Everton's Number 9's



(Scroll Down or Click for: Centre-Forwards 1887/88-1932/33 Centre-Forwards 1933/34-1938/39



Number 9's 1945/46-1992/93 Squad Number 9's 1993/94 Onwards



Up until 1928/29, shirt numbers had not been used at all in football matches.

However, the 1928/29 season began with two teams, Arsenal and Chelsea, wearing numbered shirts - Arsenal away at

Sheffield Wednesday in their opening day Division 1 game and Chelsea at home to Swansea in a Division 2 match.

Their opponents remained numberless.



The experiment was soon abandoned - indeed shirt numbering was banned by the Football Association! - and they

disappeared again until the early 1930's when firstly, and most famously, the 1933 FA Cup Final saw Everton wear

numbers 1-11 and Man City numbers 12-22.



Huge thanks to the Everton Heritage Society's Brendan Connolly for providing a pic of the Football Association's letter to

Everton instructing them to wear shirt numbers in that game - have a look at it here.



This use of numbering was an experiment, though - the exception rather than the rule - and indeed the 1934 AGM of

the Football League Management Committee rejected the compulsory use of shirt numbers.



However, in July 1939 the Management Committee decided that teams should indeed wear numbered shirts - and it was the

new League President and legendary Everton administrator Will Cuff who was the driving force behind the decision.

Henceforth both sides were required to wear numbers 1 to 11, and so that is how the 1939/40 Division 1 season began - with

players from all teams wearing the numbers 1 to 11 on their backs.



Unfortunately, the 1939/40 season was abandoned after 3 rounds of games because of the outbreak of World War II and so, to

all intents and purposes, the mandatory use of shirt numbers began with the post-war resumption of official fixtures, specifically

the 1945/46 FA Cup and the 1946/47 Football League competitions.



Before their compulsory introduction in 1939 - and after the 1933 FA Cup Final - some teams did, intermittently, wear shirt numbers.



So, for instance, Everton wore shirt numbers in their next two games after the 1933 FA Cup Final - a 1-0 home win over Sheffield

Utd on 3rd May 1933 (the first time the club had ever worn them in a Football League match) and a 4-2 League defeat at Wolves

on 6th May 1933, after which the players were required to hand the shirts back to the club.



There is no evidence that Everton ever wore shirt numbers again in an official first-class fixture until their opening match

in the 1945/46 FA Cup competition - away at Preston on 5th January 1946.



Dixie Dean had worn the number 9 shirt in the 1933 FA Cup Final (and in the following 2 League games) and it was another

famous Everton name, Harry Catterick, who was the next to wear it in that 1946 Preston match.



The 1-11 shirt numbering system persisted until squad numbers appeared in the early 1990s, following the arrival of

the Premier League - although in reality goalkeepers' shirts had generally become numberless again in England in the

intervening years (an evolution that didn't appear to take place overseas).



The FA Premier League began in 1992/93 - but squad numbering wasn't introduced until the following

season, 1993/94 (when the competition had been renamed the 'FA Carling Premiership') and it has been with us ever since.



Listed below are all of those players who played at Centre-Forward for Everton in the pre-shirt numbering era, all of those

who wore the Number 9 shirt before the arrival of squad numbers - and all of the Squad Number 9's who have played for us

in the Premier League era.

EVERTON CENTRE-FORWARDS IN THE PRE-SHIRT NUMBERING ERA FROM 1887/88 - 1932/33 John Goudie Alan Maxwell Harry Makepeace Frank Bradshaw Fred Forbes William Lewis Patrick Gordon Thomas Corrin Tommy Browell Jack Cock John Keys Jack Southworth William McLaughlin Ernie Gault David Bain Edgar Chadwick Abe Hartley Tommy McDermott Sammy Simms Frank Hargreaves Frank Sugg John Bell Frank Oliver Johnny Houston Jimmy Broad Nick Ross Albert Flewitt Walter Abbott Tom Page William Ralph Dean Alf Milward John Cameron Tommy Dilly Tommy Nuttall Jack O'Donnell Tommy Costley David Storrier Robert Wright Bobby Parker David Murray George Davie Laurie Bell Thomas Jones Bill Wright Art Dominy Robert Morris Sam Keeley Fred Rouse Billy Kirsopp Dick Forshaw Walter Brown John Proudfoot George Couper Joseph Kearslake Tommy White Fred Geary Wilf Oldham Bert Freeman Joe Peacock Tony Weldon William Orr Thomas Crompton Billy Lacey John Blair George Martin Charlie Parry Wilf Toman James Gourley Stan Fazackerley Arthur Attwood Dan Doyle Alex McDonald Harry Mountford Stan Davies Monty Wilkinson Rob Jamieson Robert Beveridge Ted Magner Andy Moffat Tommy Johnson Hope Robertson Alex 'Sandy' Young Tom Fleetwood Bobby Irvine Jimmy McCambridge Sammy Thomson Adam Bowman Tommy Gracie Sam Chedgzoy George 'Leo' Stevens Jack Elliott John Brearley Willie Jordan Wilf Chadwick Philip Griffiths Alex Latta Jimmy Settle EVERTON NUMBER 9's IN THE 1932/33 SEASON Just one! - William Ralph Dean (he's also included in the list above) EVERTON CENTRE-FORWARDS FROM 1933/34 - 1938/39

(Not including anyone mentioned above) Jimmy 'Nat' Cunliffe Norman Higham Alfred Dickinson Billy Hartill Robert 'Bunny' Bell Tommy Lawton EVERTON NUMBER 9's FROM 1945/46 - 1992/93

(Not including anyone mentioned above) Harry Catterick George Kirby John Hurst David Irving Paul Wilkinson Archie Livingstone Derek Mayers Joe Royle George Telfer Adrian Heath Billy Higgins Jimmy Glazzard Mike Trebilcock Duncan McKenzie Wayne Clarke Stan Bentham Jimmy Gauld Sandy Brown Mark Higgins Neil Adams Ephraim 'Jock' Dodds Derek Temple Jimmy Husband Andy King Ian Marshall Eddie Wainwright Bert Llewellyn Ernie Hunt Billy Wright Pat Nevin Cliff Pinchbeck Eddie Thomas David Johnson Geoff Nulty Mike Newell Cyril Lello Peter Harburn Mick Lyons Imre Varadi Peter Beardsley Albert Juliussen Alan Shackleton Bernie Wright Asa Hartford Tony Cottee Jimmy McIntosh Frank Wignall John Connolly Brian Kidd Mo Johnston Oscar Hold Keith Webber Rod Belfitt Graeme Sharp Ray Atteveld Dave Hickson Alex Young Joe Harper Eamonn O'Keefe Peter Beagrie John Willie Parker Billy Bingham Gary Jones Alan Biley Stuart Barlow Gwyn Lewis Barrie Rees Bob Latchford Mick Ferguson Paul Rideout Ron Saunders Jimmy Gabriel Jim Pearson Andy Gray David Unsworth Jimmy Harris Fred Pickering EVERTON'S SQUAD NUMBER 9's FROM 1993/94 ONWARDS Tony Cottee

(he's also incuded in the list above) Duncan Ferguson Kevin Campbell James Beattie Louis Saha Landon Donovan Arouna Koné Sandro Ramirez Dominic Calvert-Lewin FULL LIST OF EVERTON'S PREMIER LEAGUE NUMBER 9's Paul Rideout David Unsworth Kevin Campbell Landon Donovan Sandro Ramirez Mo Johnston Tony Cottee James Beattie Arouna Koné Dominic Calvert-Lewin Stuart Barlow Duncan Ferguson Louis Saha