The twentieth century started with a whimper from Everton’s perspective, when they could only manage a seventh place finish in the 1900-01 season and to make matters worse for the club's follower's local neighbours, Liverpool, won their first league title. The FA Cup gave little solace as when, after a comfortable 3-1 away win at Southampton, Everton were knocked out of the competition when they lost 2-0 at Sheffield United.
Football was facing problems at the turn of the century, agitation amongst some of the smaller clubs regarding the wages paid by some clubs to their players led to the Football Association to impose a £4 maximum weekly payment to players during the winter months and a £10 restriction to signing on fees. This led England’s larger clubs to try to have the ruling rescinded but they were defeated in a vote by the smaller clubs throughout the country, and the restrictions stayed in place.
During the summer of 1901 Everton added several new faces to the playing staff, the most notable being the prolific goal scorer from Scotland, Alex ‘Sandy’ Young . He played for nearly ten years at Goodison Park and ended his Everton career with 110 goals, his most prolific season being 1906-07 when he scored 28 goals, to be the first division's top scorer. In the all time list of Everton goal scores Young is fourth, only being headed by Dixie Dean, Graeme Sharp and Bob Latchford.
The most significant ‘signing’ of the year, however, was not on the playing staff but was that of Mr Will C. Cuff who took over as the club’s secretary from the departing Richard Molyneux. Cuff’s association with the club went back to the St Domingo’s days; when, as a ten year old, he cheered for the team he was serve for many years. He joined the club’s board in 1895 but his move to secretary meant he had to resign as a director; he served the club as secretary until 1918 when he left due to demands of his work as a solicitor. He rejoined the club he loved three years later and was made chairman, remaining in this post until 1938.
Everton adopted their famous royal blue shirts for the beginning of the 1901-02 season and got off to an impressive start, losing just three of the first seventeen games. Injuries to key players, however, disrupted the team and they had to be content with a runners up placein the league, three points behind champions Sunderland. There was shortage of goals during the season, not just for Everton, but in the League as a whole and the blues finished the season as joint top scores with just 53 goals in 34 games. The lack of goals generally was reflected in the individual scoring records for the season were Everton’s Jimmy Settle headed the table with 18 goals, this was the lowest total in the 15 seasons the league had been running.
The FA Cup threw up a Merseyside derby in the first round, the game was staged at Anfield at the end of January and was watched by a crowd on 25,000. Everton went into the game as favourites having drawn 2-2 in the league meeting at Anfield and won the return fixture at Goodison 4-0. The cup game at Anfield ended in with the same score-line as the league game with Everton’s goals coming from J. Sharp and Settle. The replay took place five days later and a crowd of 20,000 saw Liverpool run out 2-0 winners.
During the summer of 1902 Everton were invited to take part in a British League Cup competition to raise money for the families of the victims of the Ibrox Disaster. Glasgow Rangers put up the Exhibition Trophy they had won the previous year and would be competed for by the champions and runners-up of Scotland and England, Sunderland and Celtic completed the line up. Everton and Rangers competed in one 'semi final' and was played at Goodison Park on 1st May 1902 and ended 1-1 in front of 8,000. The replay took place two days later at Celtic Park, with Rangers running out 3-2 winners in front of a crowd of 12,000. The final was played 17th June and Celtic were victorious when they beat Rangers 3-2 in the final.
It was hard to explain what happened during the 1902-03 season as inconsistency took hold again and Everton had to wait until the fifth game of the season before they recorded their first victory, a 3-1 win over Liverpool at Goodison. This encouraged the team to go on a run of five unbeaten games before indifferent form took over again and lasted until the end of the season. Embarrassingly for the club they only managed to finish in twelfth place in the League, amassing 32 points in the process. Goal scoring continued to be a problem with only 45 goals being scored, and no player achieved double figures, the first time this had happened since the first season of league football.
The FA Cup did not offer any respite and despite beating both Portsmouth and Manchester United easily the team fell at the third round stage when they lost 1-0 at non-league Millwall Athletic.
In February 1903 Harry Makepeace made his debut for Everton, against Manchester United in the FA Cup, and was to play for the club until the outbreak of the First World War in 1914. Makepeace had signed the previous year from local junior football and was to become one of the great sportsmen of his time. Playing football at wing half for both Everton and England, and like Jack Sharp, was also to play cricket for Lancashire and the MCC.
