The Second World War ended 14th August 1945, to the relief of everybody, but it was to late to organise anything like a normal football season and teams still played games on a regional basis. There was, however, a change to the structure, gone went the haphazard fixtures and league tables containing more than 50 teams and football reverted to a league consisted of 22 teams playing each other twice. Sheffield United won the last wartime league with Everton runners-up.
Everton were rocked at the start of the season when Tommy Lawton, whose reputation had blossomed during the war years, handed in a transfer request. He had become the most complete centre forward in the game and had starred in numerous wartime internationals. His request for a move was reluctantly granted and he moved to Chelsea for a fee of £11,000. Everton’s monopoly of great goal scorers had been broken.
During a cup-tie between Bolton Wanderers and Stoke City on 9th March 1946 33 people were killed and more than 500 injured, when the crowd broke through the closed gates. The disaster led to a Home Office inquiry and this in turn led to attendances being limited in size and all League grounds had to have their accommodation overhauled. The Bolton disaster was a sad prelude to football's emergence from wartime restrictions into a period of soaring spectator interest and a post war boom.
During 1946, and in preparation for the resumption of league football, Everton had enlisted the services of Wally Fielding (right), an inside forward who was an excellent ball player. Everton then raided Shamrock Rovers and signed Left winger Tommy Eglington and wing half Peter Farrell, in a deal that cost the club £10,000.
With Billy Cook and Torry Gillick joining Lawton out of the Everton door, and with some players yet to be de-mobbed, the team that kicked off the 1946-47 defence of the League crown was unrecognisable from the side that won the title before the war. In fact only four players from the 1938-39 side featured in the first game of the campaign; Boyes, Jones, Watson and Mercer.
On the eve of the season Everton were hit by a bombshell when Joe Mercer asked for a transfer after becoming disillusioned with life at the club. Mercer was regarded as one of the finest players not only in England, but Europe, and Everton were pinning their hopes for the new season firmly on his shoulders. The board turned down his request and also turned down a reported bid from local rivals Liverpool.
The season got under way on 31st August 1946 and a crowd of 55,338 watched the opening fixture, it was to become a boom time for football as the fans flocked to grounds throughout the country during this post-war period. To everyone’s disappointment Everton got off to a poor start with a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Brentford, who were to be relegated at the end of the season. Unfortunately things did not improve much for the many thousands of supporters that poured through the Goodison Park turnstiles, with the main highlight of the season being a victory over champions elects Liverpool in the Goodison derby and the end of January 1947. The inevitable transfer of Joe Mercer had taken place the previous month when the Everton board had finally decide to cash in on their most prized asset and accepted a fee of £7,000 from Arsenal.
The club were desperate to fill the boots of Tommy Lawton and several players had been tried in the centre forward position including Harry Catterick who was a hard, rugged and uncompromising player. The Everton board looked elsewhere, however, and during the season they signed Ephraim ‘Jock’ Dodds from Blackpool, he responded by scoring 17 goals in just 21 games in his first season. The Everton manager, Theo Kelly, also tried to sign Newcastle United’s prolific scorer, Albert Stubbins, only to the thwarted by Liverpool.
Everton finished the season in a disappointing tenth place and the FA Cup did not offer any solace to the clubs followers when they lost in the fourth round to Sheffield Wednesday, who were struggling in the second division.
The nest season, 1947-48, was no better and the side slumped to fourteenth in the league, to make matters worse Joe Mercer inspired Arsenal to the league title. The side that had won the league before the war was now aging and needed rebuilding but manager Kelly was reluctant to spend on the quality required to put Everton back at the top.The club’s followers yearned for the star names to be brought in and saw other teams invest heavily in their playing staff but Kelly spent his time scouring the lower divisions or promoted from within.
He brought in players like Tommy McIlhatton from Albion Rovers and Cyril Lello from Shrewsbury, while the likes of Eddie Wainwright, Jackie Grant and George Saunders developed their game in the reserves before progressing to the senior squad. Many supporters blamed Kelly for the departure of both Lawton and Mercer and his apparent bargain basement shopping did little to win over his doubters.
