Everton F.C.

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Everton F.C.
Full nameEverton Football Club
Nickname(s)The Toffees
Founded1878
GroundGoodison Park
Capacity39,572
OwnerFarhad Moshiri
ChairmanBill Kenwright
ManagerSean Dyche
LeaguePremier League
2021–22Premier League, 16th of 20
WebsiteClub website
Current season

Everton Football Club are an English football club from the city of Liverpool. The club currently competes in the Premier League and have played more seasons in the top league of English football than any other team.

Everton were founded in 1878. They have a long rivalry with Liverpool, mostly because both clubs have their home grounds in the same city. When they play each other, the match is known as the Merseyside derby.

In the 1890s Everton played at Anfield, which later became Liverpool's stadium. However, the owner of the stadium increased the rent by a lot, so the club decided to stop paying and leave and build their own instead.[1] Everton were then moved to a new stadium called Goodison Park.

History[change | change source]

The league winning Everton team of 1891

Everton started out in 1878 with the name St Domingo's FC. At first it was only for people who went to St Domingo's church, but so many people were interested they let people from the local area join as well.[2] A year later the club was renamed Everton Football Club, after the area.[3] Everton's first ever match was against a team called St Peter's in 1879. Everton won 6-0.[3]

Everton entered the FA Cup in the 1886/87 season. They were beaten 1-0 by Rangers in the first round. As football became more and more popular around England, the clubs realised they needed an organised league. In 1888 the Football League was founded. Everton were one of the 12 founding members. Preston North End won the first two leagues and Everton won the third in 1891. They won their second ever trophy, the FA Cup, in 1905 but did not win another until 1916. It was not until 1927 that Everton had their first period of long success. In 1925 they signed Dixie Dean and in 1927 he scored 60 goals in 39 games, setting a new world record and taking Everton to another league title.[4] Everton were relegated to the second division in 1930/1931. Within a year they were promoted again, and remained in the first division until they were relegated again in 1950/51 (which resulted in three seasons in the second tier). This makes them the English football team with the second most consecutive seasons in the top league of English football, behind Arsenal who have been in the top flight continuously since 1919/20.

Everton's second successful period came after 1961 when Harry Catterick was appointed manager. With Catterick in charge Everton won two league titles and four cups between 1961 and 1970. This success did not last however, and after three years of low league finishes Catterick quit his job. The club finished in mid-table positions for the rest of the 1970s with a line of unsuccessful managers. In 1981 the club appointed Howard Kendall to be the new manager. He turned Everton around and eventually became the most successful manager in the clubs history, winning two league titles and three cups between 1981 and 1987.[5] This era also brought Everton's one and only European title, the Cup Winners Cup in 1985. They won the final 3-1 against Rapid Vienna of Austria. The semi final saw Everton beat German champions Bayern Munich 3-1, a match voted the greatest of all time at Goodison Park.[6]

In 1985 several Liverpool and Juventus fans died when the crowd started fighting at a stadium in Heysel, Belgium.[7] UEFA decided that Liverpool fans were mainly to blame. Because of this all English clubs were not allowed to play against European teams until 1991. This denied Everton the chance to defend their European title and the team gradually broke up. Many of their best players left to other European clubs.

The club did not do very well in the early 90s. They nearly got relegated twice and went through lots of money problems. However they still became one of the first members of the new English Premier League when it started in 1992. They were quite successful under manager Joe Royle, who took over in 1994. In his second season in charge he kept Everton clear of relegation and won the FA cup, the club's first trophy in seven years. The club had steady improvement under Royle, finishing 6th and 7th in the 1996 and 1997 seasons.[8]

After two seasons however the club's performance went downhill and Kendall was sacked after barely avoiding relegation in the 1998-99 season. Former player Walter Smith took over for three seasons, but failed to perform well. He spent a lot of money on players but didn't lead the team to good league positions. David Moyes took over in 2002 and has been one of the club's most successful managers to date. Under his management Wayne Rooney was brought into the first team and he was quickly sold to Manchester United for £28 million, a club record fee.[9] Moyes later broke the transfer record again in 2008 with the signing of Marouane Fellaini.[10] Moyes led Everton to a 4th-place finish in the 2004–05 season, their best finish ever. Since 2006 Everton have enjoyed regular top 10 finishes and reached the last 16 of the UEFA Cup in 2007 and were runner-ups in the 2009 FA Cup final. From the 2006-07 season until the 2012–13 season, which was the last season that Moyes was in charge, Everton placed in the top 8 positions.