During the summer of 1903 Everton secured the services of Harold Payne Hardman, who was brought in to replace Jack Bell on the wing, he stayed an amateur for the whole of his career, while he practiced law in Manchester. Hardman was to influence football until his death in 1965 and during his time as Director and Chairman of Manchester United he was also a member of FA Council, Treasurer and Chairman of the Lancashire FA and Chairman of Central League.
Everton’s fortunes on the pitch improved dramatically from the previous season as they started to put together a squad that could challenge for honours. Unfortunately they had to be satisfied with a third place finish in the league, due partly by their inability to put together a lengthy winning run and also to a particular poor set of results at the end of 1903 which left them to much to do in the race for the championship. Sheffield Wednesday were champions for the second year running, and Manchester City were runners-up.
The FA Cup was a disappointment once again as Everton were beaten in the first round by Tottenham Hotspurs, who, at the time were playing in the Southern League.
Under Will Cuff, Everton were putting together one of the strongest squads in the country and this was well demonstrated during the 1904-05 season as the team challenged for both the League title and FA Cup.
The team was showing excellent form and at the turn of the year they were in a very good position to mount a challenge for the league title. After losing the first game of the New Year Everton went on a ten game, unbeaten run, which saw them sitting on top of the table as the season entered its final week, and were firm favourites to clinch the title. Unfortunately Everton’s last three games of the season were all away from home and were played in just four days. The first of these games was at Manchester City were they lost 1-0, the second was the following day at Woolwich Arsenal. This was a rearranged game, the original match was played in November and had been abandoned due to severe weather conditions with just 15 minutes remaining, with Everton leading 3-1, but this time they went down to 2-1 defeat. The last of Everton’s games was at Nottingham Forest and saw them record a much needed victory, defeating the home side 2-1.
Everton’s season had ended on 47 points but they were made to wait to see what their fete would be as their nearest rivals, Newcastle United, still had two games to play and were three points behind. Both of Newcastle’s games were away from home, to Sheffield Wednesday and Middlesbrough, and unfortunately for Everton they won both, 3-1 and 3-0 respectively. The gruelling finish to the season had taken its toll and the club had to be satisfied with being runners-up, which was hard to take as the feeling within the club was that had the original game at Arsenal been allowed to finish it could have meant that Everton, and not Newcastle, would have been champions
The FA Cup started for Everton on 2nd February and got under way with an away tie against neighbours, Liverpool. The game was hard fought and Liverpool led 1-0 at half time but when Young was fouled in the penalty area Makepeace strode up to equalise to send the tie to a replay. The second game took place six days later and was again a close affair with Everton taking the lead through McDermott, Liverpool to draw level before Hardman scored the winner with five minutes left to play. Easy victories against Stoke City and Southampton, both 4-0, saw Everton progress to their first semi final for seven years.
Aston Villa were the opponents and the game took place at Stoke City’s, Victoria Ground, where 35,000 spectators witnessed an enjoyable 1-1 draw. The replay took place four days later at Trent Bridge, Nottingham and saw Villa, who were by far the better side, run out 2-1 winners.
At one time during the season the league and cup double seemed a possibility but the club ended the season without a trophy. It would have been easy to brood on the season’s disappointments but instead Everton embarked on an overseas tour that was to be the first by any league club from England. Taking three weeks by sea, rail and horse and cart they were contracted to play eight games during an Austro-Hungarian tour. The first game was played against a team from Budapest, Magyar FC, and saw Everton run out 11-2 winners. Two exhibition games had been arranged against fellow tourist, Tottenham Hotspurs, Everton winning won both of them, 2-0 in Vienna and 1-0 in Prague. The team went on to win the remaining five games of the tour to end a very successful first visit to foreign lands.
The 1905-06 season was one of mixed fortunes for Everton, a severe injury list saw the team greatly disrupted throughout most of the season and with 31 players being used, league form was indifferent at best. The side could not put together anything like a decent run of games and the season ended with an eleventh place finish. The FA Cup was to be a different matter and the one-off scenario of cup football was not greatly affected by the injury crisis within the club.
