Having scored three Premier League goals at home in six months, Everton thrashed Middlesbrough 5-0 on this day in 1999
Olivier Dacourt, Marco Materazzi and David Unsworth all scored for Everton in their 5-0 win over Middlesbrough on February 17, 1999
Olivier Dacourt, Marco Materazzi and David Unsworth all scored for Everton in their 5-0 win over Middlesbrough on February 17, 1999
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Evertonians might think they’ve got things tough with the team’s current home form having gone six games without a win at Hill Dickinson Stadium, but back in 1999, things were much worse.
“Famine to feast for five-star Blues” proclaimed the ECHO headline as what was remarkable about this game was not just the thrashing inflicted on Middlesbrough on the night pf February 17, but what had come before it. Goodison Park had never endured such a sorry goal drought as the first dozen Premier League matches of Walter Smith’s reign.
With Everton’s most-successful manager Howard Kendall’s third spell coming to an end the previous summer after just one season in which the club had only avoided relegation on goal difference, Smith was snapped up from under the noses of Sheffield Wednesday to try and revive the Blues fortunes. Graeme Souness’ former assistant manager at Rangers, Smith had taken the reins at Ibrox when his boss succeeded fellow Scot Kenny Dalglish at Liverpool.
Smith enjoyed great success north of the border, presiding over the last seven of Rangers’ record-equalling nine-in-a-row Championships and lured stellar talents like Brian Laudrup, Paul Gascoigne and Basile Boli to the club but they came at a cost with over £50million splashed out on transfer fees, the largest amount of any British side in the period.
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Although Smith was initially afforded the kind of funds not given to predecessor Kendall to reshape Everton’s squad, drafting in the likes of Olivier Dacourt, Marco Materazzi, John Collins and Ibrahima Bakayoko, it turned out the cash was borrowed and in an attempt to try and appease the banks, chairman Peter Johnson sold fans’ favourite Duncan Ferguson to Newcastle United for £8million without the manager’s knowledge.
The secret deal was conducted while the Blues were actually beating the Magpies 1-0 in a Premier League fixture at Goodison on 23 November. A furious Smith threatened to walk but instead it ended up being Johnson who relinquished his title as chairman to the returning Sir Phillip Carter, albeit remaining as majority shareholder for now.
The off the field drama was not matched by the action on the pitch though as Smith’s Everton had a chronic problem with scoring goals, particularly at home. An opening day goalless draw against Aston Villa at Goodison set the gloomy tone for the months ahead.
Eight weeks earlier John Collins had held his nerve to score from the penalty spot for Scotland against World Champions Brazil with the eyes of the globe upon him in the opening match of the 1998 World Cup watched by a capacity 80,000 crowd at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis.
However, when making his Blues bow, the 30-year-old midfielder had his spot-kick saved by Mark Bosnich just seven minutes into the contest.
It proved to be an ominous portent for both Collins’ underwhelming Everton career and the fortunes of his side under Smith. The stalemate was one of nine occasions in the Blues first dozen Premier League home matches in which they failed to score but a sudden change awaited.
David Prentice wrote in the ECHO: “Evertonians were left asking questions again at Goodison Park last night. And this time no-one had any answers.
“But then the big question of the night was damnably difficult. Just how did a side who had scored three home goals all season, rattle five past Middlesbrough?
“Everton astonished their home faithful with a remarkable performance. They won 5-0, deserved to score even more and did it with a display of verve and skill.”
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Boro old boy Nick Barmby broke the deadlock against his previous club after just 42 seconds as he “rapped in” an incisive early cross from Francis Jeffers while he struck again on 16 minutes, “sublimely lifting the ball” over the advancing Mark Schwarzer’s body.
It was the first time all season that the Blues had scored twice in a single Premier League home game but they were far from done yet. Man of the match Dacourt added a third on 62 minutes, as he “side-footed home from close range after Don Hutchison’s curving daisy-cutter had been spilled by Schwarzer.”
Materazzi hit the goal of the night to make it 4-0 five minutes later with a smart free-kick as the Italian “bent a searing left-foot shot into the net.” The rout was completed by another summer signing, David Unsworth, who had returned to Everton a year after joining West Ham United – via a brief and bizarre one-month stint at Aston Villa – as the defender despatched what was described as “a neat centre-forward’s header” from Hutchison’s third assist of the game.
Substitute David Weir could have even added a debut goal, but his late headed effort bounced up off the turf and over the crossbar. After three home goals in six months, Blues would have to settle for five on the night.
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