20. Joe Royle (1965-1975)
275 appearances, 119 goals
Merseyside-born and home-grown, Joe made his debut aged 16 versus Blackpool. A precocious talent who was...
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Nos 39-20
Top 60 Everton Players:20.Joe Royle
20. Joe Royle (1965-1975)
275 appearances, 119 goals
Merseyside-born and home-grown, Joe made his debut aged 16 versus Blackpool. A precocious talent who was a superb header of the ball and an imposing physical presence, Royle scored 23 goals in the 1969/70 championship season at the tender age of just 21. Under Catterick’s inventive...
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Top 60 Everton Players:#21.Kevin Sheedy
21. Kevin Sheedy (1982-92)
349 appearances, 93 goals
Sheedy’s talent lay fallow at Liverpool, until Kendall took him to Goodison for £100,000 – it speaks volumes that Bob Paisley was both against the deal and unhappy with the tribunal-set price. Blessed with a left foot that was responsible for countless perfect passes –...
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Top 60 Everton Players:#22.Gordon West
22. Gordon West (1962-73)
399 appearances
Harry Catterick’s first signing; £27,000 from Blackpool in March 1962, for what was then a record fee for a ’keeper, turned out to be one of his most astute. West was an agile goalie whose excellent handling, shot-stopping and judgement of angles made him a virtual ever-present...
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Top 60 Everton Players:#23.Dave Hickson
23. Dave Hickson (1951-56, 1957-60)
243 appearances, 111 goals
“I would have died for Everton. I would have broken every other bone in my body for any other club, that’s how I look at it, you know. I would have died for this club.”
As Everton’s “Cannonball kid”, Dave Hickson hurtled around the field, fighting...
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Top 60 Everton Players:#24.Trevor Steven
24. Trevor Steven (1983-89)
283 appearances, 58 goals
Trevor Steven provided ammunition for Sharp and Gray in the mid-eighties and scored his share of goals too. Steven was the archetypal winger and the brilliant crossing and sheer cunning of the man known as “Tricky Trev” was a wonderful asset in a hugely successful team....
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Top 60 Everton Players:#25.Tommy Eglington
25. Tommy Eglington (1946-57)
428 appearances, 82 goals
Eglington had the pace that launched a thousand attacks during a career that had a wingspan of more than a decade. He came across from Shamrock Rovers in 1946 in a £10,000 deal that included Peter Farrell, and played on the left wing scoring a healthy...
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Top 60 Everton Players:#26. Fred Pickering
26. Fred Pickering (1963-67)
115 appearances, 70 goals
Fred was a beefy forward with a sensational goal to game ratio. A Catterick signing from Blackburn Rovers in 1964 for a club record £90,000, he was nicknamed “Boomer” because of his massively powerful right foot. Sadly Pickering never really recovered from being dropped from the...
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Top 60 Everton Players:#27. Gary Lineker OBE
27. Gary Lineker OBE (1985-86)
52 appearances, 38 goals
“There’s no doubt at all that Everton was the best team I ever played in.”
For months the Gwladys Street looked upon Andy Gray’s replacement with suspicious eyes, but eventually this goal-glutton won over huge swathes of Goodison. Lineker spent only one season at Everton, but...
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Top 60 Everton Players:#28.Mick Lyons
28. Mick Lyons (1970-82)
434 appearances, 59 goals
Mick Lyons had the misfortune to play during the barren years of gradual decline at Goodison following the 1969/70 title win. Not skilful but powerful and physically imposing, not even his iron will was enough to resist the slide which culminated in the bleak Gordon Lee...
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Top 60 Everton Players:#29. Adrian Heath
29. Adrian Heath (1981-89)
293 appearances, 89 goals
A club-record-signing when he joined Everton from Stoke City in January 1982 for £700,000, little Adrian Heath brought guile to Everton’s midfield. Health was a polyglot player who was comfortable speaking both the language of a forward and a midfielder. Intelligent off-the-ball movement meant that...
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