Due to the number of teams now wanting to enter the FA Cup an extra round of games was introduced, meaning the side winning the competition now had to win six games as opposed to five in previous years. The first round saw Everton drawn at home against second division West Bromwich Albion and goals from Hardman, Makepeace and Sharp saw them through with relative ease. Their reward for the win was to be drawn away to another second division side, Chesterfield. The game was switched to Goodison Park for financial reasons but this proved a relative failure as expected as only 8,000 people turned up to watch the game. Everton ran out easy 3-0 winners with goals from Settle, Taylor and Young but the next round proved a bit trickier. They were paired against a third second division, this time Bradford City, home advantage was awarded and Everton were firm favourites to progress to the next round; however the game proved harder than expected. Without the services of Jimmy Settle and Sandy Young the home side struggled, and it took a solitary strike from Makepeace to settle the tie in Everton’s favour.
The quarter final draw saw Everton given another home game, this time though the opposition were more formidable, in the shape of Sheffield Wednesday. Four goals from Sharp, Taylor, Booth and Bolton gave the home side a comfortable 4-1 lead at half time and the game seemed over. Complacency set in and after the break Wednesday pulled two goals back, giving Everton, and their followers, an uncomfortable end to the game.
So for the second year running the club had reached the semi final of the FA Cup and the team that stood in Everton’s way of a third final were neighbours, Liverpool. The game was played at Villa Park and 37,000 were in attendance to witness to game, the two teams on the day were:
Everton; Scott; Crelly, Balmer; Makepeace, Taylor, Abbott; Sharp, Bolton, Young, Settle, Hardman.
Liverpool : Hardy; Dunlop, West; Parry, Raisbeck, Bradley; Goddard, Robinson, Parkinson, Carlin, Hewitt.
In the early stages of the game Liverpool pressed hard and Everton’s efforts were confined to counter attacks but their finishing was poor and the first half ended 0-0. It was mid way through the second half before the deadlock was broken, a powerful shot by Abbott hit the Liverpool full back, Dunlop, on the foot and this sent the ball past the stranded Hardy in the Liverpool goal. A minute later Hardman broke forward and unleashed a shot that could only be blocked by Hardy, Sharp picked up the loose ball and he quickly gave it back to Hardman who scored with ease to give Everton a 2-0 winning margin. The result ended Liverpool’s hopes of winning the double as they were firm favourites to win the League. The other semi final saw Newcastle United defeat Woolwich Arsenal, 2-0, to reach their second successive final.
The final was played at Crystal Palace on 21 st April 1906 and 75,609 people, paying £6,625 17s 6d in gate receipts, arrived to watch the match. In order to be in the best of conditions both sides had fielded weakened sides in games leading up to the final, for which both were fined by the FA, the two teams that lined up for the final were:
Everton: Scott, Balmer, Crelley, Makepeace, Taylor, Abbott, Sharp, Bolton, Young, Settle, Hardman.
Newcastle United: Lawrence, McCombie, Carr, Gardner, Aitken, McWilliam, Rutherford, Howie, Weitch, Orr, Gosnell.
Newcastle were firm favourites but both sides were suffering badly from nerves, this had an effect on the flowing playing styles of the two teams and the first half ended goal-less. After the re-start Everton pressed and had the ball in net when Young thought he had scored but the referee ruled it out for offside. Young, however, was not to be denied and with 20 minutes left he scored what was to turn out to be the winner. Young himself started the move by passing the ball to Sharp, who dribbled passed two Newcastle players, before returned the ball to Young to score. So, after 19 years, and two losing finals, Everton had finally won the FA Cup.
The team celebrated the win with a meal at the Charterhouse Square Hotel, were F.E. Smith, MP for Walton, led the congratulations. The following day the players were treated to a visit to Hampton Palace Court before they joined the defeated Newcastle players at the Manchester Hotel for dinner. Before Everton could celebrate their success on Merseyside they had to travel to Sheffield to play Wednesday on the Monday, a game they unsurprisingly lost 3-1.
