12 Nov 2024 00:54:54
Look I know that I am an old fart but for many years all teams played with a goalkeeper, a left -back, a right-back, a left-half, a center-half, a right-half, a left-winger, a left-inside forward, a center-forward, a right-inside forward and a right-winger. The along came Don Revie with all of his stupid number systems, messed up the game.
So in the old system Tommy Eglington would run down the left wing, kick a sublime pass to Dave Hickson who would either head the ball into the net or the goalkeeper would knock the ball out for John Willie Parker (playing inside-right) to knock the ball into the goal. Hickson played for two periods for Everton, the first he played 139 times and scored 63 goals and John Willie Parker played 167 times and scored 82.
OK different times but both scoring rates were much better than any of our existing forwards, mainly because they played with each other, supplemented each other and would not have been as good if playing alone.
It's not rocket science, we need someone like Parker, does not have to be another center-forward but a player who plays up-front and feeds off the center-forward.
12 Nov 2024 03:47:36
I could almost hear the Pathé news reel.
12 Nov 2024 09:40:24
Dare I say it like Toshack and Keegan.
12 Nov 2024 12:33:38
It was the 14th of February 1953, four days before my 14th birthday . My school mate Neville Smith (who went on to write and act in "The Golden Vision" ) and I where at Goodison (on our own, no parents holding our hands in those days) and Dave Hickson scored the winner with blood pouring from a gash on his forehead. team was:
Goodison Park. Attendance: 77,920
Everton: O’Neill, Clinton, Lindsay, Jones, Parker, Farrell, Lello, Eglington, Hickson, Buckle, Cummins
Games were exciting then Welsh Trucker, not like the boring crap we are forced to watch these days. Imagine almost 78,000 supporters in Goodison, imagine the noise! I don't need to watch Pathe news, I have memories. I just hope that some of you younger supporters can have some positive ones soon also,
Mike.
12 Nov 2024 14:29:14
Blimey mate that was a long time back and I was 4 yrs old and was supporting Everton by the the time I was 10 yrs old, such a privilege to witness the Glory days and so many of them and won them all, those were the days buddy.
12 Nov 2024 15:38:17
Yes it was GB, forgot to mention that the game was a cup game verses Manchester United. I was in the Gwladys Street end, no boys pen for us, went in once it was like being in a cage, Kenwright was welcome to it.
It was pretty mad, the crowd swaying back and forth, hardly surprising that they made it all seating but it was fun. Even if we lost I never left the ground mad with the way we had played or with the managers tactics. We just lost against a better tea on the day.
These days I finish watching the game often mad at the tactics, the way we played and with the boring crap we choose to watch, which is probably our own fault as we are making our own purgatory by turning on the TV.
12 Nov 2024 16:42:24
Sure have had some brilliant and hard grafting players and managers in the past, for me this is our best bet to get back to those days with Freidkin at the helm, I soooooooo much want to see the Glory days again mate.
12 Nov 2024 18:34:14
Cor isn’t it!
A far cry from small boys, playing in the park, jumpers for goalposts.
Enduring image.
12 Nov 2024 20:02:44
I started in the boys pen. Never really got to see much off the football, as you spent most of the time fights for a space on the cage. Kids today would be traumatised even looking at it.
12 Nov 2024 20:12:11
I’m only 51 Mike, but I feel I watched Everton in a bygone time growing up! Football has changed beyond changed and sadly, the game we knew has now gone. I doubt it will ever return, even if Everton are successful again, the halcyon days of watching football, any team, have gone.
{Ed025's Note - you are right that football has changed Pierre, what we witnessed at the weekend was certainly like nothing i have ever seen before mate..
13 Nov 2024 13:48:06
It's not just Everton Ed025, most games these days are boring with defense being the important aspect for most teams. Passing back is the normal mode, and I don't have any statistics to back this up but teams seem to be having fewer shots and scoring less Goals. Everton are just much better at playing this type of game than most and we are unique in our ability to lose possession on a regular basis.
I have been watching rugby lately and to be honest enjoy the games much more, they are exciting, passionate and something which football has lost, a contact sport.
{Ed025's Note - i totally agree Mike, i hate all this tippy tappy passing for passings sake mate, and all defenders now think they are Messi and want to play triangles all the time passing it between them and the goalie and it bores me to tears, give me the old cut and thrust football that we played in years gone by by proper midfielders who would pass and move and shoot on sight, im not talking hoofball but high press with slick movement and dynamism that wowed the crowd, i feel sorry for the younger fans actually because i seen us when we were a great team..halcyon days indeed..
13 Nov 2024 16:11:43
Thats right Ed my Dad always referred to that exact style when remembering Celtic winning the European cup back in the day mate.
{Ed025's Note - it was a really entertaining style of play GD and Celtic were very good at it back then mate, i suppose it could be described a blood and guts football where no quarter was asked for or given, you could actually tackle then and the players never rolled around as if they had been shot.. :)
13 Nov 2024 23:27:53
What did the LFC back. line. do for 60 minutes every game in the 1980s? Hmmm I think they played it amongst themselves endlessly and then a GK back pass who'd pick it up! Think people have rose tinted glasses about the good olde days. A bunch of guys half soaked from the night before smoking like a kipper and couldn't run 100m in less than 13 seconds.
15 Nov 2024 03:21:44
Maybe so mate but they had brains which they used. The players these days can run faster and are fitter but have no idea what to do with the ball when they have it so they do what they are good at which is pass backwards. Anyway how would you know?