Everton v Leeds Utd, 29 September 1958

Starting with the coach Ian Buchan, I don't think he had any previous experience managing a team, he came from Lochborough (spelt wrong I think) College and had some new ideas to introduce to football, which didn't do Everton or himself much good, he didn't last very long, he followed Cliff Britton and Johnny Carey followed him.

Jimmy O'Neill came from Eire and was in goal for a number of years, Irish international, I think IanBuchan brought Sanders with him when he joined Everton, think his first name was Alan a big strong defender, might have came from Man.City.

Bramwell I think came from New Brighton and him and Alec Ashwort, the inside left went to Luton Town as part of the deal that brought Billy Bingham to Goodison Park.

Johnny King the right half became famous as manager of Tranmere Rovers after he left Everton and I've got a feeling he scored in this game, maybe the winner.

T E Jones was the centre half for many years until the arrival of Brian Labone, Tommy took the penalties and might have played right back when Labone started playing.

Andy you'll have seen Brian Harris when you saw Everton win the FA cup in 1966, the day you became one of us I believe, left half in that match, he started as a winger, left and right.

Jimmy Harris, from the Wirral, the rough part, Birkenhead, same as Brian Williams whom you've met, but not as rough as Brian, Jimmy was acentre forward who took over from Davy Hickson when Davy left for Aston Villa, but was thenpushed on to the wing when Davy came back from Huddersfield Town.

Wally ( Nobby )Fielding acockney joined Everton after the war after a wrangle with Charlton Ath, who claimed he was their player.

Eddie O'Hara came fromFalkirk along with the great Alex Parker, who I presume was doing his national service at the time of this match. Eddie was a Scottish U 23 international who left Everton and joined Barnsley.

After being replaced by Tony Kay he still bided his time and played in various positions when asked.

Always thought Brian was quite underrated.

Dave's right he did play left half in the final and who can forget him putting the coppers hat on after we equalized

I am surprised nobody has blamed Bill Kenwright for our poor start to the 1958-59 season.

John (8), if You Know Who was the chairman, Brian would have got a new three-year contract... Mind you, our greatest ever fan would have been well and truly told where to go by Harry.

Dave (9) Point taken! From what I recall of those days very few, if any, players were given three-year contracts. Clubs held the whip hand in terms of retaining or releasing players.

Belated Birthday Greetings, Andy!

As for you Mr Abrahams. Big Tom, my minder, will be coming to visit you!

evertonresults.com/seasons.htm

Anyway, here we go, Ian Buchan came from Loughborough (sp) College.

Jimmy O'Neill did not play all that much that season. Albert Dunlop being the primary keeper.

Alan Sanders was a rugged fullback. As Dave says, he was holding a place until the wonderful Alex Parker (the best #2 I have seen play for us) returned from National Service.

Brian Labone made his first 4 appearances that season. T.E. Jones actually played left back beginning in the 59-60 season after Labone was introduced following poor early results.

Brian Harris was a real stalwart. He also played at full back on occasion.

Eddie O'Hara was replaced the following season by the incomparable Tommy Ring with Mickey Lill (whom I liked) occasionally playing there as well as on the right.

Not much additional information there. But, it was the time of the "Great Awakening", the arrival of Bobby Collins and the other signings following resulted in a team that it was a pleasure to watch at Goodison leading up to the '62-63 championship win.

Harburn was a summer signing from Brighton a big centre-forward. Everton always had a great away support and thousands of us went to Leicester for the first game of the season and to see our new striker; we lost 2-0 and “Sailor Harburn”, as he was known, was all at sea, useless was one of the nicer descriptions I heard that day.

Not long after, in the Echo, it was reported he had nearly blinded himself. His wife heard a noise in the garden at night and thought it was a burglar, Peter ran out to get him and ran straight into the clothes line. Luckily for us, it kept him out of the team for the next few weeks.

Bobby Laverick was an outside left, signed from Chelsea for ٤,000, he wasn't too bad... in fact, comparing him to Harburn, he was sensational!!!

Then, as Terry says, came the outstanding Bobby Collins and the magical Tommy Ring to lift Everton from a very poor team to one that it was a privilege to watch.

I agree with Terry that Mickey Lill played a good part in that as a goal-scoring winger, Mickey was unlucky with a series of injuries and was replaced by Billy Bingham, Roy Vernon and Jimmy Gabriel were added to the team and unfortunately Bobby Collins never got the champions medal he richly deserved, being transferred to Leeds, one of Harry Catterick's rare mistakes.

I also thought Laverick was not too bad, clearly I was impressed by a player joining us from the south, Bobby's record was 6 goals in 22 league games. He was certainly better than Peter Kavanagh (my family called him "the voice of them all" after a well-known ventriloquist of the time). Kavanagh, another left winger, we went through them at the time, was signed from Romford and played 4 games without troubling the scorers.

Also, Jimmy Glazzard who played 3 games as a replacement for Davie, 3 games no goals, although he did have a very good career previously with Huddersfield.

I like your description of Mickey Lill as a "goal scoring winger". 12 goals in 34 league and cup appearances speaks for itself. Without his injuries perhaps we would not have needed to sign Bingham who, of course, was a well-known player at the time. Still, Billy scored 26 in 98 league and cup appearances, again an excellent return.

I am unsure whether Collins sale to Leeds was a "mistake". Of course he went on and continued to have a distinguished career there. But would we have won the league with Collins and not Dennis Stevens in the team? I am not so sure. Actually different types of players and Stevens did a lot of the leg work for players like Young and Vernon.