The train bringing Everton home was draped in blue and white flags and arrived at Central Station to thunderous applause, which increased when Jack Taylor, carrying the cup and his team-mates stepped onto the platform. The Lord Mayor greeted them and along with officials from other local clubs, including Liverpool, paid tribute to the Everton players and officials. Once the reception was over the team embarked on a tour of the city which took in Church Street, Whitechapel, Byrom Street and Scotland Road, before arriving at Goodison Park for yet more celebrations.
Success in the FA Cup meant that Everton made £3,718 5s 7d profit from the 1905-06 season and this enabled the club to invest further in the development of Goodison Park. Archibald Leach’s services were enlisted to design a ground that would be the envy of the football world, the first part of the enormous project was a new double-decker stand at the Park End of the ground, at a cost of £13,000, and the construction work was completed during 1907.
As well as developing Goodison, money was spent on the playing staff with several players being brought in during the summer of 1906. George and Dave Wilson were brought in from Hearts, Stevenson was signed from Accrington and Graham signed from Third Lanark.
After tasting success the previous season Everton started 1906-07 with great optimism and after fifteen games the side had only lost four and in the process had set a league scoring record for the club, when they thrashed Manchester City 9-1. By the end of November the team sat proudly on the top of the table, and as the season went on Everton were always in contention for the league title but with only one home game and one win in the last six games meant that they ended the season with a third place finish, behind champions Newcastle United and runners-up Bristol City.
The defence of the FA Cup got under way in January with a home game against Sheffield United and started with a win thanks to the United goalkeeper, who scored an own goal to gave Everton a 1-0 win. The second round saw Everton drawn away to West Ham United, who were a non league side at the time, and they made their visitors struggle to progress with a hard earned 2-1 victory.
The next round gave Everton a home draw against old adversaries, Bolton Wanderers. A record crowd, for the time, of 52,455 (receipts £1,746) turned up to watch an enthralling game, which ended 0-0, due to the heroics of the Bolton goalkeeper, Edmundson. The replay took place the following Tuesday and set another record with the highest attendance for a midweek game when 45,586 spectators paid £1,692 10s 5p to witness the game. Everton were 2-0 up by half time and when they added a third in the second half they progressed comfortably to the quarter final. The next opponents were Crystal Palace, who had recently joined the Southern League, and were delighted to have received a home game against Everton and responded by forcing a 1-1 draw. The replay saw Everton easily take a 3-0 lead in the first half but when the second period started the home team’s play lapsed into mediocrity and it was only the crowd who roused them into scoring a fourth. Everton had now reached their third successive FA Cup semi Final.
The semi final game was against West Bromwich Albion and was scheduled to be played at Bolton’s ground but there were to be objections as to the venue from West Brom. They did not think that a choice of venue was all that ‘neutral’ as it was much nearer to Everton than is was to them, the complaint was heard by the FA but the objection was overruled and the game went ahead as planned. Everton’s performance on the day was excellent and goals from Jack Sharp and George Wilson gave a 2-1 winning score-line which did not do the team justice.
The Everton team photographed at Chingford prior to the FA Cup Final
The team that stood between Everton a second successive FA Cup win was The Wednesday (later to become Sheffield Wednesday), however an incident off the field was to play a big part in the final. George Wilson had upset the Everton hierarchy during the season with his over enthusiastic opinions on all football matters and it was decided that Harold Hardman and not Wilson that should play on the left wing, Wilson made his feelings known in no uncertain terms, leading him not only being disciplined but being transferred shortly afterwards to Newcastle United for £1,500. What effect this unnecessary diversion had on the team is not known but some players were clearly unsettled by the incident.
As usual the final took place at Crystal Palace on 20 th April 1907 and 84,000 spectators were in attendance to witness the game. Everton went into the final with ten of the previous years winning side playing, the only change was Robert Balmer replacing Crelly, both sides lined up as follows:
Everton – Scott; William Balmer, Robert Balmer; Makepeace, Taylor, Abbott; Sharp, Bolton, Young, Settle, Hardman.
The Wednesday – Lyall; Layton, Burton; Brittleton, Crawshaw, Bartlett; Chapman, Bradshaw, Wilson, Stewart, Simpson.
