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Everton 1966 to Alan Ball's transfer..

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Replies: 55
By:
unitedbiscuits
When: 31 Dec 25 15:29

Dec 31, 2025 -- 12:18AM, DixieDean60 wrote:


Daily Express put up the £10k for any player to get 30 league goals, Franny Lee had been the last to do so 5 years earlier.Everton were playing Chelsea in the last game of the season, Bob needed two goals to get the cash. He scored his first after 72 minutes and then with ten minutes left the toffees were "awarded" a penalty which the big man hammered past Peter "the Cat" Bonetti to hit the 30 mark and secure the loot. He was not a regular penalty taker funnily enough. Final score was 6-0 !Half the winnings went to the PFA benevolence fund and Bob shared the other half with his team mates, leaving him with the princely sum of £192 for his efforts.And he was chased by the Inland Revenue for ages for a chunk of the winnings, which probably left him out of pocket


Great story, Dixie Dean.

A lot of football fans - like me - were notionally adults but hopelessly naive in those days. Even when Grobbelaar was exposed, it took me ages to believe a footballer would do that to his team-mates and his fans but of course - just like jockeys - a few of the players were in on it.

In some ways, those days were worse for deliberately inflicting injury. A team that could "take care of itself" being something of a badge of honour. Almost every team had a feared enforcer outside its defence, someone whose "mistimed" tackle from behind could put an opponent out of the game for months. Johnny Morrissey for Everton, reportedly.

By:
TameTheTiger
When: 31 Dec 25 16:07
Stoke held Ajax to 2 draws, eliminated on the away goals rule. Rudi Krol was their star player. (ajax not stoke)
By:
----you-have-to-laugh---
When: 31 Dec 25 16:21
18 Sep 1974First round1st leg
Stoke City StadiumStoke-on-Trent
Stoke
Stoke City FC
1-1
Ajax
AFC Ajax

    Smith 78'

    Krol 27'

Stoke vs Ajax
Stoke
Stoke

    1
    Farmer (GK)
    6
    Dodd
    2
    Marsh
    3
    Pejic
    5
    Smith
    8
    Greenhoff
    7
    Haslegrave
    10
    Hudson
    4
    Mahoney
    14
    Robertson
    11
    Salmons

Ajax
Ajax

    1
    Schrijvers (GK)
    3
    Blankenburg
    4
    Dusbaba
    5
    Krol
    2
    Van Dord
    7
    Haan
    11
    Keizer
    9
    Mühren
    6
    van Santen
    8
    Geels
    10
    Rep

Substitutions
25'
Stoke
Geoffrey Salmons
Midfielder
James Robertson
Midfielder
Substitutes

    9
    Conroy


And away leg 0-0

https://www.besoccer.com/match/ajax/stoke-city/19755267/lineups

..


Johnny Rep was some player, destroyed Newcastle whilst
playing for Bastia of France.
By:
LoyalHoncho
When: 31 Dec 25 19:17
Great thread with some smashing posts.
By:
DixieDean60
When: 31 Dec 25 19:28
UB - Johnny Morrissey was certainly one of the games hard men back then, and stood out as such even though the likes of Tommy Smith, Johnny Giles and co were around.
Bit unusual for a winger  to be bracketed as such, he was of course a very fine player and a cracking crosser of the ball from the left. He won two League titles with the blues and played in 41 of the 42 games in the 1970 triumph, what a fine side they were - Ball , Harvey, Kendall et al.

He actually played for Liverpool before signing for Everton and it caused quite a stir when he crossed Stanley Park to Goodison, not least with Bill Shankly who apparently was apoplectic as he knew nothing of the transfer, it was all done behind his back.
By:
unitedbiscuits
When: 31 Dec 25 20:33

Dec 31, 2025 -- 7:28PM, DixieDean60 wrote:


UB - Johnny Morrissey was certainly one of the games hard men back then, and stood out as such even though the likes of Tommy Smith, Johnny Giles and co were around.Bit unusual for a winger

By:
unitedbiscuits
When: 31 Dec 25 20:45
Short story: great insights, DD.

Do you know anything about the claim that the gate at Goodison Park was cut by 5-10% through the early seventies?
By:
DixieDean60
When: 31 Dec 25 22:04
UB - There were gradual reductions in capacity at Goodison during the 70s and the crowds were up and down, the biggest drop was in the early 80s when often under 20k attended, hard to believe i know. In 1983/84 the average attendance was only 19,300 and we finished 7th that season (and won the FA Cup), even that figure was skewed by a 51,000 attendance for the merseyside derby.   

