Today’s On This Day feature looks back 50 years to Everton’s title winning season. Read our review of their programme for the fixture against Derby County below and click here to see all the Division One issues from 1969/70.
Everton’s programme had undergone a revamp since the previous season’s advert heavy issue. Both the paper size and the number of pages had increased, with 24 pages now included. As with several other programmes of the time, Everton were moving into the era of the ‘match-day magazine’.
For the fixture against Derby County, the issue opened with a picture of Joe Royle in action in a recent Merseyside derby, whilst the opening article commented on several of Everton’s younger players hitting appearance landmarks. The programme included notes on new signing Keith Newton, a full-back who had arrived from Blackburn Rovers, while a ‘Player Profile’ section saw one Toffees player each issue answering questions alongside a full-page picture.
Coverage of Everton’s matchday opponents was spread over three pages, the first two of which were presented in landscape format. The content included a team group picture and brief profiles of each member of the visiting team. A separate article looked back at previous meetings between Everton and their opponents, alongside pictures of two visiting players. There were also notes on Derby’s dealings in the transfer market, with manager Brian Clough praised for his record in signing players, and a ten year club record, which shows how Clough had taken the club from an 18th place finish in 1967/68 to the Division Two title the following season.
The centre-pages featured various action pictures from the recent Goodison match-up against Liverpool. ‘Everton Diary’ recorded results and line-up details for Everton’s first-team, reserves, and youth side, while there was also a two-page statistics section covering results, tables, and a list of the leading scorers in each division of the Football League. There was a column from Colin Wood of the Daily Mail, who wrote about the concept of a proposed Super League as a solution to the problem of fixture congestion, arguing that no new league system would be better than what existed at the time. ‘Those Were the Days’ was an interesting historical feature that here profiled former Everton player Charlie Leyfield, who first signed amateur forms for the club in 1931. The article discussed Leyfield’s time with Everton between 1930 and 1936, and his later move into being a trainer.
This Everton issue had shown a marked development from the previous season’s programme, with plenty of readable articles, detailed opposition coverage, and well-presented statistical content.