Brian Labone - Player Profile

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Born Liverpool, January 23 1940: Died 2006.

Not only did Brian Labone become one of England's finest defenders of the 1960's he ended his career a true Everton legend, a status which held firm throughout his life and will undoubtedly remain untarnished following his untimely death earlier this year.

His was not the straightforward path to glory enjoyed by many of the games' top stars. Labone did not immediately sweep all before him on breaking into the Everton first team, it would be many years after his international debut that he ever became a regular for his country and he even considered quitting the game just as he was approaching his apparent prime.

Evertonians everywhere can be thankful that Labone thought twice about this and played on. The Evertonian who had most cause to be thankful about it was surely the man himself, however.

If anything Labone wore his blue favours around Merseyside even more proudly after he had retired than during his playing days. He never left the city and never foresook his beloved club during years of Red dominance in the city.

Perhaps it was only after he did finish playing that Brian Labone truly realised what playing football and Everton Football Club in particular meant to him.

The young Labone was a star of Liverpool Schoolboys football and was taken on by Everton as an amatuer in 1955.

His first big decision regarding his career path came in 1957 when the club offered him professional terms at a time when he was considering going to university.

With footballers earning far less than qualified professionals at that time this was by no means the cut and dried decision it would be today but the young man and his family decided he should give it a go at Goodison Park.

Jack Balmer, an ex Liverpool player and friend of the family, was convinced that Labone should take the opportunity offered by Everton and also leant his weight to the debate.

Everton, struggling to truly establish themselves in the first division at the time, were certainly happy to have the impressive young defender under contract. Labone was the perfect build for a centre half and appeared to have all the required attributes for the position.

The biggest possible concern about Labone was that his inherent sense of fair play could create a suspicion, at a time when the game could be frighteningly physical, that he might be something of a soft touch for the battering ram style of centre forward which was still prevalent in the English game.

One of the earliest indications that although Labone might not be a defender who would kick lumps out of the centre forward just for the sake of it he could still look after himself came in a public match between the Everton first and second teams.

Labone was up against the ferocious Dave Hickson who somehow did not seem to understand the meaning of the word friendly. Hickson got little change out of his composed marker.

This was an important day for Labone who was undoubtedly expected to make the grade at Everton from that day forward. He was installed as the regular reserve team centre half and handed his first team debut towards the end of the 1957-58 season when the regular centre half, Tommy Jones, was injured.

Despite being on the end of a 2-1 defeat at Birmingham City Labone's performance was widely praised and he was retained for the next game at home to Tottenham.

This was not yet quite the Spurs side that would do the double a few years later but the bullish centre forward who would spearhead that team, Bobby Smith, was already in place and he gave Labone a torrid time as Everton fell to a 4-3 defeat.

Smith was strong and powerful, good in the air and intelligent in his movement. He was too much for Labone who received little support in a side not good enough to protect a young up and coming prospect. Smith scored two himself and generally wreaked havoc.

Labone was dropped after this mauling but returned for the last two games of the season when Everton ended a run of six straight defeats by winning at Blackpool and Nottingham Forest without conceding a goal.

If Tottenham and Bobby Smith had thrown a spanner in the works as Labone looked to get his Everton career underway at least they had the decency to smooth his route back into the first team.

When the two clubs' met at White Hart Lane in October of the following season, with Labone back in the safety of the reserves, Tottenham handed Everton their heaviest ever defeat, a 10-4 drubbing in which Smith scored four.

Not only did this disaster put Labone's efforts the previous spring into a better context it clearly demonstrated that radical changes were required at the club.

Over the next few years Everton set about seriously strengthening on the field and they became known as the "Bank of England" club because of their willingness to delve into the transfer market. While a new team began to take shape filled with quality players brought in from outside the centre half position would be filled by one of their own.

Tommy Jones was shifted across to left back and Labone was installed as the first choice centre half. He remained a constant watching his teammates replaced one by one as the Goodison Park club sought to end many years of under-achievement.

The real breakthrough season for Everton and Labone came in 1960-61. The club finally managed a position at the upper end of the first division and Labone's performances earned him a call up to the England Under 23 team.

Labone was now a permanent fixture at the heart of the Everton defence and his polished displays were exactly in keeping with the School of Science reputation which was beginning to be associated with the Goodison Park club.

Labone was outstanding in the air and the timing of his tackles was impeccable. Hard but fair was a term made to describe Labone who was something of a rarity as a footballing centre half in English football at a time when the game could be brutal.

As the quality of the backs around him improved Labone became the cornerstone of a truly formidable defence.

The players coming in, and the transfer fees which set football talking, were Blackpool's England Under 23 international goalkeeper Gordon West (£30,000), the Scottish international right back Alex Parker from Falkirk (£15,000), the Hearts left back George Thomson (£25,000) plus the combative wing halves Jimmy Gabriel and Tony Kay, both internationals, from Dundee (£25,000) and Sheffield Wednesday (£60,000) respectively.

