Everton Retro Football Shirts

The club was founded in 1878 by Rev Ben Swift Chambers and were named St Domingo FC before being renamed Everton FC in 1879. The team became a founder member of the Football League in 1888 with an 8th place finish in their first season before winning the 3rd ever Football League Championship in 1890/91.

However, a split occurred in 1892 which saw Liverpool FC formed and Everton having to move to Goodison Park on the north side of Stanley Park. Following this move, the team reached four FA Cup finals before the first World War but only won the 1906 final against Newcastle United. Everton also managed to secure their 2nd Football League Championship in 1914/14 which turned out to be the final season before the League was postponed during the war.

The pre war years saw Everton as one of the dominant forces in English football. Another league title was acquired in 1927/28 but a bizarre turn of events saw the club relegated in 1930. Nevertheless, they won back promotion in the next year and once again won the league title the season after. That period of time saw “Dixie” Dean, one of the greatest goalscorers of all time, inspire Everton to great heights with an eventual goal record of 383 goals in 433 games for the club.

The 1940’s and 50’s saw a barren spell at the club before Harry Catterick took charge in 1961 and led the club to two League titles and an FA Cup in his 13 year reign. However, the latter part of Catterick’s reign saw the team decline before his eventual resignation in 1974. Billy Bingham took over and looked set to lead the club to the 1974/75 League title but a poor run of form saw them drop to 4th place. After Bingham left in 1977, Gordan Lee took charge but was unable to match the heights of rivals Liverpool and he eventually left in 1981.

Former Everton player Howard Kendall was announced the club’s new manager in 1981 and he led the team through one of it’s most successful periods. A medicore first couple of seasons saw calls for Kendall to be sacked but after managing to win the FA Cup with a final victory against Watford in 1984, several other trophies soon followed. The team won their only ever European silverware during the following season with a 3-1 victory over Rapid Vienna in the final. Unfortunately, a ban on English teams from competing in Europe at this time prevented a successful Everton team from perhaps winning more European trophies. Everton also managed to win the League title in the same season and had it not been for a defeat to Manchester United in the League Cup final, they would have managed a historical treble. Kendall’s final trophy came in 1987 when the club won their final League title to date.

Following Kendall’s resignation, Everton entered a downward spiral throughout the 1990’s which saw them nearly relegated on several occasions. Howard Kendall returned for two more spells as the club’s manager but both were fairly unsuccessful. Experienced managers Joe Royle and Walter Smith were recruited but did little to halt Everton’s flailing fortunes. In fact, the only success story of the 1990’s was in 1995 when Everton managed to win the FA Cup with a Paul Rideout goal giving them a 1-0 victory over Manchester United.

With the club needing someone to push Everton back up the league, they turned to young Preston manager David Moyes. Moyes has proved a revelation at the club. Despite not winning any trophies in his time, Moyes has arguably turned Everton into the best club outside of the big four. His next challenge will be to break into that top four again after their success in 2004/05 and to win a trophy after finishing runners up in the 08/09 FA Cup final.