Goodison Greats

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William Ralph 'Dixie' Dean
Footballer-Gentleman-Evertonian

The greatest goalscorer ever to play in the English League. The highlight being 60 goals in one league season. During an Everton tour of Nazi Germany, he lead the team in the refusal to salute Hitler.

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Dixie was a real legend of the game. His dribbling, running, shooting and ability to create goals for others were exceptional. But his most prestigious ability was his heading, he was known as one the most remarkable headers the game has ever seen. Dixie used to practice heading by using a medicine ball with fellow player Tommy Lawton. Many believe that he should be talked about in the same sentences as the likes of Pelé and Alfredo Di Stéfano but due to his achievements being pre-war, this is rarely the case. Bill Shankly, then manager of local rivals Liverpool, said (on the BBC) "those of us privileged to see Dean play, talk of him the way people talk about Beethoven, Shakespeare or Mozart, he was that good"

His goalscoring achievement, a lifetime record of 0.94 goals per game (Pele achieved 0.93), puts him in the same league as the true greats of sport, such as Bradman or Mark Spitz.

Born in Birkenhead, Merseyside, Dean initially played for his local club, Tranmere Rovers, before moving to his boyhood side, Everton, for a fee of £3,000 in 1925, and immediately made an impact, scoring 32 goals in his first full season.

Despite a serious motorcycle accident in 1926, in which he suffered a fractured skull and jaw, Dean fully recovered and went on to greater success at the club. He is still the only player in English football to have scored 60 League goals in one season (1927/2, a total that the entire Everton squad have surpassed just once since the inception of the Premiership. In the same season Everton won the Division One title. Although Everton were relegated to Division Two in 1930, Dean stayed with them, and the club subsequently, and uniquely, won the Second Division in 1931, followed by the First Division again in 1932, and the FA Cup in 1933 - a sequence of success not matched since.

By then, Dean was captain of the side. However, the harsh physical demands of the game took their toll, and he was dropped from the first team in 1937. Dean went on to play for Notts County and then Sligo Rovers in Ireland. After retiring, he went on to run a pub known as the Dublin Packet, and work at Littlewoods Football pools as a porter at their Walton Hall Avenue offices, where he was remembered by fellow workers as a quiet, unassuming man.

In total, Dean scored a total of 383 goals for Everton, in 433 appearances, an exceptional strike-rate. With modern scoring rates being much lower, both that record, and the record of 60 League goals in a season, are unlikely to ever be broken. He was also known as a very professional player, having never been booked or sent off throughout his entire career.

Only Arthur Rowley has scored more English league career goals, although it should be noted that while Rowley made 619 appearances, scoring 433 goals (0.70 goals per game), Dean scored 379 goals in 438 games (0.87 goals per game), and while Dean spent one prolific season in the Second Division, that was all, while Rowley spent several seasons in the third and fourth divisions.

He also made 16 appearances for England, scoring 18 goals. Six of those goals came in the way of hat-tricks. Dean scored three against Belgium in May 1927 and then another three against Luxemburg 10 days later.

His nickname "Dixie" is said to have been given to him by fans due to his dark complexion and curly black hair, which was, in their perception, similar to that of African-Americans in the Southern United States. Dean himself deeply disliked the moniker, preferring to be known as Bill.

Dean died from heart failure in 1980 at Goodison Park, Everton's home ground, whilst watching a match against their closest rivals, Liverpool. In 2001, a statue of Dean was erected outside the Park End of the stadium carrying the inscription, "Footballer, Gentleman, Evertonian." In 2002 Dean became an Inaugural Inductee to the English Football Hall of Fame. In 2003, Littlewoods Football pools sponsored the ‘Dixie Dean Award’ for Everton Personality of the Year, at the Merseyside Sports Personality of the Year Awards. It was won by former Everton boss Howard Kendall.

[NJ10]

Sorry to gatecrash, but i thought i'd let you know that in Arteta at the moment, you have the most gifted and technically able footballer i have seen at Everton in my lifetime. He might not have the passion of Ferguson, the goals of Dixie Dean, or the longevity of Southall, but he's fucking ace, and you MUST hold on to him.

The missus thinks Dave Watson and Tony Cottee are the dogs as well.

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Originally Posted by NJ10

Sorry to gatecrash, but i thought i'd let you know that in Arteta at the moment, you have the most gifted and technically able footballer i have seen at Everton in my lifetime. He might not have the passion of Ferguson, the goals of Dixie Dean, or the longevity of Southall, but he's fucking ace, and you MUST hold on to him.

