The turn of the decade saw a change in Everton’s fortunes, the first and most significant change being the appointment of John Moores as the new chairman of the club. The then chairman, Fred Micklesfield, announced at the Annual General on 23 rd June that Moores had offered £36,000 to the club, interest free, in order to attract star players to Everton. Micklefield then offered words of confidence in the future of the club before he retired from the chair and John Moores being elected.
The season did not start well with just two wins from the first five games but a run of 13 games unbeaten saw the team quickly climb the table, by Christmas they were lying third in the league and were being considered as genuine title contenders. With the new backing of John Moores, Johnny Carey added Billy Bingham to the growing list of very good players already on the club’s books when he paid £15,000, plus John Bramwell and Alec Ashworth, to Luton town for his services. Bingham had made a name for himself the previous season when he helped Luton Town to the FA Cup final by scoring in every round up to the final, were they lost to Nottingham Forest.
Carey had added some of the games establish and rising stars to his squad but during December he acquired possibly the brightest of them all when he signed Alex Young from Hearts. Many leading clubs were courting his signature but only Preston North End and Everton had made firm bids, in the region of £40,000, Young spoke to Preston first and when negations broke down the Blues stepped in and clinched his signature after a meeting at Preston Railway Station. The deal also included Young’s team mate, George Thomson, and cost Everton a total of £55,000; with Young accounting for £42,000.
In the 13 years that had past since the end of the war Everton had either been relegated or constantly trying to stave off the drop, the current season was in stark contrast but Carey’s team were entertainers not winners. This was bourn out after Christmas 1960 when they lost six of seven games to all but drop out of the championship race.
Despite an improvement in March rumours were rife that Carey was to be replaced, fuel was added to the fire when ex player Harry Catterick, resigned as manager of Sheffield Wednesday and it was speculated that the Everton board were appointing him to the Everton position. On 14 th April 1961 Carey travelled to an FA meeting in London with Moores and during the trip he demanded a meeting with the chairman to clarify his position. The two men took a taxi to the Grosvenor Hotel and when Carey repeated his demands Moores, who was always a man of principle, went straight to the point and informed his manager that he was to be replaced.
The sacking of Carey hardly registered as newsworthy during this week in April 1961. Overshadowing the events at Goodison Park were the launching of first manned space flight by the Soviet Union, and in Israel the trial of the Nazi Eichmann began. Even in football it was outdone by the abolition of the games maximum wage. Carey had one game left in charge and before the game, against Cardiff City, there was booing and slow handclapping aimed at Moores; chants of ‘We want Carey’ could also be heard around the ground. Before the team left the dressing room Bobby Collins thanked the manager on behalf of the players and when the match started they put in a performance that their boss could be extremely proud of. Goals from Collins, three, and two from Alex Young saw Everton to a 5-1 victory so bringing to a sad end the first chapter of Everton’s revival.
On the following Monday at 6.45 p.m. Everton announced that Harry Catterick was to become the club’s fifth manager, confirming the worst kept secret in football. The 41 year old had guided Sheffield Wednesday to the second division title in 1958-59 and to the FA Cup semi final the following year. At the time of his resignation Sheffield were regarded as one of the top teams in the country and were mounting a strong challenge to Tottenham Hotspurs for the first division title.
Catterick’s first game saw Everton defeat Tranmere Rovers 4-1 in a Liverpool Senior Cup semi final. Ironically his first league game in charge was against his previous club and resulted in a 2-1 win at Hillsborough for his new team. The following week saw Everton complete their league programme with a 4-1 home win against Arsenal and so ended the season in a comfortable fifth place, the highest place finish since they won the league in 1938-39.
In October 1960 Everton played their first game in the newly formed League Cup with their first opponents in the competition being Accrington Stanley, who are no relation to the Blues first league opponents, Accrington. They progressed comfortably to the fifth round but were surprisingly beaten 2-1 by third division side Shrewsbury Town. The poor league form after Christmas also affected the teams progress in the FA Cup and they lost in the third round to second division, Sheffield United, by two goals to one, at Goodison Park.
The difference in the management styles of Everton’s previous and current leaders was stark, with Carey being affable and approachable whereas Catterick was a seen as strict disciplinarian. If the players were in any doubt how the new regime was to be run they soon found out, during a post season tour of the USA club captain, Roy Vernon, was sent home after he broke a curfew.
There were no new faces in the team for the start of Catterick’s first season in charge as he recognised that he had inherited a very good squad of players and saw no reason to rush out and spend the funds John Moores had made available to him.
The 1961-62 season got off to an indifferent start with six wins and seven losses in the first 13 games; one defeat in the next 12 games saw the team move up the table but a serious title challenge was out of the question. Attention turned to the FA Cup but after comfortable wins against Kings Lynn and Manchester City they travelled to Burnley in the fifth round. Returning home disappointed after being beaten 3-1 Catterick realised it was time to make a move into the transfer market.
