History of Everton F.C.
have a long history. The club's roots loosely lie with a Methodist New Connexion congregation who had a chapel on the corner of Breckfield Road North and St. Domingo Vale in Everton, Liverpool. Initially formed as St. Domingo FC, named after the chapel, the football team was renamed Everton in 1879 after the district of Everton. Since then Everton have had a successful history winning the Cup Winners' Cup, the league title 9 times and the FA Cup 5 times. They were the first club to play over 100 seasons in the top flight of English football, and the 2025–26 season is their 123rd.
Foundation
St. Domingo Methodist New Connexion Chapel was opened in 1871 in Breckfield Road North, Everton, Liverpool. The chapel took its name from its location on the corner of Breckfield Road North and St. Domingo Vale. St. Domingo related addresses in Everton have their origins in St. Domingo House, a building built in 1758 by West Indies trader and sugar boiler George Campbell who would frequent the Colony of Santo Domingo and later became Mayor of Liverpool. In 1877 Rev. Ben Swift Chambers was appointed Minister of St. Domingo Chapel. He created a cricket team for the youngsters in the area but, as cricket was only played in summer, there was room for another sport during winter. Thus a football club called St. Domingo's F.C. was formed in 1878, the club's first match being a 1–0 home victory over Everton Church Club.Many people not attending the chapel were interested in joining the football club so it was decided that the name should be changed. In November 1879 at a meeting in the Queen's Head Hotel, the team name was changed to Everton Football Club, after the surrounding area. Barker and Dobson, a local sweet manufacturer, introduced "Everton Mints" to honour the club. The district is also the location of the team's crest image, Everton Lock-Up, sometimes referred to locally by the nickname Prince Rupert's Tower.
Everton originally played at Anfield on an open pitch in the southeast corner of the newly laid out Stanley Park, the same site for the once proposed new Liverpool F.C. stadium. The first official match under the name Everton F.C. took place in 1879 against St. Peters with a 6–0 win. John Houlding's house backed onto the park and was attracted to the club that attracted large crowds.
Professional clubs required proper enclosed facilities. In 1882, a Mr J. Cruit donated land at Priory Road which became the club's home for two years, with proper hoarding and turnstiles. Mr Cruit asked the club to leave his land as the crowds became far too large and noisy. Everton moved to nearby Anfield in 1884, renting from John Orrell, a friend of Houlding. Proper covered stands were built. Houlding bought Anfield one year after Everton moved in, Everton initially making a donation to a local hospital in lieu of rent before paying rent to their own president.
Within seven years of moving to Anfield the club had converted the ground from a brick field to a 20,000 plus international standard ground with accommodation on all sides. The club rose from amateur to professional, hosting an international match, England vs. Ireland, founder members of the Football League and winning their first title. The club's income rose substantially.
Football League founders
In 1888 Everton became founder members of the Football League, finishing eighth the first season and second the following.First League title
The 1890–91 season started in superb form with five straight victories, with Fred Geary scoring in each of the first six matches. By mid-January, Everton had completed all but one of their fixtures and were on 29 points, while Preston North End were eleven points adrift with seven games still to play. Everton than had to sit out the next two months as Preston completed their fixture list until they were only two points adrift with one match each left to play. Both teams played their final games of the season on 14 March, with Everton losing 3–2 at Burnley and Preston going down 3–0 at Sunderland. Everton were thus able to win the Football League Championship for the first time, by a margin of two points with fourteen victories from their 22 league games. Geary had been ever-present, and was the club's top goal-scorer with 21 goals.Move to Goodison Park
After winning the league for the first time, the Everton Committee and President John Houlding became embroiled in deep and bitter conflict. Houlding originally rented Anfield from the Orrell family and sublet to Everton FC. In 1885 Houlding bought the land from Orrel and rented directly to Everton FC. The Liberal-leaning committee viewed Conservative councillor Houlding as having a personal financial and political agenda and there was disagreement over the club's business model and the issue of selling refreshments, to which Houlding had sole rights. Houlding had increased the club's rent by 150% after the 1889–90 season to £250 per annum. John Orrell, who owned the adjacent land, then attempted to legally run a road through the new main stand to access his land. This would require Everton to buy both Anfield and Orrell's land or to rent both. Everton committee members accused Houlding of knowing of the legal right of way and allowing the new stand to be built. The committee wanted Houlding to negotiate on the combined Anfield and Orrell's land rent of £370 or the purchase of both, but were told the rental fee was non-negotiable. Houlding refused to give Everton FC a contractual rental lease. The governance issue was compounded by the overt political disagreements held between the Houlding faction and the 'dissenters' on the club committee. The backdrop for the dispute within the club was the struggle for power in the city council chambers between a previously dominant Tory Party struggling to hang onto political control of Liverpool and a resurgent local Liberal Party, and there is a clear sense that the club dispute was caught up in that struggle and added to it.Houlding attempted to hijack the club by incorporating another company, The Everton Football Club and Athletic Grounds Limited in January 1892 and seeking to get it registered as the official club in March 1892. Everton were still occupying and playing at Anfield, and Houlding sought to take over Everton's fixtures and position in the Football League. The Football League would not recognise Houlding's new company as Everton, resulting in his changing the name to Liverpool F.C. and Athletic Grounds Ltd in June 1892, creating Liverpool F.C. The distrust between Houlding and the Everton Committee resulted in Everton abandoning their substantial ground at Anfield and moving to Goodison Park on the north side of Stanley Park, issuing 5,000 shares as they did so, giving the directors a 6% stake in the club. Everton played their last match at Anfield on 18 April 1892 vs. Bolton Wanderers A new company, The Everton Football Club Limited, was incorporated on 14 June 1892.