Yeah Mikel is special. WE need to put him in the middle though and basically have the team based on him, and not him fitting in wherever he can due to his many positions.

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Neville Southall

Southall entered the game relatively late, and before becoming a professional worked as a binman, waiter and hod carrier. At his peak, Southall was regarded as the finest goalkeeper in the world and many[attribution needed] have regarded him as the best. Most famously he played for Everton where he made a club record 578 league appearances (over 750 in all competitions) and won two Football League championships. He also played internationally for Wales, winning 92 caps: another record. Unfortunately for Southall, his career coincided with English clubs being banned from European competitions following the Heysel Stadium disaster, and the Welsh team never qualified for a major tournament during his career.

He had something of a love affair with Everton, enjoying early success in the 80s, whilst he was perhaps the figurehead of Everton's gloom in the 90s. Indeed, during the opening match of the 1990/91 season, he famously sat down during a "sulking session" against a goalpost at half-time whilst his teammates were still in the changing rooms during a surprise 2-3 home defeat to newly promoted Leeds United (it may be worth mentioning that Everton did pull back from three goals down but Everton were trailing by those three goals at half-time). A lasting image which epitomised the era. This was a turbulent time for Southall as he handed in several transfer requests throughout the season and did so further on in his Everton career. However he remained a constant fixture for the blues and his loyalty was rewarded in 1995 when he turned in a 'man of the match' performance to thwart Manchester United in the FA Cup final and claim his first silverware for 8 years. He retired in 2002 at the age of 43. He also played for Winsford United, Bury, Bradford City, Stoke City, Rhyl, Southend United, York City, Shrewsbury Town, Huddersfield Town, Doncaster Rovers, and Torquay United. His Nicknames were "Baggy Nev" and "Big Nev", along with the surprising, "Nevvypants", which he was often called by teammate Tony Cottee. He was voted Footballer of The Year in 1985, extremely rare for a goalkeeper, and awarded the M.B.E in 1997.

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Alan Ball

1966 World Cup winner

Despite being in a struggling Blackpool team, Ball's industry, stamina and distribution were noticed by England manager Alf Ramsey, who gave him his international debut on May 9, 1965 in a 1-1 draw with Yugoslavia in Belgrade, three days before his twentieth birthday. Ramsey was preparing for the World Cup a year later, which England was to host, and was developing a system whereby England could deploy midfielders with a defensive and industrious bent, something which was not wholly guaranteed from conventional wide men. As a result, Ball became a useful tool for Ramsey to use - able to play conventionally wide or in the centre but still in possession of the energy to help out his defence when required.

Ball was the youngest member of the squad of 22 selected by Ramsey for the tournament, aged only 21. Though England as a team emerged collectively heroic from the tournament, Ball was one of many players regarded as an individual success, especially as he was one of the more inexperienced charges with no proven record at the very highest level. Indeed, he, Geoff Hurst and Martin Peters emerged with enormous credit and eternal acclaim from the competition - and all of them were still only in single figures for caps won by the time they were named in the team for the final against West Germany.

The 100,000 crowd at Wembley witnessed a magnificent personal performance from Ball. Full of running, he continued to work and sprint and track back while team-mates and opponents alike were out on their feet. With fewer than 15 minutes to go, he won a corner on the right which he promptly took. Hurst hit a shot from the edge of the area which deflected into the air and down on to the instep of Peters, who rifled England 2-1 ahead. The Germans equalised with seconds to go, meaning that the game went into extra time. Somehow, this instilled extra bounce into Ball's play and the image of his continuous running round the Wembley pitch, socks round his ankles, is one of the most enduring of the occasion. It was his chase and low cross which set up Hurst's massively controversial second goal, and England's third; he was also sprinting upfield, unmarked and screaming for a pass, as Hurst took the ball forward to smash his historic hat-trick goal with the last kick of the game.

Ball's performances in the 1966 World Cup winning England team attracted the attention of a number of clubs bigger than Blackpool, Ball eventually being sold to Everton for a then record fee of £110,000 in August 1966. At Everton, Ball settled into what became regarded as his generation's best midfield trio alongside Colin Harvey and Howard Kendall (still affectionately referred to as "The Holy Trinity"). Everton reached the 1968 FA Cup Final, but lost to West Bromwich Albion and were knocked out by Manchester City in the semi-finals the following year. Ball was instrumental in the team which won his first and only major domestic honour in the game as Everton took the 1969-70 Football League Championship title, seeing off a late challenge from Leeds United.