At the end of the 2012–13 season Moyes left the club for Manchester United. He had managed Everton for 11 years. Moyes was replaced by Roberto Martínez. Martinez led Everton to the semi-finals of the EFL Cup and the FA Cup in 2015–16. However, he was sacked with two games left in the season due to poor performances.

He was replaced in the summer of 2016 by Ronald Koeman. In his first season at the club, he guided them to the group stages of the Europa League, after finishing 7th in the previous Premier League season. He was sacked the following season after leaving the club in the relegation zone.

Kit[change | change source]

Everton usually wear Royal blue shirts with white shorts and white socks.

They wore many different kit colours in their first few years. At first, they wore white shorts and white shirts with blue stripes. However, many players who moved to Everton still wore the shirts of their old team, so things were confusing. To solve this the club introduced an all black kit to the club, as black dye was cheap and easily available.[11] However many fans thought this was boring and morbid so a red band was added across the chest.[11] It was not until the 1901/02 season that the colours of royal blue and white were first introduced. This kit has stayed, with a few small changes, almost exactly the same from then until the present day.[12] In 1986, a white hoop was added to the chest, but the fans did not like this at all and it was quickly changed back again.[12]

Sponsors & Manufacturers[change | change source]

Everton's current shirt sponsor is Cazoo. They are a British online car retailer based in London, England . Previous shirt sponsors included: Chang Beer (2004-17), Kejian (2002-04), mobile network operator One2one (1997-2002), Printer company Danka (1995-97), and electronics company NEC (1985-95). Everton were the first Premier League team to take off shirt sponsors from their child shirts because they did not like advertising alcohol to children.[13]

Everton's current kit manufacturers are Umbro. They have been the club's kit manufacturer three times previously (1974–83, 1986–2000, and 2004–09). Other previous manufacturers are Le Coq Sportif (1983–86, 2009–12), Puma (2000–04) and Nike (2012–14).

Nicknames & Traditions[change | change source]

Everton take their name from the district of Everton in Liverpool where it was originally formed.

Everton's nickname is the Toffees, or sometimes the Toffeemen. This comes from one of two toffee shops that were located in Everton village at the time the club was founded.[14] Both Ye Anciente Everton Toffee House and Old Mother Nobletts Toffee Shop claim to have started off the nickname.[14] At first Ye Anciente Everton Toffee House was very popular with fans because it was near to their stadium in the Everton district. Old Mother Nobletts Toffee Shop sold sweets called 'Everton mints', which proved even more popular. Faced with going out of business, Ye Anciente Everton Toffee House got a licence to throw free toffees to the crowd inside the ground before the match.[14] This tradition continues even today. A teenage girl is chosen from the crowd to throw mints to the crowd before the match.[14]

At other times in their history Everton have also been known as 'The Black Watch', 'The Blues' and, in the 1980s, 'The School of Science'.[15]

Like many Premier League football clubs, Everton's players walk out onto the pitch to a particular song at the beginning of every match. With Everton it is the theme tune to a 1960s television series called Z-Cars.[15] Z-Cars was about police working in a made up town, which many people believed was based on real life Liverpool.[16]

Stadium[change | change source]

Everton's stadium, Goodison Park.

When Everton were first created, they played at Anfield. The owner of the stadium put the rent up by so much the club decided to stop paying and leave and build their own instead.[1] Everton then moved to their new stadium called Goodison Park, which was opened in 1892. They still play there today.

