50 years ago: The Battle of Goodison

I was at the game, behind the arc in Gwladys St. Leeds were filthy but so were we that day. Vernon, Kay, Gabriel, Pickering, Labone, Young, etc gave them some hammer.

When the teams were taken off, the crowd were singing "We want our money back"...

I was only 5 at the time so obviously apart from hearing about the game from older relatives mates etc, I have got no recollection at all but would loved to have been there.

Funny thing is, when I was growing up, I loved Revie’s Leeds teams at the time. Being a kid, I didn’t think they were dirty – just a great football side... and I still remember virtually their starting eleven off by hand. I mean who couldn’t fail to be impressed by the 7-0 Southampton game? An absolute pleasure to watch... but obviously as you get older and wiser you hear the stories about them kicking their way to titles, etc and they were probably true.

But to me, I just remember a great football side and they were my favourite second side. IÂ’m glad I donÂ’t support them now, though. TheyÂ’re a shambles...

Revie's success was based on his maxim, 'If they do not score, we cannot lose'. Other clubs responded in similar fashion and English football entered a dark age of total negativity that would embarrass even David Moyes. Crowd numbers plummeted and there were so many 0-0 draws, the pools became a farce.

During that period, I shared the 㿷,000 jackpot with 8 draws. For that once-in-a-lifetime stroke of luck, I was paid the princely sum of ٣ 13s .

Littlewoods and Vernons subsequently started the score-draw system. The FA also stepped in with 3 points for a win, replacing the previous age-old 2 points for a win. Standards then started on the long road of improvement.

I should mention that, when I won ٣ 13s, all other dividends were cancelled – and that happened a few more times.

Blame; 49%, 25%, 25%, 1% (Disclaimer: these percentages may not reflect actual events, just what I saw.)

1) Revie for formulating the policy, based on his own fear of failure(?) and the whole Team for buying into the ethos.

1a) Extenuating circumstances? None, total team of snides (except for Bobby Collins).

1b) The thing was they could play a bit, so why (see 1 above).

2) The Ref.

2a) Extenuating circumstances... Probably, he, or we for that matter, had never seen the like of the Leeds carry on before, there may have been the odd Ref that could have got a grip. But 4 mins in and even now, with reds and yellows like confetti, Refs are reluctant to wave them after 4 mins... just unlucky, wrong man wrong place.

3) Our Players.

3a) Extenuating circumstances?... ever so slightly (see 2a) but in real terms it still takes two to tango.

Those who were there, like me, could see that all the Leeds players were under orders to 'get their retaliation in first' and that Bremner was a snide of the first order. It was Giles who was Revie's Grand Pobah of Snide.

The Brown thing happened so quick that all I saw was the two on the floor and only Brown getting up (think yourself lucky, Ratboy). We know that for all his faults (and I DON'T class the OG as one), Sandy didn't have a snidey bone in his body, so what ever happened 'in the clinch' must've so incensed Sandy as to demand instant retribution.

Giles, in a later biography, tried to play down the Dirty Leeds thing by saying, "Yeah right, we went to Goodison and tried to bully Gabriel and Morrissey and we went to Anfield and tried to bully Smith and Yeats," I don't think so... pure revisionism.

Yes everybody had a couple of 'hard men' so they sort of cancelled each other out. What they did en masse as an 11 was to do it to everyone regardless.

When Temple was tackled round the chest (NOT a noted hardman was our well named Shirley) Labone thought he was dead, it was that bad.

4) The Crowd; How else were we going to react given the blatant injustices on the field... instant Apeshit!

4a) Extenuating circumstances; Blameless, us.

4b) Even back then, no excuse for the racist dogs abuse we gave their winger... I hope we have moved on from that forever.

On a lighter note, one paper said that, of the players on view from both sides, only Bobby Collins and Dennis Stevens, playing at stand-in left-half, played any football of note... our first defensive midfielder?

This was my first match at Goodison.

Sure was a tough game – and sad that it was as both sides had tremendous talent. However, Johnny Giles was a sly bugger who got away with a lot during his career. Having said that, the referee was useless and the standard of refereeing hasn't improved much since then despite a fourth official and audio technology.

At least what goes on behind the ref's back these days can still be punished later by the FA. Leeds had adopted the Italian way of approach by parking he bus and then chopping players down if you did get past. Everton found that out when they played Inter.

Sadly, parking the bus has become the norm which is stifling the skill levels in the modern game unless of course you are in possession in your own half where most of the modern game is played.

I was at this game with my mate Steve and it was a typical performance by The Damned United. We.d played them in the Cup a couple of years earlier, when they were still in the second division and drew 1-1 at their place and they were at it then. Morrisey got hammered by Reaney just in front of us and they had to use smelling salts on him. He came round and the first thing he said was ' who fucking did that?' He then spent the rest of the game finding ways to give Reaney a going over. We beat them in the replay and Gabriel played centre forward and scored. Possibly the ill feeling started in those games because we gave as good as we got and had just the players to do it.