The FA Cup did little to lift the spirits of Evertonians, after disposing of Grimsby Town comfortably, 4-1 in the third round; Wolverhampton Wanderers were to be the next opponents. The game took place in the Midlands and ended 1-1, the replay was played seven games later and Everton triumphed 3-2. The fifth round saw another away trip to second division side Fulham, and the side earned a replay with a 1-1 draw. The second game offered nothing but despair for the club and it’s fans and the team went out of the competition when the London outfit pulled off a surprising 1-0 win.
The 1948-49 season started disastrously with just one win and two draws in the first nine games, and included heavy home defeats to Portsmouth and Birmingham, both 5-0, and away defeats to Chelsea, 6-0, and Portsmouth, 4-0. The last game in this sequence was a 1-1 home draw against local rivals Liverpool, a result that left Everton on the foot of the table. What was most significant about this particular game was not the game itself but in the size of the crowd. Every club was going through a period of financial success and Everton were no different and the first Merseyside derby of the season attracted a crowd of 78,299, a club record that was never to be equalled.
What happened on the Monday after the derby did not surprise anyone when news broke that Theo Kelly had stepped down as manager of the club and reverted to his previous position of secretary. Former crowd favourite Cliff Britton took over the reigns after he had gained a good managerial reputation when he led Burnley to promotion from division two and to the FA Cup final in 1947.
Britton’s job was not going to be an easy one, but he did start well with a 4-1 home win against Preston North End, this was followed by four straight defeats and if he did not realise the size of the task ahead of him, he did now. The ship was steadied when, between late October and the beginning of March, only four games were lost out of 17. The spectre of relegation soon returned, however, and in the last 11 games the team could only muster two wins, they came in the two penultimate games of the season and effectively saved the club from a drop into the second division.
The season ended with a disappointing eighteenth place finish with just four point separated Everton from the foot of the table. A fourth round exit from the FA Cup at the hands of Chelsea ensured that a disappointing season was to be endured by all at the club. Goals were the main reason for the poor season with only 41 being scored in the league and only Eddie Wainwright managed to reach double figures with ten.
Crowds were flocking to watch football and during the season an all time high of 41.2 million people past through the turnstiles of all football league clubs. Everton enjoyed their share and had an average home gate of over 45,000. Goodison Park was the only ground with double decker stands on four sides at this time but gates had been reduced due the essential safety work that was required following bomb damage suffered during the heavy bombing of Liverpool. The ground was deemed safe to go to full capacity in September 1948, just in time to hold the record gate for the club. Despite huge revenues coming into the club, manager Britton, like his predecessor, refused to dive into the transfer market.
The team’s last real star almost left the club during the season when T.G. Jones almost left for Italy when AS Roma made a bid for him. He had asked for a transfer on several occasions, after falling out with the Everton hierarchy, but each request was met with a firm refusal. The club eventually accepted Roma’s bid of £15,500 and resigned themselves to losing a player nicknamed the ‘Prince’ of centre halves. The deal was on the verge of being completed when, at the eleventh hour, it collapsed due to ‘currency problems’ and Jones remained an Everton player.
T.G. Jones started the 1949-50 season as captain and it looked as if all the problems and disagreements had been resolved but after just a handful of games his place in the heart of Everton’s defence was taken, firstly by Jack Humphries and then by Dick Falder. Things got so bad for Jones that there were occasions when he could not even get a game with the reserves and finally on 26 th January 1950 a transfer request was agreed by the club and he joined Welsh side Pwllheli as part time manager.
The season itself got off to a good start with three wins and two draws in the first six games but a 7-0 thrashing at the hands of Portsmouth on the south coast saw a dramatic slide; by the end of the year Everton only won three more games and found themselves in difficulty at the foot of the table. The turn of the year did not see any improvement in the sides fortunes and could only recorded their first win of the year at the beginning of March. The spectre of relegation was hanging over the club and only a late run of form, with only two defeats in the last eight games, helped the club to survive, but they could only finish the season in eighteenth place, just five points from the relegation places.
