Long since viewed as the most perplexing conundrum in ’70s English football, popular conception has Everton, laudable league champions in 1970, floundering through the remainder of a barren, often bewildering decade.
That the years went by without silverware is not open to question, the Goodison Park trophy room as time passed becoming a shrine to glory now gone rather than waiting area for arriving honours. Indeed, through a number of middling seasons, a concerted twilight descended on the land of Evertonia – the shadows cast darker and wider due to the contrasting sunlit uplands on the other side of Stanley Park.
In truth football supremacy on Merseyside switched to Anfield before the 1970s had reached the eighteen month mark and would remain there for a generation. Everton were consigned to reduced circumstances while the neighbours took the upper hand first locally, then nationally, before conquering Europe almost at will – Goodison retaining its splendour while all the time next door kept expanding and building upwards.
So the outward perception is established – Liverpool made off with everything, Everton won nowt and all forlorn Evertonians could do was pray this purgatory would eventually pass.
Yet closer scrutiny of the actualities reveals a slightly different narrative. The gulf between the two clubs in terms of trophy winning exploits remains beyond dispute, although rather as often envisaged, (Everton spending the 1970s rolling aimlessly along), there were a number of near misses, which but for a different twist of fate might have resulted in tangible reward.
At times the Toffees appear their own worst enemies – had it not been for the existence of Welsh referee Clive Thomas that is.
The decline in fortunes coincided with the rapid break-up of the 1970 championship winning ensemble. All four Everton representatives named in the England World Cup squad of the same year, accomplished full-backs Tommy Wright and Keith Newton, commanding centre-half and captain Brian Labone and an inspirational talent named Alan Ball, all lost, for one reason or another to manager Harry Catterick before the decade was three seasons old – Catterick himself not making it to a fourth.
In the wake of front line personnel departing the scene due to injury-enforced retirement or transfer, there is a clear sense of the team being in uncomfortable transition. Better days would occur during the mid-70s, the Gwladys Street having latter era goal hero Bob Latchford to extol, but even then Everton, despite being at least the equal of say Stoke City, Wolves and West Ham, (who each won a cup), were unable to assemble a one-off trophy winning side.
In contrast and no doubt scant consolation, unlike the three aforementioned, along with Spurs and Chelsea, (winners of five early 70s trophies between them), Everton did not suffer the indignity of relegation. The peaks and troughs experienced by others, equated at Goodison to a long, often non-descript furrow with the occasional rise and rut.
Between 1970 and 1979 there would be two losing FA Cup Semi-Final appearances, each made worse due to happening against the same omnipresent opposition, defeat in the League Cup Final and a near title miss that made even the most devout Evertonian question their own fortitude.
SAMTIMONIOUS.com duly takes a 70s stroll to a berth on the Bullens Road to watch the mishaps, maybes and mystery of it all unfold…………..
1970-71: Division One 14th (37pts). European Cup: Quarter-Finals. FA Cup: Semi-Finals. Charity Shield: Winners. League Cup: Did not enter. Top scorer: Joe Royle (23).
It is somewhat ironic the first line of a new chapter in what would prove a tale more bitter than sweet, should begin with the last laurel to go the way of Goodison until Frankie Goes to Hollywood were a chart-topping Liverpool pop band, rather than Four Seasons vocalist Valli locating to Los Angeles.
On Saturday 8 August 1970 Everton, as league champions, travelled to Stamford Bridge in order to contest the Charity Shield against FA Cup winners Chelsea. Goals from Alan Whittle and Howard Kendall (one third of an exceptional middle of the park axis also featuring Ball and Colin Harvey) secured a 2-1 success that suggested resumption rather than regression – the latter looking more the case as after failing to win any of their first six league games, Catterick’s side languished one place above the relegation zone.
The first victory of the season, achieved at West Ham on 6 September, precipitated six on the trot including home and away triumphs over Icelandic small fry Keflavik in round one of the European Cup. But overall consistency would prove illusive through the rest of a wildly fluctuating, often unfathomable season.