The game in question was absolutely pre planned by them and they were at it straight from the off. Sandy who was a big soft lad, had stud marks on his chest, and took appropriate action. Roy Vernon, who was no shrinking violet despite his slight build, spent a large part of his time meting out retribution to anyone and everyone, and the referee lost control. The crowd were ready to come on to the pitch. The last straw was the tackle on Temple by (I think) Willie Bell, who was one yard dog. We all thought he was dead, because he went down and didn't move a muscle, not even on the stretcher. Bell wasn't even warned.

The crowd were in a mood I've never seen before or since (maybe THAT Wimbledon game came closest) and I suspect the referee came off to protect himself as much as anything.

They all came out a bit later, including Derek Temple, and so the game went on, simmering under the surface.

Leeds were the first team to use this level of intimidation and foul play as a deliberate tactic so none of us had ever seen anything quite like it. Sadly we soon got used to it over the ensuing years.

After the game a big crowd gathered outside the old players entrance baying for the referee and it was showing signs of getting a bit nasty until the mounted police moved in to disperse the crowd.

It was the closest to a riot I've ever been at Goodison.

My god...was it 50 years ago??? Who Knows Where The Time Goes as Sandy Denny lamented. I too was there ..into my 2nd year as a Blue (8 years old)..Gwladys Street Stand with Dad. Obviously memories are a bit thin..grey day..lots of noise...then total confusion as the teams were led off....lone tannoy announcement and dad tells me 'they gone to cool things down..they will; be coming back'. No other recollection of the lone (Leeds) goal.

As the years went by I've read a lot and heard from those involved from time to time. Sure Leeds were hard but we too could stand toe to toe if needed, just that we didn't do it too often and one thing was we never were a team to get into the ref's face like other sides (still something that has remained down the years).

There was the incident when someone (Leeds) fouled one of us. Les Cocker (Leeds trainer) raced to the touchline yelling 'Stay down..stay down' to his player as the crowd went wild. Cocker then started on the St John's Ambulance guy on the touchline yelling to bring the stretcher on. Relatives of mine who were in Goodison Road claim the St John's guy told Cocker to 'f****n bring it on yourself!' to him. There's a pic on somewhere of Labone and (his old mate) Collins coming off for the 'break' and a bloke in a donkey jacket running on saying his pennyworth!

Yes Leeds were a great side. But look back at the records and see how many times they were the nearly men in those days. If Moyes was a bottler on the big occasion there could be some claim that Don Revie bottled a fair few big ones in his time..they should have well been THE most sucessful side in that era but maybe karma did play against them on occasions. Adds to Clough's famous line to them in 74..'you are not WORTHY champions'.

I look forward to more memories (less hazy than mine ) on this thread.

I can recollect some memories of this game but will apologise if age and time has affected my memory!!

The game in those days was played with a heavier leather ball and as a consequence the pace of the game was slower but this made the tackles in my mind a lot harder.

I was only 10 years old at the time and I think we had beaten Leeds in the previous seasonÂ’s FA cup, we had supposedly strengthened the team (Pickering) but we never really lived up to the season 62-63 highs and my recollection of that game is that we tried to kick Leeds off the pitch with some tackles which in these days would be an automatic red card, not then, only a stern look from the ref!!

As a boy in Goodison Park in those days, packed with 66,000 fans, I only saw the action in patches but the atmosphere was as I recall electric and every tackle felt in the crowed be good or bad! And all the talk after the game was about Bobby Collins, the Leeds playmaker of that season, I think Leeds were newly promoted and finished second (I may be wrong with that?).
Great memories.

I too was at the game, but nobody was surprised at Leeds style as they played that way all through the Revie era. Mind our lads were no angels and I don't think I saw any player ever get the better of Morrissey in the physical side. But that's how football was played then, I well remember chopper Harris at Chelsea tackling George Best waist high with both feet back in those days.

I think today's players would shudder if they were shown some of the footage of the games in that era. Tackling from behind was the norm in fact if your centre-half didn't slide him from behind and take the forwards two legs in the first 5 minutes you thought he had gone soft. Back then, Refs let a lot more go, if back then refs applied today's rules were in place most games would finish 3 versus 3.

Leeds were always an awful team to face any year. I had the pleasure of spending weeks there working as well.

The match that springs to mind for me was 14 March 1981 and we lost 1-2 at home. We played well until we got to the edge of the box then ran out of ideas (sound familiar?)

Leeds fans were being Leeds fans and the atmosphere was ugly. Plenty of frustration about has they had nicked 2 goals and sat back and we were clueless. They kept on goading us and we kept biting,

I remember a ’orrible skinny lad with a blonde mullet standing on the Park End barriers giving us loads of abuse and friends of mine vowing to have a quiet word with him at the end of the game.

Never happened though, as a couple of us accidentally ran into a lovely Sergeant and his night stick. One of us met him twice in very short period of time (5 seconds). That day I made my pledge to stay as a spectator only.

Chris Williams.You're right... Willie Bell.

Great thread.

