Everton F.C.

File:Everton F.C. Official Badge.png
**Everton Football Club** is an English professional football club based in Liverpool that competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club has competed in the top division for a record 117 seasons, missing only four top-flight seasons (1930–31, 1951–52, 1952–53, 1953–54) since the creation of the Football League, of which it was a founding member. Everton are the second-longest continuous serving club in English top flight football and has won nine league titles, five FA Cups, one European Cup Winners' Cup and nine Charity Shields.

Formed in 1878, Everton won their first League Championship during the 1890–91 season. After winning four more League Championships and two FA Cups, the club experienced a post-World War II lull until a revival in the 1960s. A period of sustained success came in the mid-1980s, when Everton won a further two League Championships, one 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 colloquially known as "Evertonians" or "Blues". Everton's main rivals are Liverpool, whose home stadium at Anfield is just under one mile away from Everton's home at Goodison Park, and the two clubs contest the Merseyside derby. Everton has been based at Goodison Park since 1892, having moved from its original home at Anfield following a disagreement over its rent. The club's home colours are royal blue shirts with white shorts and socks.

### History

Everton was founded as St Domingo FC in 1878 so that members of the congregation of St Domingo Methodist New Connexion Chapel in Breckfield Road North, Everton could play sport year round – cricket was played in summer. The club's first game was a 1–0 victory over Everton Church Club. The club was renamed Everton in November 1879 after the local area, as people outside the congregation wished to participate.

The club was a founding member of the Football League in 1888–89 and won its first League Championship title in the 1890–91 season. Everton won the FA Cup for the first time in 1906 and the League Championship again in 1914–15. The outbreak of World War in 1914 interrupted the football programme while Everton reigned, which was something that would again occur in 1939.

It was not until 1927 that Everton's first sustained period of success began. In 1925 the club signed Dixie Dean from Tranmere Rovers. In 1927–28, Dean set the record for top-flight league goals in a single season with 60 goals in 39 league games, which is a record that still stands. He helped Everton win its third League Championship that season. However, Everton was relegated to the Second Division two years later during internal turmoil at the club. The club quickly rebounded and was promoted at the first attempt, while 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 its status and won a fourth League Championship at the first opportunity. Everton also won its 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 Championship.

The outbreak of the Second World War again saw the suspension of league football, and when official competition resumed in 1946, the Everton team had been split up and paled in comparison to the pre-war team. Everton was relegated for the second time in 1950–51 and did not earn promotion until 1953–54, when it finished as the runner-up in its third season in the Second Division. The club has been a top-flight presence ever since.

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 Championship. In 1966 the club won the FA Cup with a 3–2 win over Sheffield Wednesday. Everton again reached the final in 1968, but this time was unable to overcome West Bromwich Albion at Wembley. Two seasons later in 1969–70, Everton won the League Championship, finishing nine points clear of nearest rivals Leeds United. During this period, Everton was the first English club to achieve five consecutive years in European competitions – covering the seasons from 1961–62 to 1966–67.

However, the success did not last; the team finished fourteenth, fifteenth, seventeenth and seventh in the following seasons. Harry Catterick retired, but his successors failed to win any silverware for the remainder of the 1970s despite finishing fourth in 1974–75under manager Billy Bingham, third in 1977–78 and fourth the following season under manager Gordon Lee. Lee was sacked in 1981.

Howard Kendall took over as manager and guided Everton to its most successful era. Domestically, Everton won the FA Cup in 1984 and two League Championships in 1984–85 and 1986–87. In Europe, the club won its first, and so far only, European trophy by securing the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1985. The European success came after first beating University College Dublin, Inter Bratislava and Fortuna Sittard. Then, Everton defeated German giants Bayern Munich 3–1 in the semi-finals, despite trailing at half time (in a match voted the greatest in Goodison Park history), and recorded the same scoreline over Austrian club Rapid Vienna in the final. Having won both the League and Cup Winners' Cup in 1985, Everton came very close to winning a treble, but lost to Manchester United in the FA Cup final. The following season, 1985–86, Everton was the runner-up to Liverpool in both the League and the FA Cup, but did recapture the League Championship in 1986–87.