The managers first signing saw him break the British transfer fee for a goalkeeper when he paid £27,500 to Blackpool for Gordon West, who had only been playing in goal for a year. West had started his career as a centre half but his transformation to keeper was completed when, after only a few months of completing a trial at Blackpool, he replace England international Tony Waiters in the Bloomfield Road goal. Next to arrive was Dennis Stevens who cost the club £35,000 when he joined from Bolton Wanderers. Stevens’s signing was not popular with the fans as he was seen as replacement for crowd favourite, Bobby Collins. The rumours of Collins’s departure persisted even though he and Stevens appeared in the same side on several occasions.
When Catterick switched Collins to the right wing the player saw this as a sign that he did not feature in the manager’s plans and when his unrest became common knowledge there was no shortage of clubs queuing up to sign him. A firm bid came in from Don Revie at Leeds United and on the 8 th March Bobby Collins left Everton in a deal worth £30,000.
Everton ended the season in great form and a nine game unbeaten run saw the club finish in fourth place; achieving European qualification for the first time. Despite poor away form and the loss of players at key times through injury Everton ended only five points behind champions Ipswich Town. The most pleasing aspect of a very good season was the blossoming forward partnership of Alex Young and Roy Vernon and was of the calibre not seen at Goodison since before the war; between them they scored 40 goals in the league with Vernon claiming 26 of them.
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.
As was becoming usual Harry Catterick made no new signings before the following season got underway but with the season just a week old he did enter the transfer market when secured the signature of Alex ‘Sandy’ Brown. Catterick paid Partick Thistle £38,000 for Brown whose favourite role was as an overlapping full back but he was extremely versatile and during his eight years with Everton he filled in a variety of rolls in the team’s defence.
Silverware was added to the club’s trophy cabinet when the Charity Shield was won following a comprehensive victory over Manchester United, 4-0, at Goodison Park. The league season got underway the following Saturday and Everton were at home to the team they had beaten to clinch the title in May, Fulham. The result was the same but this time by a 3-0 margin and the fans began bracing themselves for another trophy winning season.
The next weekend the team travelled to Manchester to play the side they so easily beaten to claim the Charity Shield just two weeks earlier, this time the outcome would be totally different and they come home licking their wounds after being mauled, 5-1. This set the tone for the early part of the season and the side could not put together a decent run of form.
Everton’s baptism to the European Cup could not have been much more difficult when they were handed a formidable test by being drawn against the might of Internazionale of Milan. Inter were coached by the legendary Helenio Herrara and boasted stars such as Suarez, Mazzola and the Brazilian, Jair; despite Inters reputation, the game was eagerly awaited. It was to prove a hugely frustrating evening for the majority of 61,000 plus crowd inside Goodison Park as Inter stifled all of Everton’s attacking ideas and the only time the Italians defence was breached the referee ruled out Roy Vernon’s effort for off-side.
The second leg took place a week later at Inter’s impressive San Siro Stadium and Harry Catterick sprung a major surprise on the eve of the game. Jimmy Gabriel was out of the game through injury and Catterick handed a first team debut to the 18 year old Colin Harvey. A game of such importance could have overwhelmed the most experienced of players but Harvey put in nerveless display. The team did the club proud but could not overcome the might of Italian football and a goal by Jair saw Inter through to the next round and Everton bowed out as gallant losers but with a fair amount of credit.
Everton returned to league football three days after their encounter with Inter to a little matter of a Merseyside derby, at Anfield, and came away with a 2-1 defeat. Form improved for a while with the side winning their next four games but only three wins out of the next thirteen games, up to the end of the year, saw the team slide down the table.
During this period Everton took part in what was being billed as the unofficial ‘British Championship’ when they pitted their wits against Glasgow Rangers over two legs. The games were being taken more seriously north of the border than on Merseyside and when the team arrived in Glasgow they were given a hostile welcome with chants of “easy, easy, easy” by the waiting Rangers fans. Everton defended tightly during the game and caught the home side on the break, slicing their opponents open with swift counter attacks and goals from Scott, Temple and Young saw them leave Ibrox with a 3-1 victory. The return game took place six days later and was marred by crowd trouble when Scottish fans in the Bullens Road stand started throwing bottles and other items on the crowd in the Paddock below. The game itself ended in a 1-1 draw to give Everton the overall win by four goals to two.
The turn of the year saw Everton’s form take a turn for the better despite being without their talisman Alex Young for six games in January and February, during which time the team won four and drew two. Young’s returned for the 4-2 home win over Aston Villa and when Everton went down to league leaders Tottenham on the 7 th February he inspired the team to repeat the Villa score-line leaving the team in sight of the top of the table.
