While it might not inspire the same levels of animosity as when neighbours Liverpool face Manchester United, it would be wrong to ever suggest Everton’s matches against their regional rivals from down the East Lancs Road are ever anything other than intense, who could ever forget Phil Neville’s famous tackle on his former team-mate Cristiano Ronaldo? So ahead of the Red Devils’ latest visit to Merseyside, here’s a look back at some of the Blues’ most-memorable victories over them at Goodison Park and how the ECHO reported on them.
October 8, 1927: Everton 5 Manchester United 2
Much has been made of Erling Haaland’s prolific start to life at Manchester City with the Norwegian’s 14 goals in his first eight league games for the reigning champions putting him ahead of Everton legend Dixie Dean’s tally of 12 from the first eight matches in his record-breaking 60-goal season in 1927/28. However, Dean would then plunder all five goals in the Blues’ 5-2 demolition of United in his ninth outing of the campaign, some 95 years ago today.
It was five-star displays like this from Dean that had helped Evertonians to spin the yarn that their legendary centre-forward had been boosted by having a metal plate inserted under his forehead after a motorcycle accident had threatened to end his career. In the summer of 1926, at the end of his first full season at Goodison Park, Dean came off his bike in Holywell, North Wales, fracturing his skull and jaw and leading doctors to fear he might never play again.
In the ECHO, ‘Bee’s Notes on Sport’ waxed lyrical about how the centre-forward’s display was the crowning glory of his incredible comeback to date and he wrote: “It is very difficult to know what to say next about this young, breezy man Dean.
“William is himself again; a year ago we were going about the clubhouse, one lot saying he would never play again; another lot saying ‘you can’t keep a good man down’ and declaring that Dean would be back before Christmas.
“I remember the director, Mr Andrew Coffey, telling me he believed Dean would be back with the football task in October, and I thought it a sort of fatuous optimism. Yet Dean came back to his side in October, and is gaining strength every day.
“He is not putting on weight, and indeed his poundage is somewhat similar to that of years ago; he touches 12st 4lbs, and touches the hearts of all who like to see big heavyweight men capable of being dainty in their movements. Not until January does he touch manhood’s estate, 21 years of age.”
February 14, 1953: Everton 2 Manchester United 1
With the amount of blood gushing out of Dave Hickson’s head wound for this FA Cup tie, Goodison Park looked as though it was hosting a Valentine’s Day massacre but on the annual date for love, the Everton idol showed just how much playing for the club meant for him. Despite suffering a horrendous above his eye, a patched-up Hickson returned to the field to net the winner and secure a famous FA Cup scalp for his Second Division side against the reigning League Champions.
Some 77,920 packed into Goodison for this one and the fifth round match looked to be going with the form book when Jack Rowley put Manchester United ahead on 27 minutes and although Tommy Eglington equalised for the hosts some seven minutes later, five minutes before half-time, Hickson retired injured after he “flung himself at the ball in a praiseworthy effort to score but came in contact with an opponent’s outstretched boot and blood poured from his eyebrow” ensuring he “was led off by trainer Harry Cooke with a pad of cotton wool held to his face.” Patched up with five stitches, Everton’s number nine would make a dramatic return early in the second half.
‘Ranger’ reported in the ECHO: “Although Hickson was not in his place when the teams lined up for the restart, he trotted out a minute later to the accompaniment of a resounding cheer. He carried a handkerchief in his hand, which now and again he applied to his eye.”
Even with the stitches and hankie, the blood continued to flow though and Ranger added: “Hickson’s eye was obviously giving him trouble again and the referee appeared to be suggesting that he should go off. Hickson however, indignantly wave away any such suggestion.”
His courage was rewarded with a winning goal on 63 minutes. “Chasing the ball, Hickson beat one man, sidestepped another, and then screwed back an oblique shot which Ray Wood failed to reach.” The centre-forward reopened the wound when he headed against the post late and despite his face being caked by blood, “when the final whistle went, (Everton goalkeeper) Jimmy O’Neill dashed half the length of the field to throw his arms around Hickson, the hero of a wonderful win, but one which was shared equally by all eleven players.”
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October 27, 1984: Everton 5 Manchester United 0
Grand old man and revered lifelong Blue, Joe Mercer was three score and ten when he watched this game but having reached the age of 70, declared: “It was the best performance by any Everton side I remember.” The former Everton player, who went on to win all English football’s domestic honours as a manager plus the European Cup-Winners’ Cup before a stint as caretaker boss of the national team, added: “I’ve seen Brazil play in blue today.”
In terms of the evolution of Howard Kendall’s side who would become the Blues’ best ever, this was a watershed moment. This was a very able United side who went into the fixture above their hosts on goal difference.
They’d finish the season fourth like they’d done the previous campaign and of course give the Blues a bloody nose after extra time in the FA Cup final the following spring to deny them the double despite being reduced to 10 men after Moran was sent off but such was the one-sided nature of this encounter, their Old Swan-born manager Ron Atkinson kept them locked in the dressing room for an hour after the full-time whistle.
