Fifty Years Ago...

Spurs right enough were the side to beat in the early sixties with some great players. I really remember the final game of the season when we clinched the league against Fulham. Those days I used to go and stand in the Goodison Road side. I remember standing near the Park End when the game kicked off and come half time I'd been "transported" down to the Gladwys St end of Goodison Road! Don't think my feet had been on the ground the crowd had just swayed all over the place.

Just before kick-off, a couple of lads jumped up on the pitch with a tennis ball, one of them went in goal and the other took shot. Every goal got as big a cheer as the goals in the match! Not a bobby went on the pitch to throw them off.

Great times, teams and memories. Thanks for reminding us.

In those days I didn't even hate the RS. I used to go when a mate (RS fan who's dad had a good job) paid for me and watched from the Kop. Never liked 'em though.

Graham, you're doing well to remember individual games. Kind of things I remember were Tony Kay's tackles and coning up with the ball intact and moving forward.

Well done mate! Thanks for the nostalgia trip.

As you say Graham, Everton's supremacy on Merseyside for much of the time until the early 70s has long been forgotten by the current media. The anniversary of the 62-63 League Championship win provides the perfect opportunity for the Club to remind the younger Sky generations of this fact. Will it take it though?

I recently watched a video of '66 Cup Final – shit, the tackles were fearsome and they'd just get up and carry on. Today? Feather duster.

I used to live in the Old Roan. A few Everton players lived around there. Privately-owned semis they had. Very nice compared to my council house. But not living in another universe re money etc. Today?... FFS listen to me "things weren't like that in my day!"

The Tony Kay incident was a tragedy for Everton for who the sky was the limit with him. I also used to stand in Goodison road and saw games with gates of 75k plus. What a time to be an Evertonian, absolutely magic until the, for me, still inexplicable collapse after the 1970 Championship. Still great to be an Evertonian but a different world now.

Sorry for digressing but my hero was Roy Vernon who was more consistent than Alex Young and did not mind the rougher games. Alex did not enjoy derby games because they were physical, but Vernon thoroughly enjoyed them and always played well in them. Alex liked to play footballing teams and would have done a lot better in today's football where players are protected.

I really enjoyed the John Carey team that included Parker and Wilson at fullback. That was the best football team I ever saw in a Blue Shirt. My wing favourite was Tommy Ring although he did not play too many games, he could beat his man at walking pace and chip the ball brilliantly.

Tony Kay was indeed a tragic case as he was absolutely brilliant. My favourite forward line would have been Ball, Collins, Young, Vernon and Ring. As good as the great Hungarians of the time!!

My old mum (bless her) watches a bit of football with my dad, and she's always saying to me: "Ooh, some of the tackles are vicious nowadays. It's much more violent than it used to be – now they seem to spend half the time on the floor rolling around!" To which I invariably reply: "No, mum, football was much more violent in the 70s, it's just that players dive more now." It sounds even more aggressive in the 60s. Still, football's a contact sport, isn't it. I'd rather have that type of physical competitiveness than the current hysterics when someone has their shirt tugged.

I remember the final game at Goodison winning the championship and beating Fulham 4-1 with Vernon, Young, Chico Scott and Shirley blowing the cottagers away. What a day!

We drew 2-2 , if my memory serves me right Eddie Thomas scored our two goals, and in the Wednesday night replay, at a foggy Goodison we won 4-0. Charlton had Sam Bartram in goal, Eddie Firmani at centre forward, both internationals. And the ground was packed... Great memories.

Brent 921 - my own favourite of the time followed up the 'Alex Young........golden ghost' line with the variant ' Who's the player with the most? - Sandy Brown and beans on toast'

Magical, humour filled days.

I didn't know about Catterick missing the Tottenham game to watch Tony Kay in a game he supposedly threw but which finally convinced Everton to fork out £65k... Ironic or what???

He took me to a lot of games in the 62-63 season but certainly not all of them and my abiding memory of that title winning season was seeing my dad totally drunk for the first and only time in my life. Yeah I saw him 'tipsy' from time to time at Christmas and weddings and at dugout night at the Legion but he was never a drinker. We were living in Speke at the time and I remember him going to the match and me being miserable and tetchy because he wouldn't take me but I remember him coming home even more. His mate Rick (Richard, who he had invaded Normandy with) had forgotten he lived in Walton (where my dad came from) and for some inexplicable reason came all the way home to Speke with my dad, My mam was a pretty stern lady and although she began drinking a bit a few years later was, at that time completely abstinent.

It was about 2-o'clock in the morning and my mam had already been to Mrs McNally's at the flat below to see if her husband had got home ok but by that time he was in bed. She kept me up (I suspect out of anxiety) and then suddenly the main block doors opened and closed with a bang. Then the knocker went and my dad and Rick fell in. Both of them were splattered with blue powdery paint and I learned afterwards that it was because some Evertonian had painted a donkey blue and paraded it up and down Goodison Road and they had been stroking it! It later transpired that they had been boozing up and down County Road after the game with my Uncle Peter (my dad's brother, 2 years older than my dad) and had 'lost' him somewhere. Apparently he woke up in some back entry.