Even though his side was hitting a rich vein of form Catterick was not resting on his laurels and on the Monday after the Spurs game he shocked English football by smashing the British domestic transfer record. The signature of Blackburn Rovers forward Fred Pickering cost Everton £85,000 which angered the fans he was leaving and bemused those he was joining. Rover’s fans were not happy because Pickering had helped transform them from a mediocre side to title outsiders, Everton fans thought he had been signed as either a replacement for Young and to break up his partnership with Vernon. Pickering could not have got off to a better start when he was picked ahead of Alex Young and scored a debut hatrick at Goodison, against Nottingham Forest.
Everton’s next game was against Pickering’s old club, Blackburn, and a last minute goal from Derek Temple saw the visitors steal a 2-1 victory. The win meant that Everton were again on top of the table with 46 points, two points below them were Tottenham and Liverpool, who had one and two games in hand respectively. Next up was a Friday night game at home against mid table West Bromwich Albion and at the end of an unimpressive performance and a poor 1-1 draw a demonstration took place in front of the director’s box calling for Young to be reinstated in the team.
Twenty four hours later Everton were in action at Goodison again; Young was in the side and scored three minutes from time to see the home side to a 3-1 victory over Blackpool. The win kept the Blues on top of the table but Liverpool had closed the gap to just one point but had seven games left to Everton’s five. Three days later, the last day of March, Everton travelled to West Brom for a game that all but sealed their fete and following an appalling defensive display they returned to Merseyside defeated 4-3, Liverpool had won the night before were now a point ahead of their neighbours, with games in hand.
With Liverpool needing just seven points from their last six games it was up to Everton to put as much pressure on them as possible. This they could not do and following a poor defeat at lowly stoke City, followed by an equally disappointing draw at home to Wolverhampton Wanderers, the title race was all but up. The season ended with a further defeat at Chelsea and a home victory over West Ham United to leave Everton in third place behind Liverpool and runners-up Manchester United, but news had broken that was to rock Everton, and football, as much as loosing their title.
On 12 th April a story broke in the Sunday People that accused three players of fixing a match involving Sheffield Wednesday and Ipswich Town. The allegations had been made by ex Sheffield player Jimmy Gauld, with the accused being Peter Swan, David Layne and Everton skipper Tony Kay. Gauld alleged that the three players had taken a bribe to throw the game against Ipswich, which Town did win 2-0. The deeper the investigative journalists dug the more widespread the problem was, albeit in the lower leagues of football, were money was scarcer.
Everton’s response was to suspend Kay, despite the player refuting the allegations and reports of the game declaring that Kay had been outstanding. The newspaper passed their files to the Director of Public Prosecutions and they decided that there was enough evidence to take the case to court. In January 1965, nine months after the story had broken, the three players appeared in court; were found guilty, jailed for three months and banned from football for life. Kay’s ban was lifted in 1974 but his best days were well behind him and he only managed to play at amateur level.
Unlike previous seasons Catterick made a significant signing prior to the season starting when he paid Huddersfield Town £40,000 for their left full back, Ray Wilson. Although 29 years of age Wilson was an established England International with over 30 caps to his name and was an excellent acquisition to the Everton team. Players were also starting to come through from the youth and reserve set up at the club, after making his only previous appearance at the San Siro, Colin Harvey established himself in the first team and Tommy Wright emerged to take the place of Alex Parker, who left during the season to join Southport.
Evertonian worries that Alex Young’s days were numbered, following the signing of Fred Pickering, were unfounded as the manager used him to form a three pronged attack, with Vernon making up the trio. In fact it was not Young who Pickering would replace but Vernon, who played only 16 games during the season and eventually left to join Stoke City in a £40,000 deal.
The season itself got of to a very good start with the team winning the first three games but a long injury list saw the side only managing to draw three on the next five games. Next up was the Anfield derby and Everton went into the game without the services of West, Parker, Young and Vernon but this did not stop the Blues winning at their former home for the first time since 1951. West’s stand-in Andy Rankin was inspired in goal and goals from Temple, Pickering, Harvey and Morrissey sealed an exceptional 4-0 win. The following weekend Everton were on their travels once again when they made the trip to the Midlands to face Birmingham City. They came home with a 5-3 win and every one thought the team would now press on to challenge for the league title.
Autumn put paid to any ideas of winning the championship as the side went eight games without a win and could only manage three draws. One of the defeats came at the hands of newly promoted Leeds United and was remembered as one of the dirtiest games played at Goodison. Sandy Brown was sent off after just four minutes and as scything tackles flew in, Derek Temple was carried off. The referee took the players off as tempers were lost and Morrissey was seen holding back a fan who tried to get at Billy Bremner or Norman Hunter, who were seen as the main protagonists.
The ship was steadied over the next few months with an unbeaten run of 12 games and as the season was drawing to a close Everton completed the ‘double’ over Liverpool when they won 2-1 at Goodison in mid April. Despite erratic form the side finished in a very creditable fourth place but a full 12 points behind champions Manchester United.
