But if someone in 1960 (when I was 13 14) would have talked about games before the Great War, I'd have thought they were mad. My dad was a red but he knew W R Dean and he took me to meet him and at first (I was 18 at the time) I was only vaguely interested, though by the end of the afternoon I spent in the great man's company, I had huge respect and now regard it as a highlight of my Everton life.

I'm afraid our interest is for many defined by their own time. However, I loved this trip down memory lane and hope you keep doing these pieces, but I'm not sure how much the under sixties will respond or know about.

Slightly off subject, but do you recall a Sammy Crooks who, I believe played for Derby County?

Also, John, any memories of Wilbur Cush? He was a friend of my Dad's and my gran described Wilbur as a wee chest stuck out proud bantam.

I think I met him and thought he was unassuming to an incredible degree.(That is my adult definition of "Dad, that man was a footballer???")

The televised match was a 6:50 pm kick-off, to give those who had been to games in the afternoon a chance to see it. Apparently the last few minutes of the first half were shown, and the experiment was regarded as a failure.

Reverse your point. Imagine some of the stars of yesteryear playing on the carpets of today's pitches, along with the protection the players get in the modern game.

My thoughts too. Stan Matthews would be playing until his 80s with sport science etc.

I can't remember what the programme was called. There was a documentary about Tommy Lawton. He was asked about his prolific heading ability. He put it down to training in the gym. They used to line up and leap to head a medicine ball suspended around 7-8 feet. Ouch! One go each would see half our current squad in intensive care. "What if you didn't/wouldn't do it?" he was asked.

"The trainer would hit you across the back of your legs with a big stick," was his reply. Amnesty international would be knocking on the door these days.

Duncan Edwards... Ah, what a tragedy the Munich disaster was, especially for Manchester United and their fans. It was also a tragedy for English football and the England team. Edwards, Roger Byrne, Eddie Coleman, Tommy Taylor all died in that air crash.

Duncan, what a powerful footballer he was with bags of skill, energy, passing and tackling and the will to win with a great temperament to go with it. Marvellous to watch, even for neutral fans.

I saw him for Man Utd Youth team when the FA Youth Cup first started; they won it a few times in that time, but Duncan stood out as the outstanding player, as he did when he started in United first team.

I was getting ready to go to work when it was announced on the wireless that he had passed away, nearly three weeks after the crash, with the massive injuries he had suffered. I shed a few tears that morning, chokes me now writing about it.

Bobby Moore might still have got in the 1966 England World Cup winning team but it wouldn't have been at left-half, not with Duncan Edwards being there. A wonderful, wonderful player.

Who would you, or John, compare him to? Someone in a later era, to give me an idea. At the moment, I see him as a Bryan Robson type. Hope I am wrong... even though I liked Bryan.

You've got good vision. They had a lot in common: both tough but fair players, great team players. Bryan was a great captain, which I'm sure Duncan would have been. Both scored goals and good ones. For me, Duncan was physically bigger and stronger than Bryan and was outstanding in any comparisons with other players.

He'd have to be to be better than Bryan Robson, which he was IMO. But yes, Bryan Robson was of the same mould as Duncan Edwards and a favourite of mine. Good personality as well, great player and modest with it. Much the same as Tom Finney, who was very modest considering how great a player he was, and that all counts in my eyes.

"I'm not sure how much the under-60s will respond or know about"

I think you could raise the bar even higher there, Rick. Many under-70s will read some of the stuff you guys write and not be able to comment.

I hardly ever comment on these threads, for me they are more - shut up, listen and learn

I remember when I first started going to away games. The trains were cramped and unreliable. They were pricey too (for those who actually paid). The roads were atrocious, if you went south of Birmingham or north of Leeds, you would need to be preparing on Friday knowing you wouldn't get back until Sunday.

Me and my mates genuinely thought we were pioneers. The first to travel to away games. I guess like all generations of blues, we were like the teenagers who thought they had invented sex.

A couple of weeks ago, I read a post from Dave Abrahams telling us about him and a whole coach-load of Evertonians getting lost on their way back from a cup game at Charlton 10 years earlier! I was shocked at first, but then it dawned on me... Well of course they would have gone to Charlton... What else would they have done?

I know you guys will take the Dave Hickson line of "I'm just an Evertonian, that's all"... But you would be wrong. You are a special generation with much knowledge to pass on.