The main thing I recall was to me, looking back, the atmosphere in the ground was evil. I had been going to Goodison since 1961 but I had never before felt that. There was pure hatred of that Leeds side. Had the crowd gone on the pitch....how there wasn’t an invasion God only knows......Willie Bell would have been lynched after that tackle. Typical Leeds in that Temple, probably our gentlest of players ,was singled out.

Fifty years, on I still despise everything about that outfit and wish them nothing but ill luck. The reds were a team of yard dogs in those days but never as bad as Leeds... I was even pleased they beat them at Wembley in 1965.
Never did a team mirror it’s fans so much .

A Toffee mate working in Leeds warned us about a ruse used by their home supporters.

An inviting space behind the Elland Rd goal was designed to lure visiting fans. As soon as the game started, whump! that space became the scene of an all out boots an all war zone.

Even the local police advised us not to go anywhere near that space. Sadly, two of our party ignored that warning and last seen both were carted away on stretchers.

I agree with Alan (#14).

I was a 10-year-old, and can still remember the sheer malevolence within the crowd, particularly when the two teams came back onto the pitch to the chant of "Dirty Leeds".

Leeds were the most horrible shower of bastards in football in those days.

I remember some years ago, old Nancy Boy referee David Elleray being asked to watch the Leeds v Chelsea FA Cup Final from 1970 and judge by the standards of today. He concluded that the sides would have received six red cards and twenty yellow cards between them.

For any of the younger readers on here, or us older guys who like to look wistfully at how rugged football used to be, you can see a lot of that match on YouTube. Go on. It's worth it to imagine how Ronaldo would cope.....

Early 70's, as I recall, sung all up and down the land, to the tune of the Dambuster's March – 'We all hate Leeds and Leeds and Leeds and Leeds and Leeds...'

I agree with everyone on here about Leeds... horrible the way they played. The mystery was why they played like that because, when they wanted to, they were an excellent team.

As an aside to the game, a young lad played for Everton that day who was later killed in a car accident, Barry Rees, who usually played as a striker but was used in a defensive role that day.

Somewhat off topic, but my brother – a diehard Blue – died recently. He was a few years older than me, and among his papers I found quite a lot of Everton ephemera. One of these was a notebook he used to keep as a kid with scorers etc.

I found mention of a player I’d never heard of, but he did score a few goals for us. Named Lill. I now know about him, having asked Professor Google, but it was just odd that I’d never heard of him before. Anybody got any memories?

Mickey Lill signed by Johnny Carey from Wolves for around 㾸,000. Mickey was a right winger, fast and direct and, as you say, scored quite a few goals for the Blues.

I think he had a few injury problems and didnÂ’t stay all that long with Everton, if my memory serves me right.

On football specials, a quiz was always popular and one question involved Mickey Lill. In those days, shirts numbers 7 8 9 10 11 indicated the wearer as being a forward. The question was: Name a complete Everton forward line with all the players having 4 letters in their surname and at least two of those letters were the letter L.

Lill was one of them – who were the other four???

Dick,

I had to look up the players on your list as they were slightly before my time but I won't spoil it by giving the answer away.

On another note, using your criterion of surnames ending in 'LL', we have had around 50 players at the club and around 20 or so have played since 1970, I can't seem to find a goalkeeper though so perhaps we should sign the Cardiff keeper to make a full team.

Surely you couldn't have forgotten about Southall? Either that or I'm getting mixed up on the rules...

Dick, without going to Google,

Jimmy Fell, Micky Lill, Alan Ball, Jimmy Hill and Ray Veall, although Veall has five letters.

Stuart Fall (apart in the box... Barlow).

A bit before my time this game but Leeds were my 2nd favourite team when I was a kid. I know it's sounds outrageous (now) but players like Harvey, Madeley, Lorimer, Giles, Bremner, Gray, Reaney, Cooper, Clarke, Yorath, Charlton, Hunter, Jordan, Sprake etc.....were a marvellous mix of skill and dirty bastards.

If Revie hadn't been such a lowdown scumbag, he could've gone down as one of the greatest managers of all time.

How could I forget Super Nev... it's an age thing.

Come on guys, who was Jimmy Hill? – Apart from Satan himself of Fulham?

Did he only play once and was I in a coma?

Thanks for the info, lads. I’m just a few years behind you, so have no memories of Carey’s teams or the 62-63 side.

I remember Leeds Utd – Jack Charlton was the first centre half to stand in front of opposing goalkeepers for corner kicks. Poor Westy moaned a lot about it continually. It was quite a new innovation at the time.

Tommy Smith, the Liverpool fullback,was asked who were the dirtiest players he ever faced. Believe it or not, they were Giles and Alan Clarke both of Leeds Utd. He said that Hunter and Bremner were tough but not dirty. oth Giles and Clarke were snide players who pinched, spat and went over the ball deliberately.

They were a top team in their time though and they were always competitive. Our players basically lost the plot once Brown was sent off and the game was a disgrace.

Tom... Irish player, I think from the north. He played, I would guess, maybe 15-20 times. Couple of deadbeats called Young and Vernon ahead of him in the pecking order. Honestly can’t recall if he was any good.

