Accrington’s demise was in sharp contrast to Everton, whose boss Harry Catterick had been on a spending spree in a bid to bring the glory days back to Goodison. The spine of the side was strong; keeper Gordon West, centre-half Brian Labone and centre-forward Alex Young. Everton didn’t secure the tide until 11 May 1963, when it became mathematically impossible for Spurs to catch them. The late finish to the season had been caused by a three-month winter freeze which had played havoc with the fixture hsts. Over 400 games had to be postponed, disrupting the season even more than the big freeze of 1946-47. The Pools companies initially suffered like everyone else, before coming up with a novel solution to the problem. A Pools Panel made up of pundits decided the outcome of postponed matches. Punters were thus still able to have a flutter, although some of the experts’ decisions were as controversial as any dubious offside.
Everton would remain top-six contenders for the
Remainder of the decade but would not clinch the tide again until the start of the next. Meanwhile, there were two FA Cup appearances, against Sheffield Wednesday in 1966 and West Bromwich Albion two years later. Everton were favourites to win both. They had to come back from 2-0 down to beat Wednesday, Mike Trebilcock hitting two and Derek Temple grabbing the winner. In 1968 they went down to an extra-time goal from Albion’s Jeff Astle.
Match-fixing scandal
By that time one of Catterick’s early acquisitions had left the game in disgrace. Wing-half Tony Kay, who was capped once for England, was one of a number of players implicated in a match-rigging scandal, a story which broke in The People in April 1964. Kay, along with former Sheffield Wednesday team-mate Peter Swan was found guilty of conspiring to throw a match against Ipswich in 1962. Swan was also an England player, and went to Chile as part of the 1962 World Cup squad. Investigations revealed that the problem was even more widespread than at first thought, with an ex-player named Jimmy Gauld the chief orchestrator of the scam. Gauld received a four-year prison sentence and ten players were given life bans.
World History
