Kharhaz » Sat Apr 14, 2012 11:16 pm wrote:Everton are not an ordinary team. They are our rivals, and it doesnt matter where they or we are in the league, when these matches occur, form goes out of the window. The rivalry on and off the pitch creates an atmosphere that cannot be rivalled by anyone.
An ordinary team? no, a team we simply have to beat on every occasion? definitely.
it`s worth reminding a few of our fans that in the wider sense too everton are not an ordinary club either, they are a founder member of the football league and a club who have played more top flight games than anyone else (infact everton v aston villa is the most played fixture in english football), for the first 70 odd years of league football they were the biggest, richest and best club on merseyside and arguably the biggest club in england, because everton have fallen away dramatically over the past 20 years or so a lot of sky generation fans dont realise that in the 110 year`s from 1888 to the mid 1990`s everton accumulated more league titles than manchester united.
everton were a incredibly consistent club, even in the old days when teams went up and down the divisions and went through cycles everton won the title in the 1910`s, 1920`s, 1930`s, (most of the 1940`s was lost to the war but everton won the last league title before the league was suspended for the duration), the 1960`s, the 1970`s and the 1980`s.
everton were also the first club in the world to wear the numbers 1 to 11 on their backs
whenever you spoke about the `big four` years ago it was always liverpool, united and everton set in stone plus either one of the north london clubs (usually whichever one was doing best at the time).
it`s also ironic considering how bad everton have been in the premier league era that they were the big driving force behind the prem being set up and their chairman philip carter was the `face` of the clubs threatening to break away from the football league in the late 80`s.
also goodison park was the first purpose built football stadium on the planet, up to then teams played on recreational area`s with a few seats or a makeshift embankments.
they are our bitterest rivals and the team we love to beat the most but we both originated from the same church side (st domingo`s) and as their song says, like it or not, they are a grand old team.
this clip about dixie dean shows the type of support they had years ago, look at the crowds when they bring the cup back to liverpool -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMYsD5KtJAg