Tom, #31, Hill played 7 times, scoring once. He was signed by Catterick from Norwich, and I have to say, I'm surprised it was only 7 games. I thought he'd played more than that.

Colin (29) - like you, I was too young to know about the 1964 game in question, but I'm amazed you say Leeds were your second favourite team! I know you were nowt but a lad, but what a shocking error of judgement!

I remember the morning of the 1970 Cup Final, falling into conversation with a local shopowner in Speke – I told him I was supporting Chelsea. He was shocked and told me I should be supporting Leeds "because they're a Northern team". Sod that for a game of soldiers, I thought, aged nine-going-on-ten – Revie's mob are tripe, Chelsea are super-cool.

If anyone saw the Scotland v Ireland game the other night they'll have been reminded of how full-blooded football was in the 1970s. As for the 1964 encounter being discussed, that sounds like out-and-out war!

Kev, well not my 2nd fave team perhaps but I did enjoy watching them play because the could play when they wanted to. Admittedly, I did support Chelsea and Sunderland in those two finals they lost.I liked their kit as well but Everton were, and have been, my only team.

I feel sorry that Leeds are in such trouble as they were massive when I was growing up. Their fans on the other hand were always a bunch of obnoxious animals.

Kev, when I was a lad that was the mindset, Everton first, and I can hardly bring myself to say this, Liverpool second because they are from our city, and any northern side against the rest.

However, Leeds v Chelsea had me down as a Chelsea fan for the day due, largely, to that 1964 game and the subsequent shower of dirty bastards Leeds became.

Revie was as corrupt as they come, something Brian Viner touches on in his book.

They had bags of skill, Colin, no question, but they chiefly scumbuckets.

Picking up on something else you said, I think a football fan's idea of what is a "big club" is pretty much defined by which clubs were big when he was growing up. A quick bit of research on the 1969-70 season – in which we won the League, obviously, and Chelsea beat Leeds in the Cup Final - reveals that seven teams from the old First Division in 69-70 are not now in the Premier League. They are: Leeds, Derby, Coventry, Wolves, Forest, Shef Wed and Ipswich. Irrationally, I still sort of think of those seven as "big" clubs. On the flipside, I can't quite bring myself to consider Swansea and Hull as proper top division teams, because they weren't when I was a kid.

I can recall Everton beating Ipswich 2-0. I don't remember the date but Rioch, Kidd and McMahon played for Everton. Mick Mills described McMahon as the meanest player in the meanest team he had ever faced. Dirty and mouthy. Unlike Leeds, though, that team weren't much good.

You're right Kev, I also can't take the likes of Hull City and Swansea City too serious but then I always looked down on Coventry City as a small club even though they were in the top flight for years.

I think Leeds Utd would bring more to the Prem than, let's say, Burnley.

Colin, Burnley used to be a big(ish) club who, when they played at Goodison, it was an all-ticket affair and 74,867 crammed in to watch them in the early 1960s, more than for the first Derby game after the RS were promoted. Check their league finishes from 59-60 for the next four seasons to see what I mean.

Ray, I remember that cup final, both games so well. We were in mellow mood having pissed the league and so the final came around. You had to support a team in the final when you were young... usually the underdogs.

I never minded Chelsea, they could play. Mind they were a dirty shower of bastards as well but in a more honest sense. You went past Harris or McCready and they’d have you, simple as.... players like Osgood were no shrinking violets either. But Leeds coupled it with being nasty and sneaky... all the characteristics in those un-PC days we attributed to Johnny Foreigner.

One of the things I loved about Johnny Morrisey was that he did Jack Charlton so badly that he ended up in the infamous little black book!

I know what you mean Ray. I remember they always had good players like Lochhead and Caspar and then of course, Dobson and Thomas but they were always seen as a small club punching above their weight.

If were we were playing a word association game and you said "Burnley", I would immediately blurt out "Ralph Coates" (which is, admittedly, two words). Ralph was an "cross-terrain" midfielder, although he had a strong preference for mud.

Kev... and he had a comb-over to rival Bobby Charlton’s

Alan, yes you’re right about Ralph Coates – like Bobby Charlton, he’d be running around with his hair streaming behind him like the tail of a comet.

Nowadays, of course, he’d be shaven-headed a la Lee Carsley or Andy Johnson. So some things have moved on.

Colin #45 - never forgetting Trevor Steven, of course. We got some good players from Burnley, though strictly speaking I think we got Dave Thomas via QPR.

Colin, Andy Lochhead was effective, but I think he might have been too much of a thug even to get in that Leeds team. The nastiest bastard on a football pitch I've ever seen.

Sorry Andy (40), but Rioch and Kidd had left Everton before McMahon made his debut so not sure which game you're referring to.

Brian @ 50

I remember Trevor playing for Burnley at our neighbours when he was 18 or 19. He played in centre midfield and to see a kid of his age run the game told you all you needed to know about his ability.

I was in the stadium that day against Leeds. The atmosphere was electric as I am certain every Evertonian chanted "Dirty Leeds".

Dirty bastard Willie Bell, Scottish left back, scored the only goal at the park end.

