Fan Article 19comments | Jump to last This article may have been recategorised and is therefore no longer available at this URL. You can try to find the updated link in the article archive. Reader Comments (19) Note: the following content is not moderated or vetted by the site owners at the time of submission. Comments are the responsibility of the poster. Disclaimer () Jim Milner 1 Posted 22/04/2025 at 14:48:10 Typo spotted on my first paragraph. It was meant to be purpose built football staduim! Dermot O'Brien 2 Posted 22/04/2025 at 14:48:55 Excellent Jim. Thanks. Jeff Spiers 3 Posted 22/04/2025 at 16:50:23 Staduim? Jim!! Never mind, absolutely brilliant piece of work and detail Michael Kenrick Editorial Team 4 Posted 22/04/2025 at 18:30:25 This is a really interesting piece, Jim, and seems to contain a lot more detail than I've seen before. You don't cite any sources, and it may be impertinent of me to enquire, but I don't remember seeing all of those details expressed in by Thomas Keates in his epic 1929 History of the Everton Football Club.ps: I corrected your typo already! Danny O'Neill 5 Posted 22/04/2025 at 18:51:26 Hats off Jim. Educational and I've learned things I didn't know about our historical origins. When Villa wore a strip that resembled there original colours to mark their 150th anniversary, my son and I googled it and saw the blue and white stripes you refer to.I have to admit, I wasn't sure, but I wonder if we would do something similar?Great read. Thank you Jim. Billy Bradshaw 6 Posted 22/04/2025 at 19:34:44 Brilliant Jim, has Michael said @ 4 a lot more details not seen before, left me intrigued how you got hold of all the information, feel free to tell me to mind my own business if you want. Jim Milner 7 Posted 23/04/2025 at 08:31:31 Hi Michael and Billy,This article was originally intended to be the first chapter (slightly adapted) of a book I was putting together, covering the history of Everton from 1878 to 1909. The book would have explored the split and move to Goodison Park, the first League and FA Cup wins, and the first overseas tour — all topics I've touched on in previous articles on ToffeeWeb:Before the Big Bang, Everton's 1905 Tour'The Pioneers of Football in Foreign Lands!'My main sources for this piece were: History of the Everton Football Club by Thomas Keates,Everton, The Official Centenary History by John Roberts, Virgin Blues. by David France & David PrenticeAnd most importantly, The Men from the Hill Country by Tony Onslow. I also can't leave out the numerous and excellent articles on the Everton Heritage website — they've been invaluable. James Hughes 8 Posted 23/04/2025 at 08:49:47 Lovely article, Jim.Many thanks for the read. Barry McNally 9 Posted 23/04/2025 at 14:27:45 Thank you Jim. Roger Helm 10 Posted 23/04/2025 at 16:56:43 Very interesting article. I had it in my head we dated from 1878. And the 2-2-6 formation sounds great, maybe Mr Moyes should try it! Alan McGuffog 11 Posted 24/04/2025 at 15:07:36 Really informative Jim, thanks for your efforts. But 1878 is just...wrong...then ? We began in 1879 ? Barry McNally 12 Posted 24/04/2025 at 15:11:18 Roger and Alan, I'm confused too or else it took us over 10 months to organise the first match after being established! Paul Kossoff 13 Posted 24/04/2025 at 23:59:46 Thanks Jim, great read. MORE!!!😁 Duncan McDine 14 Posted 25/04/2025 at 08:49:48 Loved reading this Jim. Am I right in thinking our very own Sam Hoare was part of the writing team on The English Game? Billy Bradshaw 15 Posted 26/04/2025 at 10:55:04 Jim @ 7, thank you for your reply. Derek Thomas 16 Posted 29/04/2025 at 08:08:30 Great stuff, Jim... and one in the eye of any sectarian bigots who like to latch their hate on our club. Hugh Jenkins 17 Posted 29/04/2025 at 08:11:28 Great read - thanks Jim.On a side note some of you may not know that Sam Hoare, a regular reader and contributor to ToffeeWeb, wrote one of the episodes of the Netflix series mentioned: The English Game. Steve Shave 18 Posted 29/04/2025 at 08:19:48 No way! Sam, that is brilliant, mate, well done :) Sam Hoare 19 Posted 03/05/2025 at 00:58:08 Great work Jim, fascinating piece.And thanks Steve. Currently working on another football project much closer to home! (Still a long way to go and can't say anything official) Add Your Comments In order to post a comment, you need to be logged in as a registered user of the site. » Log in now Or Sign up as a ToffeeWeb Member — it's free, takes just a few minutes and will allow you to post your comments on articles and Talking Points submissions across the site. How to get rid of these ads and support TW © ToffeeWeb