After the Heysel Stadium disaster and the subsequent ban of all English clubs from continental football, Everton lost the chance to compete for more European trophies. A large proportion of the title-winning side was broken up following the ban. Kendall himself moved to Athletic Bilbao after the 1987 title triumph and was succeeded by assistant Colin Harvey. Harvey took Everton to the 1989 FA Cup Final, but lost 3–2 after extra time to Liverpool.

Everton was a founding member 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. 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 and led the club to the FA Cup for the fifth time in its history by defeating Manchester United 1–0 in the final. The cup triumph was also Everton's passport to the Cup Winners' Cup, its first European campaign in the post-Heysel era. Progress under Royle continued in 1995–96 as the team climbed to sixth place in the Premiership. A fifteenth-place finish the following season saw Royle resign towards the end of the campaign, and he was 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. The club only avoided relegation due to its 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. The Everton board finally ran out of patience with Smith, and he was sacked in March 2002 after an FA Cup exit at Middlesbrough and with Everton in real danger of relegation.His replacement, David Moyes, guided Everton to a safe finish in fifteenth place.

In 2002–03 Everton finished seventh, which was its highest finish since 1996. It was under Moyes' management that Wayne Rooneybroke into the first team before being sold to Manchester United for a club record fee of £28 million in the summer of 2004. A fourth-place finish in 2004–05 ensured that Everton qualified for the UEFA Champions League qualifying round. The team failed to make it through to the Champions League group stage and was then eliminated from the UEFA Cup. Everton qualified for the 2007–08 and 2008–09 UEFA Cup competitions, and was the runner-up in the 2009 FA Cup Final. During this period, Moyes broke the club record for highest transfer fee paid on four occasions: signing James Beattie for £6 million in January 2005, Andy Johnson for £8.6 million in summer 2006, Yakubu for £11.25 million in summer 2007, and Marouane Fellaini for £15 million in September 2008.

At the end of the 2012–13 season, Moyes left his position at Everton to take over at Manchester United, bringing in staff from Everton to join him in July (assistant manager Steve Round, goalkeeping coach Chris Woods and coach Jimmy Lumsden), with Everton players Phil Neville and Marouane Fellaini also leaving for United, the former joining the coaching staff. Moyes was replaced by Roberto Martínez, who led Everton to 5th place in the Premier League in his first season while amassing the club's best points tally in 27 years with 72. The following season, Martínez led Everton to the last 16 of the 2014-15 UEFA Europa League, where it was defeated by Dynamo Kyiv, whilst domestically finishing 11th in the Premier League. Everton reached the semi-finals of both the League Cup and the FA Cup in 2015–16, but was defeated in both. After a poor run of form in the Premier League, Martínez was sacked following the penultimate game of the season, with Everton lying in 12th place.

Martínez was replaced in the summer of 2016 by Ronald Koeman, who left Southampton to sign a three-year contract with Everton. In his first season at the club, he guided them back into the group stages of the Europa League, entering the 3rd qualifying round after finishing 7th. The club reached the group stage, after wins over Ružomberok and FC Haidjuk Split, but did not progress further, finishing third behind Atalanta and Lyon. A poor start to the following season left Everton in the relegation zone after nine games, and Koeman was sacked on 23 October following a 5–2 home defeat to Arsenal. After a five-week period with David Unsworth as caretaker manager, Sam Allardyce was appointed Everton manager in November 2017, but he resigned at the end of the season amid fan discontent at his style of play.

Marco Silva was named Everton manager in May 2018. In November 2018, Everton was banned from signing academy football players from its youth clubs for two years. Silva led Everton to finish 8th in his first season in charge, but after a poor start to the following season which left the team in the relegation zone on 14 points, he was sacked on 5 December 2019. His last league match was a 5–2 loss to Liverpool at Anfield. Former player and first-team coach Duncan Ferguson stepped in as caretaker manager for the next three games before his replacement, Carlo Ancelotti, was appointed on 21 December 2019, with Ferguson being appointed as assistant manager.