Sheedy’s second goal on 24 minutes was a more orthodox effort as, slipped through by Adrian Heath, he guided a low left foot shot past Gary Bailey. Heath then went from provider to finisher on 35 minutes as he was first to the ball in a crowded penalty area to hook in a shot from Trevor Steven’s right wing cross.
In the second half, Arthur Albiston cleared a goalbound Andy Gray header off the line but Everton’s relentless pressure paid off on 81 minutes as a powerful low drive from Gary Stevens made it 4-0 and Graeme Sharp completed the rout four minutes from the end as he headed in a Heath free-kick from the left flank.
Under the headline “Blues title rivals in a spin” in the ECHO, Ian Hargraves concurred Mercer was not exaggerating with his bold verdict.
He wrote: “Even allowing for the natural enthusiasm of the moment, he was not far wrong. You have to go back to the playing days of Kendall and Harvey, whose coaching skills were behind this latest triumph, to recall anything comparable, and it certainly overshadowed the whole of the last decade.
“Manchester United arrived at Goodison as championship favourites, fairly stuffed with internationals, and having lost only one match previously. They were totally outclassed by opponents whose all-round speed and inventiveness made a mockery of United’s title pretensions.”
April 20, 2005: Everton 1 Manchester United 0
A decade on from when he first felled Manchester United, Duncan Ferguson repeated the trick to earn a result that put Everton on their way to securing their highest-ever Premier League finish. Ferguson might not have developed into the latter day Dixie Dean he’d been compared to by Joe Royle a decade earlier but after returning to his beloved Blues in 2000 – after being sold by chairman Peter Johnson behind manager Walter Smith’s back in 1998 – he remained the darling of the Gwladys Street.
By now, the 33-year-old had become an effective ‘Plan B’ off the bench for David Moyes with the likes of Bent and then new record signing James Beattie, who arrived for £6million from Southampton in January, usually leading the line. Some 29 of Ferguson’s 35 Premier League appearances that season came as a substitute but perhaps wary of his old warhorse’s ‘Braveheart’ spirit for the grand occasion, Moyes chose to pair him with Bent against Sir Alex Ferguson’s men and leave Beattie on the bench.
The ECHO’s Scott McLeod was in no mood to play down the importance of the night and proclaimed: “Superlatives cannot do last night justice.
“Even before you take into consideration the wider context, it equates to one of the most thrilling nights Goodison has witnessed for many years. Bayern Munich, 1985, anyone? As with that famous night, the mix was perfect. The crowd were rocking, the players were outstanding and the outcome was ridiculously satisfying.”
He added: “There was even something poetic about the identity of the man who proved Everton's talisman on the evening. Only Alan Shearer has scored more goals against United since the Premier League came into being than Duncan Ferguson.
“It was one of those goals which provided Everton with their last league victory against them before last night – way back in 1995. That was when Ferguson was in his prime. In recent times he has been a shadow of the player who waltzed his way into the hearts of Evertonians all those years ago.
“But last night he was gargantuan. His monumental frame cast a shadow over the most successful English team of the modern era – and made Rio Ferdinand look more like a £120-a-week player than the £120,000 one his agent claims he should be.
“Ferguson towered over the England man, winning more battles in the air than Douglas Bader. And he left Ferdinand in his slip-stream for the 55th minute header beyond Tim Howard which secured the victory.”
April 21, 2019: Everton 4 Manchester United 0
Other than a farcical 22-0 friendly win in the Alps over ATV Irdning in his first game in charge, this was the most-emphatic victory of Marco Silva’s 18-month tenure as Everton manager but as the Portuguese coach found out, Premier League opponents are considerably tougher than Austrian farmers. Silva’s first winter was bleak with 10 defeats – bookended by a Merseyside Derby loss at Anfield and a reversal back at Watford – between December and February but the spring brought some green shoots of recovery and after defeating Chelsea (2-0) and Arsenal (1-0) in their previous two home games, the Blues made it an impressive hat-trick here.
The ECHO’s Phil Kirkbride proclaimed: “Richarlison (13) got the scoring underway when he quickly shuffled his feet and twisted his body to turn Lucas Digne’s long-throw, flicked on by Dominic Calvert-Lewin, past De Gea with a sublime scissor kick. It was a flamboyant sign of things to come.
“Gylfi Sigurdsson (28) rifled home the second from outside the box to draw level on 12 league goals for the season with Richarlison but the counter-attack play between Idrissa Gueye and Bernard to fashion the opening was superb. Goal number three, and the one which put the nail in United’s coffin, arrived when Digne (56) watched the ball like a hawk as United only half cleared a corner and struck a sweet volley past the rooted De Gea.
“Walcott, on for the injured Richarlison, sprinted onto Sigurdsson’s through-ball for the fourth (64). His first touch was poor but his second more than made up for it and he guided the ball past the United stopper… Barcelona only put three past this lot in midweek.”
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