A whole generation of Blues may never see days like this again. The Future is Bright… The future is Blue! 04 May 1987 Everton clinched The League title for the second time in three years with a one-nil win at Carrow Road, home of Norwich City. Everton had overcome the massive disappointment of the previous […]
Author : Paul McParlan
How Catterick avoided the dreaded taxi ride!
Everton’s unexpected 1966 Cup triumph “I get knocked down but I get up again” Chumbawumba 1999 January 15 1966 – the Blackpool Rumble The League table made grim reading for Everton fans. The side, convincing Champions just three years earlier had endured an awful campaign. The team had mustered a meagre four wins from their […]
Paul Lambert: The Unlikely Messiah
Optimistic and exuberant are hardly words that have traditionally associated themselves with Paul Lambert, but suddenly after just one game in charge he has transformed the mood around the Britannia Stadium from one of despair to one of hope. Lambert is the man unexpectedly tasked with preserving Stoke City’s Premier League Status by Chairman and […]
Saturday Night Fever!
Saturday Night Fever! Everton v Liverpool 11th March 1967. F.A. Cup Fifth Round. “I am just wondering if you remember the Derby match at Goodison. F.A. Cup, Fifth Round and it was shown on a big screen at Anfield?” “I do. I played in it. I was the goalkeeper for Liverpool… it was a great […]
Archie’s Last Stand
Sunday 19 November and I am in Edinburgh to watch Heart of Midlothian’s first home league game of the season. Heart of Midlothian, the club that most assume was named after the famous novel written by Sir Walter Scott as part of his Waverley trilogy. The truth is much simpler although far less romantic . […]
Seven Days That Destroyed A Decade!
On Tuesday 01 April 1970, Everton clinched the League Championship for the seventh time in their history by beating West Bromwich Albion 2- 0 at Goodison Park in front of a crowd of over 58,000 ecstatic supporters. Everton finished the season with 66 points, nine points clear of runners up Leeds United. It was the […]
The Grand Old Team that Died: Belfast Celtic
“Even when we had nothing , we still had Celtic” Near to the staunchly Republican area of the Falls Road in Belfast, there is a shopping development called the Park Centre which was constructed in the late 1990’s. Like many an urban shopping centre in any city in Britain, it is full of shops that […]
All Hell Broke Loose: The Battle of Goodison Park
The editorial in the match day programme for the 4th round F.A. Cup replay between Everton and Leeds United on 02 February 1965 was quite sombre in its message to fans ; “We hope that our supporters will be happy to let the past bury its dead. Let us not revive the unhappier moments of […]
Press Conferences for Dummies: My guide to being a fully-fledged member of the paparazzi
Date – Friday August 25 2017 Time – 11.00 a.m. Venue – Burnley F.C. Barnfield Training Complex An opportunity to attend a Premier league Press Conference and thanks to Chris Darwen, I am on my way! I have the email confirmation in my hand and I am part of a select group who will be […]
Joe Baker: The Reluctant Englishman
“ A Jock playing for England! We ain’t that bad are we?” On August 17th this month, it will be seventy seven years since Joe Baker, who sadly died in 2003, was born. If circumstances had turned out differently, then arguably Joe Baker not Geoff Hurst would have been leading the England attack in the […]
The Final that Refused to End: The 1977 League Cup final between Aston Villa and Everton
Everton and Aston Villa have the longest running rivalry in football. Both clubs were founder members of the original Football league in 1888 and have played more top flight matches against each other than any other team, a total which currently stands at 202. They are also the two teams that hold the record for […]
When Bobby got Hammered in Blackpool
It is hard to credit now but in the 1960’s and the early 1970’s Blackpool was almost the British equivalent of Las Vegas with its swinging nightlife and range of exotic attractions that catered for almost every need. Most football teams, from London and the South, enjoyed playing against Blackpool because an overnight stay was […]
When every fan was an expert in long division!
The 1964/65 Football League Division One Season – the last to be decided on goal average. Since the start of the 1976/1977 season, goal difference has been the standard measure of separating two teams level on points. If the two teams are level on points it is a very simple mathematical process to decide who […]
When Stereotypes Ruled the World
Chelsea v Leeds United. F.A. Cup Final and F.A. Cup final replay. April 1970. The 1970 F.A. Cup final and the subsequent replay was a classic encounter in every sense of the word. It brought together two of England’s top sides, Chelsea and Leeds United, whose intense dislike of each other was well known and […]
When Bingham’s Robots Malfunctioned: Everton’s 1974/75 Season
In my opinion the 1974/1975 season was a turning point in Everton’s history, from which they took a decade to recover and handed Liverpool the chance to become the dominant team of the decade. Between 1967 and 1974, seven different teams had won the league title, Manchester United, Manchester City, Everton, Arsenal, Derby County, Liverpool […]
How Andy Gray brought success to Everton
Andy Gray had reached a crossroads in his football career in England. It was November 1983 and at the age of twenty eight, he was part of a Wolverhampton Wanderers team who, three years after winning the League Cup, were in financial meltdown and facing the prospect of a second relegation to Division Two in […]
A time when the blue half of Merseyside believed: Anfield, October 1984
After yet another disappointing Derby defeat on Saturday, Everton fans now have endured eighteen years without a victory at Anfield. A whole generation of young blues has grown up without ever savouring the joy a victory at Anfield can bring. The weight of history bears heavily upon us. But we have been through similar experiences […]
When North Korea was everyone’s favourite country
Every time I switch on the news these days or read the newspapers, there is often some really scary story about North Korea, ranging from nuclear bombs being tested to members of the ruling leader Kim Jong Un’s family being killed with a deadly poison at an airport. But, there was a brief moment in […]
The Day I saw Pele score in the Street End
Goodison Park 1966. I can’t speak for the rest of the country but for a 10-year-old boy living in Liverpool, I like all of my friends at primary school, was gripped by World Cup fever. None of my friends had been lucky enough to get tickets for any of the World Cup games to be […]
The Golden Vision
“What’s your Daddy do? Plays football. Who for? Everton. Is he good? Yes. What’s his name Alex Young” Golden Vision. BBC Play for Today. 1968 Like most Everton fans, I was devastated to hear the sad news of the death of The Golden Vision himself, Alex Young. He had just recently celebrated his eightieth birthday. […]