Everton’s third season in European football started extremely well with a 9-4 aggregate win of Norwegian side, Valerengens, in the Inter Cities Fairs Cup. The second round saw the club drawn against Scottish side Kilmarnock and after winning 2-0 in Scotland they finished the job with a -1 win at Goodison Park. The next round was a all England affair when Manchester United were paired with the Blues, the first game was at Old Trafford and Everton came away with a very creditable 1-1 draw. When the 2 nd leg was played 2 weeks later Everton’s fans fancied their chances of progressing but were disappointed as United won the game 2-1 bringing to an end another European campaign.
The star of the season was Fred Pickering who scored 37 goals in 51 games in all competitions, 27 in the league. This excellent form earned him his three England caps and in his debut, against the USA, he scored a hat-trick in a 10-0 victory during a tour of North and South America, he also scored in his other two games, but never played for England again.
As with other summers Catterick did not add any ‘stars’ to his squad, instead relying on players who had progressed through Everton’s excellent youth system Youngsters such as Jimmy Husband, John Hurst and Joe Royle joined established youngsters Colin Harvey and Tommy Wright in the first team set up.
The 1965-66 season got off to an indifferent start and had not improved by the end of the year, with only seven wins being recorded in 23 games and the team found themselves in the wrong half of the table. An improvement in form following the turn of the year saw the side move up the table but a poor finish to the season meant that Everton finished in a disappointing eleventh place.
In early January Harry Catterick made a decision that epitomised his managerial style when he dropped Alex Young for the trip to Blackpool and in his place he handed a debut to 16 year old, Joe Royle. In doing so Royle became the youngest player in the club’s history to play in the first team, a record than would stand for over 40 years. Catterick believed that Young needed a short, sharp shock to get a season back on track that had started well, including a hat-trick against Sheffield Wednesday, but had gone in decline in the later months of 1965. Everton lost the game 2-0 and at the final whistle the travelling fans let their feelings be known. Some supporters waited for the players and officials to leave and when Catterick appeared they surged forward and knocked the Everton manager to the floor, such was the feeling against the dropping of crowd favourite Young.
Catterick’s decision, however, worked a treat and the following week Young was back to his best, helping the team to a 3-0 win over Sunderland in the 3 rd round of the FA Cup. The win set up a fourth round tie away to non league Bedford Town and another 3-0 win saw Everton ease into the next round. With any thoughts of championship honours now just a distant memory, attention was turning to the FA Cup.
Coventry City were the next opponents, with the game taking place at Goodison Park, and another 3-0 meant that Everton were in their first quarter final for 13 years. Reward for the victory over Coventry was tricky away game at second division Manchester City, who were doing exceptionally well and would gain promotion at the end of the season. The game took place at Maine Road and 63,034 people turned up and witnessed a goal-less game, the replay took place just three days later and also ended 0-0in front of 60,349 at Goodison. A second replay was needed and took place the following week at Molineux, the home of Wolverhampton Wanderers, and goals from Derek temple and Fred Pickering sealed the victory for the Blues.
Waiting for Everton in the semi final were Manchester United and so determined were the Blues to reach the final that they fielded eleven reserves in the league game at Leeds United the week before they met United. Not surprisingly Everton lost the game, 4-1, and were subsequently fined £2,000 by the Football Association.
Two weeks before the United game Everton suffered a blow when Fred Pickering limped out of the game against Sheffield United and was still to make a recovery. Catterick replaced him with a relative unknown 21 year old Cornishman, Mike Trebilcock, who had joined the club the previous December for £20,000 from Plymouth Argyle.
The semi final took place at Burnden Park, Bolton and interest in the game was immense with fans sleeping in their cars overnight and crowds started to form outside of the ground from 7 o’clock in the morning; British Rail laid on several extra trains to ferry fans from Liverpool’s Exchange station. With the largest crowd expected at Bolton since the 1947 disaster, when 33 people died, concerns were raised as to the choice of venue as the ground was ill-equipped to cope with such volumes of people. Worries were confirmed at half time when fencing in one corner gave way and hundreds of fans spilled on to the pitch and had to watch the second half sitting on the cinder track that formed the perimeter of the pitch.
United were overwhelming favourites to reach the final but in an uneventful first half that was littered with poor passing and scrappy play, Everton had more than held their own. The second half continued in the same vein, however, the longer the game went on the more confident the Blues became. With 12 minutes a Wilson clearance from defence was headed on to Temple by Young, and he set off down the left wing. Spotting Harvey unmarked in penalty area, Temple found him with a perfect pass, and the Everton mid-fielder found the corner of the United net with a low accurate shot.
Everton had reached their first FA Cup final for 33 years and were to meet Catterick’s previous club, Sheffield Wednesday. For the fans the main concern was how were they going to obtain tickets and despite Wembley holding 100,000 only 15,000 were made available for the general public of each club. Everton decided to allocate the tickets based on season tickets ending on a certain number, these were soon snapped up but on the day of the final it was clear that many thousand more fans from Merseyside had obtained entrance to the stadium.
