Everton's Number 9's

(Scroll Down or Click for:   Centre-Forwards 1887/88-1932/33          Centre-Forwards 1933/34-1938/39

Number 9's 1945/46-1992/93          Squad Number 9's 1993/94 Onwards
   
World wide, shirt numbers had been used now-and-then in various countries as far back as 1911 - but up until 1928/29, shirt
numbers had not been used at all in English Football League matches.

However, the 1928/29 season began with two teams, Arsenal and Chelsea, wearing numbered shirts - Arsenal away at
Sheffield Wednesday in their opening day Division 1 game and Chelsea at home to Swansea in a Division 2 match.
Their opponents remained numberless.

The Sheff Wed v Arsenal game kicked-off 15 minutes before the Chelsea game and so Arsenal centre forward Jimmy Brain
had the honour of being the first number 9 in the Football League!
The Arsenal players all wore numbers on their back, incidentally, and the Chelsea outfield players did so too – but
their keeper wore the number 1 on the front of his shirt!

The experiment was soon abandoned - indeed shirt numbering was banned by the Football Association! - and they
disappeared again until the early 1930's when, famously, the 1933 FA Cup Final saw Everton wear
numbers 1-11 and Man City numbers 12-22, with Dixie Dean sporting the number 9.

Huge thanks to the Everton Heritage Society's Brendan Connolly for providing a pic of the Football Association's letter to
Everton instructing them to wear shirt numbers in that game - have a look at it here.

This use of numbering was an experiment, though - the exception rather than the rule - and indeed the 1934 AGM of
the Football League Management Committee rejected the compulsory use of shirt numbers.

However, in July 1939 the Management Committee decided that teams should indeed wear numbered shirts - and it was the
new League President and legendary Everton administrator Will Cuff who was the driving force behind the decision.
Henceforth both sides were required to wear numbers 1 to 11, and so that is how the 1939/40 Division 1 season began - with
players from all teams wearing the numbers 1 to 11 on their backs.

Unfortunately, the 1939/40 season was abandoned after 3 rounds of games because of the outbreak of World War II and so, to
all intents and purposes, the mandatory use of shirt numbers began with the post-war resumption of official fixtures, specifically
the 1945/46 FA Cup and the 1946/47 Football League competitions.

Before their compulsory introduction in 1939 - and after the 1933 FA Cup Final - some teams did, intermittently, wear shirt numbers.

So, for instance, Everton wore shirt numbers in their next two games after the 1933 FA Cup Final - a 1-0 home win over Sheffield
Utd on 3rd May 1933 (the first time the club had ever worn them in a Football League match) and a 4-2 League defeat at Wolves
on 6th May 1933, after which the players were required to hand the shirts back to the club.

There is no evidence that Everton ever wore shirt numbers again in an official first-class fixture until their opening match
in the 1945/46 FA Cup competition - away at Preston on 5th January 1946.

Dixie Dean had worn the number 9 shirt in the 1933 FA Cup Final (and in the following 2 League games) and it was another
famous Everton name, Harry Catterick, who was the next to wear it in that 1946 Preston match.

The 1-11 shirt numbering system persisted until squad numbers appeared in the early 1990s, following the arrival of
the Premier League - although in reality goalkeepers' shirts had generally become numberless again in England in the
intervening years (an evolution that didn't appear to take place overseas).

The FA Premier League began in 1992/93 - but squad numbering wasn't introduced until the following
season, 1993/94 (when the competition had been renamed the 'FA Carling Premiership') and it has been with us ever since.

Listed below are all of those players who played at Centre-Forward for Everton in the pre-shirt numbering era, all of those
who wore the Number 9 shirt before the arrival of squad numbers - and all of the Squad Number 9's who have played for us
in the Premier League era.
 