Micky Lill came from Romford in Essex, as Ray Roche said signed from Wolves. A cracking winger.

Alan Mc,

A story goes around that in the next game Morrissey fronted him and asked did he have his little black book with him.

Funnily enough he didnÂ’t try for revenge

Andy (40), James has a point: the only time Brian Kidd faced Ipswich at Goodison was for the FA Cup 6th Round tie in 1980. The team was: Wood; Gidman, Bailey; Wright, Lyons, Eastoe; Megson, King, Latchford, Kidd, McBride.

Everton won 2-1 that day.

The only time Kiddo played for Everton at Portman Road resulted in a 1-1 draw. Brian put Everton in the lead but John Wark equalised. The Everton team was: Wood; Barton, Bailey; Lyons, Higgins, Ross; Hartford, Wright, Nulty, Kidd, Eastoe.

This was one of my first games too. The crowd was more entertaining than the match. I remember looking back at what appeared to be a sea of faces in Goodison Rd, all with faces purple with rage.

At HT my uncle told me it was okay to swear at the match as long as I didn't do it outside and I was besides myself when I glanced at me arl fella and he gave me the nod... "Dirty Bastards".

Anybody got anymore on Barry Rees? He's gone under my radar and I cant find much

Darren – It looks like he only played four games for the Toffees scoring twice. That match with Leeds was his last appearance for the club he made his debut almost 12 months earlier at Upton Park, scoring in a defeat (4-2). I tried putting his name into the browser but I was unable to follow the link. I saw that in the brief notes that he died in 1965.

Andrew, wasn't it Andy Lochhead who nutted George Wood when both of them were on the floor after a corner? I think Woody got his own back later on in the match with an elbow into the jaw. Neither of them flinched or really complained though.

I cant find anything, Patrick.

I was wondering if he was a local lad, I'm kinda taken aback that one of our players died so young (not sure how old) and although I've asked around he seems to have gotten under quite a few people's radar.

Darren, I think he was born in 1944 so he would have been around 21 when he died.

Barry Rees, Date of Birth: 4 February 1944

I used to have an old DOS program that had lots of player info in it... have you checked the Everton Results website? I assume all the info that was around got sucked up by Steve Johnson.

MK - Everton Results has an A-Z list of players but it only gives out a summary of their career at Goodison – It doesn't appear to have Date of Birth etc on the site.

Colin... you may be right but I would have thought that he’d have retired by George Wood’s time. He was the hardest, toughest-looking player that I have seen... a big, rangy, balding hank who was all arms and forehead...

Having said that, not a bad centre-forward. I’m sure I read once that Brian Labone said he was the only player who gave him a sleepless night before facing him.

Happy days

Barry Rees was transferred to Brighton soon after the Leeds game. He played a handful of games for Brighton before being killed in a car crash early in 1965. I remember that he was in the squad for the Inter Milan game in Italy when Colin Harvey made his debut. Rees made his debut a few weeks later in the League in the 63-64 season.

Barry Rees was a Welsh lad; I think he may have been an Under-23 Welsh international but I’ m not absolutely sure about that.

Thanks, Patrick and James. It must be the years blending all games into one.

Patrick, at least tell me that Mick Mills played in that 2-1 victory.

Andy yes he did he seemed to be in that Ipswich team for donkey's years... A tasty team it was too:
P Cooper; G Burley, M Mills, F Thijssen, R Osman , T Butcher, J Wark (K Beattie), A Muhren, P Mariner, A Brazi,l E Gates.

No wonder they had beaten Everton at Goodison (0-4) just a month previous to that cup match.

Andy - you might have been thinking of the October 1981 home game which did feature McMahon. We won that one 2-1 as well, with goals from Gary Stevens and Mick Ferguson. Mills was in the Ipswich side. No doubt he patrolled the left flank like an over-zealous policeman.

A few more slightly off topics:

A well known carpet-selling millionaire by name of Lord was the financial backbone of Burnley. He appeared in a TV episode of Batman and when Robin asked who was that? Batman replied, "That was the famous Matman."

It was during the half-time chat at the Liverpool vs Leeds FA Cup final when the term 'Professional Foul' was first mentioned in public. Guest speaker Bobby Charlton mentioned that Leeds striker Alan Clarke should have been brought down. Studio Anchor, the real Jimmy Hill, in feigned shocked surprise said, "You are surely not suggesting he should have been deliberately fouled?"

Bobby replied, "In the game we call it a professional foul."

He also said that England manager Alf Ramsey "would have had our guts for garters had Clarke not been brought down".

Dick, you’re confusing Bob Lord, who was a successful butcher, with Cyril Lord, the carpet magnate ("This is luxury you can afford, by Cyril Lord").

Bob Lord was the Burnley chairman, but I don’t think Cyril Lord had any involvement with football.

I remember that cup game, Patrick (56). A great win after theyÂ’d thrashed us just a few weeks earlier at Goodison.

I remember the crowd giving one of the Ipswich goals of that day a standing ovation and Paul Mariner returning the compliment to them. They were a fine team that finished runners-up twice in the league, one year I seem to remember a late fade out which allowed our lovable neighbours to nip in and steal the title.