With Everton being firm favourites their supporters were optimistic of a repeat of the previous year's result, the day turned out to be very windy and players from both sides found it difficult to control the ball, this appeared to hamper the Everton players the most. Wednesday were the first to strike, following a mix-up in the Everton defence, Stewart put them ahead with a close range effort, but with half time looming Sharp equalised after the best piece of football from either side. Everyone expected Everton to come out in the second half and secure victory, but this did not materialise. The game seemed to be heading for extra time when, with four minutes left, Wilson hooked the ball across the goal mouth and found Simpson, unmarked, to score the winner for Wednesday, with a free header.
As expectations around the club were growing all the time, to end the season without a trophy was disappointing, however one player did have reason to celebrate on a personal level. Sandy Young had scored regularly and ended the season with an excellent 28 goal tally, a record number of goals scored in one season by an Everton player, beating the previous highest total of 27 set by Jack Southworth in 1895. Not only did he break the club’s scoring record, he topped the first division’s goal-scorers table for the season, becoming the third Everton player to do so.
Season 1907-08 was to be one of change within the team with several players leaving and some new faces arriving. William Balmer, Crelly, Booth and Settle all left at various times throughout the season and in came Jock Maconnachie from Hibernian, Hugh Adamson from Lochgelly and Bertie Freeman from Arsenal for a fee of £350. With the departure of Jimmy Settle to Stockport several players were tried in his position of inside-left without any success and because of this, and other enforced changes, the team became disjointed. League form suffered greatly as 32 players were used throughout the season and Everton ended with an eleventh place finish.
The FA Cup offered something of a respite from the problems in the League and the first round saw a home tie against Southern League side, Tottenham Hotspurs, and Everton progressed thanks to a single goal from Young. Second division side Oldham Athletic were the next opponents and after a goal-less draw at Boundary Park, Everton recorded a 6-1 victory at Goodison in the replay. Next up was an away trip to Bolton Wanderers, who were struggling in the league. Bolton led on three occasions and were 3-2 ahead with only a minute left to play when Sharp set up Young to equalise for the third time and send the tie back to Goodison. In the replay Bolton did not perform as well as they had in the first game and Everton ran out comfortable 3-1 winners.
Following two replays in the three early rounds Everton were drawn against their second Southern League side in the quarter-final when they welcomed Southampton to Goodison Park and the team from the South Coast went home with an excellent 0-0 draw. The replay was eagerly anticipated but some fears were raised regarding crowd safety as 20,000 were expected to be in attendance at the game but despite a few moments of anxiety when some spectators feinted, nobody was injured. On the field Southampton went to the half time break with a 2-1 lead, but when the teams emerged for the second half it was expected that Everton would take control. This didn’t happen as the visitors were playing very poorly and it was the home side that went further ahead, but with 20 minutes left Everton pulled a goal back. Having stirred from their slumber the visitors put tremendous pressure on Southampton’s goal but the home side held on for a famous victory.
Everton ended the season with the consolation of winning the Liverpool Cup when they defeated Liverpool 2-0 in the final but improvements were needed if the team was to challenge for the league title.
Everton started the 1908-09 season really well, and only lost two games out of the first 18 games, however inconsistency was yet again to stop the club claiming their second league championship. Of the remaining 22 games the team were only to win five games and ended the season, which promised so much before Christmas, as runners-up to Newcastle United, finishing seven points behind the champions. One highlight during the poor end of season run was a record derby win against Liverpool when a 5-0 victory was achieved on 9 th April 1909 to ensure Everton recording a pleasing ‘double’ over their neighbours.
During the excellent early season form one player was emerging as a star. Bertie Freeman was playing his first full season and he was determined to make an impression, this did not take long and after 18 games he had helped himself to 22 goals. As the season progressed Freeman continued to score freely and ended with 38 goals, beating the previous highest total in the first division of 32 set in 1892 by J Campbell for Sunderland.
Freeman was not the only recent signing that had excellent first seasons for Everton, Val Harris (signed from Shelbourne) and Jock Maconnachie both established themselves in the first team. Harris started his six year stay with Everton at right-half but during his career with the blues he played in no fewer than six different positions. Maconnachie had a much longer Everton career and played in total thirteen seasons, firstly at centre-half and then made his name at left back.
