1939 - 1946
One of the first orders that came out of central government following the outbreak of war was the ban on the assembly of crowds, with this order in place the FA and the Football League had no option but to cancel the 1939-40 season after just three games. All players contracts were suspended and in a generous gesture, unmatched almost anywhere else, the Everton board paid every member of the playing staff their share of the ‘benefit’; payments included £300 to Tommy Lawton and £650, the maximum, to Charlie Gee. The now redundant players took on civilian jobs with Joe Mercer going to work at Cammell Lairds and T.G. Jones to an aircraft factory.
Regional football was soon allowed but could only be played against teams within a 50 miles radius, so as to ease the pressure on the transport network which was essential for the war effort. Crowds were restricted to 15,000 all ticket games for the larger grounds and 8,000 or half the capacity, whichever was smaller, for the smaller clubs. Stanley Rous, who was the FA Secretary at the time, urged players of all clubs to sign up for the Army Physical Training Corps, with the promise of a sergeant instructor job. From Everton Joe Mercer was the first to enrol and Tommy Lawton, in January 1940, the last.
Players would turn out for their clubs as and when they could, depending on where they were stationed. This led to competitive nature of the football changing and the fans soon realised that what they were watching a poor substitute for the ‘real thing’.
Wartime internationals proved popular with the general public and with attendance restrictions not being quite as harsh games were well attended. England played Scotland no less than sixteen times during the war years and were enjoyed by decent crowds, as they were played with a lot more passion than games featuring patched up teams that were playing regional league football. For two Everton Players these wartime internationals proved to be an exceptional success, Cliff Britton was enjoying a renaissance to his career and he joined up with club team mate Joe Mercer, who was by now the England captainand Stan Cullis to form a famous half back line .
It was surprising that, due to it’s proximity to Liverpool’s docks, that Goodison Park did not suffer major damage during the worse of the German bombing raids. For what damage was inflicted the club received £5,000 from the War Damage Commission for essential repair work.
Two Everton players unfortunately lost their lives during the war: William Summer, who had broken into the team after the war had broken out and had made a few appearances during the war years: and Brian Atkins who was the clubs books but never actually played a game.
On player took advantage of the period of hostilities and made a significant breakthrough to the first team. Harry Catterick was a young striker who had signed for the club in April 1937 as a part time player while he continued with his marine engineering apprenticeship. He played a few games for the reserve side but with Tommy Lawton and ‘Bunny Bell’ ahead of him Catterick had to wait for the outbreak of war to play his first game for the Everton first team, in all he made 73 wartime appearances and scored 56 goals.
For Everton's wartime league record please follow the links below for the various seasons.