In the cup-tie, Latch scored a great header and Kidd direct from a free kick but MotM that day was John Gidman with what was probably his best game in a blue shirt. They got a late spawny goal to have us nibbling our nails at the end.

Gidman was indeed excellent that match.He'd been moved from his usual RB berth to centre midfield to the puzzlement of the crowd. But it was a masterstroke. Great atmosphere that day as well. I smile when people on the various Everton forums talk about great GP atmospheres over the last decade or so. NONE of them come remotely close to those generated in the days of terracing. Nowhere near.

Lochhead ended up at Villa but don't think they were in the !st division, so doubt he played against Wood. He had eyebrows like bloody razor blades so could have passed as one of those Pesky Bleeder fellers on the telly.

Steve, yes remember both Ipswich games well. The trouncing left us feeling that they would also bollock us in the Cup. But tey didn’t. I don’t know if it’s available on Youtube, but the way Bob Latchford rebalanced himself to head in the first goal is a technical masterclass in itself.

Everton V Ipswich 79-80

I hope this link works it's Granada's coverage and it's about 42 mins in total - Latchford's Goal is around 19:30 on the TCR time displayed on the screen. Goodison was buzzing!
If the link doesn't work search for Everton v Ipswich 79-80

Mike (72) - are you sure you're not confusing Bob and Cyril Lord with the Kiwi chanteuse, Lorde? Word has it she turned down the Burnley gig, claiming that she was "looking for a different kind of buzz". Please yourself, love, please yourself.

The above chat about Ipswich games led me to this clip of a 3-3 draw in the 75/76 season: Worth watching Gary Jones - he was a nifty player on his day. I vividly recall him giving Gidman a complete roasting one afternoon when we played Villa.

Patrick, thanks for the link. Quality is excellent, but probably a combination of the server priority and my crap computer made it a bit stop and starty. I need to watch the whole thing – never know, might see myself in the Street End!

Lochhead played with Villa till '73 and George Wood played with us from '77 till 1980 (to my regret) so I was obviously mistaken.

Micky Lill was a direct, goalscoring winger. This is a typical Lill goal (with a lovely pass from Bobby Collins), then some wing trickery from the incomparable Tommy Ring, and two typical finishes from the great Roy Vernon. I hope for a similar scoreline this weekend.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WywLHuXLBU

My dad swears he saw Roy Vernon smoking as the teams came out in one game. He loved Vernon in his playing days.

Terry White, now you’re talking about a player — Tommy Ring. He only played 34 times for us, but what skill, what finesse, a better dribbler than Stanley Mathews, he should have been in Everton’s Hall of Fame. Maybe it was his small number of games.

He kept the great Billy Liddell out of many Scotland teams. It is a pleasure to say he played for us.

Andy Lochead was a tremendous header of the ball, but was indeed a dirty player. In the early 1980s I was working around Burnley and called into a pub in Worsthorne and Andy was the landlord. I had a good chat with him and he was a really pleasant guy.

I think Andy Lochead went to Leicester after he left Burnley.

As a previous poster said, Brian Labone was covered in bruises every time we played the Clarets. Labby said the hardest forward that he had faced. I thought he was a very good centre-forward.

Dave (#83), Tommy Ring was magical until he broke his leg scoring at Chelsea and collided with Reg Matthews, their goalie.

Paul (#82), like most stories, this probably has some truth to it although it is likely exaggerated for effect. Roy certainly liked his pleasures to excess which probably resulted in him passing in his mid 50s, much too soon. But on the pitch, what a striker of the ball, what a finisher!

The Everton team from 1960 on played some beautiful football and it is no surprise that old timers like me are nostalgic about it. Alex Parker, the young Jimmy Gabriel in his prime, Bobby Collins... and, of course, Young and Vernon. Their understanding of each other's position was telepathic. Under Carey we won very few away games while we trounced teams at home. So we won nothing until Catterick came along and added three key players to Carey's team: Tony Kay, Alex Scott, and Dennis Stevens, the workhorse.

Thanks Terry,

My dad reckons Roy took a penalty once when the keeper was trying to wind him up and put him off. He said Vernon pointed to the left corner of the net and put the ball there.

What a thread.

Michael recently stated that the so called "kicking" Harry Catterick took at Blackpool after leaving Young out, had been dismissed as a slip by a TWer who was actually there.

This was for many years regarded as "fact".

I missed the post but I'm hoping it was one of you guys and you can tell us again what REALLY happened.

Roy Vernon: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Vernon

Just reading the names of all those legends makes me so proud of our past. My dad swore he saw Roy Vernon play with a fag stuck on his ear.

Paul, my dad told me the same story.

Darren @ 90. It was cold wet and windy at Bloomfield Rd, Our fans were ropeable that Alex had been dropped, the game from our point of view was a disaster yet noticable as being my first sight of a young red head who Pool fans called their' little general' his name was Alan Ball.