The FA Cup campaign was short lived, the first round saw the team win 3-1 at home against Barnsley but in the next round they were drawn away to Manchester United and went down to a 1-0 defeat.
During the season Everton fell foul, not for the first time, of Lancashire FA rules when they played under strength sides in the County Cup, they were fined £25 for the teams they put out in the early rounds. The League title chase and injuries led a weakened side to take the field in the semi final against Liverpool, a game which was lost 2-0. This time the fine was £100 and the Lancashire FA also demanded Everton’s share of the gate receipts, £99. Everton appealed, but when this was dismissed by the Lancashire FA committee Will Cuff took a second appeal to the Football Association, who ruled that the fine should stand but that they should keep their share of the gate money.
Goodison Park was further developed in 1909 when the main stand in Goodison Road was rebuilt, feauring a huge double-decker stand it was also to house a suite of offices and players quarters. The cost of the building work came to £28,000 but it established the ground as the best club stadium in England, if not the world. Glasgow based Archibald Leitch was engaged to redesign the stadium and within days of being appointed he opened an office in Liverpool and advertised locally and nationally for bids to carry out the work. Leitch was also responsible for the design of several grounds, notably Glasgow Rangers ground, Ibrox, Manchert Untided'd, Old Trafford, and Sunderland's old ground, Roker Park. One feature was apparent in all of the designs with each ground supporting a criss-cross ironwork on the front of stand.
During the summer of 1909 football was on the verge of chaos when the Player’s Association, founded in 1907, threatened a general strike. The main protagonists appeared to be Everton’s Jack Sharp, Colin Veitch, the Newcastle United captain and James Fay, of Oldham Athletic and on the eve of the season a meeting between the FA and the players was held to discuss some long standing grievances. Most of the problems were overcome but resentment remained as the players fought for their union to be recognised, something the FA were in no mood to acknowledge.
When the season got started Everton began well, winning five of the first seven games, but following only five wins in the next four months the team slipped to mid table. Despite a recovery in form during February and March 1910 the club had to be happy with a tenth place finish with just 40 points.
While the league form was disappointing, hopes were high for another visit to Crystal Palace for the FA Cup final. In the first round Everton were drawn away against Middlesbrough and following a 1-1, progressed after winning the replay 5-3 at Goodison Park. The second round saw the blues given a home tie against Woolwich Arsenal and thanks to Sharp’s mastery of the Arsenal defence they ran out 5-0 winners. The next two rounds saw 2-0 victories against both Sunderland and Coventry City, this meant that Everton were in their fourth semi final in six years.
The opponents in the match were to be second division Barnsley, who had battled their way to a deserved semi final appearance. The game was played at Elland Road, Leeds and, backed by a partisan Yorkshire crowd; Barnsley earned a very creditable 0-0 draw. The replay was played five days later and took place at Old Trafford, Manchester and Everton went into the game as firm favourites. Fete was to deliver a terrible blow to Everton, after ten minutes they were reduced to ten men when the ball struck Jack Taylor in the throat. He doubled up in agony and had to leave the field, later diagnosis revealed that he had in fact severely damaged his larynx and this effectively finish his playing career. The loss of their inspirational captain had a terrible effect on the team, they never recovered their composure and Barnsley took full advantage running out 3-0 winners.
The loss of Jack Taylor, who retired from playing following the injury in the semi final, had an effect on several players and some left the club. Jack Sharp retired, to concentrate on his rapidly grow businesses, but his connection with the club did not finish with the end of his playing days. In 1923 he was appointed to the board of directors, were he remained until his death in 1938. Tim Coleman, who had scored 29 goals in just 69 games, also left and joined Sunderland, the team was starting to lose some of its better players, which did not bode well for the future..
Goal scoring had been a problem throughout the season and when it came to an end only one player had managed to get into double figures. Bertie Freeman managed to score relatively freely and found the net on 26 times in all competitions, 22 in the league, but his days with the club were numbered as more changes were to take place.
The club was honoured again by the FA when the FA Cup final replay was played at Goodison Park on 28th April 1910. The game was well attended with 55,364 turning up to witness the occasion which saw Newcastle United secure their first FA Cup victory when they beat Everton’s conquerors, Barnsley, 2-0.