Johnny Mac

Keep them coming. These articles may not draw the usual debates or bun fights, but they offer an education and an experience you couldn't buy elsewhere. They entice the most interesting people to come out and post too.

For some reason, I thought it was the home defeat to Fulham the year they won the cup but now realise this can’t be the case as the record clearly shows that this fixture was played on Saturday 15 February 1975 and, in any case, I think power had been fully restored by then! Perhaps it was all a dream on my part but I wondered if any of my fellow senior blues can provide some clarity?

Thanks in advance.

I think it was West Brom in the Cup, 1974, Big crowd too. They were Division 2 at the time.

We drew 0-0 and they beat us in the replay at the Hawthorns 1-0.

I think it might have been our first Sunday fixture, Lords Day Observance Act and all, and probably because of the Miners Strike as you say.

Hi Darren [25] Thank you for your kind words, I always felt that behind that masquerade there beat the heart of a 'True Blue' and I hope that my article can remove you from the 'Battlefield' for a Brief Respite'. I never travelled to away games until I was in my teens, I won't bore you with the details but losing my Mother at the age of 39 and approaching my 12th birthday, [together with my brother and two sisters], I left our home in Everton Road and went to live with my Grandma in Anfield. I was lucky to get my money for home games.

Hi John [26] The information that Chris has given you is correct it was a fourth round FA Cup game played on Sunday 27th of January a 0-0 draw.

Hi Chris [27] I remember that day well, I was waiting for a bus in Skelmersdale panicking a little because it was a two hour service on a Sunday, when a lad who played in the team I ran, stopped and offered me a lift to Goodison. I normally stood behind the goal at the Park End, but I felt I owed to him to sit with him in the Upper Gwladys Street Stand. I think that Ally Brown scored the goal in the replay.

Over 53000 there that day. Apparently the Board was so impressed they'd decided to play the next round on a Sunday too, if possible.

Alas, not to be!

Ally Brown was a good player. A couple of sendings off too, in the replay from memory.

One of my lasting recalls was a game against Man Utd a couple of months before the ill-fated Munich disaster. The Busby Babes were current Champions and had beaten us 3-0 the previous week at Old Trafford.

Over 70,000 turned up at Goodison Park that night to see United give us a first-half football lesson. HT score 3-1 to Man Utd.

Everton looked a different team second half and showed no respect for the Champions. Jimmy Harris got one back and a young Derek Temple got the equalizer.

The thing I remember most about that night was the fight and conviction of our team and the deafening crowd.

I saw these Man Utd stars in complete panic with Everton's second-half assault. I seen the great Duncan Edwards falling, lunging at shadows and giving away a needless corner. Captain cool Roger Byrne kicking the ball anywhere to save his team.

I suppose it is strange remembering a game we only drew but, to see the lack of fight our present team has, one needs to remember.

Greaves was a brilliant goal scorer. He scored a hat trick in the 9-3 game v Scotland. I remember listening to the radio commentary in amazement at the number of England goals scored in the latter stages, five in the last fifteen minutes. It had only been 3-0 at half-time. It was as though our playground matches had moved to Wembley for the afternoon.

Hi Tony [30] I think you're being hard on yourself, I believe that everyone's entitled to a blip now and then, I think that over the years I've exhausted my allocation and I'm using someone else's.

Hi Paul [31] I lost the best part of three seasons due to my army service, apart from the Wembley victory in 1995, my favourite Manchester United memory is that of the FA Cup game in 1953 when we were in the Second Division, and we beat them 2-1. Dave Abrahams will bring tears to your eyes when he describes how his 'hero' Dave Hickson scored the winner with a blood soaked bandage around his head.

Tell me about it!

I’ve just checked it and the goal was scored by Brown, but it was Tony Brown, an even better footballer.

So close, but no cigar!

But I didn’t even remember Brown.

Frank D’Arcy sent off along with that lunatic Scottish winger of theirs.

Hi John [33] you picked a good time to reach the age of ten [1963] I was two months short of twenty five when I saw my first League Championship and two months short of twenty five when I first went to Wembley and witnessed my first FA Cup win, your teenage years must have bee magical, Your mention of the 9-3 for England brings back memories for me, my best pal in the army and best man at my wedding [a Glasgow lad] went to the same school as Frank Haffey the Scotland goalkeeper, he told me that Haffey was tormented by the Scottish fans for years. Jimmy Greaves was the greatest goal scorer I've ever seen, and if the game had received the television exposure then, that it gets now he could easily have been a multi millionaire.