Despite not being able win a league game in January or February Everton’s fortunes in the FA Cup was the complete opposite. Trips to London in the third and fourth rounds against Queen’s Park Rangers and West Ham United saw Everton win 2-0 and 2-1 respectively. The fifth round draw saw a third game against a team from the Capital, this time a home match against Tottenham Hotspurs and a goal from Eddie Wainwright saw the blues safely through. In the quarter final the team were drawn against Derby County at the Baseball Ground and came away with a 2-1 win thanks to goals from Buckie and Wainwright.
Liverpool had also progressed through to the semi finals and all of Merseyside were hoping for the cities two teams to be kept apart. It was not to happen and the two sides met at Maine Road, Manchester on the 25 th March 1950.
A huge crowd of 72,000 witnessed the game and they saw Liverpool take the lead on the half hour and complete their victory with a second after the break to reach the FA Cup. The FA Cup run only served to paper over the cracks in the Everton side, things had to change on and off the field.
Everton made a terrible start of the 1950-51 season, only managing 3 wins and three draws in the first 18 games which left the team bottom of the table going into December. During this poor period the side lost the services of centre forward, Harry Catterick, with an injury that was to all but end his playing career; with no obvious long term replacement manager Cliff Britton was forced into the transfer market. He went back to his previous club, Burnley, and secured the signature of Harry Potts and in doing so he smashed the club record transfer fee when they paid £20,000 for the player. A further £8,000 was spent on full back Jack Lindsey from Glasgow Rangers, only for the player to break his leg after only making four appearances.
Results improved and as the year came to an end Everton has hoisted themselves out of immediate danger; even a run of six games without a goal did not put the side in any relegation danger. A 1-1 draw at Wolverhampton Wanderers ended the goal drought and at this point Everton were six points off Chelsea and Sheffield Wednesday, who were in the relegation places. Everton had four games left, Chelsea six and Sheffield five, so only a disastrous run of results could see the blues relegated. Two defeats, Sunderland 4-0 and Aston Villa 2-1, combined with an upturn in form of Sheffield Wednesday saw Everton in one of the relegation places. The clubs penultimate game was away to Derby County, not Everton’s favourite venue at the time and they had not won at the Baseball Ground in 23 years, but they came away with a 1-0 win, thank to a Potts penalty.
Everton went into the last round of games two points ahead of both Chelsea and Sheffield but had a much inferior goal average; it was in fact the worst in the division. The side only needed a draw to ensure safety and as the opponents for the game were Sheffield Wednesday, destiny was in their own hands. The game took plase at Hillsborough; a 0-0 draw would be enough for Everton and for the first 25 minutes everything was going to plan but a slip by Tommy E. Jones, who had replaced T.G. Jones at the heart of the defence, allowed Wednesday to take the lead. Within five minutes it was 2-0 and by half time a third was conceded. Everton’s fete was sealed in the second half when a further three goals were scored by Wednesday to send the blues home with a 6-0 defeat. Attention turned to Stamford Bridge were Chelsea were a home to Bolton Wanderers but the news was not what any Everton followers wanted to hear as they easily won 4-0. As all three teams finished on 32 points goal average was to be the deciding factor; Chelsea survived and Everton finish an awful season bottom of the league.
The last time the club had been relegated they had players of the calibre of Dean, Dunn, Stein 
and Hart and came back at the first attempt, the Everton side this time had no such stars and promotion would be a struggle.
Two players were brought in towards the end of the season Don Donovan, a right back from Cork and inside forward John Willie Parker from Birkenhead, but hopes were to be placed on the teenage shoulders of Dave Hickson.
During the summer of 1951 there were the inevitable calls for Britton to be sacked but the Everton board supported their manager, but not with any funds for the transfer market. All of the first team squad, except for Jack Humphries, were retained but with no new faces at the club optimism was not high.
The season started steadily with three wins and a draw in the first six games but results turned for the worse and after a Tommy Lawton inspired Notts County had thumped Everton 5-1 at Goodison on 20th October 1951, the blues found themselves in eighteen place.
Calls for investment in the team were coming from all quarters but the board stood firm and would not spend any meaningful amounts of money, relying instead on players that come through the Goodison ranks or by bringing in players from lower league and Irish teams. Fortunes started to look up, T.E. Jones was becoming more assured in defence and the forward partnership of Hickson and Parker was starting to prove successful, they ended the season with 29 goals between them.