Bobby Collins was signed from Celtic and went immediately into the team which won (our first win of the season after losing the first 6 games) 3-1 at Maine Road against Manchester City, one week before the Leeds United game. Bobby was among the scorers and I was among the crowd, I would imagine Dave was also.

Terry you keep bringing players back, to my memory bank, from those great days, Peter Kavanagh, a bit of a character, signed from Romford, as you say, for £1,000 I believe, he actually had one leg shorter than the other, he wasn't very good and in a reserve game he was getting a lot of stick from the crowd, he went to take a corner and the crowd were still on his back, he turned round to them and said “ what did you expect for £1,000 f- - cking Ghento. who was a top winger with Real Madrid.

Terry I wasn't at that game when Bobby made his debut at Maine Road, don't know why as I didn't miss many games those days, especially with it being just up the road.

Bobby Collins was actually on the point of signing for the Blues when he was seventeen, he had agreed terms but was snatched away at the last minute by Celtic.

Hi Dave [18] I never had the pleasure [?] of seeing Peter Harburn or Jimmy Glazzard, I was at the time, serving Queen and Country in Cyprus. I still believe that the 1960/61 team was a joy to watch, they displayed a brand of football that fans of our generation had never witnessed. I could drool over the players I have been fortunate to have seen, wearing the 'Royal Blue' of Everton down the years, but I think I'll slip into a corner and wallow in nostalgia. Best wishes John.

I had a soft spot for Eddie O'Hara who'd been signed as part of the deal that brought the great Alex Parker to Goodison, but who during that season missed games because of his National Service. O'Hara was little and tricky, an old style Scottish winger, but he was not robust enough for English football.

This must be an early game for Brian Harris at wing half, because he'd usually been a left winger himself prior to the signing of O'Hara and Laverick.

Hi Rick [26], you are correct in saying that Brian Harris started his Everton career as a winger initially on the right, but latterly on the left. I was at Turf Moor the day he made his debut along with Jimmy Harris, Everton won 1-0 through a Tommy Jones penalty in the first couple of minutes, unfortunately our coach driver lost his way to the ground and we arrived too late to witness it. Brian first operated as a wing half in September 1958 ,a 6-1 home defeat to Arsenal. Like Alex Parker, I too was in Cyprus serving with the army.

Following my demob, I didn't see enough of Eddie O'Hara or Bobby Laverick to form an opinion of either, although I did see Bobby Laverick the day that Everton were humbled 3-0 in a third round FA Cup tie against Bradford City.

It is strange indeed how one looks at the 1966 World Cup winners. I feel as if they were all born that year.

Thanks for that, and it throws up two other very good players, this time from the Leeds team: Jack Overfield, a tall outside left, very, very tricky, a great dribbler, always worth watching.

The other one, you have down as Growe, I think that could be Chris Crowe, an inside forward later transferred to Blackburn for a good fee. Another very good player who I think won U23 caps with England.

Jack Charlton played for Leeds in the 1959-60 fixture at Goodison but it was on a Saturday.

He also played in the 1957-58 game that was an Easter game played on a Good Friday afternoon so that is probably the one you attended.

http://www.evertonresults.com/match04041958.html

Johnnie was interviewing Lesley Anne Jones, a rock journalist, who mentioned that her grandfather, Emlyn ‘Mickey' Jones, once (bizarrely) played pitch and putt with David Bowie at Margate. She then went on to say that Mickey was a famous footballer who played for Everton.

From the brief research I've done since via Google, Wikipedia, Everton Results.com and my Everton Encyclopaedia it seems that Mickey was on our books in the early 30s, but did not make a senior appearance. He did have a lengthy career with Southend.

Surely this is one for the Everton Heritage Society? A blue plaque at Margate pitch and putt?

This one somehow got under my radar.

I don't comment much about games that took place before I was old enough to go, but I love to read what the likes of Dave A. John Mac, Rick Tarleton and Terry White have got to say.

What these guys know about this club will not come as a surprise to anybody who reads their posts... but what they remember about individual matches, sometimes makes read 3-4 times.

I can't remember what I had for breakfast most days. They talk about isolated incidents in matches which took place 60 years ago.

I don't wish to appear conceited, but my enthusiasm was boundless and quite often I was requested to settle arguments in our local pub, I feel sure that Dave, Rick, and Terry were likewise engaged. I have to ask my Grandson, Josh, who has attended matches with me since he was 6 years old, (he's now approaching 15) questions like, "Who knocked us out of the League Cup two seasons ago?" Luckily enough he appears to have grasped the baton, and his memory is as good as mine used to be.

Although I still attend matches, I find that I don't get the enjoyment I used to get from victories, nor do I suffer the same despair from defeats, unless they're at the hands of our neighbours, no more sleepless nights. Josh has inherited them.

Till the day I die, I will never forget the walk you gave me round Goodison Park.

I was born in 1955 but my Glaswegian dad (me Ma's scouse) used to eulogise no end on Bobby Collins, Tommy Ring and the rest of those above. Let's face it, football was way more honest back in the day, and all the better for it.

I for one very much miss the "beauty" of the perfectly executed "hard" tackle that was commonplace in yesteryear. They emphasised the glory of the stunning goals scored by those boys. They were thereby true legends.

The current "no contact" mandate does my head in. It's boring.