Leon Osman experienced plenty during more than a decade in Everton’s first team, but lifting a major trophy wasn’t among it.
The wait for silverware now stretches back 31 years to the 1995 FA Cup final victory over Manchester United. For Osman, though, the absence of trophies has never changed what the club means to him.
“Yes, there have been disappointments and those years without trophies, but let me tell you this – I wouldn’t swap being an Evertonian for anything in the world,” he told BBC Sport.
Osman reflects on Everton’s long wait
Osman made 433 appearances for Everton after coming through the club’s academy, scoring 58 goals during a first-team career that ran from 2003 to 2016.
His career included European football, an FA Cup final and several strong Premier League campaigns under David Moyes, but no trophy. Everton haven’t won one since Paul Rideout’s header beat Manchester United at Wembley in May 1995.
BBC Sport’s feature also highlights an extraordinary statistic surrounding that drought. Everton are the only club among the current 92 teams in the top four divisions of English football not to have won a trophy or promotion since the start of the century.
For Everton, promotion hasn’t been an option because they have remained in the top flight throughout. There have instead been near misses, difficult seasons and, more recently, relegation battles in which survival itself produced memorable days.
“We’ve had some disappointments in those times, certainly in terms of not winning anything, but we’ve had some good days along the way, good moments,” Osman said.
He was part of the Everton side beaten 2-1 by Chelsea in the 2009 FA Cup final and experienced several seasons in which Moyes’s team challenged towards the upper end of the Premier League.
More recently, Osman has watched as a supporter through altogether different times. The comeback against Crystal Palace in 2022 and final-day victory over Bournemouth a year later both secured Premier League survival after campaigns in which Everton had been in serious danger.
‘I celebrate being an Evertonian’
Club historian Dr David France approaches the 31-year wait from a different perspective.
“I can explain what I celebrate, even if we haven’t had tangible success for so long,” he told BBC Sport. “I celebrate being an Evertonian.”
Everton’s history includes nine league titles, five FA Cups and the 1985 European Cup Winners’ Cup. An entire generation of supporters, however, has grown up without seeing the men’s senior team add anything to that list.
Osman spent most of his playing career trying to change that and came closest at Wembley in 2009. He never quite managed it, but his affection for the club clearly hasn’t been diminished by the years that have followed.
“I wouldn’t swap being an Evertonian for anything in the world,” he said.
After 31 years without a major trophy, plenty of Everton supporters will know exactly what he means.
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