The anomalies attached to Everton during their post-title winning season were everywhere. At Coventry on October 3 they conceded the most talked about goal of the season, their former striker Ernie Hunt volleying home from the edge of the box after Willie Carr had flicked the ball up from between his heels. In the weeks that followed the 3-1 reversal at Highfield Road came creditable second round European Cup progress at the expense of West German champions Borussia Monchengladbach – the Toffees advancing by virtue of a 4-3 Goodison second-leg penalty shoot-out triumph (both legs ending 1-1), thus becoming the first English side to advance in Europe by such means.
But if a 4-0 October hiding off eventual double winners Arsenal at Highbury (a game where Henry Newton, a recent £150,000 buy from Nottingham Forest, made his debut), was disconcerting, the mood became even more morose when a 2-0 lead was let slip at Anfield of all places – the ensuing 3-2 defeat casting a cloud under which the last six weeks of the year passed with only one win.
But the onset of 1971 brought an upturn in fortunes, the opening two months bringing overdue remainder of their capabilities, ten league fixtures returned only one defeat while they also won through to the FA Cup semi-finals.
In early March the European Cup also returned to the agenda and in a field that had never included notable perennials such as Real Madrid, either Milan club or Benfica, there was room for optimism as Everton had already ousted one of the most vaunted sides in the West German champions. Coupled with the fact they had avoided difficult customers such as Celtic, Atletico Madrid and fast-emerging Dutch threat Ajax in the quarter-final draw, being paired with Greek side Panathinaikos was not altogether perturbing.
Even when the visitors, in the charge of Hungarian great Ferenc Puskas, managed a 1-1 first-leg Goodison draw, the English champions were still expected to prevail. Yet two weeks later Everton were frustrated in their efforts to secure the necessary victory – the away goal scored at the Park End proving crucial as the hosts’ held out through a tetchy, bad-tempered game for the goalless draw that sent them through (they would go on to lose a Wembley final to Ajax).
Three days on from the anguish in Athens came a fixture loaded with wide ranging connotations – an all-Merseyside FA Cup semi-final meeting with Liverpool at Old Trafford.
Victory and the subsequent convergence on Wembley would put some heat beneath a half-baked campaign, with defeat consigning it to a season that rarely rose above the lukewarm.
When Ball put them ahead in the 11th minute it felt redemption might be at hand, only for misfortune to take hold early in the second half. Five minutes after half-time influential skipper Labone was forced to leave the field with a leg injury (he would only play twice more that season, injuries restricting him to just 23 appearances through 1970-71).
In his absence Liverpool exploited the required defensive reshuffle, goals from Alun Evans (58) and Brian Hall (75) clinching an FA Cup Final place for Bill Shankly’s side, who with it assumed superiority over their city rivals for the decade to come.
Exiting the European and FA Cups in such quick succession proved a double disappointment that would engulf Goodison through the foreseeable future. The short term consequence was a miserable eight match meander to the finish that yielded only one win – Everton, just 12 months on from being crowned champions, docking in their lowest position since three young Merseyside friends named Lennon, McCartney and Harrison were knocking about in a combo known as Johnny and the Moondogs.
1971-72: Division One 15th (36pts). FA Cup: Fifth Round. League Cup: Second Round. Top Scorer: David Johnson (11).
When start of the 1971-72 season rolled around, John, Paul, George and Ringo had come along, changed popular music forever but were now gone. Together as Beatles they had once recorded a song entitled ‘Getting Better‘ – but after such an underwhelming showing last time out, Everton now found life becoming worse.
The ominous signs of decline would go seemingly unchecked as the team floundered through a lack of goal power, injury blighted stalwarts and worst of all, departure of their most inspirational figure.
Rather than halt the slide that took hold as 1970-71 lurched to an end, Everton began the term by slipping straight into a new one. They reached mid-November in the lower reaches of Division One after winning just four of their opening 18 fixtures that included a second round League Cup exit at Southampton.
So the portents going into a Goodison derby fixture were not conducive to joy, but it returned unconfined, albeit briefly, when an effort from young striker David Johnson proved enough to clinch victory. Seven days after Shankly and co were sent packing, visiting Southampton were annihilated as Joe Royle (4) and Johnson (3) ran riot, the other name on the scoresheet being World Cup winner Ball, whose goal was the last he would score in an Everton shirt.
Three weeks later double holders Arsenal paid a (then) British record fee of £220,000 in taking him to Highbury – his exit adding to the general air of disenchantment for which manager Catterick was starting to bear the brunt.