There were still three league games left to play and the two first team regulars that missed the semi final featured in them; Pickering in all three and Tommy Wright in two. It was presumed that both would return for the final, Harry Catterick had other ideas. When the final 11 was announced Wright was back at right back but the manager sprung a major surprise when he kept faith with Trebilcock and left Pickering out of the side.
On reaching the final Wednesday had played every round away from home and Everton had done so by not conceding a goal, a fete not achieved for 63 years. Everton were huge favourites but Sheffield did not let that effect them and more than played their part in one of greatest finals in the long history of the Cup.
Catterick’s decision to leave Pickering out of the team seemed to have been a serious error of judgement because after just four minutes Wednesday took the lead through Jim McCalliog. Everton were having difficulty in breaking down the Sheffield defence and they went into the half time interval 1-0 down. Things got worse on 59 minutes when Gordon West could not hold onto a fierce drive from Johnny Fantham and the ball ran to David Ford, who scored with ease. A lifeline was thrown to the Blues within two minutes when Mike Trebilcock pounced on a Derek Temple knock-down to pull a goal back.
Everton began to pile the pressure onto Sheffield and three minutes later they were level. An Alex Scott free kick was only partially cleared and Trebilcock struck again from close range to equalise. The Yorkshire side regained their composure and extra time was looming when Everton received a priceless piece of fortune. When Wednesday’s centre half Gerry Young let the ball slip under his foot; it landed at Derek Temple’s feet and with only goalkeeper Ron Springett in front of him he shot from the edge of the area, and despite the keeper getting his hand to the ball, scored to complete an unbelievable comeback.
There was still ten minutes left and Sheffield rallied once more to put the Everton defence under immense pressure, but they stood firm and the Blues won their third FA Cup in the most dramatic of circumstances. The win also meant that the club had qualified for the European Cup Winners Cup and in doing so became the first team from England to play in European competition for five consecutive seasons.
Photograph of the team that won the FA Cup in 1966
The team from left to right : Back row : B. Harris, B. Labone, G. West, J. Gabriel, T. Wright, T. Eggleston (trainer). Front Row : A. Scott, M. Treblicock, A. Young, H, Catterick (manager), C. Harvey, D. Temple, R. Wilson.
This year’s forage into European competition did not last long. In the first round of the Inter Cities Fairs Cup they faced German side 1 FC Nuremberg, a team they would face again 42 years later, and went through 2-1. In the second round they face Hungarian opposition in the form of Ujpesti Dozsa and went out of the competition 4-2 on aggregate after losing the first leg 3-0 in Hungary.
During the 1965-66 season there was a major rule change within football when the games governing body allowed players to be substituted, at first it was only for injured players but after two seasons this was relaxed and a player could be substituted for tactical reasons. Everton’s first substitute was John Hurst who replaced the injured Fred Pickering during the 1-1 draw at Stoke City, just three games into the season.
With the league season over the whole world turned its eyes to the greatest football event to take place in England, the World Cup. Goodison Park had been chosen as the most prominent ground, outside of Wembley, and was honoured to be used not only for group games, but for quarter final and semi final matches. A further honour was bestowed on the club when it was announced that the 1962 World Champions, Brazil, would play all of there games at Goodison and would use Everton’s training ground, Bellefield, as there base. Unfortunately for the Merseyside fans Brazil were not allowed to play their usual stylish football when they were literally ‘kicked’ out of the tournament.
Their first game was a routine win against Bulgaria but when they met Hungary three days later they found they had an over lenient referee and their star players, in particular Pele, received severe treatment and lost the game 3-1. Next up were Portugal and again the players from South America did not receive any protection from the referee and succumbed to another 3-1 defeat. The champions were out of the competition but went home impressed with the treatment they had received off the field, so much so that when they returned home they set up a training camp modelled on Everton’s own Bellefield.
The quarter final awarded to Everton was arguably the best game of the World Cup, Portugal met the surprise team of the tournament, North Korea, who had earlier knocked out fancied Italy. The Goodison crowd took the Koreans to their hearts and cheered them to an unbelievable 3-0 lead after just 25 minutes; by half time, however, Eusebio had reduced the arrears to 3-2, could an astonishing comeback be on or could Korea cause one of the biggest shocks in World Cup history. Everyone had only 11 minutes of the second half to wait when Eusebio equalised with his third goal of the game and then three minutes later added a fourth to send Portugal into the lead. The game was wrapped up in the 80 th minute when Jose Augusto added a fifth to send Portugal into the semi final.
England had also progressed to the semi final after a bad tempered match against Argentina, which was held up for several minutes following the sending off of the South American’s captain, Rattin. The game was settled in the 78 th minute when Geoff Hurst headed England into the lead, which they held onto until the final whistle.