Following the retirements of two great servants in Jack Taylor and Jack Sharp, more players were to leave during the 1910-11 season. The first to go was Bertie Freeman, whose goal scoring touch had temporally deserted him and for some reason he had never really impressed the Everton hierarchy, despite scoring 67 goals in just 94 appearances. He joined Burnley for £800 and soon rediscovered his form, ending the 1911-12 and 1912-13 seasons as the top scorer in the second division. Later in the season another forward left the club when Sandy Young joined Tottenham Hotspurs and this left the club very short of scoring options. In all thirteen players were played in the forward position, despite this handicap the team managed to finish a very creditable fourth in the league but no player managed to obtain double figures and the team as a whole could only score 50 goals.
While the club had lost four great players during the season, three new recruits had been added to the squad and all would make notable contributions during their time at the club. Inside right Frank Jefferies was signed from Southampton for £750, he was an intelligent player who possessed both grace and skill but was not a prolific goal scorer. Locally born Tom Fleetwood joined from non league side Rochdale, a versatile player he served the club for more than a decade as a player and later he returned to join the Goodison coaching staff. The last of the trio was Sam Chedgzoy, born in Ellesmere Port he had made a solid reputation for himself, playing for Burnell Ironworks abd was to become a brilliant outside right.
The FA Cup campaign started well with an accomplished 4-0 first round win at Crystal Palace. In the second round Everton were awarded a home tie against Liverpool, and the home side won 2-1, in front of 50,000 spectators, with both goals coming from Sandy Young. The third round was a disaster, an away game at Second Division Derby County was the reward for beating Liverpool but Everton were thrashed 5-0 and went out of the competition with a whimper.
The next season, 1911-12, saw Everton start with great confidence and were unbeaten in their first nine home games, conceding only four goals. The team had been put together with defence the priority and by the end of the season boasted the best record in the division with just 42 goals being conceded. With the emphasis being on the defence, goals scoring was becoming a problem and by the end of the year only 22 goals being scored in 21 games. This prompted the club to recruit Tom ‘Boy’ Bromwell from Hull and the 19 year got off to a impessive start. His debut was at home against the previous season’s champions, Manchester United, and he helped the team to a 4-0 win by scoring two of the goals. Bromwell played in the remaining 17 games of the season and contributed 12 goals.
Despite Bromwell’s exploits, Everton still found goal scoring a problem and ended the season with only 46 goals, the fifth worse total in the league. Despite this the side still managed to finish as runners up to champions, Blackburn Rovers, but things could have been different. As the season went into it’s last month the two teams were neck and neck and with Blackburn Rovers one point ahead they played each other on 13 th April at Goodison Park. Blackburn won 3-1 to increase there lead to three points, a margin they held until the end of the season.
The first round of the FA Cup saw Everton drawn away to Clapton Orient and they came home with a narrow 2-1 victory. Bury were the next opponents and after the two sides drew 1-1 at Goodison Park it was agreed that the replay should again take place at Goodison Park, this time Everton ran out 6-0 winners. An away win in the third round, 2-1 at Oldham Athletic, followed and when the draw gave them an away tie at non league Swindon Town, Everton were dreaming of yet another semi final. Swindon, on the other hand, had other ideas and upset the favourites by winning 2-1.
Reserve team football was about to be properly organised with there own league for the start of the 1911-12 season, until now club's second evelens were playing in what ever league they could find. So, In the early part of the 1911 a proposal was put forward by the Everton secretary, Will Cuff, that the reserve sides of football clubs should play each other in a league of their own. His idea was adopted, and the first ‘Central League’ fixtures took place at the start of the 1911-12 season. Everton, who’s reserve side had enjoyed great success up until now, finished third in the first season and then went on to win the title two years later.
During the summer of 1912 Everton lost their last line of defence when Bill Scott moved to Leeds City, he had played over 250 games for the club and his vast experience was to be greatly missed.
As the 1912-13 season progressed it became clear that Everton were struggling to build on the runners up position from last season and they ended up eleventh in the league. The lack of goals remained a problem and despite Browell and Bradshaw both getting double figures the team as whole could only manage 48 in total. The departure of Scott had a detrimental effect on the team’s defence and they consequently conceding 54 goals.
