The ECHO’s Chris Beesley continues his daily series of articles on Everton and the World Cup running throughout the tournament in Qatar.
In terms of what was at stake, the 1966 World Cup semi-final between West Germany and the Soviet Union was the biggest game ever staged at Goodison Park but many angry supporters stayed away, leaving Everton’s home with its lowest crowd of the tournament. Goodison was supposed to be the venue for hosts England’s semi-final match against Portugal but the ties were the subject of a late ‘switch’, prompting understandable fan fury.
The normally reserved Liverpool Daily Post blasted that Merseysiders were calling the FIFA decision to play the England v Portugal World Cup semi-final at Wembley as “the greatest betrayal in sporting history.”
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So what happened? The ECHO reported that when the draw for the finals was originally made, it was indicated that the winners of quarter-final 1 (which turned out to be England) would face the winners of quarter-final 3 (Portugal) at Goodison Park.
All four quarter-finals were played on Saturday July 23 and in what now seems incredibly short notice – the Goodison semi-final was played just two days later on the Monday night – the decision to change the games around and deny Scouse fans the chance to cheer on Alf Ramsey’s side in the flesh was taken a mere 48 hours beforehand. In Monday’s edition, the Liverpool ECHO warned that demonstrations were likely with Merseyside fans “incensed” at what they claimed was a snub to the city of Liverpool with many having bought tickets to see England at Goodison, only for a “draw” for the semi-finals to be made after the weekend’s results were known.
The ECHO's Michael Charters, who had been covering all of Goodison’s World Cup games for the newspaper, stuck the boot into FIFA, insisting that the decision by their organising committee was “contrary to everything that has been understood at Everton since the first planning for the World Cup was made” and that he was “told last week, on the best possible authority, that whatever else happened, England would be at Goodison Park for the semi-final if they beat Argentina.”
Charters blasted that the actions of FIFA – whose President at the time was Englishman Sir Stanley Rous – left them open to three major criticisms: That the tournament was “a money-making racket” with a principal aim of getting as much cash as possible from a capacity gate at Wembley; that they were being unfair to other countries by allowing England to treat Wembley as their home pitch and play every game on it; and they were failing to keep faith with the fans in the North West, particularly Everton, who had planned and prepared for seeing England at Goodison.
Everton chairman Mr. E. Holland Hughes was more diplomatic, stating: “At Goodison Park we are naturally disappointed that we have been denied the privilege of receiving England in the semi-final. We had been led to believe, and indeed so had the public, that if England got this far the privilege was to be ours.”
Stay-away fans let their feet do their talking over the decision through their absence – just 38,273 were at Goodison for the semi-final, more than 20,000 fewer than the 58,479 who had watched the group game between Portugal and Brazil. Those who did turn up let their anger be known through homemade banners containing slogans such as 'Down With FIFA'; 'England Fix Insults Liverpool' and 'England Snubs Liverpool.'
Despite the quality on the pitch as a West Germany side containing Franz Beckenbauer that would push England all the way in the final, taking them to extra time, locked horns with Lev Yashin and his comrades, the mood of both Charters and the crowd did not seem to have been lifted by the action in the ECHO's match report.
Helmut Haller fired the Germans ahead on 42 minutes before Beckenbauer doubled their advantage midway through the second half. Valeriy Porkujan reduced the deficit for the Soviets two minutes from the end but it was too little, too late.
Charters complained: “I suppose it was too much to expect to see a fifth great World Cup game at Goodison Park. What we did endure – and the locals in the crowd made their feelings very clear – was rubbish between West Germany and Russia which ended with both teams being jeered off the pitch.”
He added: “The sum total of proceedings were two fine goals from the Germans, some brilliant goalkeeping by Yashin, too many fouls, and too little good football. At times the game dropped to Fourth Division standard, and perhaps that is too harsh on our Fourth Division.
“The crowd gave the game its rightful verdict by setting up chants of 'England' followed by 'Liverpool' and 'Everton' with the crowning touch being the heartfelt singing of 'Go home, you bums.'"
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