After the game while walking to the Winter Gardens myself and two travelling pals encountered about twenty disgruntled Evertonians gathered outside the players entrance. It was obvious they intended to give Catterick a piece of their mind partly for dropping Young plus an awful team display topped off by the miserable weather.

Suddenly a door opened, players hurried to the team bus parked approx. a dozen yards away.

There was a hubbub of critical voices raised then Harry slipped probably due to a wet pavement. I had a clear view of the incident and did not see any attempt by anyone to bring him down. I was astounded when later reports claimed he had attacked and brought down.

In my opinion it was a typical media up. The Winter Gardens floor show featured a Marie Lloyd impersonator with a woman dressed as a man imitating a woman dressed as a man singing Burlington Bertie from Bow. It was the only uplifting thing about the whole sodden day.

Terry White (88), he also added Gordon West to the team.

Just got in. Had a few drinks in town, been talking all afternoon and night about Everton games of the past with fellow Blues. You just can’t beat it – a few bevvies and talking about the Blues.

Some of the above posts take me back.

Vernon was my idol even above Young. He always played well in tough games and thrived on derby matches. I actually played against some of my heroes from the late '40s and early '50s, eg, Jackie Grant and Eddie Wainwright but Vernon was part of the best forward line I ever saw in an Everton shirt.

My best ever Everton forward line would be: Ball, Collins, Young, Vernon and Ring. Tommy Ring was an absolutely brilliant ball player and unfortunately he only had a short time with us. He was in the Matthews mould. The nearest I have seen to Collins was Scholes of Man Utd.

Young was like Tostao, the brilliant Brazilian, and Young was very much like a Liverpool great, Ian Rush. Everyone knows how good Bally was. Vernon was often called waspish and that is the way I would describe him too. He was a brilliant finisher like Lineker but he had a steel that Lineker did not have.

If I told younger Evertonians that Ring was better than Sheedy then that should be enough. I am not being sentimental, I am not too old not to remember. Players of that era and earlier included Shackleton, Matthews, Finney, Lawton and Liddell. Billy Liddell was one of the greatest but unfortunately he played for Liverpool. He actually played in the same Fifa team against the Rest of the World that John Carey played in.

Carey actually won the PFA Footballer of the Year twice and he was a full back which must be unique. Carey was the man who assembled the best ball playing Everton team I have ever had the pleasure to see.

Thanks Dick

We weren't as enlightened back then and tended to believe what we read in the papers.

The RS in our school spent the entire season throwing this in our faces – Sanctimonious twats, some things have never changed.

Thanks for straightening things out.

I remember that game, the first away trip I made. I was nowhere near the incident but the consensus amongst those who witnessed it was that Catterick slipped. I recall it being a cold icy day.

Doing a Columbo thing though......"Why didn’t HC come out and explain what actually happened?" Is it that he held the press in such contempt that he couldn’t be arsed?

It seems we have always had poor PR in this respect. Throughout the early sixties we, as a club, seemed to be the whipping boys of the press. First it was for "wrecking " trains taking us to away matches in the very early sixties... onto the Tony Kay affair, that we had no part in. Then I recall about 1965 one of the Sunday’s started some bullshit about the team taking purple hearts or some such stimulant.

We just seemed to take it all on the chin, every time, without really fighting back. Just as well that our football in those days was so sodding sublime!

I agree with Trevor (above) about Vernon. To me, he's the greatest to play for Everton, and I've been going to Goodison since February 1954. My dad took me for a 6th birthday treat, and I've been going ever since. Thanks Dad.

He always compared Roy to Alex James, who I never saw but used to read about him in the Charles Buchan Football Annual. He was some player, my Dad said and every bit as bad tempered as Roy.

I saw him score a goal against Blackpool on Good Friday 1960 when he received a short corner from Micky Lill and dribbled the ball into the penalty area beating a number of players, took it round the keeper and lashed into the empty net from two yards. In my minds eye it's in slow motion, but it definitely happened – pure skill, technique and arrogance. Roy Vernon at his majestic best. Up there with Law and Greaves, until he was injured and never fully recovered. Players like him and Young never got any protection and bit by bit we're kicked to bits, losing effectiveness, past their best at 26. He went to Stoke and was never the same. Basically he was a genius.

I got to know Brian Labone a bit in the last few years of his life and some of the stories he told about those characters were hilarious, including the smoking in the shower, and flicking his fag away running out of tunnel. He later claimed it was a Vick inhaler.

How players like Roy would fare these days is a moot point but I choose to believe he would be even better, with more protection, better training and conditioning, better pitches, better boots and footballs, better surgeons etc.

Nice to see so many on here talking so well about these great players. It's one of the reasons why it's so great being an Evertonian. You couldn't share these things with a Norwegian, I suspect.

Alan McGuffog (98).

IÂ’m sorry Alan youÂ’ve got to give the credit for the train-wrecking to the red shite. They started it on a trip to Doncaster Rovers in the mid- fifties during their eight long years in the second division.

The day they chose to do it on was a Good Friday. They never had any shame then either.