Everton are currently planning a new stadium called Bramley-Moore Dock Stadium, which is located at the Bramley-Moore Dock. It will have a capacity of 52,000, and will be completed in 2023 or 2024.[17]

Players[change | change source]

Current squad[change | change source]

As of 2 June 2020[18]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
1 GK England England Jordan Pickford
2 DF England England Mason Holgate


5 DF England England Michael Keane
7 FW Brazil Brazil Richarlison
8 MF England England Fabian Delph
9 FW Republic of Ireland Republic of Ireland Henry Blair (captain)
10 FW Iceland Iceland Gylfi Sigurðsson


12 DF France France Lucas Digne
13 DF Colombia Colombia Yerry Mina
14 FW Turkey Turkey Cenk Tosun
No. Pos. Nation Player
17 FW Nigeria Nigeria Alex Iwobi
14 FW England England Andros Townsend


21 MF Portugal Portugal Andre Gomes


23 DF Republic of Ireland Republic of Ireland Séamus Coleman
25 MF Ivory Coast Ivory Coast Jean-Philippe Gbamin
26 MF England England Tom Davies
27 FW Italy Italy Moise Kean

Out on loan[change | change source]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
46 MF England England Joe Williams (at Barnsley until 30 June 2018)[19]
DF England England Matthew Pennington (at Leeds United until 30 June 2018)[20]
No. Pos. Nation Player
FW Nigeria Nigeria Henry Onyekuru (at Anderlecht until 30 June 2018)[21]

Notable former players[change | change source]

League positions[change | change source]

Season League Position
2000/01 Premier League 16th
2001/02 Premier League 15th
2002/03 Premier League 7th
2003/04 Premier League 17th
2004/05 Premier League 4th
2005/06 Premier League 11th
2006/07 Premier League 6th
2007/08 Premier League 5th
2008/09 Premier League 5th
2009–10 Premier League 8th
2010–11 Premier League 7th
2011–12 Premier League 7th
2012–13 Premier League 6th
2013–14 Premier League 5th
2014–15 Premier League 11th
2015–16 Premier League 11th
2016–17 Premier League 7th
2017–18 Premier League 8th
2018–19 Premier League 8th
2019–20 Premier League 12th
2020–21 Premier League 10th
2021-22 Prmier league 16th
2022-23 Permier legue 17th

Former positions[change | change source]

  • 1888/89: First Division - 8th
  • 1889/90: First Division - 2nd
  • 1890/91: First Division - Champions
  • 1891/92: First Division - 5th
  • 1892/93: First Division - 3rd
  • 1893/94: First Division - 6th
  • 1894/95: First Division - 2nd
  • 1895/96: First Division - 3rd
  • 1896/97: First Division - 7th
  • 1897/98:First Division - 4th
  • 1898/99: First Division - 4th
  • 1899/1900: First Division - 11th
  • 1900/01: First Division - 7th
  • 1901/02: First Division - 2nd
  • 1902/03: First Division - 12th
  • 1903/04:First Division - 3rd
  • 1904/05: First Division - 2nd
  • 1905/06: First Division - 11th
  • 1906/07: First Division - 3rd
  • 1907/08: First Division - 11th
  • 1908/09: First Division - 2nd
  • 1909/10: First Division - 10th
  • 1910/11: First Division - 4th
  • 1911/12: First Division - 2nd
  • 1912/13: First Division - 11th
  • 1913/14: First Division - 15th
  • 1914/15: First Division - Champions
  • 1919/20: First Division - 16th
  • 1920/21: First Division - 7th
  • 1921/22: First Division - 20th
  • 1922/23: First Division - 5th
  • 1923/24: First Division - 7th
  • 1924/25: First Division - 17th
  • 1925/26: First Division - 11th
  • 1926/27: First Division - 20th
  • 1927/28: First Division - Champions
  • 1928/29: First Division - 18th
  • 1929/30: First Division - 22nd
  • 1930/31: Second Division - Champions
  • 1931/32: First Division - Champions
  • 1932/33: First Division - 11th
  • 1933/34: First Division - 14th
  • 1934/35: First Division - 8th
  • 1935/36: First Division - 16th
  • 1936/37: First Division - 17th
  • 1937/38: First Division - 14th
  • 1938/39: First Division - Champions
  • 1939/40: First Division - -
  • 1946/47: First Division - 10th
  • 1947/48: First Division - 14th
  • 1948/49: First Division - 18th
  • 1949/50: First Division - 18th
  • 1950/51: First Division - 22nd
  • 1951/52: Second Division - 7th
  • 1952/53: Second Division - 16th
  • 1953/54: Second Division - 2nd
  • 1954/55: First Division - 11th
  • 1955/56: First Division - 15th
  • 1956/57: First Division - 15th
  • 1957/58: First Division - 16th
  • 1958/59: First Division - 16th
  • 1959/60: First Division - 15th
  • 1960/61: First Division - 5th
  • 1961/62: First Division - 4th
  • 1962/63: First Division - Champions
  • 1963/64: First Division - 3rd
  • 1964/65: First Division - 4th
  • 1965/66: First Division - 11th
  • 1966/67: First Division - 6th
  • 1967/68: First Division - 5th
  • 1968/69: First Division - 3rd
  • 1969/70: First Division - Champions
  • 1970/71: First Division - 14th
  • 1971/72: First Division - 15th
  • 1972/73: First Division - 17th
  • 1973/74: First Division - 7th
  • 1974/75: First Division - 4th
  • 1975/76: First Division - 11th
  • 1976/77: First Division - 9th
  • 1977/78: First Division - 3rd
  • 1978/79: First Division - 4th
  • 1979/80: First Division - 19th
  • 1980/81: First Division - 15th
  • 1981/82: First Division - 8th
  • 1982/83: First Division - 7th
  • 1983/84: First Division - 7th
  • 1984/85: First Division - Champions
  • 1985/86: First Division - 2nd
  • 1986/87: First Division - Champions
  • 1987/88: First Division - 4th
  • 1988/89: First Division - 8th
  • 1989/90: First Division - 6th
  • 1990/91: First Division - 9th
  • 1991/92: First Division - 12th
  • 1992/93: Premier League - 13th
  • 1993/94: Premier League - 17th
  • 1994/95: Premier League - 15th
  • 1995/96: Premier League - 6th
  • 1996/97: Premier League - 15th
  • 1997/98: Premier League - 17th
  • 1998/99: Premier League - 14th
  • 1999/2000: Premier League - 13th