Back at club level, Everton again capitulated in the semi-finals of the FA Cup in 1971, with Ball's opening goal overhauled by two strikes from Merseyside rivals Liverpool, who went on to lose the final to "double"-chasing Arsenal. Ball later picked up his 50th England cap in a match against Northern Ireland and on December 22 1971, Arsenal paid a record fee of £220,000 to take Ball to Highbury.

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Howard Kendall


Legend as a player and a manager. Managing the club to European Cup Winners Cup glory.

Originally a defender, Kendall joined Everton for £80,000 in March 1967 where he was moved into midfield with Alan Ball and Colin Harvey. This famous trio (given the nickname The Holy Trinity) were a major component of the Everton team that won the Football League First Division in the 1969-70 season. In the next three seasons, Kendall captained Everton. He was transferred to Birmingham City in February 1974 and later to Stoke City in August 1977 for a fee of £40,000. Kendall was made player-coach at Stoke in February 1978 and played a pivotal role in the 1978-79 season when Stoke won promotion to the First Division.

To the amazement of many, Kendall never played for England at senior level, but won caps at Schoolboy, Youth and Under-23 level, captaining the England Youth side to victory in the 1964 Little World Cup Final

May 1981 Kendall returned to Everton as player-manager, although he only played four games before finally retiring as a player. Initially he struggled and was on the verge of being sacked in January 1984 when results began to pick up with Everton reaching the Milk Cup final (losing to Liverpool) and winning the FA Cup (beating Watford) later that season.

In 1984/85 Everton won the League Championship, finishing 13 points clear of runners-up Liverpool and the European Cup-Winners' Cup and reached the final of the League Cup. Everton narrowly failed to win both the League and the FA Cup in 1985-86 – second in both to Liverpool, but in 1986-87 won the League again., nine points of clear of Liverpool as Merseyside continued it's stranglehold on the English game.

Kendall left Everton in 1987, frustrated by the ban from Europe of English clubs, to manage Athletic Bilbao in Spain. He was not a great success at Bilbao, not helped by limitations on the players he could sign for the Basque club. He turned down an offer to manage Newcastle United to remain in Spain, but was sacked in November 1989 after a poor run of results.

The following month he returned to England as manager of Manchester City, before returning to Everton in November 1990. He was less successful the second time around, resigning in December 1993 after a row about money for a signing. He was appointed manager of Notts County in 1995 but was sacked after less than three months.

He became manager of Sheffield United on December 13,1995, replacing Dave Bassett who had resigned the day before. He inherited a team next to bottom but proceeded to change the team personnel so drastically that a record number of players represented the Blades that season. The style of play was changed too and United pulled away from the relegation zone.

The following season started with new optimism and Chairman Mike McDonald gave Kendall around £3 million to spend but injuries to key personnel meant that the dream of promotion died in the play-off final. Kendall left on June 24, 1997, returning to Everton for an unprecedented third time as manager but only managed to avoid relegation on the last day of the season. He resigned from Everton in 1998 and in November that year was set to take over as manager of Spanish side Jerez. However, the move was put on hold due to a ban on foreign coaches in Jerez's division. Kendall instead joined Greek side Ethnikos Piraeus, but was sacked in March 1999 after only four months in charge and with Ethnikos 8 points adrift at the bottom of the Greek First Division.

Kendall was inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame in 2005 in recognition of his contribution as a manager to the English game.

To date, Howard Kendall remains the last English manager to win a European trophy with an English club.

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Brian Labone
"He will always be known as THE captain of Everton"

Liverpool-born Labone chose to join Everton at 17 in July 1957 instead of going to university. His debut for the first team was in 1958. He was widely regarded as one of the best central defenders of his era. He was a strong tackler, good in the air, adequately fast but he rarely used his left foot.

Brian summed up Everton in a simple quote "One Evertonian is worth twenty Liverpudlians"

Labone made 451 League appearances for Everton and a total of 534 in all competitions. He scored two league goals and was booked only twice throughout his career. Labone played in the championship teams of 1962-63 and 1969-70, in the FA Cup winning team of 1966, and in the FA Cup final of 1968.

Labone played 26 times for England between 1962 and 1970. He withdrew from England's 1966 World Cup squad because of his imminent marriage but played in three of the four games in the World Cup in 1970 in Mexico.

In 1970-71 Labone sustained a serious injury to his Achilles tendon and retired from playing. He maintained his links with Everton where he worked as a guide for guests & visitors and a website columnist.

Whilst returning home from an Everton fans awards evening at The Winslow Hotel in Walton, Labone died suddenly after collapsing in the street close to his Lydiate home at the age of 66.

Another former Everton captain, Kevin Ratcliffe, paid the following tribute: "Brian was Everton. If you could put together a team of every player that has ever captained Everton, every one of us would turn to Brian to lead us out. He will always be known as the captain of Everton".