 
John Goudie Alan Maxwell Harry Makepeace Frank Bradshaw Fred Forbes
William Lewis Patrick Gordon Thomas Corrin Tommy Browell Jack Cock
John Keys Jack Southworth William McLaughlin Ernie Gault David Bain
Edgar Chadwick Abe Hartley Tommy McDermott Sammy Simms Frank Hargreaves
Frank Sugg John Bell Frank Oliver Johnny Houston Jimmy Broad
Nick Ross Albert Flewitt Walter Abbott Tom Page William Ralph Dean
Alf Milward John Cameron Tommy Dilly Tommy Nuttall Jack O'Donnell
Tommy Costley David Storrier Robert Wright Bobby Parker David Murray
George Davie Laurie Bell Thomas Jones Bill Wright Art Dominy
James Morris Sam Keeley Fred Rouse Billy Kirsopp Dick Forshaw
Walter Brown John Proudfoot George Couper Joseph Kearslake Tommy White
Fred Geary Wilf Oldham Bert Freeman Joe Peacock Tony Weldon
William Orr Thomas Crompton Billy Lacey John Blair George Martin
Charlie Parry Wilf Toman James Gourley Stan Fazackerley Arthur Attwood
Dan Doyle Alex McDonald Harry Mountford Stan Davies Monty Wilkinson
Rob Jamieson Robert Beveridge Ted Magner Andy Moffat Tommy Johnson
Hope Robertson Alex 'Sandy' Young Tom Fleetwood Bobby Irvine Jimmy McCambridge
Sammy Thomson Adam Bowman Tommy Gracie Sam Chedgzoy George 'Leo' Stevens
Jack Elliott John Brearley Willie Jordan Wilf Chadwick Philip Griffiths
Alex Latta Jimmy Settle      
         
EVERTON NUMBER 9's IN THE 1932/33 SEASON
Just one! - William Ralph Dean (he's also included in the list above)
         
EVERTON CENTRE-FORWARDS FROM 1933/34 - 1938/39
(Not including anyone mentioned above)
   
Jimmy 'Nat' Cunliffe
    
   
Norman Higham
    
   
Alfred Dickinson
    
   
Billy Hartill
    
   
Robert 'Bunny' Bell
    
   
Tommy Lawton
    
         
EVERTON NUMBER 9's FROM 1945/46 - 1992/93
(Not including anyone mentioned above)
Harry Catterick George Kirby John Hurst David Irving Paul Wilkinson
Archie Livingstone Derek Mayers Joe Royle George Telfer Adrian Heath
Billy Higgins Jimmy Glazzard Mike Trebilcock Duncan McKenzie Wayne Clarke
Stan Bentham Jimmy Gauld Sandy Brown Mark Higgins Neil Adams
Ephraim 'Jock' Dodds Derek Temple Jimmy Husband Andy King Ian Marshall
Eddie Wainwright Bert Llewellyn Ernie Hunt Billy Wright Pat Nevin
Cliff Pinchbeck Eddie Thomas David Johnson Geoff Nulty Mike Newell
Cyril Lello Peter Harburn Mick Lyons Imre Varadi Peter Beardsley
Albert Juliussen Alan Shackleton Bernie Wright Asa Hartford Tony Cottee
Jimmy McIntosh Frank Wignall John Connolly Brian Kidd Mo Johnston
Oscar Hold Keith Webber Rod Belfitt Graeme Sharp Ray Atteveld
Dave Hickson Alex Young Joe Harper Eamonn O'Keefe Peter Beagrie
John Willie Parker Billy Bingham Gary Jones Alan Biley Stuart Barlow
Gwyn Lewis Barrie Rees Bob Latchford Mick Ferguson Paul Rideout
Ron Saunders Jimmy Gabriel Jim Pearson Andy Gray David Unsworth
Jimmy Harris Fred Pickering      
         
 
Tony Cottee
(he's also incuded in the list above)
 
   
Duncan Ferguson
    
   
Kevin Campbell
    
   
James Beattie
    
   
Louis Saha
    
   
Landon Donovan
    
   
Arouna Koné
   
   
Sandro Ramirez
    
    Dominic Calvert-Lewin    
    Beto    
         
FULL LIST OF EVERTON'S PREMIER LEAGUE NUMBER 9's
Paul Rideout David Unsworth Kevin Campbell Landon Donovan
Dominic Calvert-Lewin
Mo Johnston Tony Cottee James Beattie Arouna Koné
Beto
Stuart Barlow Duncan Ferguson Louis Saha Sandro Ramirez