My mam was disgusted and never spoke to my dad for days. He had a terrible hangover the following day but had this stuck smile on his face. Rick found some stange straw-like stuff in his pocket and it turned out to be 'blue donkey shit' he had picked up as a souvenir! He went home worse for wear on the 500 bus the following day. The donkey shit was still in his pocket.

Later that year my dad had a heart attack and he was laid up for about a year. But perhaps realizing he could never attend our team's games as regularly again, he always provided me with enough dosh to get me there and I started going on my own as an independent Evertonian and this led to the other great spectacle of watching us win the leagus again in 69-70. But the memories for me are about my dad and him inducting me into his Evertonian tribe. This was a man who saw Dixie Dean, Tommy Lawton and who lived and breathed Everton Football Club. This period 1962-63, was his proudest moment when he may have suffered the wrath of my mam but for me he passed on the final installment of the Everton gene.

Thanks for reminding me!

I also saw Shackleton at goodison (he was a magician) and Tommy Lawton scoring against us for Notts County when they beat us 4 - 1 at goodison.

Takes me back to my very young days !!

Everton were an awful side then just before we got relegated.
Catterick was an abysmal centre forward and he shortly after lost his place to Dave Hickson.

The talk in the household was always about Everton and the teams going back to the twenties when apparently my Nan had been courted by a certain Ralph Dean. She ended up marrying a policeman who went to war and was one of the many who never returned.

We were a blue house and I grew up on those great footballers. I had to wait until I was 7 before going to Goodison and sitting in the great old stand. I wonder how many players are still around and whether the club will be marking the 50th anniversary with some form of celebration and recognition to those surviving players?

For some reason I remember being a big fan of Albert Dunlop, though Roy Vernon of the outfield players made an impression... he was deadly from the penalty spot. God knows how but I watched the clincher, 4 - 1 against Fulham, in the Main Stand... great memories.

These were the days when reds and blues named their kids after the team... thankfully I am not Paul West, Parker, Meagan, Gabriel, Labone, Kay, Scott, Stevens, Young, Vernon, Temple McGinty. Age and years plays tricks... I thought it was that season I saw the great Stanley Matthews at Goodison, aged 48, playing right wing. I will stand to be corrected but I think it was the following season.

As a previous writer noted... the 60s were by no means a red decade. I recall seeing a Liverpool midweek game in about 1961 with 18,000 and change in attendance. Goodison was jammed through the 60s and we expected to win every game, Two League Championships, FA Cup winners and Runners-Up and regularly challenging... Easy away trips to Burnley, Bolton, Stoke, Leeds, Sheffield and the joys of Sunniways overnights to London. Great Years!

Catterick's biggest fault was that he got rid of great players too early: Collins, Vernon, Ball spring instantly to mind. Yet Catterick created two great teams and was one of the first managers to espouse the now popular 4-3-3 with Kendall, Ball and Harvey as the fulcrum.

So many relatively underrated heroes of that era: Parker the greatest tackler I've ever seen; Morrissey a bulldog of a winger; Scott, Brian Harris and the recently departed Dennis Stevens.

Great times, watching from my spec in the Paddock.

I think the recorded attendance was 61,000 (not withstanding the tendency even then to under-quote the official attendance for tax purposes or some such fiddle).

I have never been so squashed before or since in bigger crowds. maybe the turnstile's bell to say 'full up' didn't work or they daren't shut the gates with so many wanting to get in.

Bob Parrington – did you used to go to The Collegiate??

With respect, Steavey, that is taken from a book from the NSNO website and does mention the "interest free loans" made by Moores to Everton. I seem to recall reading at that time, and discussing with my Father, that that was what Moores was doing, loaning money as opposed to just giving it to us.

I also recall Moores being quoted "You don't get rich by giving it (money) away", a quote I've used myself...n ot that I've got money, that is! Moores was a very canny businessman and not given to extremes of largesse, but he was a welcome chairman to Everton.

I know it's a different world these days, where people can claim to be Evertonians just because they (usually) go to the local pub when the Blues are on Sky; but we actually grew up watching our heroes, looking forward to the match for two whole weeks and then (more often than I care to remember) being disappointed and swearing that we weren't going to waste our time/money again, only to be there on Goodison Road fortnight later.

Trevor Lynes #928 - and do you remember who was the Rochdale manager who took those three ex-Evertonians to Rochdale? It was Harry Catterick. I'm also glad that somebody else holds Tommy Ring in high regard. Signed from Clydebank at quite an advanced age (about 28) for all of twelve thousand quid, only played a dozen or so games before he broke his leg at Chelsea, and his comeback petered out.

My own first game was Oldham (away) our last ever game in the old second division. My dad took me, saying, in words or substance, "This is something (Everton playing in the Second Division) that you'll never see again." If my memory serves me well we would have been champions if we'd won six-nil; but we could only manage four. So Leicester were champions.

Can't remember the team that day; but the team that started in the First Division (Sheffield United - away - won 5-2) was- I think:

O'Neill, Moore Donovan, Farrell, Jones, Lello, Wainwright, Parker, Hickson, Fielding, Eglington.