When Ball faced his former team-mates in North London on New Year’s Day, they were again embroiled in a winless streak, which stretched to six with the 1-1 draw against Arsenal.
The following week brought a welcome victory when they won at West Ham and while it prompted short-term improvement, the season effectively ended with a fifth round FA Cup exit at Spurs in late February. Once more the home straight was another disheartening affair, this dismal 13-match run generating nine draws, an Anfield drubbing and a single win.
Overall, the goal statistics made for atrocious reading. Just nine scored on their travels (Everton the sole top flight side not to pass the double figure mark) and putting aside the eight put past Southampton, only twenty were managed at Goodison, the combined home/away tally of 37 only four more than scored by leading Division One marksman Francis Lee of Manchester City.
Defensive stalwarts Labone (4, who subsequently retired), Keith Newton (13) and Wright (17) played less than 40 games between them, while midfield maestro Harvey featured in just 17. The tepid 1-1 Goodison draw against already relegated Nottingham Forest in the final game of the season, played in front of less than 22,000, brought indication of just how deep the malaise was rooted.
1972-73: Division One 17th (37pts). FA Cup: Fifth Round. League Cup: Second Round. Top Scorer: Joe Harper (8).
Rather than recovery or discernible decline, a state of inertia took hold as 70s continued to unfold. Everton, despite trying expensive means of addressing their concerns, ended up in more or less the same league position with similar diminishing cup returns.
Through both halves of 1972, Catterick, not in the best of health following a heart attack in January, splashed out to increase the goal threat carried by his charges. At various times through the year he invested in John Connolly (St Johnstone, £75,000), Joe Harper (Aberdeen, £180,000) and Rod Belfitt (Ipswich £65,000, this in a deal that surprisingly allowed young striker Johnson to move in the opposite direction), yet it was too little or no avail as Everton were once again among the lowest scorers with only two sides netting fewer in away matches.
The initial portents were actually encouraging, the Toffees breathing the rarified air at the top of the table after five wins and three draws from the first eight league matches, the only blemish being a second round League Cup defeat at Arsenal.
But on suffering defeat for the first time midway through September the wheels came off to such an extent that when 1973 dawned, 16 league games later, they had dropped to fifteenth having recorded only three wins in between.
They picked up a modicum of momentum through the early weeks of the year, but a fourth round FA Cup exit at the hands of second division visitors Millwall prompted another tailspin resulting in Catterick being relieved of his managerial duties on April 11, his 12-year Goodison tenure continuing in a non-executive role.
The six match caretaker stewardship of Tommy Eggleston brought nothing to write home about, three heavy away defeats, two goalless draws and solitary victory bringing end to another season that could not finish quickly enough – and as Everton dithered in first gear, the trophy bandwagon began rolling again with not one, but two ending up across the way.
1973-74: Division One 9th (44pts). Texaco Cup: First Round. FA Cup: Fourth Round. League Cup: Third Round. Top Scorer: Mick Lyons (9).
Having most recently been in charge of the Greek national side and then AEK Athens, in the summer of 1973 the Everton board, (after failing to lure Don Revie away from Leeds), turned to Billy Bingham as the manager to oversee elevation out of the doldrums – the former Northern Ireland international no stranger to Goodison having been part of Catterick’s 1962-63 title winning troupe.
While there was no obvious no broom effect through a mediocre start where only three of the first eleven matches resulted in wins (the period also including a first round two-leg Texaco Cup exit inflicted by Hearts), notable progress coincided with arrival of Northern Ireland midfield man Dave Clements, an £80,000 Bingham purchase from second division Sheffield Wednesday.
Four straight league wins (supplemented with a couple of League Cup victories) saw them climb to second in the table, but the feel good factor evaporated on exiting the League Cup at Norwich, one win in the next eight dictating a swift return to no man’s land.
Successive home wins over Christmas, FA Cup third round progress and a commendable mid-January point taken off league leaders Leeds, did their best to keep inconvenience caused by power cuts, a three day week and the incessant presence of ‘Merry Xmas Everybody‘ by Slade at bay, only for the season to enter blackout with round four of the FA Cup.
The draw paired Everton with West Bromwich Albion in a repeat of the 1968 final. Now languishing in Division Two, Albion had gone home from Wembley with trophy six years before, the present day fourth round tie after a Goodison stalemate reverting to The Hawthorns – where West Brom once more won out by the only goal, leaving their beaten opponents to three months among the also-rans.
