Everton F.C.

Everton Football Club are an English football club from the city of Liverpool, founded in 1878. They are one of the most successful clubs in English football, having played more seasons in the top division (103 of a possible 107) and won more points in the top division than any other team.

History

Origins

The club's roots lie in an English Methodist congregation called New Connexion, which decided to build a new chapel in the Liverpool area in 1868. The following year, the church bought some land on Breckfield Road North, between St. Domingo Vale and St. Domingo Grove. This was located near the district of Everton, which had become part of the City of Liverpool in 1835.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

St. Domingo Methodist Church's new chapel was opened in 1871 and six years later, Rev B.S. Chambers was appointed Minister. He was responsible for starting a cricket team for the youngsters in the parish. Because cricket can only be played in the summer, they had to find something to play during the other seasons as well. So a football club called St. Domingo F.C. was formed in 1878.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Many people outside the parish were interested in joining the football club so it was decided that the name should be changed. In November 1879 at a meeting in the Queen's Head Hotel, the team name was changed to Everton Football Club, after the surrounding district.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ground

Everton originally played in the southeast corner of Stanley Park with the first official match taking place in 1879. In 1882, a man named J. Cruitt donated land at Priory Road which became the club's home for a couple of years before moving onto Anfield in 1884 which was Everton's home until 1892 when a rent dispute led to Everton leaving the ground and to the formation of a new, rival team. The new club, which was named Liverpool F.C., set up at Anfield and Everton moved onto Goodison Park where they remain to this day. Ever since those events a fierce rivalry has existed between Everton and Liverpool, albeit one that is generally perceived as being more respectful than many other "derbies" in English football.

Related Topics:
Anfield - Liverpool F.C.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Goodison Park has staged more top flight football games than any other ground in the country and became the only English club ground to host a {{Wc|1966}} semi-final. It was also the first English ground to have undersoil heating, two tiers on all sides and a three tier stand. Goodison is the only ground in the world that features a church in its grounds- St Luke the Evangelist at the corner of the Main Stand and the Gwladys Street End.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Crest

At the end of the 1937-38 season, club secretary Theo Kelly, who later became The Toffees first post-war manager, wanted to design a club necktie. It was agreed that the colour should be blue, but Kelly was given the task of designing a crest to be featured on the tie.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Kelly put thought into the matter for four months until deciding on a reproduction of the "Beacon" which stands in the heart of the Everton district. "The Beacon" or "Tower" has been inextricably linked with the Everton area since its construction in 1787. It was originally used as a bridewell to incarcerate criminals, and it still stands today on Everton Brow in Netherfield Road. The beacon was accompanied by two laurel wreaths on either side and, according to the College of Heraldry and Arms in London, Kelly chose to include the laurels as they were the signs of winners in classical times. The crest was accompanied by the club motto, "Nil Satis, Nisi Optimum", which means "Only the best is good enough". The ties were first worn by Kelly and the Everton chairman, Mr. E. Green on the first day of the 1938-39 season.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Interestingly however, the club rarely incorporated a badge of any description on its shirts. An interwoven "EFC" design was adopted between 1922-1930 before reverting back to plain royal blue shirts until 1973 when bold "EFC" lettering was used. The crest designed by Kelly was first used on the teams shirts in 1980 and has remained ever since, undergoing gradual change to become the version used today.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Colours & Nicknames

During the first decades Everton had several different colours and nicknames. The team originally played in blue and white stripes but these were soon turned into a mess when new players wore their old team's shirts during matches. Soon it was decided that the shirts would be dyed black to both save on expenses and look more professional. During this time, Everton were nicknamed "The Black Watch", after the famous army brigade.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

When the club moved to Goodison Park, they played in salmon stripes with blue shorts before switching again to ruby shirts with blue trim and dark blue shorts. The famous royal blue jerseys with white shorts were first used in 1901-02 which is obviously the origin of the familiar nickname "The Blues". The attractive style of play employed by the team led to Steve Bloomer calling the team "scientific" in 1928 leading to the name "The School of Science".

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The most widely recognised nickname which continues to be used even now came about after Everton had moved to Goodison, when they became known as "The Toffees" or "The Toffeemen". There are several possible explanations for how this name came to be adopted, the most well known is that in those days, there was a business near the ground called Mother Noblett's Toffee Shop which advertised and sold sweets, including the Everton Mint, on match days. This also led to the Toffee Lady tradition in which a girl will walk around the perimeter of the pitch before the start of a game tossing free Everton Mints into the crowd.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Another possible reason is that there was a house called Ye Anciente Everton Toffee House near the Queen's Head hotel in which early club meetings took place. And finally, the word "toffee" was also slang referring to Irishmen, of which there was a large population in the city at the turn of the century.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Recent Events

Due to all English clubs being banned from playing in European competitions following the Heysel Stadium disaster, the 1990s were a difficult time for the Toffeemen, with financial difficulties and several end of season escapes from relegation. The highlights of the decade were an FA cup triumph in 1995 and finishing 6th in the 95/96 season under Joe Royle.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Since the appointment in March 2002 of a new manager, David Moyes, they improved greatly and despite continued lack of money finished the 2002-2003 season in seventh place, narrowly missing qualification for the UEFA Cup. However in the 2003-2004 season they finished 4th from bottom, the lowest league position to avoid relegation, with the lowest season points total in the club's history.

Related Topics:
David Moyes - UEFA Cup - Relegation

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Another key factor in Everton's recent revival was the emergence of a rising young star, Wayne Rooney. In one of his first games for the club, in October 2002, he entered football folklore by scoring a sensational last-minute winner against the then League champions Arsenal, consigning them to their first league defeat for almost a year. He has also figured prominently in recent England international matches, after having become the youngest ever player to play for England, in a friendly against Australia, in February 2003. Rooney went on to establish himself as a true superstar at {{Ec2|2004}}. Despite stating "Once a Blue, always a Blue," Rooney requested a transfer on August 27 giving the reason that he wanted to play European football on a regular basis, which wasn't happening at Everton; on August 31, 2004, he moved to Manchester United in a deal that may eventually be worth between £20 million and £27 million (the final amount will depend on both United and Rooney's success).

Related Topics:
Wayne Rooney - Folklore - England - Australia - August 27 - August 31 - 2004 - Manchester United

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Everton started the 2004-2005 season in surprisingly good form, having been tipped by many in the media to be relegated this year. After an opening game 4-1 loss to champions Arsenal, they embarked on a remarkable run (including a win over Liverpool, their first since 1999, thanks to a strike by Lee Carsley) which eventually led them to a fourth-place finish and a spot in the third qualifying round for the Champions League, though they went out after a 4-2 aggregate loss to Villarreal. This was a controversial result after Pierluigi Collina surprisingly disallowed a goal for Everton which would have took the aggregate score to 3-3, with Everton holding the upper-hand in the balance of play at that point of the game. However the goal did not stand, and Diego Forlan scored a late goal to seal the tie for Villarreal.

Related Topics:
Champions League - Villarreal - Pierluigi Collina

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Late in 2004, the club was in talks with Liverpool regarding sharing that club's proposed new stadium at Stanley Park. Among the more contentious terms in the negotiations was ownership of the new facility - Liverpool wanted to retain ownership of Stanley Park while Everton wanted an even share. On January 11, 2005, the clubs announced that they were abandoning the groundshare plan.

Related Topics:
2004 - Proposed new stadium - Stanley Park - January 11 - 2005

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~