Another quarter final place was achieved in the FA Cup following victories over Stockport County, 5-1, Brighton & Hove Albion, 1-0 after a replay, and Bristol Rovers, 4-0. The quarter final saw Everton drawn against Oldham Athletic for the second year running, the game took place at Goodison Park and the visitors gained revenge for the previous season’s loss when they won 1-0.
The season woes were forgotten during the summer when King George V and Queen Mary visited the city on 11 th July for the opening of the Gladstone Dock, which, at the time, was the largest in the world. Part of their visit to Merseyside was to include a display by some 2,000 children. The event took place at Goodison Park and this was a great honour for the club as it was the first time a reigning monarch had paid an official visit to a Football League ground.
If the previous season had been disappointing the 1913-14 was to be embarrassing. In the league the team finished a very disappointing fifteenth, winning only twelve games and avoiding relegation by just five points. The season’s low point however was reserved for the FA Cup when, in the first round, they were defeated 2-1 by Glossop North End, a side struggling badly in the second division.
Chairman Mr. Clayton had long argued against paying huge transfer fees for players, and had outlined plans to set up a third team at Everton in order to develop local talent, but he now agreed it was time for the club to buy before it was too late. First to arrive was Bobby Parker, who arrived from Glasgow Rangers for a fee of £1,500; he was an instant success and ended the season with 17 goals in just 24 games. Parker’s success in front of goal led the club to release Tom Browell, who signed for Manchester City for a fee of £1,450. In all, a dozen players had been tried in the forward line during the season, but apart from Parker none solved the problem of lack of goals, that was until Joe Crennell was brought in for a fee of £750 from Blackburn Rovers. A new goalkeeper, Tom Fern, was signed from Preston North End, and finally the void that had been left by Scott was filled.
The three big signings from last season were added to when centre half Jimmy Galt arrived from Glasgow Rangers. Galt was installed as captain and Everton approached the 1914-15 season with renewed optimism. Perhaps optimism was not the right word as Europe, and the World, was on the brink of war. On 28th June 1914 in the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo, the Archduke Francis Ferdinand of Austria and his wife Sophie were shot dead. The assassination meant that the treaty system that had kept Europe at peace for more than fifty years fell apart and on 4th August the First World War began.
The Football Association had a dilemma, do they start the League program or do they postpone indefinitely. Throughout the country their was a feeling of ‘it will be over by Christmas’ so it was decided to start the season despite criticism from many quarters.
Everton did not allow the situation to distract them from the task ahead and got the season off to a good start with away wins over Tottenham Hotspurs, 3-1, and Newcastle United, 1-0. All teams seemed to have one eye elsewhere as hostilities intensified and all suffered from inconsistency. As the season entered the final stages Everton went on a their best run for some time, winning four games leading up to the final weekend of football. The run left Everton joint top of the table with Oldham Athletic, who had two games against just one for Everton. Athletic's first of their games was against local rivals Burnley and they lost 2-1, so the season was set to go right down to the last weekend of games.
Both title rivals were at home for the last games of the season but Everton were not scheduled to play until the Monday, so Oldham had the opportunity to take over the leadership in the championship race and put pressure on the Merseyside team. Athletic were at home to Liverpool, who had not been doing well in the league, but they would do their neighbours a favour by winning 2-0, effectively giving Everton the title on goal difference. On the Monday Everton played their last game and welcomed Chelsea to Goodison Park, the match ended in a 2-2 draw and the league was won by just by one point.
Everton’s second League Championship triumph had come twenty four years after their first but was accompanied with muted celebrations due to the catastrophe of the Great War.
Everton were close to winning the league and FA Cup double after Burnley, Bristol City, Queens Park Rangers and Bradford City had been beaten to set up a semi final against Chelsea. Everton were favourites to progress to the final but they were deprived of several first team players including goalkeeper, Fern, and Chelsea made the most of the situation and ran out 2-0 winners.
The partnership of Bobby Parker and Joe Crennell had worked a treat and Parker became the fifth Everton player to top the first division scoring table, when he scored 36 times. Crennell help himself to 14 goals as the team notched up their highest total for many a season with 76.
