Christopher Beesley discusses Everton's difficult relationship with the League Cup but believes it can change
David Moyes celebrates with the UEFA Europa Conference League trophy after the 2023 final between West Ham United and Fiorentina in Prague
David Moyes celebrates with the UEFA Europa Conference League trophy after the 2023 final between West Ham United and Fiorentina in Prague
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Everton’s League Cup luck must turn at some point. The competition has been taking place since 1960/61 but somehow remains elusive for the Blues.
Although Everton are currently enduring the longest trophy drought in their history, this hasn’t always been the case. Even though their wait has now extended into a 32nd year, only neighbours Liverpool and Manchester United can better the Blues’ record of lifting major silverware across nine separate decades.
Everton have won nine League Championships and five FA Cups with four of the former and three of the latter having been lifted since the League Cup began but English football’s tertiary tournament continues to be out of reach for them (unlike their neighbours who have now triumphed in it on a record 10 occasions).
The first domestic honour to be handed out each season, it can also provide a platform for further glories throughout the run-in but the Blues haven’t even been back to the final since Liverpool defeated them in a 1984 Maine Road replay, three days after the Merseyside giants met for the first time at Wembley, when referee Alan Robinson somehow missed Alan Hansen’s clear handball to clear Adrian Heath’s goal-bound shot off the line).
In 42 years since then, there have been just a hat-trick of semi-final appearances under Colin Harvey (beaten by Arsenal in 1988); David Moyes (beaten by Chelsea in 2008) and Roberto Martinez (beaten by Manchester City in 2016).
Superfan Dr David France, a fifth generation Evertonian who has supported the team since before the League Cup existed, has travelled over two million miles watching his beloved Blues having been based in North America since 1978 – the year after it took five-and-a-half hours of football over 33 days for Aston Villa to beat them on the only occasion the final required three matches – has seen most things following the team since the 1950s.
However, the man who has done more for Everton than anyone who has ever lived without being employed by the club, told me in the spring when I joined him for his first proper look around Hill Dickinson Stadium that following a series of serious health complaints over a prolonged period, he has told his physician in Arizona, to keep him going at least until he reaches the age of 80 or Everton win the League Cup.
My fear is that never mind the good doctor, I will reach that venerable milestone with the long wait continuing. But it needn’t be that way.
Football has changed so much since Blues chairman Philip Carter was one of the leading proponents for the formation of the Premier League in 1992. Unfortunately for Everton, who were second only to Liverpool when they won their last League Championship some five years earlier, unless there are even greater alterations in the decades ahead, title number 10 seems highly unlikely to be heading to the Mersey waterfront.
But cups should not be beyond their grasp. As I have argued in the ECHO on several occasions, if a club of Everton’s size, stature and proud heritage is not at least attempting to win such competitions, then just exactly what is its raison d’être?
The recent ‘stat’ doing the rounds that the Blues were the only fanbase among the Premier League and Football League’s 92 teams not to have been given something to cheer since 2000 seemed an unfair stick to beat them with given that includes promotions. Being the club with the most top-flight seasons is one of the few firsts that loyal but long-suffering Evertonians can cling onto and there has been no scope to go up since 1954, a time that predates even Dr France’s match-going experiences.
Dr David France and Christopher Beesley in front of the replica of Goodison Park's former Littlewoods clock at Everton's Hill Dickinson Stadium
Dr David France and Christopher Beesley in front of the replica of Goodison Park's former Littlewoods clock at Everton's Hill Dickinson Stadium
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However, Everton’s record in the cups has been lamentable for a long time now. Having ended West Ham United’s 43-year trophy drought by steering them to success in the 2023 UEFA Europa Conference League, Moyes knows just how transformative those glory days are and they provide memories that both yourselves and the supporters will take to the grave.
The Blues boss has picked up more Premier League points than every manager other than serial title winners Alex Ferguson at Manchester United and Arsene Wenger at Arsenal but at 63 and in the final year of his current contract, the man whose final message to fans before the transfer window closed (when asked by the ECHO) was “their manager is an Evertonian” knows he only has a finite number of opportunities left to deliver silverware.
Having already overtaken Howard Kendall, in November, the Glaswegian is set to overhaul Harry Catterick as Everton's longest-serving manager of all-time. Nobody seriously expects him to be measured against the County Durham-born pair’s successes, but a cup win could transform his legacy.
For all their faults that have been exposed badly in recent times – former Everton player Richard Dunne is the latest observer to comment on how they have let Moyes down – The Friedkin Group were right to target cup success, citing recent triumphs for Newcastle United (ending a 70-year domestic drought) and Crystal Palace (the 2025 FA Cup being the first major honour in their history which was followed up by the UEFA Europa League this year) as inspirations to aspire to.
Even with a squad of just 18 outfield players that contains a single striker, right-back and left-back, with no European football for the club this term , t’s not a case of choosing between the cups and staying up.
If you end up being drawn against one of the big boys and they’re just too strong for you then so be it, but until then, Everton should just go with their strongest side and see how far it can take them.