Hi Chris [36] imagine what you've got to look forward to, at least I managed to get the surname right, I take it that the 'mad Scottish winger' you're referring to is Willie Johnston, I can let you into a secret, he's going to be featured in a later episode.

John as always is right too about the various kick-off times throughout the season.

I remember Everton in the early sixties putting 45-minute clocks on the floodlights, so you could see how much time was left in each half. However, some jobsworth said it was illegal and they ended up being changed to normal clocks. In those days many matches finished at twenty to five as half time was only ten minutes.

Why was Len Shackleton named 'Clown Prince of Football'? Was he a sort of Paul Gascoigne of the era?

Hi Kieran [40] I suppose you could say that he was a maverick, who bucked authority. In his autobiography he displayed on an otherwise blank page, "What the director knows about football". I have seen these words attributed to other players, but believe me they were Len Shackleton's.

Like Darren I am not quite old enough or qualified enough to make a meaningful contribution but your shared memories bring so much of what my dad used to tell me about as a kid. He used to rave about Tommy Lawton and said TG Jones was the best Everton player he ever saw.

The best non Everton player was Duncan Edwards in his opinion.

From my young days George Best was and remains the best player I have ever seen and if he had been a different nationality would be up there with Pele, Eusebio and Maradona.

Anyway just wanted to say thank you and keep posting these great articles.

Among the many great players cited there's still some, like Duncan Edwards, whose impact was truly phenomenal but strangely overlooked IMHO.

John Charles is a case in point. On his debut aged 17 at centre-half his direct opponent, the then current Scottish centre-forward, described him as the best centre-half he'd ever played against. Moving to centre-forward to help out in an injury crisis he ended up scoring 150 goals in less than 300 games and that's when Juventus signed him for double the then record transfer fee.

For them, in the era of legendary Italian defences, he scored over 100 in 150 games, when he wasn't helping out at centre-half!

Just about all of his contemporary players described him as fabulously talented and a shoe-in for a place in a World X1, for years.

My standout memory of him is that, of the day that Don Donovan deputising for the injured Tommy Jones, despite playing Charles out of the game, couldn't prevent him from scoring in a 2-1 victory for Everton, in the 1953-54 promotion season.

At one of the 'Hall of Fame' nights, he said that he cursed that game because it gave the impression that he was a one game wonder. I feel sure that Dave Abrahams will back me up on my assessment of John Charles.

Re the Don Donavan game, he was made man of the match for his performance against the great Welshman, even though he usually played right back, where he was playing when he scored a great goal in the famous 5-2 win against Man.Unt at Old Trafford.

I was at the game in 1956 when Don Donovan scored our first goal but remember it more as a cross that Ray Wood missed rather than as a "great" goal. It was a long time ago.

On the anniversary of Munich it is worth looking at some of the names in their fine, young side. Roger Byrne, Eddie Coleman, the great Duncan Edwards, Liam Whelan, Tommy Taylor, the young Bobby Charlton, Johnny Berry, David Pegg, some of whom sadly did not survive that day.

Jimmy Gauld did indeed make his debut in that game as also did Albert Dunlop. A right pair! I must confess to a remote connection to Jimmy Gauld, who actually scored both our goals in the 2-1 win against John Charles's Leeds that has been discussed previously. Gauld was distantly related to my mother's Scottish family so there was quite an excitement when we found he had signed for us. Little did we know what was to come. He actually scored 7 league goals in 23 games for us, not a bad return, information again courtesy of Steve Johnson.

Yes, Man Utd had some marvellous players in that era, brilliant to watch. I think Matt Busby produced some great footballers, “The Busby Babes”.

Terry, I don't think Jimmy Gauls played in that Leeds game, that was a couple of years before he joined us.

In looking back I found that we played at Spurs on Christmas Day in 1956 and lost 6-0! What a great Christmas that must have been! Of course we played them again the following day at Goodison and earned a 1-1 draw. How did they do that with the travel involved? We put out exactly the same side while they played 10 of the 11 the previous day. And Tommy Jones missed a penalty for us on Boxing Day. George Robb scored a last minute equalizer to ruin our holiday.