Alan @ 98,

On these pages, I have previously offered proof positive about that Purple Heart beat up. Over the years whenever this matter arose, I have exposed Albert Dunlop our ex-keeper of that period as being a scumbag for dragging Everton's good name through the mud. He contributed a pack of lies to a 'People' newspapers series of scandals that supposedly was aimed at drugs in sport.

Alan Hardacre was Secretary of the FA, when asked to comment said "I would not hang a dog on Dunlops words nor those of any other ex-professional footballer."

Gee, If you lot keep raising things that are part of my Everton experience I can see this particular blog lasting for years.

Alan Hardacre actually made these remarks when it was suggested that ex-footballers should sit on panels to decide on players appealing suspensions.

I don't recall much train-wrecking once Eddie Cavanagh was given the Head Steward's job!

Eddie Cavanagh

The last Scouser to be carried off at Wembley as he laughingly told people.

Eddie Cavanagh.

A legend, Davie, god rest his soul.

I had gone with Mickey Bernard the then Everton full back and a local barber to watch the Ali Bugner fight on the empire.

Eddie Cavanagh came in and spoke to Mickey and went away returning shortly after with a bottle of whiskey. Which we shared during the fights on the screen.

Eddie was virtually a celebrity after his personal pitch invasion at Wembley.

I never realized that Rod Belfitt was with Leeds at the time. I never could understand what Catterick was thinking when he signed him and sold David Johnson.

Ajay, I may have misunderstood you but let's make it clear that the Catt or whoever was actually running things effectively swopped David for Rod Belfitt from Ipswich Town.

Belfitt made 14 League appearances for us in 72-73 scoring 2 goals. He left a year later to join Sunderland whilst Johnson eventually joined Liverpool.

I'm pretty sure there was some kind of behind-the-scenes 'scandal' involving David Johnson. From memory, and what bits leaked out, it was to do with sex with (possibly) underage girls on a trip to Nottingham Forest. My memory is vague on this, but he wasn't at the club for long afterwards. I think other players may have been involved as well.

Chris Williams.

Yes, you are correct, it was how you state; after a game at Notts Forest, allegations were made about certain players... Johnson was one of them, with Alan Whittle also going at the same time to Crystal Palace.

Barry Rees was diagnosed with an enlarged heart. I was at the game against West Ham in 1964 at Upton Park. I had a conversation with Barry before the match, he was a lovely young man very polite.

Tony Kay scored a cracker (he wasn't renowned for his goal scoring) although we lost 4-2.

Phil - I believe that Belfitt was valued at 㿭,000 pounds and Johnson at 𧴜,000.

I remember when Catterick sold Alan Ball and that was the most upset I had ever been with the club. When he sold one of our rising stars, Johnson, I remember thinking "Here we go again" as Johnson had scored in every debut game he had in the cups and league. I think he made a name for himself after that scoring goals at the England level and for our neighbors.

This is a beautiful thread. I also started watching Everton in the '60s and saw all of the players mentioned above although I didn't see the '64 game against Leeds. What a time that was... or was it because I was young?

It's difficult to make comparisons but the most impressive player I've ever seen at Everton was Alan Ball when he joined us from Blackpool after the 1966 World Cup. What a side Everton were though in the '60s.

Great lead article, I remember the game and the thrilling FA Cup 4th Round cup ties between Leeds and Everton in 1963-64 and again in 1964-65, both all-ticket games at Leeds and ending in 1-1 draws. My early Leeds hero was Bobby Collins, who passed away recently, he more than any player instilled a 'winning mentality' in Revie's young Leeds team. Because of Collins and those Everton cup games, I have always followed Everton's results with interest. Strangely, my niece and her husband (both West Yorkshire Police Officers) are Evertonians largely as a result of the successful mid-80s Everton side.

I have the match programme from the 'Battle of Goodison' match with the Sunday newspaper match reports tucked inside. Yes, the 'Dirty Leeds' tag lives on to this day, perpetuated by those who are not old enough to remember the early/mid 1960s. I suggest to them they read the Everton v Leeds Utd programmes from the early 1970s to get an insight on how others in the game viewed Revie's Leeds.

I remember when the 'Dirty Leeds' tag started; after the FA published disciplinary records in the summer of 1964 with Leeds 'heading the table'.

Leeds, newly promoted to Division 1 for the 1964-65 season, were expected to be everyone's 'whipping boy' with fellow promotees Sunderland tipped to do far better.

The 'Battle of Goodison Park' in 1965 cemented the 'Dirty Leeds' tag.

http://www.mightyleeds.co.uk/matches/19641107.htm

The national press started reporting statistics on fouls. bookings etc. as is common today, but quietly dropped the practice when the figures failed to support what they wanted them to say.

Of course, everyone conveniently forgets that Don Revie was twice named Manager of the Year, Bobby Collins, Billy Bremner and Jack Charlton all won Footballer of the Year and, lo and behold, that Dirtiest of Dirty Players, Norman Hunter, was voted the 1st ever PFA Player of the Year in 1974 by his fellow professionals. I can only assume the likes of Tommy Smith, Nobby Stiles, Ron Harris et al must have rigged the poll – lol.