Everton_F.C.

context: Everton were founder members of the Premier League in 1992, but struggled to find the right manager. Howard Kendall had returned in 1990 but could not repeat his previous success, while his successor, Mike Walker, was statistically the least successful Everton manager to date. When former Everton player Joe Royle took over in 1994 the club's form started to improve; his first game in charge was a 2–0 victory over derby rivals Liverpool. Royle dragged Everton clear of relegation, leading the club to the FA Cup for the fifth time in its history, defeating Manchester United 1–0 in the final.

context: The Tower has been inextricably linked with the Everton area since its construction in 1787. It was originally used as a bridewell to incarcerate mainly drunks and minor criminals, and it still stands today on Everton Brow in Netherfield Road. The tower was accompanied by two laurel wreaths on either side and, according to the College of Arms in London, Kelly chose to include the laurels as they were the sign of winners. The crest was accompanied by the club motto, "Nil Satis Nisi Optimum", meaning "Nothing but the best is good enough".

context: On matchdays, in a tradition going back to 1962, players walk out to the theme tune to Z-Cars, named "Johnny Todd", a traditional Liverpool children's song collected in 1890 by Frank Kidson which tells the story of a sailor betrayed by his lover while away at sea, although on two separate occasions in the 1994, they ran out to different songs. In August 1994, the club played 2 Unlimited's song "Get Ready For This", and a month later, a reworking of the Creedence Clearwater Revival classic "Bad Moon Rising". Both were met with complete disapproval by Everton fans.

context: Everton hold the record for the most seasons in England's top tier (Division One/Premier League), at 111 seasons out of 114 as of 2014–15 (the club played in Division 2 in 1930–31 and from 1951–54). They are one of seven teams to have played all 22 seasons of the Premier League since its inception in August 1992 – the others being Arsenal, Aston Villa, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester United, and Tottenham Hotspur. Everton against Aston Villa is the most played fixture in England's top flight, as of the 2012–13 season the two founder members of the Football League have played a record 196 league games.

context: Formed in 1878, Everton were founding members of The Football League in 1888 and won their first league championship two seasons later. Following four league titles and two FA Cup wins, Everton experienced a lull in the immediate post World War Two period until a revival in the 1960s which saw the club win two league championships and an FA Cup. The mid-1980s represented their most recent period of sustained success, with two League Championship successes, an FA Cup, and the 1985 European Cup Winners' Cup. The club's most recent major trophy was the 1995 FA Cup. The club's supporters are known as Evertonians.

context: Everton were relegated to the Second Division two years later during internal turmoil at the club. However, the club was promoted at the first attempt scoring a record number of goals in the second division. On return to the top flight in 1931–32, Everton wasted no time in reaffirming their status and won a fourth League title at the first opportunity. Everton also won their second FA Cup in 1933 with a 3–0 win against Manchester City in the final. The era ended in 1938–39 with a fifth League title.

context: The Everton board finally ran out of patience with Smith and he was sacked in March 2002 after an FA Cup exit at Middlesbrough, with Everton in real danger of relegation. David Moyes, was his replacement and guided Everton to a safe finish in fifteenth place. In 2002–03 Everton finished seventh, their highest finish since 1996. A fourth-place finish in 2004–05, ensured Everton qualified for the Champions League qualifying round. The team failed to make it through to the Champions League group stage and were then eliminated from the UEFA Cup. Everton qualified for the 2007–08 and 2008–09 UEFA Cup competitions and they were runners-up in the 2009 FA Cup Final.

context: In May 2013, the club launched a new crest to improve the reproducibility of the design in print and broadcast media, particularly on a small scale. Critics[who?] suggested that it was external pressure from sports manufacturers Nike, Inc. that evoked the redesign as the number of colours has been reduced and the radial effect have been removed, making the kit more cost efficient to reproduce.[citation needed] The redesign was poorly received by supporters, with a poll on an Everton fan site registering a 91% negative response to the crest. A protest petition reached over 22,000 signatures before the club offered an apology and announced a new crest would be created for the 2014–15 season with an emphasis on fan consultation. Shortly afterwards, the Head of Marketing left the club.