The semi final line up was England v Portugal and West Germany v Russia, with the games scheduled to be played at Goodison Park and Wembley, respectively. Much to everyone on Merseyside’s dismay the FA switched the England game to Wembley, so that the national side did not have to leave its base in London and Goodison had to be satisfied with the other match. The game at Everton was an ill tempered affair which West Germany won, 2-1. Although disappointed by not hosting the England game it was still an enormous honour for the club to host a semi final of the World Cup and Goodison Park remains the only club ground to do so, with all games at this stage being played at national stadiums.
England progressed to the final by beating the Portuguese 2-1 and met the West German side on 30 July 1960. Merseyside was represented in the Final by Ray Wilson from Everton and Roger Hunt from Liverpool, both played their part in an unbelievable game which England won by four goals to two, after extra time, and saw Geoff Hurst become the only player to score a hat-trick in a World Cup final.
When the euphoria of winning the World Cup had subsided, fans turned their attention back to domestic football and they did not have long to wait as the league season kicked off just two weeks after the final with the Charity Shield between Everton and Liverpool. Before he game at Goodison Park took place both teams did a lap of honour and was unique because not only were the League Championship Trophy and FA Cup on show but Ray Wilson and Roger Hunt paraded the World Cup. The match itself was won by Liverpool, 1-0, a score line that was in some way flattering to Everton as the home side struggled to sting more than a few passes together at a time, giving possession back to the visitors on a regular basis.
Catterick, who as usual had made no summer signings, was not impressed and made an immediate move into the transfer market. On the Monday after the Charity Shield the Everton boss broke the British transfer record to sign the player who impressed the most at Wembley two weeks earlier. Leeds United were favourites to sign Blackpool’s young star Alan Ball as they appeared to be the only ones expressing a definite interest but Everton had other ideas and on the 14 th August Catterick and Director E. Holland-Hughes made an unexpected visit to Bloomfield Road. They matched Blackpool’s valuation and in turn Catterick was allowed to speak with the player, laying out personal terms and what the manager saw as Ball’s role in the Everton team. The deal was done and despite a last minute dash from Yorkshire by Don Revie, Alan Ball was on his way to becoming a Goodison Park legend.
Everton’s season got underway with a 1-0 win at Fulham, with Ball marking his debut with the winner. The following Tuesday they were at home to Manchester United and despite a 2-1 defeat minds were soon focused on Saturday when the first Merseyside derby of the season was to be staged at Goodison. The game was a complete reversal to the Charity Shield result with an Alan Ball inspired Everton taking the game to Liverpool and coming away with a 3-1 win. Ball helped himself to two of the goals and went on to be the teams leading scorer for the season with 18 goals, 15 in the league.
The early season good form continued and by the beginning of November the side had only lost three of the fifteen games played but inconsistency took over and a championship challenge faltered. Finishing sixth was a much needed improvement from the previous season but the team were still 12 points behind champions, Manchester United.
The club’s venture into the European Cup Winners Cup lasted only until the second round, after beating AAB Aalborg 2-1 on aggregate Everton went out of the competition by the same score line to Real Zaragoza. With league form stuttering and the European campaign over in November, Attention turned once again to the FA Cup.
The third round saw Everton drawn away to Burnley and after a 0-0 draw replayed the following Tuesday and two goals from Alex Young saw the Blues through by two goals to one. Second division Wolverhampton Wanderers supplied the next opposition and Everton again needed a replay to progress. The first game took place in the Midlands and ended 1-1; in the replay another of the club’s many youngsters, Jimmy Husband, who was to seal the game with two goals in a 3-1 win.
The fourth Merseyside derby of the season was to take place in the fifth round; the match took place at Goodison Park and with interest in the game immense no league ground would be big enough to accommodate the demand for tickets. A decision was taken to beam the game live to huge screens which were to be erected at Anfield and tickets for both venues sold out almost immediately. There were to be 64,851 inside Goodison and another 40,149 at Anfield making the combined attendance 105,000 the highest for an FA Cup game, outside of Wembley Stadium.
The game did not live up to all the hype, turning out to be frenzied, tense affair with little to separate the two sides. Half time was approaching when Gordon Milne misplaced a back pass to his goalkeeper, Tommy Lawrence, but he looked as if he was going to get away with his error as ball looked as if it was going out of play when the wind held it up. Ball had gone after the ball and the gamble paid off and he hammered home a right foot volley past the Liverpool keeper. It was enough to earn Everton a memorable, if not classical, victory and see them through to the quarter final. In the last eight they were paired with Nottingham Forest and relinquished their grip on the FA Cup when they went down to a 3-2 defeat in thrilling game at the City Ground.
The day before the cup tie against Liverpool Harry Catterick had upset the local rivals with yet another cloak and dagger signing. Howard Kendall had been a target for the Anfield club for most of the season but the Everton manager had stolen in and signed the Preston North End star from under their noses. It was to be the final piece in a mid-field jigsaw that would be christened the ‘Holy Trinity’ and the trio of Kendall, Ball and Harvey would become one of the finest in football, at the time.