After the defeat to Notts County the side went a on a decent run and soon started to climb the table but the damage had been done and they could only manage a seventh place finish, seven points behind the promotion places. Despite being in the second division Everton still attracted average gates of over 37,000 with the highest attendance being 49,604 against Notts County, the return of Lawton may have a had a bearing on this.
The only highlight in a disappointing season was the emergence of Dave Hickson and John Willie Parker, not only as individual players but as a potentially lethal forward partnership. On a sad note Harry Catterick who effectively had to retire left the club and took over the manager’s job at Crewe Alexander, but his best years at Everton were still to come.
The club’s second season in the second division started disastrously with three straight defeats and after a 0-0 draw at home to Sheffield United, Everton found themselves bottom of the league. One loss in the next nine games saw the threat of a second relegation diminish and saw the side register their biggest win since before the war, when they beat Doncaster Rovers 7-0, with Tommy Eglington scoring five of the goals.
Indifferent form took hold of the team once more and only one victory before the end of the year saw once again them near the foot of the table. Results improved a little after the turn of the year and fears of a drop into the third tier of English football were receding. The team staved off relegation but could only manage a very poor sixteenth place, just five points off the drop zone, and had to suffer the indignity of recorded the club’s worst league loss to date when they lost 8-2 at soon to be promoted, Huddersfield Town.
While league form was average to poor, a thrilling FA Cup run was to prove consolation to the suffering Evertonians. The campaign began on the 10 th January with a third round home tie against Ipswich Town, who were a mid table third division south, and two goals from Dave Hickson and one from Wally Fielding saw the Blues home. The fourth round saw another home game, this time against fellow second division side, Nottingham Forest. Everton had already beaten Forest 3-0 in the league, at Goodison Park, and completed the same winning margin in the Cup with a 4-1 victory.
Everton were handed another home game in the next round, this time though they drew much sterner opposition in reigning first division champions, Manchester United. United arrived at Goodison as overwhelming favourites and were greeted by a crowd of over 75,000, the FA Cup had become a welcome distraction from league football.
It came as no surprise when United took the lead on 27 minutes but urged on by the huge crowd Everton responded well and were rewarded with an equaliser just seven minutes later. Hickson, who was giving the Manchester defence a hard time, played in Eglington and he rounded the keeper and scored with a fierce right foot shot. Everton continued to press and five minutes before half time Hickson threw himself at a Jack Lindsay’s cross but in doing so he also connected with a defenders boot; a huge wound was opened above his right eye and with blood streaming from above his eye, he left the field. Half time came and went and the blues returned for the second half without Hickson, who was still receiving treatment. The game had resumed and was one minute into the second half when, to a huge cheer, Hickson returned.
He had only resumed in the game for a few minutes when he headed against the post, opening the wound again. At this point the referee tried to persuade the Everton captain Farrell that he could not continue, but Hickson would have none of it. His bravery seemed to galvanise the home side and they were soon on top and pressing hard for a winner. Hickson and Buckle both went close with decent shots and Buckle thought he should have had a penalty when he was tripped by the United keeper. The game have just entered the final third when Hickson picked up an Eglington pass and, after beating two men, thundered an unstoppable shot past the stranded keeper to put Everton on their way to a famous victory.
When the quarter final draw was completed Everton found themselves with an away tie at first division Aston Villa. Cup fever had taken over the club’s followers and stirred by the team’s heroics against Manchester United they flocked to the Midlands for the game. Officially there were 15,000 who had made the trip but when the teams took to the field Villa Park was a wash with blue and white favours.
Villa could not penetrate the Everton defence and this allowed the away side to dominate large periods of the game without finding a way past the Villa keeper, Parsons. With fifteen minutes remaining Hickson became the hero once again. He picked up a defensive clearance just inside his own half; he instantly played the ball to Buckle on the left and quickly made his way forward for a return pass. When the ball was returned he held off a challenge from a Villa defender and slammed the ball home for the only goal of the game; sending Everton to their second semi final in three years.
The Blue half of Merseyside was gripped by Cup fever but standing between Everton and an unbelievable FA Cup final appearance were first division, Bolton Wanderers. The match was staged at Manchester City’s Maine Road ground and, despite losing their previous three semi finals in Manchester, Everton were confident of victory, especially after their exploits in earlier rounds.
