Everton Football Club were formed in 1878 as St. Domingo’s FC when the local chapel who already ran several sports clubs decided to form a football team. St. Domingo’s earliest games were played on Stanley Park before eventually moving to Anfield where they played until 1892. In late 1879 it was decided that St. Domingo’s should be named after the surrounding area so Everton Football Club became the new name.
Everton’s first trophy came in the season of 1890/91 when Everton became only the second team to win the first division title after Preston North End winning it the 2 previous seasons. The first of Everton’s 5 FA Cup wins came in 1906 when a goal from Alex ‘Sandy’ Young secured a 1-0 win in the final against Newcastle. Another first division title in the 1914/15 season meant that Everton would be holders of the league title during the first world war, a feat that would be repeated by the blues for the second world war.
The next league title win came in 1927/28 when Everton’s greatest ever player William Ralph Dean, more commonly known as Dixie Dean guided Everton to the title with an astonishing 60 league goals, a record that still stands today. In 1930 Everton finished bottom of the first division and were relegated to the second division. They were back in the top division the following season after winning the second division. In their first season back in the top flight Everton won the league title for a 4th time in a season when Dixie Dean scored another 45 league goals. The following season Everton won their second FA Cup with a 3-0 win over Manchester City in the final. That was Everton’s last trophy under manager Thomas McIntosh who won 2 league titles, a second division title, 1 FA Cup and 2 Charity shields during his time with the club. 6 years after that FA Cup win came another league title with Everton again winning the league going into a world war in 1938/39.
Everton’s first post war trophy came in 1962/63 when Harry Catterick’s side won Everton’s 6th league title. In 1966 Catterick’s side produced one of the greatest FA Cup Final comebacks in the history of the competition. Sheffield Wednesday took a 2-0 lead in the 57th minute of the game and it looked like the game was lost for Everton but 2 goals from Mike Trebilcock and one from Derek Temple in the space of 20 minutes meant the Everton side captained by Brian Labone triumphed 3-2. Harry Catterick won his final trophy with the club in 1969/70 season with another league title.
After 14 years without a trophy, Everton were back amongst the silverware with a 4th FA Cup win in 1984. Everton won the game against Watford 2-0 thanks to goals from strikers Graeme Sharp and Andy Gray. The 1980s was the most successful decade in the clubs history with 1984/85 being the best season in that era. Howard Kendall followed up his first Everton trophy in 1984 with 2 trophies in 1985 winning the league title and the European Cup Winners Cup. After knocking out Bayern Munich in the semi-finals of the competition Everton then played Rapid Vienna in Rotterdam in the final of the European Cup Winners Cup. Everton won the game 3-1 with the goals coming from Andy Gray, Trevor Steven and Kevin Sheedy and is still Everton’s only European trophy. Everton and all English clubs (Liverpool for 1 extra year) were banned from Europe for the following 5 years due to 39 Juventus fans who tragically died in the Heysel Stadium disaster. The 1985/86 season was one to forget for Evertonian’s.
After being favourites to win the league for the majority of the season, Everton slipped up with a couple of games to go with a 1-0 loss to Oxford United in a game which Everton missed many chances with Gary Lineker being particularly unlucky. The title was snatched away from Everton by greatest rivals Liverpool and to make matters worse for the toffees Liverpool completed the double by beating Everton 3-1 in the FA Cup final which Everton were also favourites for. However, the following season Everton bounced back by winning their 9th and currently their most recent league title – Howard Kendall’s last trophy with the club.
Throughout the 1990s Everton diced with relegation and never were they more close to being relegated than in the 1993/94 season. On the final day of the season, only one relegation place had been confirmed. Everton was one of five teams fighting to avoid the remaining two places. A win over sixth-placed Wimbledon would keep Everton up barring away wins for Southampton, Ipswich and Sheffield United, but a draw would send them down unless Ipswich lost at Blackburn. Other results went Everton’s way but Everton still had to beat Wimbledon to survive. After 20 minutes of the game Wimbledon were 2-0 up and Everton looked destined to be relegated for the 1st time since the 1950/51 season. Graham Stuart netted from the spot in the 24th minute to make it 2-1 and keep any faint hopes alive. Astonishingly Barry Horne and Stuart again scored in the 2nd half to win 3-2 and keep Everton in the Premier League.
Everton’s most recent trophy came in 1995 when Joe Royle guided the blues to FA Cup glory in 1995. Everton beat Man United 1-0 in the final of the competition with Paul Rideout scoring the goal that secured Everton’s 5th FA Cup win.
Throughout their long history Everton have picked 15 major trophies – 9 League titles, 5 FA Cups, 1 European Cup Winners Cup and have also won the Charity Shield 9 times.