Dean, Latchford, Kendall, Ball, Reid, Sharp, Steven, Lineker - the list of those who have graced Goodison Park is long!
Everton has been at the forefront of English football ever since the club was formed in 1878. From the pioneering days of St. Domingo, the story is one that every Evertonian is quite rightly proud of.
The atmosphere is quite unique but when the current team enters the arena to the sound of Z-Cars and the deafening noise from over 40,000 spectators, it's difficult to imagine an Everton team trotting out onto a park pitch with no dressing rooms, carrying the goalposts!
The predecessors of heroes such as Dean, Lawton, Hickson, Labone, Ball, Latchford, Sharp, Lineker and Ferguson, were as far removed from the 21st Century image of a football player as it's possible to be.
The St Domingo Methodist Church Sunday School was opened in May 1870 and eight years later the football team using the St Domingo name played its first match in the south-east corner of Stanley Park, with the players carrying the posts from the park lodge on Mill Lane before fixing them into the metal sockets at either end of the crudely marked pitch.
Everton's success on the pitch in the early years of the Football League were the key to the problems they faced off it in relation to a permanent home.
John Houlding, the owner of the Anfield site Everton called home, doubled the rent in the aftermath of the Championship win of 1891 and the Everton committee decided to move on again, rather than pay the inflated rate.
George Mahon, a respected city accountant and church elder, led the campaign to move from Anfield and he secured a lease on a piece of land on the North side of Stanley Park, known as the Mere Green Field.
The Everton members took just a matter of months to turn the wasteland that was the Mere Green Field into Goodison Park - the country's first purpose built football stadium.
Goodison Park was opened on August 24th 1892, with 12,000 spectators inside, and the first League match was on September 3rd against Nottingham Forest - ending in a 2-2 draw.
Fast forward almost a century and 1984-85 was a season like none before, and certainly none since.
The names still roll off the tongue - Southall, Stevens, Van den Hauwe, Ratcliffe, Mountfield, Reid, Steven, Gray, Sharp, Bracewell, Sheedy.
After winning the FA Cup in 1984, confidence was high at Goodison Park as the new campaign kicked-off.
A moral-boosting win at Wembley against Liverpool in the Charity Shield curtain-raiser did nothing to dampen the expectations amongst the fans.
Goodison's greatest night - a 3-1 win over Bayern Munich in the ECWC semi-final - set up a first ever European final. Rapid Vienna were brushed aside in Rotterdam to clinch Everton's first-ever piece if European silverware but the FA Cup final proved one game too many.
Manchester United won 1-0 courtesy of an extra-time goal from future Everton man Norman Whiteside to deny Howard Kendall's men their historic treble.
In all competitions during the 1984-85 campaign, Everton played 63 matches. They won 43, drew 10 and lost 10. Of the 10 defeats, one was the FA Cup final and three were after the title had already been won!
A true family club, the staff were superb. Sam Healey from the club office is absolutely brilliant and a total Ambassador for the club. I'm sure I am not the first to say this. Our tour guide was knowledgeable, sparky and charismatic. She didn't hurry the visitors on like at other clubs, allowing one to savour the clubs rich history.
If you are visiting Liverpool, a tour of this great club is fully recommended.
Everton Football Club
Goodison Road
Liverpool
L4 4EL
Tel: +44 (0) 151 330 2200
Email: everton@evertonfc.com
emdad@londonbangla.com
Thanks to Everton FC for historical data
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