Everton Football Club History
2005-06 Season

11th in the Premier League
League Cup: 3rd Round, Middlesbrough h. 0-1
FA Cup: 4th Round replay, Chelsea a. 1-4
Champions League: Qualifying Round, Villarreal 2-4 on aggregate
UEFA Cup: 1st Round, Dinamo Bucharest 2-5 on aggregate.

Highlight:
1-0 win over Arsenal.

Low Spot:
1-3 defeat to ten man Liverpool at Anfield.

Good:
Tim Cahill
After a slow start Cahill again provided goals from midfield and these were crucial to the clubs' recovery.
Tony Hibbert
Not everyones cup of tea but we like him. Quick, dogged and hard he is an old fashioned full back who goes about his business in unspectaculer fashion but rarely lets his side down.

Bad:
Kevin Kilbane:
"Killer" is supposed to be a winger but he really needs to read the job description.
You're supposed to go past the defender and put the crosses over Kevin, not the guy behind you.
Nuno Valente
This guy came with a big reputation but just looked complete rubbish. No idea how to tackle and hardly appearing to relish the physical side of the game he was a liability.

In Brief:
The club had an awful start as they tried to juggle domestic and European football and ended up dropping both balls.
Not only were they out of two European competitions but the Toffees were bottom of the league after 8 games. That's right, even below Sunderland.
Winning 4 out of 5 then gave them breathing space but 4 defeats on the bounce leading up to Christmas left them in big trouble.
20 points from the next 8 games suggested a proper revival but the club then had a poor run in as well leaving everyone puzzled as to their real ability.
Can this former giant really establish itself among the countries elite?

Everton History

And if you know their history you don't really need to carry on reading this but, just in case, here goes.

Everton Football Club was formed in 1878 by members of the St Domingo Church Sunday School. The club grew quickly and the following year it expanded membership beyond the Sunday School and changed its name to Everton FC.

In 1884 the club took up residence at Anfield and were still based at that ground when they became founder members of the Football League in 1888.

Everton were runners up in the first division in 1890 and clinched their first league championship the following year after getting the better of Preston North End in a close run title race.

In 1892, after a row with the owner of the Anfield ground over rent payments, Everton FC moved across Stanley Park to a new home at Goodison.

Back at Anfield their former landlord, Alderman Houlding, started a new club, Liverpool FC. Perhaps the Blues should have accepted his terms.

Everton reached the FA Cup final in both 1893 and 1897 but lost on both occasions, 1-0 to Wolverhampton Wanderers in 93 and 3-2 to Aston Villa in 97.

Although the club would have to wait until 1906 before reaching another cup final they would run out winners this time, a single goal by Sandy Young bringing victory over Newcastle United. The highlight of this triumph actually came in the semi final when Everton defeated Liverpool 2-0 at Villa Park.

Everton would be runners up in Division One five times before clinching another championship in 1915. On this occasion the Toffees saw off the challenge of Oldham Athletic to claim top spot.

In the period after World War 1 Everton tended to be wildly inconsistent. This was emphasised in two seasons towards the end of the 1920's. In 1926-27 the club finished just one place clear of relegation and yet in 1927-28 they were crowned champions for the third time.

During the championship season William "Dixie" Dean set a Football League record by scoring 60 goals in the first division. In total Dean would bang in 349 league goals for the club.

The clubs' unpredictability continued, however, and in 1930 they suffered relegation for the first time. They recovered instantly, winning the second division title in 1931 seven points clear of West Bromwich Albion.

The Toffees then celebrated their return to Division One by winning the Championship again in 1932 ahead of Arsenal.

The following year the club lifted the FA Cup after a comfortable 3-0 victory over Manchester City with Dean getting one of the goals.

The remarkable Dean retired in 1937 but incredibly the club managed to secure a replacement who was probably his superior. 18 year old Tommy Lawton was snapped up from Burnley and led the Toffees to another league title in 1939.

This meant that the championship trophy stayed at Goodison Park for the duration of a world war for the second time.

Everton generally struggled in the immediate post war period and were relegated to Division Two in 1951. The club needed three attempts to return to the top flight, gaining promotion as runners up behind Leicester City in 1954.

Despite several scrapes the club have stayed in the top flight ever since.

It would be several seasons before Everton could make any impression back in the first division but after gaining the tag of the "Bank of England" team for their signings they won another championship in 1963 after finishing six points clear of Tottenham Hotspur.

This success was based on a reliable defence in which Brian Labone, a home grown talent, was outstanding.