With the season now in danger of slipping into insignificance, interest was revived with the £350,000 acquisition of Birmingham striker Bob Latchford, ’70 title winning ace Kendall and defender Archie Styles leaving for St Andrew’s as part of the deal.
Arrival of a player destined to become the stand out Everton player of the decade sustained hope for better times. His seven goal return from thirteen appearances bringing light to an otherwise desultory final third of the season that resulted in six wins, six losses and four draws from the last 16 games.
When the dust settled only two home defeats through the campaign could not be overlooked in regard to improved standards and neither could a 7th placed finish following the fitful campaigns to precede it. But they were marginal successes when compared to the FA Cup returning to Merseyside for the first time since Everton lifted the trophy eight years before – the curtains kept tightly drawn as over the road they threw another party.
1974-75: Division One 3rd (50pts). FA Cup: Fifth Round. League Cup. Second Round. Top Scorer: Bob Latchford (19).
If the season just gone had stopped the rot, then distinct shoots of recovery could be seen through the early league outings of 1974-75 – Bingham, who in August 1974 became the first British manager to spend £300,000 on a player in signing Burnley captain Martin Dobson, witnessing his side move unbeaten through the first five matches.
In fact compared to circumstances elsewhere Everton were suddenly a bastion of stability. Through the summer there had been changes of manager at both Leeds and Liverpool (the league champions and FA Cup winners of the previous season), while managerial comings and goings were also soon afoot at West Ham, Spurs, Chelsea and QPR – the 44 day Elland Road reign of Brian Clough already over when Leeds suffered a 3-2 Goodison defeat in late September.
After registering three wins and two draws (climbing to third in the process), the first defeat was a 1-0 reversal at Ipswich. Yet rather than usher in a collapse (second round League Cup exit to Division Two Aston Villa, the eventual winners, notwithstanding), it set in motion a fifteen game unbeaten run through to the shortest day of the year.
The previous week Everton hit the front when a Latchford goal (his seventh of the season) secured victory at fellow title hopefuls Derby – and on Saturday 21 December 1974 they threatened to make short work of second bottom Carlisle, a first half Latchford brace putting another win on ice.
But the second half brought with it an astonishing turnaround. The Cumbrians hit back to win on scoring three times in quick succession – the undefeated league trot stretching back to Portman Road on September 7 ending amidst the most head-scratching 45 minutes Goodison was to witness, even through a decade as baffling as the 70s.
As the title triumph of 1969-70 began receding further into memory with the late 1974 departures of Harvey (Sheffield Wednesday) and Royle (Manchester City), a present day championship challenge, following a stutter over Christmas, began to be talked up again with a three match winning streak that lifted them back into pole position – a concerted assault on both major prizes looking possible when the fifth round FA Cup draw came up with a home tie against second division Fulham.
Once again, however, circumstances entered the realm of the mind-boggling. Referee Thomas disallowed two legitimate goals (one for each side) in making himself the central figure of a fixture in which the visitors prevailed by the odd goal in three.
Central defender Roger Kenyon scored in between two efforts from Martyn Busby, the Fulham centre-forward clinching their surprise victory (the Craven Cottage side going all the way to Wembley where they would lose to West Ham), with seven minutes left.
Disappointing as it was to exit the FA Cup, it served to focus minds on becoming league champions and beginning with a goalless draw against at Anfield against a home side who, in the first season with Bob Paisley in charge, also had title ambitions, three wins and another draw took Everton back to the head of the field. Their position as leaders was not affected by defeat at Middlesbrough and home draw against Ipswich, whose own hopes of being crowned champions had not yet been extinguished.
But a 3-0 Easter Saturday defeat at bottom of the pile, soon to be relegated Carlisle was calamitous and although the ground was recovered by edging past visiting Coventry 48 hours later, it was fast developing into a title race where none of the contenders could manage two steps forward without taking one back. As it became a case of any side that could hold their nerve would likely end up holding the trophy, Everton lost theirs – their challenge running aground on the back of only one win in the last five games.
Even the advantage of having a far from daunting run-in could not be pressed home. Points dropped to relegation destined Chelsea and Luton (the 2-1 Kenilworth Road defeat a hammer blow), the tin hat was applied once and for all when a 2-0 half-time lead against visiting Sheffield United in the penultimate fixture transformed into only the second home defeat of the season.