The Everton fans and players were left shattered after just 18 minutes when goals from Holden and Moir saw Wanderers race into a 2-0 lead. It got worse and by half time Lofthouse had added two more to make the score at the break 4-0. Everton’s cause was not helped when Tommy Clinton missed a penalty right on the stroke of halt time. Within a minute of the restart Everton were back in the game thanks to a goal from John Willie Parker, it was thought to be no more than a consolation goal but when Peter Farrell scored again on 72 minutes the fans started to believing the unthinkable.
Everton pressed forward relentlessly and with just six minutes remaining they scored their third when Parker headed home his second goal of the game. The most unlikely of comebacks was now a possibility but despite laying siege to the Bolton goal for the remainder of the game they could not break through and Wanderers held on to secure their place in the FA Cup Final.
During the season one of Everton’s favourite sons retired, Ted Sagar was 43 years old when he stopped playing football, during his 24 years with Everton he set an appearance record that was to stand for over 40 years, who knows what the record would have been had it not been for the Second World War. After retiring he served as the landlord of the Blue Anchor pub in Aintree. He died in October 1986 aged 76 and his ashes were spread in the Gladwy's Street goalmouth. In all, he made 463 league and 32 FA Cup appearances for the club.
Everton began the 1953-54 season determined to end their exile from the top flight of English football and buoyed by the previous season’s FA Cup exploits they got off to an excellent start. With seven wins and four draws in the first eleven games, fans began to dream that promotion was more than just a possibility. Despite a slight dip in form Everton ended the year in second place, behind recently relegated Leicester City.
The team were attracting gates averaging over 40,000 and a run of five wins in February and March, including a 6-2 win at Derby and home wins against Brentford and Plymouth (6-1 and 8-4 respectively) saw Everton sitting on top of the table. The club’s promotion push, however, suffered two setbacks, firstly they went four games without a win to see the side slip to third spot and in the 1-1 home game against Stoke City they lost the services of Jock Lindsay for the rest of the season with a broken leg.
With just five games left Everton were now behind Blackburn Rovers and league leaders Leicester and after winning the first of these and drawing the next two they went into the final Saturday of the season, with a game in hand, knowing that four points would be enough to secure promotion. The game on the Saturday was against Birmingham City and a crowd of 62,865 packed into Goodison Park to hopefully cheer the side to victory. They did, and a Dave Hickson goal was enough for the home side to take the points and set up a nerve wracking final game at Oldham Athletic the following Thursday evening.
Everton travelled to Boundary Park knowing that any sort of victory would see them promoted but a victory margin of 6-0 would see them go up as champions. Oldham Athletic had already been relegated and they were no match for an Everton side hell bent on not letting promotion slip away from them. Goals from Parker (2), Hickson and Jones saw the away side 4-0 up at half time and although they could not score the other two goals needed to go up as champions it did not matter in the long run, Everton were back in top division of English football.
The Everton board again refused to sanction any spending on new players and so started the 1954-55 season with the same team that won promotion. Victories against Sheffield United, Arsenal and Preston North End in the first three games got the season off to a great start and by the end of October the team had won eight of the first fifteen games. Two heavy defeats, both 5-0 to Portsmouth and Charlton Athletic, brought everyone back down to earth, the team however responded well and won four of the five games during December.
The league title race was a close affair and by the end of March, and with ten games left, Everton were fourth, four points behind leaders Chelsea and with three games in hand. The lack of real quality in the Everton side shone through and they could only win one of these 10 games and lost seven, ending the season in eleventh place. The final league table showed what a close season it had been and Everton in eleventh place were only six points off the runners-up spot and just seven points off a relegation place.
The FA Cup was a bigger disappointment with the side being knocked out at the fourth round stage by relegated Liverpool, the loss was bad enough but the manner, 4-0 at home, made it all the worse.
Attendances at the club were incredible with the average home gate over 46,000 for the first time and saw several matches attract over 60,000; two had over 70,000 people in attendance, 76,839 against Preston and 75,322 against Wolverhampton.
