History of Everton F.C.

A year later in the 1969–70 season, Everton won the Championship again thanks in part to the scoring sensation of Joe Royle, who would later manage the club to FA Cup and Charity Shield success in 1995.

The team won the league in style, playing what was virtually a form of Total Football orchestrated by the "Holy Trinity" midfield of Howard Kendall, Alan Ball and Colin Harvey.

However, a draw against Nottingham Forest followed by a shock 1–0 defeat to Division One newcomers Oxford United on 30 April resulted in Everton being unseated from the top spot by Liverpool, with only three games remaining.

The 1986 close season saw Everton sell leading goalscorer Gary Lineker to Barcelona of Spain,[39] and the arrival of defender Dave Watson from Norwich City,[40] while midfielder Adrian Heath switched to the role of Graeme Sharp's strike partner.

[47] Following the disappointments of that season, and with the gulf between Everton and their rivals across Stanley Park widening again, Harvey dipped into the transfer market that summer and signed Norman Whiteside from Manchester United and Mike Newell from Leicester City, while Trevor Steven was sold to Rangers.

In January 1994, Everton found a successor to Howard Kendall when they recruited Mike Walker from a Norwich City side that had recently finished third in the Premier League and eliminated Bayern Munich from the UEFA Cup.

[48] Honours won: FA Cup (1995), Charity Shield (1995) Within days of Walker's sacking, former Everton player Joe Royle had returned to the club as manager after 12 years in charge of Oldham Athletic.

He made a few changes to the squad in his first few months as manager, including making striker Duncan Ferguson's loan move permanent for a club record £4 million.

[50] Royle bolstered Everton's squad for the 1995–96 season, with a club record £5 million move for Manchester United's unsettled Ukrainian winger Andrei Kanchelskis.

Veteran defender and captain Dave Watson took over as caretaker until the end of the season, helping confirm Everton's survival, but he did not want the job permanently and the hunt was now on for a new manager.

After the end of the 1996–97 season, Everton approached Howard Kendall (by now at Sheffield United) following rejections from Bobby Robson and Andy Gray about a third spell as the club's manager.

Successful former Rangers manager Walter Smith took over from Kendall in the summer of 1998 and big things were expected along with some high-profile signings but his first season saw another relegation battle, and only a late run of four wins from their final six games saw them earn safety a 14th-place finish.

Everton expected to announce a deal before the beginning of the 2000–01 season,[52] but by October 2000 any chance of an agreement had disappeared leaving Everton with financial difficulties and forced to sell first team players, including Youth Academy products Francis Jeffers and Michael Ball, to balance the books – the board had already spent £18.4 million on purchasing new players including bringing back Duncan Ferguson, on the basis that an agreement was in place.

Runners-up: FA Cup (2009) In March 2002, the board turned to promising young Preston North End manager David Moyes with the task of moving Everton forward after years of underachievement, and he was able to steer the club to safety in the last few games of the season, finishing 15th.

In the FA Cup the Toffees were on the receiving end of a giant-killing, away to Shrewsbury Town, who were managed by former Everton captain Kevin Ratcliffe and were just four months away from being relegated from the Football League.

They played some of their finest football for years, thanks greatly to the 4–5–1 tactic of Moyes and the form of Danish midfielder Thomas Gravesen, who was sold to Real Madrid midway through the season.

[56] After occupying the Premier League relegation zone throughout October 2005, Everton stopped Chelsea's nine-game winning run with a 1–1 draw to spark a short revival that saw the team finally start to get good results to put much needed points on the board.

The following summer was one of some turmoil for Everton as their failure to gain Government acceptance for their proposed stadium move to Kirkby, the departure of Chief Executive Keith Wyness and the seeming reluctance of David Moyes to sign a new contract increased the gloom amongst supporters.

At the end of March, they set a club record in the Premier League with seven consecutive home wins, which included victories over title chasers Chelsea and Manchester United.

This reverse not withstanding, it was Jelavić's goals (nine in 13 appearances since his transfer) that helped secure only four defeats in the last 24 league games, and a seventh-place finish, ahead of Liverpool for the first time in eight seasons.

League form improved after this defeat, however, and a run of three successive victories, including a home win against champions Manchester City, maintained the club's challenge for European qualification.

The week following the Merseyside derby saw David Moyes announce he was leaving the club at the end of his contract to take up the position of manager of Manchester United after Sir Alex Ferguson's retirement.

He was also able to engineer something of a coup by persuading Barcelona and Chelsea to allow highly rated youngsters Gerard Deulofeu and Romelu Lukaku, respectively, to join the club on season-long loans.

Everton began the season well, with only one defeat in the opening 18 games, fewest in all four English divisions, and a record bettered only by Bayern Munich and Roma across Europe's top leagues.

March and April brought seven consecutive wins to cement their fifth-place position, with realistic hopes of occupying a Champions League spot at the end of the season.

Results still proved to be inconsistent however, with the New Year seeing Everton firmly ensconced in mid-table, although the Capital One Cup provided some solace, as the club reached the semi-finals where they would meet Manchester City; unfortunately, they would fall here.

On 12 May 2016, Martinez was sacked by the club in the face of vocal fan protests against his management in the wake of defeats to rivals Liverpool at Anfield, and in the semi-final of the FA Cup to Manchester United.

Up until the 6th matchday of the season, the club held the top spot in the league, following four consecutive wins, which could be credited to new signings James Rodríguez, Allan, and Abdoulaye Doucouré.

[80] He would eventually guide them to safety, surviving a relegation fight against Leicester and Leeds with a narrow 1–0 home win over Bournemouth on the final day, courtesy of a lone goal from Abdoulaye Doucouré.

Leighton Baines and team captain Séamus Coleman were in charge for one game, a 2–0 FA Cup third round win over Peterborough United before David Moyes returned as manager two days later on 11 January 2025.