Top memories of True Everton Legends

I am lucky enough to be of an age to have seen great Championship-winning sides at Goodison Park and have many memories of my childhood days at the Old Lady (it was state of the art back then) and Bellefield.

My first games are all of a blur and I remember them in no set order. I was born in 1954 and am told that my first match was a Liverpool Senior Cup tie against Liverpool as they were at the time in the old Second Division, both clubs put their first teams out to make it a real Derby match. Goodison was full, well it looked it to me and I sat between my Dad and Uncle in the Upper Bullens Stand. Like most other kids going to their first match it felt like you were sitting on top of the world. We won and all I remember about the game was it was in the days before Liverpool turned to an all red kit.

Lots of people have spoken about the Fulham match in 1963 when we won the league, by this time because of my Dad’s disability we had season tickets in the Lower Bullens stand, this part of the ground is now occupied by visiting teams supporters and I still to this day glance over and think of my now departed Dad and what he would’ve made of them sitting in his seat. I don’t remember too much about this match other than the atmosphere and the lap of honour which took place long after the match had finished due to a pitch invasion.

The first game I could give you a report on was the Charity Shield game versus Manchester United, in those days the game was played at the home of the current Champions, we won 4–0 and a few weeks later we played them in the league at Old Trafford. They got revenge by winning 5–1. I along with a friend stood in the Stretford End on orange boxes near the wall and Utd fans chanted “we want six”, the two of us replied “we want two”, could you imagine doing that now.

Another Charity Shield game I remember vividly was the one in 1966, for some reason it was again played at Goodison as we had won the FA Cup that year, maybe it was because we could hold a lot more in the ground at that time. And this was to be a never forgotten occasion. England had won the World Cup and before the game there was a lap of honour. Ray Wilson & Roger Hunt were at the front holding the World Cup, followed by Brian Labone holding the FA Cup and Ron Yeats with the League Championship. Gordon West had a beaming smile on his face as he led the rest of the Everton team around. Roger Hunt soon knocked the smile off Gordon’s and our faces by scoring a twenty yarder at the Street end to win it for the reds.

A few weeks later after we had signed Alan Ball we won the first Derby of the season at Goodison 2–0 with Bally scoring both. This was day he recalled afterwards when he knew he had made the right choice in joining us instead of Leeds United.

That year of 1966 was magical for this then 12-year-old, a trip to Wembley to watch us come from two goals down to lift the FA Cup and a ticket bought for me by my parents so as I could go to every World Cup match held at Goodison Park. The game I remember most is the Portugal v Korea game, because of the way Portugal, led by Eusebio came back from the dead and also the fact the film made for cinemas about the World Cup “Goal” showed footage of me on the wall at the Park End.

England should have played their Semi-Final at Goodison Park, but the FA swopped it around and we got the West Germany versus Russia match instead. Nothing new then to report with the FA even in those days.

My friend Bertie who came with me to the matches had a memory he will never forget, during one of the Brazil matches Pele had a shot which flew straight into the crowd, Bertie put his hand up to stop the ball and it bent his finger back and it was dislocated. Now that’s what I call a claim to fame.

By this time I was becoming a regular visitor to Bellefield during school holidays to collect autographs, as I lived in Huyton if you walked to end of Princess Drive you got to Melwood first and occasionally we would nip in there first as Liverpool finished training before Everton. We used to take great delight in getting autographs and then ripping them up as we carried on to Bellefield.

Bellefield was magical, we used to climb a lamppost to watch over the wall, Gordon West used to come over and chuck sweets over to us before we made our way around to the entrance when training had finished. The groundsman (Syd McGuiness?) had a dog that used to bark if you got to close to the training building and we would get moved back, my friend Bertie got his second claim to fame as one day the dog bit him just as Ray Wilson came out, Ray took him inside to be treated to be greeted when he came back out by a line of boys all showing their backsides to the dog in the hope that they would get bit and get to go inside.

One day Fred Pickering and Johnny Morrissey had a stand up fight in the car park, because one had pinched an apple from the others dashboard.

Around this time Everton played an annual cricket match, I am sure it was at Aigburth the home of Liverpool Cricket club. It was pre-season and I remember being in the changing room collecting autographs. Tommy Wright was signing my scrapbook which contained pictures and facts about each player plus my ratings of their ability, strengths and weaknesses. Tommy was reading this and I was rather proud when he called Gordon West over to tell him about it. Westy read out loud what I had written about him and when he got to part where I stated his weakness was crosses from the left or something similar he chased me and clipped me around the back of head with the words “cheeky little bugger”. Could you imagine Tim Howard doing that now to a twelve year old.

Other memories include the magical FA Cup tie, 5th round against Liverpool at Goodison, played Saturday night time so as the game could be relayed on a big screen over at Anfield in black and white. Over 60,000 people inside Goodison and 40,000 at Anfield. Making it I am sure the best attendance ever for a non-Wembley Cup tie.