Again there were no significant additions to the Everton squad but the Goodison careers of several players were coming to an end. Jimmy Gabriel had moved to Southampton, Fred Pickering to Birmingham City and Alex Scott joined Hibernian. The time at the club of Wembley hero’s Mike Trebilcock and Derek Temple were also drawing to a close as the emphasis was being placed on youth.
The season got off to a good start with a 3-1 win over champions, Manchester United, but indifferent form until the turn of the year meant that a title challenge would be difficult in the New Year. The team gave it a good shot and ten wins out of the first 13 games following the turn of the year saw them on the fringe of title race. There was too much ground to make up and the club had to make do with a fifth place finish, six points behind champions, Manchester City, Catterick’s new look side,however, was progressing well.
With there being no European football at Goodison Park during the 1967-68 season the club entered the League Cup for only the second time but after beating Bristol City 5-0 in the second round they lost to Sunderland, 3-2, in the next to exit the competition.
The FA Cup was to be the only realistic chance of silverware and Everton made a steady if not spectacular start to the competition. In the third round they were drawn away to Southport, who were managed by Billy Bingham, and returned home with hard fought 1-0 win. A 2-0 win over Carlisle United in the next round set up a fifth round match against another local side, this time Tranmere Rovers.
A crowd of 61,982 watched the game and saw goals from Johnny Morrissey and Joe Royle to ensure a relatively comfortable passage into the quarter finals. It wasn’t getting any easier for Everton as the team was facing an injury crisis, which meant that players like Alan Whittle, Terry Darracott and Roger Kenyon were given a chance to prove if they were up to first team football. Things were not helped when Alan Ball got himself sent off against Newcastle for arguing with the referee the week before the next round of the Cup.
In the quarter finals Everton were paired against first division opposition for the first time when they were drawn away to Leicester City. When Howard Kendall added a spectacular volley to two goals from Jimmy Husband the Blues were on their way to another FA Cup semi final, were they faced Leeds United.
When the semi final came around Everton were without Ball, through suspension, and Hurst, who was ill, in their place came 21 year old Tommy Jackson, who had recently joined the club from Irish side, Glentoran, and Roger Kenyon. The game was played at Old Trafford in front of 63,000 people, who witnessed an average game which was littered by fouls and was settled by a by penalty kick awarded when Jack Charlton handled the ball in the area, two minutes from the interval. Johnny Morrissey, who had taken over the penalty kick duties from the absent Ball, held his nerve and dispatched the spot kick into the Leeds goal to win the game for the Merseysider’s.
Everton’s opponents in the final were to be West Bromwich Albion and went into the game as firm favourites as they had done the ‘double’ over Albion in the league, including a 6-2 win at the Hawthorns. Their league form was also impressive with 11 wins out of the last 16 games and most people outside of the Midlands could only see an Everton win.
Tickets for the final, as always, was insatiable and was not helped by the Football Association who only allocated 16,000 to Everton who had an average home attendance of just under 47,000. The day of the game started with a deluge of rain in morning and this set the scene for the game as well. It was a dour spectacle with West Brom using questionable tactics to stop Everton from playing. However, the Blues squandered several chances to break the deadlock, the last coming just four minutes from normal time when Jimmy Husband headed wide when it looked easier to score.
Everton were to pay for the missed chances as Jeff Astle scored with a volley from the edge of the box, with three minutes left of extra time, to send the cup to the Midlands. Everyone was disappointed but with one league game left the team had a chance to get the Wembley defeat out of their system three days after the final, instead of having to wait until the next season. A crowd of over 38,000 greeted the team and nobody received louder applause than Husband, who had been seen as the ‘villain’ on the Saturday. The team responded and treated the fans to a superb performance, beating an already relegated Fulham, 5-1.
Again there were to be no new signings during the summer despite the departure of crowd favourite Alex Young to Glentoran and a serious knee injury to Ray Wilson, which would see only play four games during the season.
After losing two of their first three games Everton went unbeaten for the next 16 games and by mid November they sat on top of the first division table and were establishing themselves as real title contenders.
What was to be the teams’ downfall was not the ability of the players but possibly the mental strength or experience needed to carry the club to another title. The average age of the squad was one of the youngest in the league at just 22. Some of the football being played by the side was regarded as the best seen by an Everton team since before the Second World War, but the domination within games was not always translated into results. Despite not being able to kill teams off Everton ended the season in an excellent third place with 57 points, four points behind runners up Liverpool and ten points behind champions Leeds United. The team that provided the league with some of the most stylish of football also finished the season as the top scorers with 77 goals and with Royle ending the campaign with 22 goals, Husband 19 and Ball 16 everyone could look forward to the next season.
In the League Cup the team progressed through the first two rounds with easy wins over Tranmere Rovers, 4-0, and Luton Town, 5-1, both at Goodison Park. The run ended in the fourth round when they lost to Derby County, 1-0, at the Baseball Ground, after the two sides had drawn 0-0 at Goodison.