FA Cup
Following the move to Goodison Park Everton reached four FA Cup finals before the First World War, losing 1–0 against Wolverhampton Wanderers at Fallowfield Stadium, Manchester on 26 March 1893 and 3–2 against Aston Villa at Crystal Palace on 10 April 1897 before winning at their third attempt on 20 April 1906 against Newcastle United again at Crystal Palace. Everton then reached their second successive final on 20 April 1907, however, finished in a 2–1 defeat to Sheffield Wednesday.Champions again
was to be the final season before league football was suspended for the duration of the First World War. Everton won their second league title, one point ahead of Oldham Athletic, with Bobby Parker finishing the season as the leagues' top scorer on 35 goals.Interwar years: Dean and co.
, better known as "Dixie" Dean, was one of the greatest goal scorers that the English game has seen. After averaging a goal a match for Tranmere Rovers, prolific striker Dean was lured across the River Mersey to play for Everton. In his first season for Everton, the 1925–26 season, Dean netted 32 league goals in 38 matches, scoring his first two on his debut. The next season, he scored 21 goals in 27 matches.Sixty
Making history in 1927–28, Dean scored 60 league goals in 39 matches, setting a record that has stood ever since and almost single-handedly gave Everton the league title.In a bizarre turn of events, in 1930 Everton finished last in the first division being relegated to the second division. Dean was on top form in the secondary league, scoring 39 goals in 37 matches and lifting Everton to promotion at the first attempt as the Second Division champions.
The following season, 1931–32, Dean scored 45 goals as Everton won their fourth league title.
In 1933, Everton won the FA Cup, with Dean becoming Everton's first-ever number 9 in the 3–0 final win against Manchester City. In this match, numbers were worn for the first time. The number 9 would become synonymous with commanding and high-scoring strikers at domestic and international level football, something Dean embodied.
He played his last match for Everton on 11 December 1937. Dean died at a Merseyside derby at Goodison Park in 1980, leaving behind a legacy of 383 goals in 433 matches overall.
In the 1938–39 season, Everton, with Joe Mercer, T. G. Jones and Tommy Lawton won the Football League Championship again. Lawton scored 35 goals during the season at the age of 19. The outbreak of World War II interrupted the players' careers for six years, bringing a halt to a team which otherwise may have achieved much more, exactly the same scenario as season 1914–15.
1940s–1950s: the barren years
Although the 1990s have been regarded as a poor decade, this era was worse. The great 1939 championship-winning team was quickly split up in 1946. Tommy Lawton was sold to Chelsea, Joe Mercer disagreed with the manager Theo Kelly and was sold to Arsenal, and they tried to sell T. G. Jones to Roma. Soon, only Ted Sagar was left.Under the management of the uninspired and under-financed Cliff Britton, Everton were relegated after the 1950–51 season for only the second time in their history to the Second Division. This time it took three seasons before Everton were promoted in 1954 as the runners-up. The final match of the season decided promotion when Everton beat Oldham Athletic away 4–0.
The era nevertheless had some notable players such as Dave Hickson and Bobby Collins. Memorable matches included ending Manchester United's long unbeaten run at Old Trafford with a 5–2 win in 1956.
Everton did reach the FA Cup semi-finals twice, in 1950 losing to Liverpool and 1953, losing to Bolton Wanderers 4–3.