If clutching at straws became the order of the day, Latchford scored the most league goals by an Everton striker since Royle four years before, losing fewer games than anyone (including Derby who emerged to win the title with the lowest points tally for 20 years) and qualifying for the UEFA Cup each offered something to grab hold of.
But there was no hiding from the fact glory had slipped from their grasp, third place nothing by way of consolation, particularly in light of who finished runners-up.
1975-76: Division One 11th (42pts). UEFA Cup: First Round. FA Cup: Third Round. League Cup: Fourth Round. Top Scorer: Bob Latchford (13).
If intense frustration was the prevailing mood around Goodison when time came to reflect on the previous season, it gradually became replaced by a withered feeling as 1975-76 came and went – the months passing in a spluttering, inconsistent way, before ending in a manner that was neither here nor there.
Opening with a surprise 4-1 home loss to Coventry, the response was three wins and a draw from the next four games. Despite conceding four more during an early-September reversal at Norwich, they would not lose another league game until receiving a mid-October thumping at title pursuers QPR, although by this point UEFA Cup interest had come and gone with a first round exit against AC Milan, whose 1-0 success in the San Siro followed a first-leg, goalless draw on Merseyside.
By the beginning of November the Toffees had climbed to sixth, but it developed into a forgettable month with only two draws to show from five league outings (including a 5-2 beating off Leeds at Elland Road), while League Cup involvement ended with a fourth round replay loss in the second division surroundings of Notts County.
It was downbeat period from which the season never really recovered. Birmingham took a 5-2 Goodison hiding as Everton moved through December unbeaten, but they took one themselves (0-5) at Newcastle ten days into the new year, the trouncing on Tyneside coming seven days after their FA Cup hopes came to grief at Derby.
Quick fire late-February victories over Spurs and Wolves as February ended stopped a winless run stretching back to December 19, although any notions of making a late charge for UEFA Cup qualification ended with a subsequent five match losing streak. Four wins from the last six took them to an 11th placed finish – yet it all felt so what as a League Championship and UEFA Cup double wound its way along Walton Breck Road.
1976-77: Division One 9th (42pts). FA Cup: Semi-Finals. League Cup: Finalists. Top scorer: Bob Latchford (25).
Through the long and distinguished history of Goodison Park there have been altogether different seasons than the one about to transpire, some swathed in glory, others evoking far less emotion – but none, to the outsider at least, so perplexing as 1976-77.
Through the first half it feels, no matter how many signings Bingham made to dilute the disappointment, the hangover from the failed title challenge of two seasons before is refusing to shift, the manager paying the price with his job just as the Christmas decorations came down. The second act finally produced some long haul cup involvement, but even then the result was fatalism rather than fanfares.
If nothing else they finished the opening day in top spot, a 4-0 Loftus Road leathering of QPR (who had missed out on the title by a point the previous season), the undoubted highlight of an undulating league campaign.
Through the opening dozen league fixtures things frequently seem all over the place, five wins, four draws, three losses, the opening ten weeks encapsulated at Spurs on October 26 when they scored twice in the final 90 seconds to earn a point, leaving White Hart Lane with a 3-3 draw after trailing 2-0 at half-time.
Three league defeats in four during November and a drop to tenth did not amount to making headway although an impressive 3-0 League Cup quarter-final success at Old Trafford on the opening day of December momentarily alleviated the mounting pressure on their under-fire manager.
But in terms of joyful and triumphant it was the festive season over in one go. Five weeks and no league wins later (Manchester United extracting revenge by dishing out a post-Christmas Old Trafford clumping), Bingham, irrespective of a two-leg League Cup semi-final against Division Two Bolton Wanderers in the offing, being shown the door 48 hours after a 2-0 third round FA Cup victory over visiting Stoke.
Loitering down in thirteenth place and eight league games without a win sealed his fate, a three and a half year reign coming to an end January 10 1977.
With Goodison in a state of flux, Bolton secured a 1-1 draw to establish advantage in the League Cup stakes, Everton, through the four match caretaker reign of Steve Burtenshaw were also held to a 2-2 fourth round FA Cup share of the spoils at third division Swindon. In then suffering two more league defeats, the relegation zone began to feel ominously near.