The FA Cup campaign started with a 2-1 win over Ipswich Town at Goodison Park, two further home wins against Coventry City, 2-0, and Bristol City, 1-0 followed and Everton found themselves in the quarter final of the competition once again.
Everton were drawn away to Manchester United and the game was a close affair with little to pick between the two sides. Joe Royle settled the contest when he scored with a close range header, from an Alan Ball corner, to send Everton into their third semi final in four years.
United’s neighbours, Manchester City, were the opposition with the game being played at Villa Park and there was high anticipation of a great match with Everton’s famous three of Kendall, Ball and Harvey being pitted against City’s trio of Summerbee, Bell, and Lee. The game itself did not live up to the hype turning out to be a defensive stalemate and was heading for extra time when City’s Tommy Booth hit the winner in the last minute.
The 1969-70 season was to be shortened to eight months, from the usual nine, due to the impending World Cup in Mexico and meant that sides had to play seven games in the first three weeks of the season. The campaign got underway on the 9th August with Everton having to face two difficult away trips to Arsenal, then to Manchester United. The Blues picked up maximum points with 1-0 and 2-0 wins respectively to set the tone for the remainder of the season.
Everton’s form was relentless and by the end of October they had won 14 and drew two of the 17 games played, including an excellent 3-2 win over champions Leeds United at Goodison Park, this victory not only emphasised the team’s credentials as title contenders but ended a 34 game run without defeat for Leeds. Harry Catterick’s young side sat proudly on top of the table going into November but a slight dip in form, injuries to key players and a recovery in Leeds’s fortunes meant that by the end of the year the team from Yorkshire had captured the top spot.
Everton suffered a blow when Jimmy Husband, who had been in inspired form, was injured against Burnley but this let in Alan Whittle to make his mark on the season with valuable goals that settled close games in Everton’s favour. Ray Wilson had left the club following a bad injury and Harry Catterick wasted no time in finding a replacement when he paid Blackburn Rovers £80,000 for the services of Keith Newton. Worse news was to be received by all at Everton when it was reported that Colin Harvey had lost the sight in one eye following an infection, he was to be missing for two months but returned to the team in mid January. As he returned Alan Ball was suspended for five weeks after the Football Association decided to crack down on undisciplined players, Ball, and Everton, felt the full force of their ruling.
During January and February the team could only manage two wins in the seven league games played and it looked as if their championship challenge had faltered. The title hopes suffered a further blow at the beginning of March when the club announced that captain Brian Labone would miss the rest of the season with a back injury. Catterick, however, surprised everyone when he appointed Ball as captain for the remaining games, he hoped that the extra responsibility would help channel the player’s aggression into the right areas; it was to work a treat.
With Leeds competing in three competitions, the League, FA Cup and European Cup, Everton grasped their chance to put pressure of their Yorkshire rivals in title race. In his first game as captain, Ball was inspirational and led the side to a 1-0 win away to Tottenham Hotspurs, thanks to an Alan Whittle Goal. Three days later the two teams met again at Goodison and again Everton came away with the points. Twice Spurs came from behind to equalise firstly after Whittle had scored and then Ball, Joe Royle, with his twentieth goal of the season, won the game with 15 minutes left.
The win put Everton three points clear at the top of table ahead of the Anfield derby a week later. The Goodison derby had ended with a 3-0 Liverpool win and had featured a spectacular own goal from Sandy Brown, this time it would be different. Royle gave Everton the lead with a great head past Ray Clemence in the Liverpool goal, and when Alan Whittle deflected a Colin Harvey shot into the net; the side had avenged the defeat earlier in the season.
The next game was at Goodison Park against Chelsea and Everton turned on a sensational display and easily beat the London side 5-2: then on Easter Monday the side beat a stubborn Stoke City side 1-0 thanks to another goal from Whittle. While the Blues were on a great winning run Leeds were letting things slip and after losing 3-1 at home to Southampton they lost heavily, 4-1, at Derby County; the championship was now in Everton’s reach.
With three games left the Goodison outfit only needed two points to secure the league title. The next game was the following Tuesday, 1 st April, with the opponents being West Bromwich Albion and prior to the game Catterick took his players away from the pressure that was building up all over Merseyside. His plan worked and after just 19 minutes Alan Whittle sent Everton on their way, with his eleventh goal of the season; fittingly the goal that secured the title was scored by Colin Harvey on 65 minutes with a spectacular 25 yard drive. At the final whistle thousands of fans surged onto the pitch in celebration, once order had been resumed the players returned to the pitch to complete a lap of honour in front of 58,523 cheering supporters. They then went to the directors box were stand in skipper, Alan Ball, received the League Championship trophy from Manchester United chairman and League Management Committee member, Louis Edwards.
Everton had won the league title in style and as Harry Catterick said “there were no destroyers in the team”. They ended the season just one point short of the record, 67, set by Leeds the previous season and nine points ahead of last season’s champions.