I recall NYE 1983, Everton 0 Coventry 0 was on Match Of The Day, very poor game and only 13,600 were in attendance, the commentator (Tony Gubba i think ?) was basically asking how much lower this great club could sink.  Thankfully things turned around pretty pronto thanks to the cup runs in the new year ending up in two Wembley appearances including that FA Cup win.
By:
1830
When: 01 Jan 26 03:40
77/78 Goodison capacity was cut from about 52 thousand to about 36 or 38 thousand for safety reasons. Think it happened to other grounds as well.

We played Forest first game after they came up and got battered 3-1.They went on to win the league and then the 2 european cups in the next 3 seasons.

I remember queing up outside the street end and the queus were massive about half 1.

It was either that pre season or maybe the next one that the semi circles behind the goal were removed to increase the capcity.

I also remember the official figure for the Forest game being given as a few hundred over what the capacity had been set at for the safety reasons.

Everton got a fine for it.
By:
LoyalHoncho
When: 01 Jan 26 11:09
What was the original purpose of the semi-circles do you think?  Athletics/long jump sand pits maybe?  Their existence made Goodison unmistakeable and ever-linked in my brain with Portugal and Eusebio in the ‘66 World Cup and Hungary and Portugal kicking Pelé out of it.
By:
gazza66
When: 01 Jan 26 11:29

Jan 1, 2026 -- 11:09AM, LoyalHoncho wrote:


What was the original purpose of the semi-circles do you think?

By:
gazza66
When: 01 Jan 26 11:33
Sorry LoyalHoncho my full response didnt load for some reason. It is a good question and one I wondered myself, consequently I have just googled it and found this response, possibly DixieDean60 or other could confirm.

The semi-circular barriers at Goodison Park were installed to protect the goalkeepers from being pelted with objects by the home supporters during matches. This was a response to incidents where supporters had thrown darts at goalkeepers, such as the one involving Bill Brown, the Spurs custodian, in a match against Tottenham Hotspur in November 1963. The barriers were a measure of safety and security for the goalkeepers, ensuring they could perform their duties without being hindered by the crowd.
By:
LoyalHoncho
When: 01 Jan 26 11:37
Thank Gazza.  I had pondered that possibility but sort of dismissed it in the belief that the horror of “bovver” etc really didn’t rear its ugly head until the late sixties/ early seventies.
By:
1830
When: 01 Jan 26 12:52
Googled and found this:

Bill Brown, the legendary Tottenham Hotspur and Scotland goalkeeper, was involved in a notable incident at Goodison Park in November 1963, where he reported that
a dart had been thrown at him from the crowd.
The Dart Incident
During a match between Everton and Tottenham Hotspur in November 1963, Bill Brown informed the referee that a dart, allegedly thrown by a home supporter in the Gwladys Street end of the stadium, had landed in his goalmouth.
This event caused a stir and highlighted safety concerns for visiting players at the stadium, which was known for its vociferous atmosphere. Following this and other incidents involving missiles being thrown, semi-circular barriers were installed at both ends of Goodison Park to protect opposition goalkeepers from being pelted with objects by fans. These initial barriers were made of scaffold and wood before concrete ones were installed late

Im Sure I can remember Joe Corrigan or Pat jennings getting Bottles lasshed at them as well.The game was definetly stopped.

Anyone else remember the pitches being being covered in the toilet rolls launced on to the pitch, I know it was every game at GOODISON , think it happened other grounds as well.
By:
1830
When: 01 Jan 26 12:56
https://www.facebook.com/TheFourSquares/posts/alterations-at-goodison-park-to-accommodate-fifa-rules-for-the-1966-world-cup/10158056888037991/
By:
LoyalHoncho
When: 01 Jan 26 14:55
Thanks 1830.  I remember the obsession with toilet rolls.  I never took part please understand but you came to note the differing skills some had.  The best throwers had unrolled a “tail” in advance of the throw which flew behind it looking good whilst others, in less skilled hands, flew through the air whole and never unfurled at all.  Every so often, as they were being cleared to allow play the picker-uppers would be aimed at and any hits cheered loudly.
Better than bottles which used to be the curse of the Scottish game for a while.
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