Everton Chairman Bill Kenwright also paid tribute by saying: "On the foot of the Dixie Dean statue outside Goodison Park are the words "Footballer - Gentlemen - Evertonian"..........those words summed up Dixie - and they apply, equally, to the great Brian Labone

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Colin Harvey
'The White Pele'

He was born in Liverpool, and joined Everton as an apprentice in 1960. Harvey was often described as an elegant and skillful player and was nicknamed the "White Pele" by Everton fans. While at Everton he made 384 appearances (4 as substitute) and scored 24 goals.

Harvey made his debut in 1963 against Inter Milan in a European Cup tie in the San Siro Stadium. He became a first team regular during the 1964 - 65 season.

Harvey became a part of the famous midfield trio known as the "Holy Trinity" with Alan Ball and Howard Kendall that were the key components of Everton's Football League First Division winning team in the 1969/70 season. He played in the 1966 FA Cup winning team, scoring the winning goal in the Semi Final against Manchester United. Harvey played in the 1968 team that also reached the FA Cup final. Harvey left Everton in 1974 to join Sheffield Wednesday where he played for 13 months before retiring because of a persistent injury. Harvey was capped once for England against Malta in a European Championship qualifier in 1971.

Following his retirement from the game in 1976, Billy Bingham invited Harvey back to Everton to become Youth Coach. This was a role in which he was successful, winning the 1977 Youth Cup in a side featuring future stars Kevin Ratcliffe and Steve McMahon.

Harvey was promoted to reserve team coach in 1981 at the same time that Howard Kendall became manager. In 1983, Harvey was promoted to first team coach, which co-incided with the beginning of Everton's most successful period in their history in the mid 1980's (two Championships, FA Cup and a European Cup Winners' Cup). Harvey was appointed manager of Everton in June 1987 after the departure of Howard Kendall. During his spell as Manager, Everton finished 4th, 8th and 6th respectively in the old first division and also reached the 1989 FA Cup Final losing 3-2 to Liverpool. Harvey's time as manager ended in October 1990. Harvey was immediately appointed assistant manager by the returning Kendall. Harvey left Everton shortly after Kendall's departure in early 1994 but returned as youth team coach in 1997, following a spell as Assistant Manager at Oldham Atheltic with former Everton centre forward Graham Sharp.

As youth coach, Harvey was once again successful in winning the FA Youth Cup in 1998. During his spell as Youth Coach, Harvey nurtured the talents of Wayne Rooney, where once again the Youth Team progressed to the Youth Cup Final in 2002.

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Alex Young
The golden Vision

Alex "Sandy" Young (Born February 3, 1937, in Loanhead, Midlothian) is a former Scottish footballer. He was a prolific goal-scorer in Everton's 1962/63 championship season. He first played for Newtongrange Star in Midlothian but soon joined Hearts making his debut at the age of 18. He helped Hearts win the Scottish First Division chanpionship in 1958 with 20 goals. Two seasons later he scored 23 goals when Hearts won the title again.

He was signed for £42,000 by Harry Catterick from Hearts in November 1960 but was not an immediate success. However his partnership with Roy Vernon soon blossomed. Young scored 22 league goals in the 42 league games in the 1962/63 season and made many other goals. His elegant touch earned him the nickname of 'The Golden Vision' and caused much adulation. (Danny Blanchflower originally coined the name Golden Vision. In his words, it conveyed "the view every Saturday that we have of a more perfect world, a world that has got a pattern and is finite. And that's Alex – the Golden Vision.")

In addition to the championship, Young won an FA Cup winners medal in Everton's epic win in 1966. Young also won two caps for Scotland. Young scored 87 goals in 273 appearances for Everton before leaving for Glentoran in 1968. Young later played briefly for Stockport County for 23 games before a knee injury forced his retirement.

Once during an Everton home game, Young had been named as substitute. The crowd had been losing patience with the team when the stadium announcer had to read out an SOS message for someone in the crowd, coincidentally also called 'Mr Young'. The roar of approval was the loudest noise that afternoon.

Young ran his family's upholstery business in Edinburgh before retiring. He also had the pleasure of watching his son follow his lead and become a professional footballer in the 1990s. However, Jason Young could not match his famous father's prowess, and spent his career mostly in the Scottish lower divisions.

Belatedly, in August 2001, Everton gave Alex Young a testimonial at Goodison Park, with over 20,000 turning out to salute him

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This is an extract from Dixie Dean's autobiography, describing actions Dean took when in Nazi Germany with Everton.