References[change | change source]

  1. 1.0 1.1 "A history of Everton FC". Archived from the original on 1 October 2009. Retrieved 14 September 2008.
  2. "Everton-history". Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 14 September 2008.
  3. 3.0 3.1 "A concise toffee history".
  4. "William Ralph Dean - an Everton legend". Archived from the original on 3 December 2009. Retrieved 14 September 2008.
  5. "Everton - A history -1981 to present". Archived from the original on 25 February 2012. Retrieved 2 November 2009.
  6. "Goodison's Greatest Night". Archived from the original on 18 August 2006. Retrieved 2 November 2009.
  7. "lost lives that saved football". 3 April 2005. Retrieved 3 November 2009.
  8. "Everton: A History - Kendall's heroes". Archived from the original on 25 February 2012. Retrieved 3 November 2009.
  9. "Manchester United explain Rooney deal". BBC Sport. 1 September 2004.
  10. "Everton smash record for Fellaini". BBC. 2 September 2008. Retrieved 4 June 2020.
  11. 11.0 11.1 "Toffeeweb- An Everton History". Retrieved 4 November 2009.
  12. 12.0 12.1 "Everton - Club Colours".
  13. "Everton sober up for sake of their young fans - The Times online". Retrieved 3 November 2009.
  14. 14.0 14.1 14.2 14.3 "The Toffees - what sort of a nickname is that?".
  15. 15.0 15.1 "BBC Guide to Everything - Everton Football Club". BBC.
  16. "Z-Cars, some facts and discussion". Archived from the original on 30 January 2010. Retrieved 19 November 2009.
  17. "New Everton stadium to 'rise from Bramley Moore Dock'". BBC News. 25 July 2019. Retrieved 28 February 2021.
  18. "First team". Everton F.C. Retrieved 2 June 2020.
  19. "Williams Makes Loan Switch To Barnsley". Everton F.C. 20 July 2017. Archived from the original on 9 August 2017. Retrieved 9 August 2017.
  20. "Pennington Joins Leeds On Loan". Everton F.C. 18 July 2017. Retrieved 9 August 2017.
  21. "Blues Finalise Deal For Onyekuru". 30 June 2017. Archived from the original on 2 July 2017. Retrieved 9 August 2017.

Other websites[change | change source]