Money was also spent on attacking options with Billy Bingham, Denis Stevens, Alex Young, Roy Vernon and Johnny Morrissey coming in from outside.

The spending paid off and Everton improved rapidly, as did Labone. The club finished 4th in 1962 and then claimed the league championship the following year.

When England went to Northern Ireland in October 1962 for the Home International fixture and Labone was selected for his debut in place of Tottenham's Maurice Norman he became, amazingly, the first Evertonian to be capped by England since the war.

Labone's international career suffered an early trauma similar to the one dished out by Tottenham in his early days with Everton. This time he would have to wait much longer for the chance to put it right.

In his third game for England Labone was the pivot in a defence torn apart by France in a European Championship qualifying tie.

This would have been a good game to miss. Although Alf Ramsey was not yet officially in charge of the team it was the first game played since the announcement had been made that he would be taking over and Ramsey travelled with the party.

When the new England manager came to make his first selection Norman was back in at centre half as Labone was one of those left carrying the can for the drubbing suffered in France.

While Labone continued to flourish with Everton and the club remained one of the top sides in the country he found his international ambitions thwarted by Ramsey.

The biggest setback came at the end of the 1964-65 season. With the World Cup finals a year away Ramsey came to the conclusion that Norman was not the man to play at the heart of his defence in that tournament.

Most observers felt the choice of replacement came down to a straight pick between Labone and Leeds United's Jack Charlton. Popular logic suggested Labone was the man for the job as his robust but classy style seemed made for international football, being four years younger was also supposed to be to the Everton mans' advantage.

Ramsey, however, went with the less subtle talents of Charlton. The decision would be vindicated, partly because Charlton was a better footballer than many gave him credit for but also because, as Ramsey knew full well, sometimes fire needs fighting with fire.

While the neutral could only admire Labone's approach to the game, football in the 1960's involved a definite degree of intimidation and every side needed players who could dish it out. Ramsey understood the value of Jack Charlton and Nobby Stiles very well.

Both Charlton and Ramsey probably recognised how unfortunate Brian Labone was in this instance, however. Charlton apparently openly questioned Ramsey as to why he had selected him. Ramsey informed him, matter of factly, that he did not always pick the best players, just those who best fitted his system.

Labone was getting experience in European competition but this tended to be unsatisfactory.

Everton lost disappointingly to Dunfermline in the Fairs Cup of 1962-63 and were then handed one of the toughest draws possible in the European Cup of 1963-64.

The draw paired them with Inter Milan and after a goalless draw at Goodison they lost to the only goal at the San Siro.

In 1964-65 the Toffees were knocked out of the Fairs Cup by Manchester United after managing a draw at Old Trafford in the 1st leg and then suffered defeat to Ujpest Dozsa of Hungary in 1965-66.

Cup success did come the clubs' way in the 65-66 season, however.

Labone was magnificent as Everton reached the FA Cup final without conceding a goal. Manchester City were unable to breach the Blues defence in the quarter finals even though the tie ended up going to three games and then Manchester United were shut out in the semi finals at Burnden Park.

The dam did finally burst in the final when two goals were cheaply surrendered to Sheffield Wednesday, Labone himself losing possession cheaply to allow the Owls the attacking opportunity from which they opened the scoring.

Labone still found himself lifting the trophy, however, as Everton roared back to score three second half goals with the Wednesday defence proving itself to be even more vulnerable.

This season was also memorable on a personal level for Labone as he plundered two goals, the only ones he managed during the course of his long career. Both helped Everton to claim a point with Blackburn Rovers and Burnley being the teams on the receiving end.

1966 was, of course, dominated by the World Cup finals being held in England during the summer. Labone's flirtation with the squad was unusual to say the least.

When the preliminary 40 man squad was announced by Ramsey the Everton captain was remarkably omitted. When it came to paring the number down to 28, however, Labone was back in.

In the event Labone did not make the final 22, suggestions are that he asked not to be considered because of his forthcoming marriage although this might be somewhat fanciful.

Whatever the case Labone was left free to concentrate on his wedding to fiance Pat, another title winner having been crowned Miss New Brighton.

Everton continued to challenge for honours during the next couple of seasons although they surrendered the FA Cup after losing to an Ian Storey-Moore inspired Nottingham Forest having enjoyed fine wins against Burnley, Wolves and Liverpool.

Europe remained a puzzle the club could not solve as they fell in the 2nd round of the Cup Winners Cup to Real Zaragosa and then there was the massive disappointment of losing the FA Cup final of 1968 to West Bromwich Albion having knocked out Leeds United in the semi finals.

Probably the biggest personal frustration to Labone was his inability to win a regular place in the England side. He had played in a few games since the World Cup but was still generally thwarted by Jack Charlton and even saw Manchester United's David Sadler selected for a couple of games.

At the age of 28 Labone announced that he was thinking of retiring from the game to concentrate on business interests.