Parker was a bit more "agricultural" so a lot funnier!!

Obviously no Match of the Day in those days I think apart from an odd England game there was no live football. The team that played our last game in Division 2 was the Everton team I watched. I always remember Wally Fielding holding the cuffs of his shirt the whole game, he should have been capped for England but I think he got sent off in a game just before the team was to be announced and if a player was sent off that usually meant a player never got picked.

Hickson flattened by Rotherham's Noble and stretchered off only to return with his head bandaged. On entering the field, Davy made a bee line for Noble and floored with one punch. The Ref had a clear view and Davy was sent off.

I lost all respect for Kay after he admitted throwing games.

In today's football, Alex Parker's two-footed flying tackles would have him banned for life.

Ray Wilson was the best fullback I have ever seen..

[I have to stop else I would wear out my keyboard.]

I always look to find any film of those awesome days the BBC showed film on their Saturday night news for a couple of minutes mostly that great Spurs double winning team.

We were on against Fulham and next season against the RS when we stuffed them 4-0 at Anfield. I was in their boys pen and got beaten up after Johnny Morrissey's rocket in the Kop end. Also, I would love to see the Charity Shield match against Man Utd 4 - 0 – I was at the game and the second half was live on BBC, I'm pretty sure of this.

My lifetime memory that game was of Alex Young climbing above two centre halves 6 in taller than him and planting a header in the top corner. I'm sure it was against a team in white (Spurs) but I have a little memory issue that it was an evening match – which searching the records was against Burnley – so anyone out there remember a Golden Vision header top corner?

Mike, we beat Spurs 1-0 and Young scored a towering header into the top corner, outjumping Maurice Norman, I think, with Bill Brown in goal. It was April and I was at that match but I don't remember seeing you....

Paul English, I'd forgotten about Jack Sharpes and being able to get match tickets there, you're right, though, they were tremendous times and that 1962-63 season was the winter of The Big Freeze when football was postponed week after week and it resembled the Retreat From Stalingrad, fans turning up at Goodison, one of the few grounds with under-soil heating, maybe the only one, wrapped up like those poor sods in WW2. As country we've gone a bit soft, don't you think?

Wasn't that the start of the Pools Panel?

Can't say that I remember the Burnley game that Mike #224 talks about; but I do remember one Christmas when Burnley were top dogs and we played them Christmas Day/Boxing Day. We won (unexpectedly - 3-1) at Burnley first, then on Boxing Day there was a complete sell-out, something like 72,000, I took my girl friend, now my wife, for the first, of only two, times, she was soft enough to turn around to look into the stands and it was about ten minutes before she managed to turn back to face the pitch. We got beat 3-2.

Seems astonishing now to think that 74k people would turn up for a match against them. It all seems so long ago when you look at the dates the matches were played but the memories are as clear as ever. But I haven't a clue what I had for last night's tea....

I know Thompson isn't a particularly rare surname; but do you remember that Young came to Goodison from Hearts in a double deal that included a left-back called George Thompson, who's performances could best be described as a victory of style over substance. Does anybody know whether Alex and George were related?

Then Derek Temple's screamer — after that, they put scaffold there at first then the arc.

I've seen some great matches from there: the battle v Leeds, the crowd singing "We want our money back" when the teams were taken off. Bally knocking the RS out of the cup, and loads more great games.

And the 60s was supposed to be all about Liverpool? ... MY ARSE!!!

It's a good job Alex wasn't any relation to Phil Thompson because could you imagine Alex with a big snorter... Grrrrrrr!

Problem for him was that he would come back to earth while Alex would hover around for 5 or 10 minutes, pick his nose, put his shirt in his shorts, pull up his socks and then power in the header! If he felt like it he would return to ground or simply hover back to the half way line.

Thanks for clarifying situation, I was convinced it was Spurs!

Incidentally, you can find some old footage of the 60s teams on YouTube. But be warned, it's addictive...

I was chatting to an exiled bluenose who lives that way now. I told him two stories. One, my first game – it was the 3 - 0 defeat by Burnley on 27 December 1960. I lived in Birkenhead and supported Tranmere but, at the ripe old age of 11. decided to 'go the match' at Goodison Park. My dad wasn't a fan so I made my way, walking, getting the ferry and walking from there to the ground! I can't remember anything about the match other than the crush but the atmosphere must have meant something to convert me!

Anyway this guy told me about the recent postings about this game being referred to in the 50 years history postings and I just felt I had to log in and share my inauguration to becoming a bluenose.

I was also talking to him about the first time I went to Southampton – October 1966! It was a midweek game as we had two internationals in our team the previous Saturday. It was half-term at school so me, my brother and two mates decided to hitch down to Southampton for the Wednesday night kick-off, leaving the night before!

We made it okay – my brother and his mate made into the ground in the morning and actually were given a tour of the Dell and saw the match ball. We met up later and saw the team coming out of their hotel and going for a stroll round the shops!

We won 3-1 with Bally scoring 2 and Temple the other.
ps: Burnley spolit my 60th birthday when they beat us 1 - 0 on 23 August 2009!