When the 1955-56 season started there were yet again no new signings by the board and the only new faces in the squad were players who had come through the ranks. With the boards reluctance to spend money coupled with some questionable managerial decisions people were stating to wonder were Everton were heading.
With just two games played of the new season, both defeats, Britton dropped both Parker and Hickson; one of the players to replace them was locally born player Jimmy Harris who Britton rated as a great prospect. The upshot of the managers’ actions was for Dave Hickson to put in for a transfer, which was granted and within two weeks he had moved to Aston Villa for a fee of £17,500, much to the dismay of many Evertonians.
Everton’s form was erratic at best and despite Jimmy Harris scoring an impressive 19 league goal in his debut season, the team could only finish in a disappointing fifteenth place, just five points above the relegation places.
The FA Cup had started well and wins against Bristol City, Port Vale and Chelsea saw the side reach the quarter finals once again, but before the game could be played the club was rocked by a surprise resignation. At the weekly directors meeting Britton informed the board that he was leaving the club, inferring interference in his decision making when he said “I want managers to have the freedom to do the job for which they were appointed, which is to manage their clubs”. Everton’s opponents in the quarter final of the cup were Manchester City; the club went into the game at Maine Road, managerless, and went out of the competition following a 2-1 defeat.
With Britton gone Everton were now run by a committee of three, Tom Nuttall, Fred Micklesfield and Cyril Balmforth, and they saw the club through to the end of the season, when a new manager was appointed.
Ian Buchan, who was a former Loughborough College lecturer and Scottish amateur international, was appointed ‘chief coach’, not manager. Whether this role encompassed full responsibility for team selection and player purchases it is unsure but the standard of play worsened as Buchan main aim appeared to be to make Everton the fittest team in the league.
The 1956-57 season started disastrously with six defeats and a draw in the first seven games, which left Everton firmly rooted to the foot of the table. Results did improved and two impressive results at the end of October should have provided the impetuous needed to move up the table. The first of these was away to the reigning champions, Manchester United, and Everton had two debutants in the side, recent signing Jimmy Gauld and goalkeeper Albert Dunlop. The Blues were not expected to come away from Old Trafford with any sort of result as United were flying in the league once again, but they upset the odds and ended up thrashing the home side 5-2. The following Saturday they played hosts to high flying Arsenal and again were triumphant, this time by four goals to nil. Mediocrity returned, however, and when the team were taken apart at Tottenham, 6-0, on Christmas Day, the fans knew the remainder of the season would by a struggle.
Although never in danger of relegation the side could only manage a fifteenth place finish, nine points off the relegation place. The FA Cup did not offer any comfort to the suffering fans with only the fifth round being achieved, were Manchester United gained revenge for Everton’s win at Old Trafford earlier in the season.
Unfortunately it was much of the same during the next season, despite the return of crowd favourite Dave Hickson, who rejoined the club from Huddersfield Town for a fee of £7,500 and was promptly made club captain. Several youngsters started to emerge from the Everton youth and reserve sides; Derek Temple 
(left) and Brian Harris had made their debuts the previous season but soon established themselves as first team regulars. As the season drew to a close another player from the reserve side emerged at centre half, when Brian Labone made his debut. Two stalwarts left the club during the season when both Tommy Eglington and Peter Farrell crossed the Mersey to join Tranmere Rovers.
The season itself got off to a very good start with seven wins and only one defeat in the first 12 games. That was as good as it got and when the team could only record six wins and seven draws in the remaining 30 games the slide down the table was dramatic and after winning the final two games finished the season in sixteenth place, just five points off relegation.
Once again there was to be no joy in the FA Cup with the side exiting the competition in the fourth round following a 2-1 home defeat at the hands of second division Blackburn Rovers.
October 1957 saw Everton play their first home game under floodlights at the famous old ground and 58,711 fans turned up to witness the ground illuminated by a series of lights mounted on extremely tall pylons. Fittingly Liverpool supplied the opposition for the game for the first leg of the Liverpool County FA Anniversary Cup and it proved a successful night all round as Everton ran out 2-0 winners. When the season ended Everton became the first British club to employ undersoil heating. The 20 miles of wiring under the Goodison Park pitch cost £16,000 and worked well, melting both frost and ice effectively; however the drains could not handle the extra load. In 1960 the pitch was dug up and new drainage pipes were laid.