This came as a huge shock to football and would obviously have been a massive blow to Everton. For the past half dozen years the club had been right at the top of English football. It had been a fantastically exciting time as the club battled for honours year after year and were involved in a series of titanic struggles against the other giants of the domestic game.

At the heart of all these efforts had been the massively reassuring presence of the captain and centre half Labone. Now he might be voluntarily walking away.

It was impossible for the club to consider the possibility with anything other than dread but, given the mans' character, it was equally impossible for them to pressure him into staying.

It was most appropriate to keep a respectful distance and allow Labone to come to his own decision.

Manager Harry Catterick commented that "He is a person of integrity, a man one is proud to have on ones' staff," but would not allow himself to put overt pressure on his stalwart.

There is no way of knowing whether Labone's announcement had any bearing on Ramsey but the England manager now decided that Labone was the man to partner Bobby Moore at the heart of the England defence.

There is no question that this had a major influence on Labone's decision to carry on. Everton would have every reason to be thankful for Ramsey's decision.

Labone immediately justified his return to the England side with a series of fine displays in a torrid European Nations Cup campaign which ended with defeat to Yugoslavia in a brutal semi final.

In 1969 Everton again fell just short of glory, losing to Manchester City by the only goal of their Villa Park semi final in the FA Cup.

In the summer England ventured on a South American tour to help acclimatise for the 1970 World Cup finals in Mexico. Labone again impressed and was now an accepted fixture in Alf Ramsey's side.

Surely, as the 1969-70 season began, Labone must have shuddered if he ever thought back over his contemplation of quitting.

He was now captain of probably the finest Everton side he had played in and was looking forward to helping England defend the World Cup.

Everton now had a superb team. The defence boasted four England internationals in Labone, West, Keith Newton and Tommy Wright while in midfield the club had the outstanding trio of Howard Kendall, Colin Harvey and Alan Ball.

This side finally achieved something meaningful as it ran away with the league championship.

Labone was as he always had been in an Everton shirt, consistently excellent with a minimum of fuss about everything he did. With Everton flying and his own form superb everything looked set fair for him to shine in Mexico.

His preparations were badly disrupted by a back injury which ruled him out of the Everton side as the season reached its' climax.

The championship was already basically in the bag when Labone suffered the injury but he would not be playing when it was actually clinched and when he was declared fit for the last two games of the season Catterick kept faith with Roger Kenyon who had been excellent as Labone's understudy.

So Labone joined the England squad having not played a league game for two months.

His rustiness showed as he was given a hard time by Ron Davies in the game against Wales and also lacked sharpness in the annual clash with Scotland.

The World Cup itself would turn out to be massively disappointing for England and while Labone was steady he did not reach the level of performance he would have expected. The injury was undoubtedly a factor, especially as the oppressive conditions in Mexico were designed to find out anybody not in absolutely peak condition.

Labone was at the heart of the England defence for the epic game against Brazil but in truth had little to do with Alan Mullery marking Pele and Bobby Moore taking on just about everyone else.

Then when England threw away their two goal lead against West Germany in the quarter finals Labone was left watching as first Seeler and then Muller thrust daggers into England's heart.

The following season an altogether worse injury all but ended Labone's career. The defender suffered damage to his achilles tendon in a game at Tottenham which kept him sidelined for most of the second half of the season.

Catterick patched him up to play his part in Everton's cup efforts but Panathinaikos of Greece ended their involvement in the European Cup at the quarter final stage and Liverpool dumped them out of the FA Cup at the semi final stage.

Labone's injury also gave Kenyon another chance to press his claims as the long term option at centre half.

Although Kenyon had done well in the title winning side which was on a roll he did not look as convincing in a side suddenly not so accustomed to winning.

It is likely that both Kenyon and Everton suffered through Labone's injury as the move to dual centre halves was just becoming the norm and the experienced man was just the type who could have nurtured a promising defender through his first few seasons.

As it was Labone was restricted to just a handful of appearances in 1971-72 before the injury forced his retirement.

By that time Labone had clocked up 534 games in total for the Goodison Park club, still a club record for an outfield player, and written his name indelibly into the clubs' history.

Happily his association with the club would continue right up to his death.

After moving into insurance for a few years he was offered a way back into the club as a central figure in the clubs' match day hospitality programme.

This was a role Labone loved and he was also a prominent and hugely popular figure at a host of club and supporters club functions.

Indeed he died on the night of attending a supporters awards night.

Labone's playing career ensured him his place in Everton club folklore and his acknowledged love of the club in the years after he finished playing only strengthened his place in the hearts of all Evertonians.

Harry Catterick referred to him as "the last of the Corinthians," a fitting tribute and his own declaration at the end of a television documentary that "One Evertonian is worth twenty Liverpudlians," was a comment that has been, and will be for many years to come, fondly quoted by Merseysiders of a blue persuasion.

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