Three club records were set during the season; the 61 points amassed was the highest gained in one season, for the first time ever an Everton side had gone a full season without losing a home game and the club experienced an average home attendance of 51,063, for the one and only time it would exceed 50,000.

Everton made their first appearance in European competition during October 1962 when they compated in the old Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, the fore-runner of the current UEFA Cup. Their first continental opponents were from Greece, but when they withdrew from the competition they played Dunfermline Athletic. The first leg of the tie was played at Goodison Park and a goal from Dennis Stevens settled the game in front a gate in excess of 40,000. The second leg was played seven days later and Jock Stein’s side won the game by 2-0 to end Everton’s first excursion into European football.

In the FA Cup Everton faced away games against lower league opposition, Barnsley and Swindon Town, in the third and fourth rounds and progressed quite easily, after winning 3-0 and 5-1 respectively. The fifth round saw another away trip, this time against fellow first division side West Ham United and the blues went out of the competition by one goal to nil.

The partnership of Vernon and Young was once again outstanding with 46 goals being scored between them, Vernon scoring 24 and Young 22. The attacking importance of these players was evident as no other player managed to get into double figures. During the season Brian Labone became the first Everton player since the war to be capped by England, when he made his debut in a 3-1 victory against Northern Ireland on 20 th October 1962. Two notable players left the club during the season when Billy Bingham signed for Port Vale and Jimmy Fell joined Newcastle United.

Photo Gallery

 Programme from the championship clinching game

         Boys pen ticket from the Merseyside derby