Everton’s long wait for silverware and the cautious optimism around a new season
Everton’s unbeaten start to the Premier League season and progress in the Carabao Cup this season have generated guarded optimism among the club’s supporters after a turbulent transfer window and a 31-year run without a trophy.
The optimism follows a summer in which a move for AS Monaco striker Falorin Balogun collapsed when he walked away from the deal after problems with the medical, and Iliman Ndiaye was sold to Manchester City for £65m, leaving manager David Moyes with only 18 senior outfield players. Moyes is attempting to end a 31-year search for tangible success: Everton last won a trophy in the 1995 FA Cup final against Manchester United at the old Wembley. Since the turn of the century, Everton are the only club in English football’s current top four tiers who have not won a trophy or been promoted.
Everton narrowly avoided relegation at the end of the 2022-23 season by beating Bournemouth on the final day, having secured safety in the previous campaign by coming from two goals down to beat Crystal Palace in the penultimate game at Goodison Park. Those late-season escapes are cited alongside the current bright start as evidence of the club’s recent volatility on the field.
Former Everton midfielder Leon Osman, who made 433 appearances and scored 58 goals for the club between 2003 and 2016, defended the experience of supporting the club. He said: "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." Osman also reflected on the club’s high points during his career, including qualifying for the Champions League in 2005 and memorable European nights.
Cup and knockout records since 2000 remain mixed: Everton lost two FA Cup semi-finals, won the 2009 semi-final against Manchester United on penalties only to lose the final to Chelsea, and have been knocked out eight times at the first time of asking in the third round. In the EFL Cup, they have reached the semi-finals twice, in 2008 and 2016, losing both.
League head-to-head and away records since 2000 paint a difficult picture: Everton have failed to win at Chelsea in 27 attempts, have won only twice at Manchester United, once at Arsenal and once at Liverpool, and five times at Manchester City. The club did record a notable FA Cup fourth-round replay victory at Stamford Bridge in 2011. In 53 Merseyside derbies in the Premier League during this period Everton have won five and lost 28, with Dan Gosling’s last-minute extra-time goal in the 2009 FA Cup fourth-round replay and a crucial 1-0 derby win among the rarer celebratory moments.
The 2004-05 season under David Moyes is recalled as a high point, when Moyes guided Everton to fourth place after selling Wayne Rooney; Arsene Wenger described that achievement as "a miracle." Duncan Ferguson’s winner with a header from Mikel Arteta’s free-kick at Goodison is one celebrated moment from that campaign. Everton’s subsequent Champions League qualifying exit to Villarreal — losing the first leg 2-1 at home and going out 4-2 on aggregate after a late Ferguson header was ruled out by referee Pierluigi Collina — remains a painful memory cited by fans.
Longstanding supporters continue to emphasise loyalty and community. Dr David France, who has supported Everton since attending his first game on 4 September 1957 when Everton drew 3-3 with Manchester United's Busby Babes and who has travelled an estimated two million miles from his home in Arizona, said: "I can explain what I celebrate, even if we haven't had tangible success for so long. I celebrate being an Evertonian." He established the Everton Former Players' Foundation in 1999 and transferred more than 20,000 items of memorabilia into public ownership via The Everton Collection Charitable Trust, now maintained at the Liverpool Record Office. He added: "I think we missed the boat after the Premier League ship sailed. We are no longer the best of the rest," and, of a recent matchday memory, said: "If I'm picking one recent celebration at a game, it would be our 2-0 win over Liverpool at Goodison in April 2024 - our first win in 30 derbies, excluding the 2-0 win behind closed doors at Anfield [during the Covid-19 pandemic]." He also quipped that his devotion had been funded by "A robust seven-figure Littlewoods Pools jackpot."
A recent 1-0 EFL Cup win against Wolverhampton Wanderers at the Hill Dickinson Stadium — attended by Andy Burnham and Mark Carney — set up a last-16 home tie with Newcastle United in the competition, the next confirmed fixture arising directly from Everton’s cup progress this season.