Everton 1966 to Alan Ball's transfer..

Memory serves, Panathanaikos knocked us out in the qf of the European Cup, to which point
Everton had only stumbled through via two draws with Moenchengladbach.

After Arsenal served up the double, Johan Cryuff and Ajax destroyed Panathanaikos at Wembley. It was the coming to success of a new way of football - in tandem with the decline of the English national team and its club-sides (England not even making the '74 World Cup).

So maybe it was part of a wider malaise.

England fell apart as club rivalries took hold,,
And of course Scotland were very strong in that era

Ajax changed football.

Rinus Michael's leads us onto pep.

i remember watchng harvey ball and kendall at goodison in the 60,s called the school of science. they were top notch.

reasons for the decline... they never moved on after that peiod until kendall came manager..had an upsurge and then declined mostly ever .

i like your brother madethe wise choice of following livepool afer my dad whoplayedfor liverppol boys and was tried to be signed on by shankley.

all my mums side of the family were/are evertonians despite the fact hat they only lived avbout 3 miles apart in norris green.

Both Ajax and Bayern won 3 on the bounce I think if both met at there strongest Bayern would have won .

Beckenbauer was a very modest man

Ajax played bayern in early 70s, won 4-0, then small loss away.

Bayern likely improved and German team spirit would
always counter Dutch individual genius to level
the playing field.

Der bomber levelled it even more as he was deadly


Then Germany mugged Holland in 1974 World cup

Jack Taylor awards a penalty after about 1 minute in the hosts stadium in a World Cup final

Pele was right

i reckon so UB

Till a few months ago, we lived round the corner from Colin. Saw him most mornings walking the dog. Nice fella, bit unsteady on his feet now but probably escaped more unscathed than most from a professional sports career.. Seems mad that we now live in a house that's worth more than his. Something wrong when there are so many absolute nobodies in the game nowadays earning untold millions when you have a true Everton all time great in a nice detached house that's a fraction of the size and value of Tsimikas's house about 500 yards away. He's far too decent to say it himself, but there must be days when he's consumed with rage that his generation missed out on so much that the later ones take for granted.

Alan Ball's transfer to Arsenal in December 1971 came completely out of the blue (pun intended). Evertonians were dismayed at the news. I was a primary school lad at the time and it completely ruined my Xmas !!

Alan did not want to go, it was all done without his knowledge. Manager Harry Catterick saw it purely as a business transaction - the fee was a British record at the time (£250k) and Everton were getting double what they paid for Alan after six very good years. Sod the fact that the supporters loved him and Alan loved the club just as much.

The 70's were to say the least up and down for the club. Often looking very average but also a couple of good seasons, including  74/75 when they really should have won the league in what was an incredibly tight division, but somehow managing to lose home and away to Carlisle who finished bottom of the league. Derby won the league with 53 points, Everton finished 4th with 50 points.  The top seven were only separated by five points.

Given the excellent championship winning teams of 1970 and the mid 80s, it seems strange to say that my favourite season to actually watch the toffees was 1977/78 under
Gordon Lee , Dave Thomas brilliant on the wing,  setting up many of Bob Latchford's 30 league goals, in midfield Duncan McKenzie , Andy King, Martin Dobson. A very entertaining team.

At Easter that season they had to play on Good Friday , Saturday and Easter Monday (3 games in 4 days) due to fixture congestion. And they won ALL THREE, 2 nil away at Newcastle,      2 Nil at home to Leeds then 2-1 away at Man Utd.  And they only made one change to the starting line up all weekend !  Bob L scored in each game.  I wonder what the likes of Pep and Arteta would have to say about having to do similar today ?

Cruiff played v England in 1970...0-0

Ball didn't play... Injured? Colin Bell played.


Cruiff again played v England in 1977 Holland stuffed us 2-0
no Alan ball whos last England cap was 1975

Vancouver Whitecaps v LA Aztecs 1979 National Conference Semi final -  Ball V Cruyff ?

Dave latchford played for birmingham

The first black (mixed heritage) player  to score in an FA Cip final String !

Amazingly he only played 11 league games for EFC.  Thank god he was playing on that great day otherwise i could have ended up a Sheffield Wednesday fan
That was one thing Harry Catterick did get right, picking Mike instead of the prolific Fred Pickering that day. Very few agreed with him but fair play it was an inspired selection.

And of course we must remember Alan Ball's greatest contribution to our culture.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MYXl0Q3k38



Alan Bawl: Going down, Going down little Franny Lee,
     Down to division three,
     We`ve only one lad who isn`t half bad,
     And that`s little George Kinkladze.

     And at first the crowd roared,
     But now they`re just bored,
     They go la la la la la, la la la la lee,
     This is the ballad of Franny Lee.

Franny Lee: I can`t go down and I won`t go down,
     I`ve spent twelve million quid on city,
     Of the money I`ve made in the bog paper trade,
AB:  Well bloody hell, don`t blame me.

     And at first the crowd roared,
     But now they`re just bored,
     They go la la la la la, la la la la lee,
     Bring me the head of Franny Lee.

FL:  Call yourself a manager you little toss pot,
     Your voice hasn`t broke and your balls haven`t dropped,
     You won the world cup in your stupid white boots,
     Now you turn up for work in flat caps and shell suits.

AB:  Now here`s a home truth you puddin-basin-haired twonk,
     Deeply ironic it is,
     From that profitable caper wholesaling bog paper,
     You`ve landed us deep in the siht.

     And at first the crowd roared,
     But now they`re just bored,
     They go la la la la la, la la la la lee,
     The King of the kippax is Franny Lee
     They go la la la la la, la la la la lee,     
     King of the **** house is Franny Lee.

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