context: Everton originally played in the southeast corner of Stanley Park, which was the site for the new Liverpool F.C. stadium, with the first official match taking place in 1879. In 1882, a man named J. Cruitt donated land at Priory Road which became the club's home before they moved to Anfield, which was Everton's home until 1892. At this time, a dispute of how the club was to be owned and run emerged with Anfield's owner and Everton's chairman, John Houlding. A dispute between Houlding and the club's committee over how the club should be run, led to Houlding attempting to gain full control of the club by registering the company, "Everton F.C. and Athletic Grounds Ltd". In response, Everton left Anfield for a new ground, Goodison Park, where the club have played ever since. Houlding attempted to take over Everton's name, colours, fixtures and league position, but was denied by The Football Association. Instead, Houlding formed a new club, Liverpool F.C.

context: There have been indications since 1996 that Everton will move to a new stadium. The original plan was for a new 60,000-seat stadium to be built, but in 2000 a proposal was submitted to build a 55,000 seat stadium as part of the King's Dock regeneration. This was unsuccessful as Everton failed to generate the £30 million needed for a half stake in the stadium project, with the city council rejecting the proposal in 2003. Late in 2004, driven by Liverpool Council and the Northwest Development Corporation, the club entered talks with Liverpool F.C. about sharing a proposed stadium on Stanley Park. Negotiations broke down as Everton failed to raise 50% of the costs. On 11 January 2005, Liverpool announced that ground-sharing was not a possibility, proceeding to plan their own Stanley Park Stadium.

context: Everton have a large fanbase, with the eighth highest average attendance in the Premier League in the 2008–09 season. The majority of Everton's matchday support comes from the North West of England, primarily Merseyside, Cheshire, West Lancashire and parts of Western Greater Manchester along with many fans who travel from North Wales and Ireland. Within the city of Liverpool support for Everton and city rivals Liverpool is not determined by geographical basis with supporters mixed across the city. However Everton's support heartland is traditionally based in the North West of the city and in the southern parts of Sefton. Everton also have many supporters' clubs worldwide, in places such as North America, Singapore, Indonesia, Lebanon, Malaysia, Thailand, and Australia. The official supporters club is FOREVERTON, and there are also several fanzines including When Skies are Grey and Speke from the Harbour, which are sold around Goodison Park on match days.

context: Current manager, Roberto Martínez, is the fourteenth permanent holder of the position since it was established in 1939. There have also been four caretaker managers, and before 1939 the team was selected by either the club secretary or by committee. The club's longest-serving manager has been Harry Catterick, who was in charge of the team from 1961–73, taking in 594 first team matches. The Everton manager to win most domestic and international trophies is Howard Kendall, who won two Division One championships, the 1984 FA Cup, the 1984 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, and three Charity Shields.

context: Everton's second successful era started when Harry Catterick was made manager in 1961. In 1962–63, his second season in charge, Everton won the League title and in 1966 the FA Cup followed with a 3–2 win over Sheffield Wednesday. Everton again reached the final in 1968, but this time were unable to overcome West Bromwich Albion at Wembley. Two seasons later in 1969–70, Everton won the League championship, nine points clear of nearest rivals Leeds United. During this period, Everton were the first English club to achieve five consecutive years in European competitions—seasons 1961–62 to 1966–67.

context: On 16 June 2006, it was announced that Everton had entered into talks with Knowsley Council and Tesco over the possibility of building a new 55,000 seat stadium, expandable to over 60,000, in Kirkby. The club took the unusual move of giving its supporters a say in the club's future by holding a ballot on the proposal, finding a split of 59% to 41% in favour. Opponents to the plan included other local councils concerned by the effect of a large Tesco store being built as part of the development, and a group of fans demanding that Everton should remain within the city boundaries of Liverpool.

context: Everton regularly take large numbers away from home both domestically and in European fixtures. The club implements a loyalty points scheme offering the first opportunity to purchase away tickets to season ticket holders who have attended the most away matches. Everton often sell out the full allocation in away grounds and tickets sell particularly well for North West England away matches. In October 2009, Everton took 7,000 travelling fans to Benfica, their largest ever away crowd in Europe since the 1985 European Cup Winners' Cup Final.

context: Everton F.C. is a limited company with the board of directors holding a majority of the shares. The club's most recent accounts, from May 2014, show a net total debt of £28.1 million, with a turnover of £120.5 million and a profit of £28.2 million. The club's overdraft with Barclays Bank is secured against the Premier League's "Basic Award Fund", a guaranteed sum given to clubs for competing in the Premier League. Everton agreed a long-term loan of £30 million with Bear Stearns and Prudential plc in 2002 over the duration of 25 years; a consolidation of debts at the time as well as a source of capital for new player acquisitions. Goodison Park is secured as collateral.

