Everton have fallen upon hard times in the last few decades. Having been nine-time champions of England, the club have not lifted any silverware since 1995; the longest barren streak in their history.

Everton are a football club based in Liverpool, England, which plays in the Premier League.

Everton are nicknamed The Toffees and their home colours are blue and white. They play their home matches at Goodison Park, a stadium with a capacity of just under 40,000.

Some of the most famous players to don Everton colours were Dixie Dean, Neville Southall and Wayne Rooney.

Everton turned to former Burnley boss Sean Dyche after sacking Frank Lampard in January 2023, with the club sitting 19th in the Premier League.

Early history

Everton FC were founded in 1878 and they were English champions for the first time as early as 1890/91, having been a founding member of the Football League in 1888.

Everton won their first FA Cup title in 1906 and then the league championship in 1914/15 before soccer was put on hold during the First World War.

In 1925, the Toffees signed Dixie Dean from Tranmere Rovers and that would set them on a path to becoming a true dominant force in English football.

Everton's wartime success

Dean was the top goalscorer as Everton won the league title in 1927/28. His 60 goals in 39 matches that season is a top-flight record which still stands today. Everton were relegated two years later, but wasted no time coming back up and won the First Division title again in 1931/32.

A 3-0 win against Manchester City in the final of the 1933 FA Cup saw Everton lift the trophy for the second time. In 1938/39, Everton won their fifth top-flight title. Once again, league soccer was suspended right after their title win.

The Second World War saw a great Everton side broken up and they were a shadow of their former selves upon their return to competitive football. They were relegated in 1950/51, but won promotion again in 1953/54 and have remained in the top flight ever since.

The Harry Catterick era

Former Toffees player Harry Catterick became Everton manager in 1961 and took them back to the top of English football as they won the league title in 1962/63.

Everton became the first English team to play in Europe for five years in a row (1961/62 to 1966/67) and beat Leeds United to the league title by nine points in 1969/70.

The team stagnated in the next three years and Catterick left in 1973 after 12 years and almost 600 matches in charge of the Toffees. He'd had a heart attack in 1972 and left the club over continuing worries for his health and wellbeing, bringing a successful period for the Toffees to an end.

The Howard Kendall years

Another legend of Everton from his playing days with the club, Howard Kendall took over as Toffees manager for the first time in 1981 and led them to the 1984 FA Cup and 1984/85 and 1986/87 league titles.

In 1985, Everton also won the European Cup Winners' Cup, beating Bayern Munich in the semi-finals and Rapid Vienna in the final. They missed out on a treble by the finest of margins, losing to Manchester United 1-0 after extra time in the FA Cup final.

Joe Royle enjoyed a moderately successful spell in charge and led Everton to the 1995 FA Cup, but there was not much else to cheer about prior to the arrival of David Moyes in March 2002.

Despite having been founding members of the Premier League in 1992, the Toffees could not make much headway into challenging for the league title and saw themselves left in the wake of the likes of Manchester United and Arsenal early on.

David Moyes' managerial tenure

Moyes inherited an Everton side from Walter Smith which had consistently finished in the bottom half prior to his sacking in March 2002. At the time of his arrival, the Toffees even faced the threat of relegation, which Moyes avoided, steering Everton to 15th in the Premier League.

A young Wayne Rooney burst onto the scene in the first team under Moyes' guidance. He was sold to Manchester United for a reported £28million, but even without Rooney, Everton enjoyed an impressive 2004/05 season, finishing fourth in the Premier League and making the UEFA Champions League third qualifying round, where they lost to Villarreal.

Moyes broke Everton's club transfer record on four occasions, signing James Beattie for a reported £6million in January 2005, Andy Johnson for a reported £8.6million ahead of the 2006/07 season, Yakubu for £11.25million in summer 2007 and Marouane Fellaini for £15million in September 2008.

However, Everton still struggled to match the elite in the transfer market during an era of huge spending for the likes of Chelsea, Manchester City and Liverpool.

Naturally, this had consequences on the field of play and Everton failed to land any silverware under Moyes. They came close, however, in 2009, losing the FA Cup final at Wembley 2-1 to Guus Hiddink's Chelsea.

Moyes left to replace Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United in 2013 and Everton struggled to find a long-term successor as their league form fluctuated in the following seasons. They are still yet to match Moyes' fourth-place finish from 2004/05.

Everton and Carlo Ancelotti

The arrival of Carlo Ancelotti in December 2019 left fans hoping for a return to former glory, especially as Ancelotti had previously won the Premier League in 2009/10 with Chelsea.

Everton started the 2020/21 season well, emerging as dark horses in the title race, before struggling later in the season and finishing 10th.

However, after just 18 months in charge of the Toffees, Ancelotti left Goodison Park to return to Real Madrid as head coach at the end of the 2020/21 season.

Everton in crisis

Former Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez took his place ahead of the 2021/22 season. Initially met with some criticism due to his loyalties with their Merseyside rivals, Benitez started well at Everton having lost just once in their opening seven games.

However, after a torrid run of nine defeats in his next 12 games, Benitez was dismissed as Everton manager on January 16. The Spaniard - whose final game was a 2-1 defeat to Norwich City - left the club in 16th place, six points above the relegation zone.

But a last gasp 3-2 comeback win over Crystal Palace, in their penultimate game of the season, secured their Premier League safety. Despite a 5-1 final day thumping by Arsenal the club finished 16th, their lowest finish since the 2003/04 campaign.

The Merseyside derby

Everton have a long-standing rivalry with Liverpool which, although fierce, is also marked by a strong camaraderie between the two sets of supporters.

Both sets of supporters have stood side-by-side in memoriam of the tragic loss of life in the Hillsborough disaster ever since the horrific events of April 1989.

Although Everton are one of the most successful clubs in English football history, they have been unable to match Liverpool's historical success and have spent much of the last three decades in the Reds' shadow.

Both Anfield and Goodison Park are within walking distance of each other across Stanley Park.

A quirky fact about the city of Liverpool as a whole is that household waste is collected from people's houses in purple bins - a combination of red and blue to avoid conflict between the different sets of supporters.

A large local fanbase

Everton's supporters are known as Evertonians or Blues. They have a sizeable fan base, largely due to their historical success.

Everton supporters have always shown solidarity with their Liverpool counterparts, who were blamed by The Sun newspaper for the 1989 Hillsborough disaster in which their own fans were crushed to death.

Everton's finances