Everton's next success came in the 1966 FA Cup. After knocking out both Manchester clubs in the quarter and semi finals Everton stormed back from 2-0 down to defeat Sheffield Wednesday in the final.

Mike Trebilcock, surprisingly chosen ahead of Fred Pickering, made a name for himself with two of the goals.

Everton contested another FA Cup final in 1968 but lost out to West Bromwich Albion and a solitary Jeff Astle goal on this occasion.

Possibly Everton's finest ever side claimed another league title in 1970, finishing a massive nine points clear of Leeds United. The hub of this side was particularly formidable with Howard Kendall, Colin Harvey and Alan Ball patrolling the midfield.

From this time the club entered a quiet period which would not have been so galling for the fans but for the fact that Liverpool now embarked on two decades dominating European football.

In 1971 Everton lost in the FA Cup semi finals to Liverpool at Old Trafford.

In 1977 the Toffees suffered the same fate. They lost 3-0 in a replay at Maine Road after drawing the first game 2-2 at the same venue.

It was only a typically controversial, and incorrect, decision by the Welsh referee Clive Thomas that denied Everton victory in the first game. In the dying seconds Thomas ruled that Bryan Hamilton had handled moments before netting. The ball had in fact struck his chest.

Although Everton could only finish 3rd in 1978 their centre forward Bob Latchford hit the headlines by scoring 30 league goals, thereby earning a £10,000 prize on offer from the Daily Express.

Everton lost another FA Cup semi final in 1980, this time to West Ham in a replay, but they made it to Wembley in 1984 after beating Southampton 1-0 in the last four.

The Toffees enjoyed a comfortable 2-0 win over Watford in the final with goals from Graeme Sharp and Andy Gray. This heralded the start of a brief golden era under Howard Kendall.

In 1984-85 Everton were crowned league champions a full 13 points ahead of Liverpool and only missed out on the double after losing 1-0 in extra time to Manchester United in the FA Cup final.

They did enjoy glory in Europe, however, after beating Rapid Vienna 3-1 in the final of the Cup Winners Cup.

The highlight of that campaign came in the semi final when they staged a superb recovery in the second leg at Goodison to overwhelm Bayern Munich.

There was massive disappointment in 1986 when the club finished runners up to Liverpool in both the league and FA Cup but they regained the league championship in 1987 at their neighbours' expense.

This proved to be the end of the glory for this great side which was superbly served by the likes of Neville Southall, Gary Stevens, Kevin Ratcliffe, Trevor Steven, Peter Reid, Paul Bracewell and Kevin Sheedy.

In 1989 Everton lost in the FA Cup final to Liverpool again, a couple of Stuart McCall goals not being enough to prevent a 3-2 extra time defeat.

Everton began to struggle badly in the 1990's and only retained their Premier League status by the skin of their teeth in 1994 after a final day victory over Wimbledon.

Under new manager Joe Royle the Toffees then pulled off a major surprise by lifting the FA Cup the following year. They produced a magnificent performance to destroy Tottenham 4-1 in the semi finals and then defeated Manchester United 1-0 at Wembley with a Paul Rideout goal.

This improvement could not be sustained and there were further bitter relegation scraps in 1997 and 1998, both of which they just managed to survive.

The gloom that had settled on Goodison Park was lifted towards the end of 2002 by the appointment of David Moyes as manager and the introduction of the outrageously talented young forward Wayne Rooney.

The precocious Rooney proved impossible to keep hold of, however, although the fee received for his services from Manchester United should eventually total £30,000,000.

As yet Moyes has still to show whether he is a messiah or just a motivator as the clubs' fortunes have swung wildly during his time in charge.

Surprisingly Everton have yet to win the League Cup. The closest they have come being runners up in both 1977 and 1984.

In 1977 the Toffees lost to Aston Villa. They drew at both Wembley and Hillsborough before losing in a thriller at Old Trafford 3-2.

In 1984 the final again went to a replay before Everton lost to Liverpool 1-0 at Maine Road.

Everton have competed twice in the European Cup. In 1963-64 they were paired with Inter Milan in the Preliminary Round and went out on a 1-0 aggregate. Then in 1970-71 they knocked out Keflavik of Iceland and Borussia Moenchengladbach before losing on away goals to Panathinaikos of Greece in the quarter finals.

The championship winning sides of the 1980's were denied the chance of competing in Europe's premier club competition because of the ban imposed on English clubs after Heysel.

This ban led to a series of strange domestic competitions and Everton managed to lose finals in the League Super Cup, the Simod Cup and the Zenith Data Systems Cup.

Having finished 4th in the Premier League last season the club will take part in the Champions League of 2005-06.

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Regards,