To revive their ailing fortunes, the Everton directors turned to 43-year-old Gordon Lee, who left Newcastle to accept the job, his arrival at least not tarnished by FA Cup embarrassment as come February 1st Swindon were beaten 2-1 to secure a fifth round place. The following weekend brought defeat in Lee’s first league game, the 2-0 loss at Aston Villa (who completed a league double over the Toffees), loaded with more significance than anyone at the time realised.
When followed by a home reversal against Leicester the precariousness of their lowly league standing was now giving genuine cause for concern. The successive league losses just incurred were hardly the best preparation for the League Cup Semi Final second-leg at Burnden Park, but a Latchford goal was sufficient to overcome Bolton and secure a first Wembley visit for nine years – where awaiting them would be Aston Villa, for whom Lee had played over a hundred games as a player in the early 1960s.
Success in the League Cup semi-final triggered a five match winning streak that greatly improved their league standing and with a fifth round victory at Cardiff they booked an FA Cup quarter final place. On the back of this profitable run they arrived to face Villa beneath the Twin Towers, the sides unable to be separated then or during a Hillsborough replay four days later, a late Latchford equaliser securing the 1-1 draw that took the series to a third game.
While they were unable to overcome Villa, Derby presented no such obstacle and were dispatched in a sixth round Goodison FA Cup tie on Saturday 19 March, while three days later the Merseyside rivals were aware they would be facing each other in the last four when sharing the derby points at the same venue.
With their league form continuing to show marked improvement, the League Cup Final returned to the itinerary, this mammoth struggle finally decided when the Villa Park side prevailed by the odd goal in five at Old Trafford – their 3-2 extra-time victory consigning Lee to defeat in successive seasons having lost the 1976 League Cup Final to Manchester City when in charge at St James’ Park.
There was a spirited response from his disappointed team as consecutive league wins were chalked up before meeting Liverpool in the Maine Road FA Cup semi-final clash, Everton dealt their first blow of a dramatic day when Latchford was ruled out through injury. The second arrived when they fell behind to a well-taken 10th minute Terry McDermott goal, but those in blue rallied to level through Duncan McKenzie before half-time, the pendulum swinging back toward Paisley’s side on the strength of a 72nd minute Jimmy Case header.
Ten minutes later, however, the transported Gwladys Street rose to acclaim a Bruce Rioch leveller, the balance of probability for an Everton victory seemingly borne out when substitute Bryan Hamilton deflected a Ronnie Goodlass cross past Liverpool goalkeeper Ray Clemence and into the net.
Yet the celebrations became short-lived as referee Thomas intervened to disallow the goal with the most contentious decision ever made in an FA Cup semi-final. BBC match commentator John Motson guessed at offside (despite there being no raised flag), others surmising Hamilton had used his hand in scoring (not supported by the television footage), the reaction of the Liverpool defence being one of conceding a legitimate goal.
Amidst conjecture and controversy ended one of the most compelling FA Cup semi-finals of the decade. Everton by most accounts (including a number offered by red shirted opponents), had played well, been the better side and deserved to win. But while true of the first meeting, none of this applied to the sequel when Liverpool, chasing a trophy treble of League, European and FA Cup, won through to meet Manchester United at Wembley, their 3-0 margin of victory by no means flattering.
The resilience Lee had instilled in the side, personified by the likes of tenacious full-back Mick Pejic, who Lee had made his first signing when he paid Stoke £135,000 for the former England international back in February, was apparent during a protracted end to the season caused by the glut of cup fixtures.
In the nine matches after the FA Cup semi-final replay defeat, Everton presented themselves as difficult to beat, six draws and just one loss in the next seven games, followed by consecutive wins to round things off, represented clear notice of upward trajectory – a ninth placed finish two places higher than where they came to dock 12 months before.
For Evertonians there could be quiet satisfaction amid the cup sorrows, although the lingering sense of injustice caused by their Maine Road misfortune was not helped by the achievements of adjacent adversaries in becoming champions of England, (a domestic double denied them by Manchester United in the FA Cup Final) and for the first time, Europe.
1977-78: Division One: 3rd (55pts). FA Cup: Fourth Round. League Cup: Fifth Round. Top Scorer: Bob Latchford (32).