Finally during the summer of 1958 the Everton board finally released funds to purchase players when they sanctioned the signing of Falkirk duo Alex Parker and Eddie O’Hara in a joint deal worth £25,500, £18,000 of which was for Parker. Right back Parker missed the first three months of the season because of National Service but O’Hara made his debut at right wing on the opening game of the season.
The start to the 1958-59 season was the worst in the clubs history with six straight defeats and included a humiliating 6-1 home defeat a the hands of Arsenal. After the loss the club’s chairman, Mr. Dick Searle, openly criticised the team and questioned Buchan’s leadership and training methods. The manager was relieved of his duties following the sixth defeat, 3-1 away to Burnley, and the team were once again in the hands of a committee. A new manager was appointed when Johnny Carey agreed to over reigns at Goodison but did not take over immediately, staying with his current club Blackburn Rovers for another four weeks and officially took over on 20 th October.
Following Buchan’s departure chairman Searle and fellow board member Jack Sharp travelled to Scotland and returned with the Celtic midfielder Bobby Collins, who cost a club record fee of £23,500. Collins made his debut the next day and was inspirational as Everton recorded their first win of the season, 3-1 at Manchester City. A mini revival ensued and with three wins in their next four games everyone connected to the club hoped that the corner had been turned.
The next game, however, saw morale sink to an all time low when the team succumbed to their worst defeat in it’s history. They travelled to Tottenham Hotspurs to face a team out to impress new manager Bill Nicholson and were torn to shreds by a rampant Spurs side. Everton were 6-1 down by half time and by the end of the game had capitulated to a 10-4 defeat, the only player in a blue shirt who could take any comfort was Jimmy Harris after scoring three of Everton’s four goals.
Everton bounced back from this embarrassing defeat with a 3-2 win over Manchester United at Goodison Park and was the last game before Johnny Carey officially took charge of the team. Carey was an advocate of flowing football and he soon steadied the sinking Everton ship. Under the new managers guidance the side finished in sixteenth place, eight points clear of relegation.
Another poor season came to an end but behind the scenes a man who was to change the course of the club was beginning to have influence over club affairs. Born in Manchester John Moores but had moved to Merseyside as a teenager and worked as telegraph boy. He played the game at an amateur level but the firm he started with Colin Littlewood- Askham started to take his time and he had to retire from playing.
Starting out as a football pools firm the company soon grew into an empire which included home-shopping and major retail outlets. His first major involvement in Everton affairs came when he lent the club the money to invest in floodlights after a credit squeeze was put on the club by the bank. He was also influential in persuading the board to part with some of its money to bring in Parker and O’Hara; this was only the beginning of John Moores’s investment in the club he adopted as a teenager.
The start of Carey’s first full season in charge did not start well with half of the first six games drawn and the others lost, but a bigger shock was in store on both sides of Stanley Park. As the season progressed the Everton manager started to assert his own ideas on the team and he started change the side, but when he sold Dave Hickson to Liverpool in November 1959 fans from both sides threatening to boycott their respective clubs. What was to make it worse for Evertonians was on the day Hickson made his debut for Liverpool, scoring twice, Everton were being torn apart by Newcastle United by eight goals to two.
Carey weathered the storm and soon started to have the team playing his way, and gradually won the fans over. Results, however remained indifferent but the way the team was playing seemed to going in the right direction and with the financial backing of the now director, John Moores, Carey was able to attract players that the club could not afford before.
Players such as Frank Wagnall, Alan Shackleton, Mickey Lill and Tommy Ring had joined the club before Carey made his first two great signings. First to arrive in February 1960 was Roy Vernon who
cost the club £27,000 from Blackburn, a deal which saw Eddie Thomas going the other way. Jimmy Gabriel was the second big signing costing the club £30,000 when he joined from Dundee and in doing so became one the costliest teenagers of the time. Everton’s spending spree soon earned them the nickname of the ‘Mersey Millionaires’.
Everton ended the season in fifteenth place with 37 points, just three above the relegation places and despite a third round exit from the FA Cup there was an air of optimism around the club for the first time in a long time. The worst decade in the clubs history had come to an end on a relatively high note.