context: Everton's biggest rivalry is with neighbours Liverpool, against whom they contest the Merseyside derby. The Merseyside derby is usually a sellout fixture, and has been known as the "friendly derby" because both sets of fans can often be seen side by side red and blue inside the stadium both at Anfield and Goodison Park. Recently on the field, matches tend to be extremely stormy affairs; the derby has had more red cards than any other fixture in Premiership history. The rivalry stems from an internal dispute between Everton officials and the owners of Anfield, which was then Everton's home ground, resulting in Everton moving to Goodison Park, and the subsequent formation of Liverpool F.C., in 1892.

context: Neville Southall holds the record for the most Everton appearances, having played 751 first-team matches between 1981 and 1997, and previously held the record for the most league clean sheets during a season (15). During the 2008–09 season, this record was beaten by American goalkeeper Tim Howard (17). The late centre half and former captain Brian Labone comes second, having played 534 times. The longest serving player is Goalkeeper Ted Sagar who played for 23 years between 1929 and 1953, both sides of the Second World War, making a total of 495 appearances. The club's top goalscorer, with 383 goals in all competitions, is Dixie Dean; the second-highest goalscorer is Graeme Sharp with 159. Dean still holds the English national record of most goals in a season, with 60.

context: The record attendance for an Everton home match is 78,299 against Liverpool on 18 September 1948. Amazingly, there was only 1 injury at this game-Tom Fleetwood was hit on the head by a coin thrown from the crowd whilst he marched around the perimeter with St Edward's Orphanage Band, playing the cornet. Goodison Park, like all major English football grounds since the recommendations of the Taylor Report were implemented, is now an all-seater and only holds just under 40,000, meaning it is unlikely that this attendance record will ever be broken at Goodison. Everton's record transfer paid was to Chelsea for Belgian forward Romelu Lukaku for a sum of £28m. Everton bought the player after he played the previous year with the team on loan.

context: The club also owned and operated a professional basketball team, by the name of Everton Tigers, who compete in the elite British Basketball League. The team was launched in the summer of 2007 as part of the clubs' Community programme, and play their home games at the Greenbank Sports Academy. The team was an amalgam of the Toxteth Tigers community youth programme which started in 1968. The team quickly became one of the most successful in the league winning the BBL Cup in 2009 and the play-offs in 2010. However Everton withdrew funding before the 2010–11 season and the team was re launched as the Mersey Tigers.

context: Everton also have links with Chilean team Everton de Viña del Mar who were named after the English club. On 4 August 2010, the two Evertons played each other in a friendly named the Copa Hermandad at Goodison Park to mark the centenary of the Chilean team, an occasion organised by The Ruleteros Society, a society founded to promote connections between the two clubs. Other Evertons exist in Rosario in Colonia Department, Uruguay, La Plata, and Río Cuarto in Argentina, Elk Grove, California in the United States, and in Cork, Ireland.

context: The club have entered the UK pop charts on four occasions under different titles during the 1980s and 1990s when many clubs released a song to mark their reaching the FA Cup Final. "The Boys in Blue", released in 1984, peaked at number 82. The following year the club scored their biggest hit when "Here We Go" peaked at 14. In 1986 the club released "Everybody's Cheering The Blues" which reached number 83. "All Together Now", a reworking of a song by Merseyside band The Farm, was released for the 1995 FA Cup Final and reached number 27. When the club next reached the 2009 FA Cup Final, the tradition had passed into history and no song was released.

context: The cup triumph was also Everton's passport to the Cup Winners' Cup—their first European campaign in the post-Heysel era. Progress under Joe Royle continued in 1995–96 as they climbed to sixth place in the Premiership. A fifteenth-place finish the following season saw Royle resign towards the end of the campaign, to be temporarily replaced by club captain, Dave Watson. Howard Kendall was appointed Everton manager for the third time in 1997, but the appointment proved unsuccessful as Everton finished seventeenth in the Premiership; only avoiding relegation due to their superior goal difference over Bolton Wanderers. Former Rangers manager Walter Smith then took over from Kendall in the summer of 1998 but only managed three successive finishes in the bottom half of the table.

context: Everton have had many other nicknames over the years. When the black kit was worn Everton were nicknamed "The Black Watch", after the famous army regiment. Since going blue in 1901, Everton have been given the simple nickname "The Blues". Everton's attractive style of play led to Steve Bloomer calling the team "scientific" in 1928, which is thought to have inspired the nickname "The School of Science". The battling 1995 FA Cup winning side were known as "The Dogs of War". When David Moyes arrived as manager he proclaimed Everton as "The People's Club", which has been adopted as a semi-official club nickname.