In readiness for his first season at the helm, Lee busied himself in the transfer market, conducting an overhaul of the squad that brought a steady flow of new faces and departures. Two signings in particular Blackpool goalkeeper George Wood (£150,000) and QPR winger Dave Thomas (£200,000) added to the nucleus of skipper Mike Lyons, Andy King, Duncan McKenzie, Latchford, Pejic and Dobson, who would see Everton through a season that would be memorable for the period, if not an unqualified success in the general scheme of things.
Despite the changes in personnel, successive defeats for openers made for an inauspicious start. The midweek Highbury reversal was preceded by an opening day 3-1 Goodison defeat inflicted by newly promoted Nottingham Forest – whose return to Division One under the guidance of Brian Clough and Peter Taylor was about to send Richter scale reverberations through the top flight of English football.
During autumn, with Forest enjoying time in the limelight as novelty league leaders, Everton emerged as the only side Clough’s crew could see when looking over their shoulders – a 22 match league and League Cup unbeaten run, beginning after the loss at Arsenal on August 23rd, lifting the Toffees into second place where they would remain through most of the days to come.
With Thomas providing penetration out wide along with pinpoint crosses, the attack, spearheaded by Latchford carried genuine potency. Each passing month saw havoc wreaked on at least one set of opponents, Leicester 5-1 (September), QPR 5-1 (October), Coventry 6-0 (November), Lee adding to his already flourishing first team pool by spending £170,000 on Arsenal midfielder Trevor Ross six weeks before Christmas.
By the time Santa came calling Latchford already had 17 league goals to his name, the Boxing Day visit of 14th in the table Manchester United presenting no likely threat to their four month undefeated foray. Yet it proved a day when from cover to cover the form book made no sense, what festive fun there was all enjoyed by the visitors who by the 68th minute led 5-0. Latchford and Dobson each netted to reduce the arrears, although in between United had scored again in recording a scarcely believable 6-2 win.
After January 1978 began with successive FA Cup and league victories over Aston Villa, thus gaining more revenge for the League Cup Final defeat of the previous season (Everton having already won at Villa Park back in August), the remainder of the month contained nothing in the way of joy – exits from the League Cup (at Leeds), FA Cup (at Middlesbrough) coming either side of a league reversal at Wolves.
The Ayresome Park FA Cup departure had the consequence of starting another profitable league run. February and March saw them lose only once, seven wins through the period keeping Forest within touching distance of sorts. At one stage the gap closed to just two points but with the leaders having three matches in hand, the perception had changed from it being unlikely they would stay the course to being so distant as not to be caught.
For Everton the game was all but up in the first week of April when a 1-0 Goodison derby loss and defeat at Coventry left too much ground to recover. Forest remained unbeaten in the league since November (during the run-in they also lifted the League Cup, overcoming Liverpool in an Old Trafford replay following a Wembley draw) and in never failing to pick up at least a point as fixtures came and went, the most remarkable title triumph in a generation was done and dusted with four games to play.
Going into their final game of the season, a visit from the seventh bottom Chelsea, the question for Everton, a UEFA Cup place already secured, was whether Latchford could hit the 30 league goal mark and duly claim the reward of £10,000 being offered by the Daily Express to any first division forward who did so.
Needing to score twice in order to receive the remuneration, three Everton players found the net before Latchford struck his 29th of the season with 18 minutes left. Skipper Lyons made it five in the 75th minute, the 6-0 rout fittingly completed by Latchford 11 minutes from time – who in the process of scoring from the penalty spot qualified for the prize money, becoming the first striker since Francis Lee in 1971-72 to reach such a tally.
While they finished nine points shy of champions Nottingham Forest, there was Evertonian comfort to be found in Latchford being so prolific and an attacking style of play that while not conducive to rock solid defending turned them into the top scoring team in the division – 75 goals and 55 points easily the best returns since the championship winning season of 1969-70.
When the final whistle blew to end the thrashing of Chelsea on Saturday 29 April, only Forest were above them, raising the possibility of once more being best placed among those operating in the same back yard. But three points from their two matches in hand resulted in Everton dropping to third – local superiority not just conceded but cancelled out when the European Cup was again bedecked in red and white on being retained a few days later.