Alan Ball scored the only goal of the game at the Street End, years later when I saw some old newsreel footage it didn’t look as great a goal as I remember in my head. I will never ever forget the rendition of “We Shall Not Be Moved” that had the Old Lady rockin’ that night. The stands bounced as we sang and to me it beats the Bayern Munich atmosphere that’s how good and loud it was that night. Sadly in the 6th round we got beat 3–2 away to Nottingham Forest. Nothing has ever changed with Everton.

We played Burnley in a FA Cup replay at Goodison and Burnley had in goal Harry Thomson who was related to Alex Young. The Golden Vision scored two that night and one with a header that he hung in the air so graciously for after which the Street End sang to Thomson “Ee Aye Addio your God’s chosen cousin”.

Burnley away was one of the regular away games we attended as the access for my Dad was easier than most grounds. I remember Roy Vernon walking out for the second half of one game smoking a cigarette and stubbing it out in the grass. Gordon West a couple of seasons later did what to me was the first piece of professionalism I have seen or heard about. Burnley were awarded a penalty and Westy instead of standing in the centre of the goal (in those days the goalkeeper had to stand still on his line until the ball was kicked) stepped to the right giving a bigger space on the left to hit the ball into, Westy kept moving his head to look at this larger space as if indicating that was where he was going to dive. Just as the Burnley penalty taker started his run up, West held out his hand to stop him and went over to this space and picked up some imaginary object and put in his shorts.

Around the start of the 1968 season I was at Bellefield getting autographs and told Brian Labone that my parents were going to allow me to stand in the ground on my own and I needed a ticket for the opening home game of the season against Manchester United, he produced one from his car for the then Goodison Road enclosure and told me to bring the money the next day to pay for it. No megabucks then for players and my Dad insisted that I give Labby an extra sixpence for his kindness.

We won that match 3–1 and it was the beginning of the end of the Alex Young era, Bally was very much the new star in town and during this match I remember him running from the Bullens Road side of the pitch to the main stand side and dispossessing Georgie Best to great applause, and Best looking round to see where the ball had gone. United had Best, Law and Charlton in their line-up and Everton were starting to bring a lot of home grown talent into the ranks. Our first team included Tommy Wright, John Hurst, Brian Labone, Colin Harvey, Jimmy Husband and Joe Royle.

By the time we won the league in 1970 I had started work as a fifteen year old full time and because of my apprenticeship I could not make all the Saturday home matches. The final home game of the season when we clinched the league was a night match against West Bromich Albion. I finished work and was straight on the bus to arrive at Goodison for the opening of the gates and make a dash to your chosen spot. I always headed for the uplift at the Street End and tied a scarf around my waist around the barrier so as you could stand in front of it and not be crushed or fall off the uplift while standing.

Colin Harvey scored a screamer at the Park End from over twenty yards, it had the sort of dip that you see nowadays from Frank Lampard. One of the highlights from the match was the Baggies keeper Jim Coombes holding his hands over his ears because of the noise generated from the terraces. We celebrated in style in those days and for younger fans who have never known what it is like to be there when Everton lift a trophy, imagine a last minute winning goal at the Street End in a Derby match and double your elation with pride.

The next season we were in the European Cup (pre Champions League era) and we made hard work of a tie against Reykjavik from Iceland. Gordon West was having a horrid time form-wise and during the match dropped an easy catch, the Street End barracked him with ironic applause when he picked the ball up. Westy, never one to conceal his emotions, turned around with the ball under his left arm and with his right hand gave the crowd a big V-sign...

For the next round against Borussia Munchengladbach Gordon had been dropped and local lad Andy Rankin was in nets. The game went to extra time and the first ever European Cup penalty shoot out. Joe Royle was our penalty taker at the time and he missed his, the other penalties were scored by (I think) Alan Ball, Johnny Morrissey, Howard Kendall and Sandy Brown.

What made the shoot out so special apart from the fact that we won it was Gordon West standing near the 18 yard D bellowing out instructions to Andy Rankin which way to dive as Westy was watching the German players run ups. This was before players had to stand in the centre circle. Gordon clenched his fist in salute when Rankin saved one, the lovers tiff was officially over.

It went a bit downhill after that, Harry Catterick’s ill health having a lot to do with it. A semi-final loss to Liverpool at Old Trafford after leading 1–0 from a Bally goal, Brian Labone went off injured and we lost 2–1.

During that magical period I watched Everton win two Championships, attended FA Cup Semi-Finals and Finals seeing us win and lose in both, a Semi-Final win against Manchester Utd at Bolton, losing to Manchester City at Villa Park. At Wembley I watched us beat Sheffield Wednesday and lose to West Bromwich Albion.

As you’ll’ve guessed by now, my childhood heroes were Alan Ball, Brian Labone and Gordon West, all sadly departed but what men in more ways than one. True Everton legends.

If anyone is interested, I will do a piece about my memories of the lost 70s and magical 80s. The 70s promised much but delivered little, the exact opposite of the 1980s.

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