1978-79: Division One 4th (51pts). UEFA Cup: Second Round. FA Cup: Third Round. League Cup: Fourth Round. Top Scorer: Bob Latchford (20).
If Nottingham Forest had shown it was possible to come from left-field, or Division Two to be specific, to win the league title, for the first half of this, the following season, Everton appeared to be launching a championship coup of their own.
The twelve days of Yuletide were within touching distance when they suffered defeat in the league for the first time, the period between August 19 and December 23 consisting of twenty undefeated matches during which they more or less dropped anchor in second place. The league leaders lost three times through the same period – their first defeat coming at Goodison on October 28 when for Evertonians Good King Winatlast made it feel like Christmas in the closing weeks of autumn.
Through the course of the season Lee spent nigh on a million pounds in bolstering his squad, the £325,000 August arrival of Blackpool striker Micky Walsh and his subsequent departure for QPR seven months later in a swop deal for Peter Eastoe generally seen as the most curious Goodison transfer activity of the decade. But it was contributions of a consistent high standard from reliables such as Lyons, Thomas, Latchford, Dobson and King that kept the Toffees in a lofty perch week after week – the latter weighing in with the most celebrated Everton goal of the 70s.
With October almost at an end the first Merseyside derby of the season pitted top against second, the visitors to Goodison having won 11 and drawn one of their dozen league games to date – the 7-0 September Anfield annihilation of Spurs laying justifiable claim to being among the most scintillating team displays in post-war British football.
What occured was a derby clash, gripping and intense even by the standards of this fixture. The last place Liverpool wanted to surrender a run of 23 undefeated league games stretching back to March was on the home patch of those with whom they shared a city, but succumb they did – a stunning 58th minute strike from King the difference as Everton tasted victory in the localised bun fight for the first time since November 1971.
Inside a raucous Goodison, at the final whistle the celebratory noise raised the roof – ‘a grand old team‘ sung with extra gusto as seven lean years in derby games came to an end.
The euphoria was slightly dissipated by exits from the UEFA Cup (Dulka Prague) and the League Cup (holders Nottingham Forest) within the ten days that followed, but another seven league matches – four wins, three draws – kept them in second place. The first misstep was taken at Coventry 48 hours before Christmas Day where in a frantic second half they conceded three times, late goals from Lyons and Latchford unable to preserve their unbeaten status.
With the turn of the year form became somewhat indifferent. Exiting the FA Cup at second division Sunderland, there followed a five match sequence that produced only one win (King netting a hat-trick as visiting Bristol City were put to the sword), the final game in this significant downturn being a first home defeat of the season, Ipswich leaving Goodison with both points at the end of February.
Along the way Lee had invested £300,000 in Derby and former England defender Colin Todd, spent £80,000 on Sheffield United forward Imre Varadi, offsetting some of the outlay by selling McKenzie (£165,000) to Chelsea. In March he was active in the transfer market again buying Brian Kidd (£150,000) from Manchester City while also conducting the swap deal involving Walsh and Eastoe.
On the field matters were also becoming hectic. The harsh UK winter (in every sense) of 1978-79 manifested in a March fixture pile-up due to bad January weather. While emerging unbeaten from six games in 27 days was a commendable effort, four successive draws was not the stuff of a sustained title bid – even if a late King leveller at Anfield made Everton overall masters in regard to Merseyside matters for the season.
The successive defeats that opened April came with the consequence of dropping to fourth where they would now remain for the duration, just two wins from the last 13 games a low-key end to a campaign that still offered much when 1979 dawned.
Qualifying again for the UEFA Cup (the third time in five seasons) was not to be sniffed at, but in truth it was a step forward at the expense of two back. The points and goals totals were down on those of 1977-78, Everton scoring 24 fewer than the previous year, their tally of 52 the lowest in the top half and signifcant factor in a goal difference of 12. The league title was won back for the Kop with a differential of 69 and record points (68) haul.
As means of comparing the two clubs, the final season of the 1970s served as summation of how each entity had performed through the decade about to end, one receiving a report of ‘top of the class‘ opposed to the other of ‘willing, but must do better.’
There would be more lessons to come in the playground of hard knocks – but honours days would eventually return to the School of Science.
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NEIL SAMBROOK is also the author of MONTY’S DOUBLE – an acclaimed thriller now available in paperback and as an Amazon Kindle book.
