Pretty much every football club will have a match that supporters will consider to be a derby game. Crystal Palace have a fierce rivalry with Brighton & Hove Albion, for example, in amongst countless other matches against the London-based teams that end up being strange derbies simply because of the fact that there are so many teams based in the English capital.
Few derbies have the same history, passion and sense of local pride that the Merseyside derby can boast, however. When Liverpool and Everton go up against one another, sparks will often end up flying like tackles.
The Early Days of the Derby
Not many people realise that the Merseyside derby is actually the country’s longest-running, with the first match having taken place on the 13th of October 1894. Although it has always been known as the ‘friendly derby’ on account of the number of families that are split down the middle in terms of support, it has had a bit of spice associated with it right from the word ‘go’.
That is thanks to the fact that Everton were the first team who played at Anfield, leaving the ground when the owner wanted too much money in rent, forcing him to create Liverpool to take advantage of the stadium.
@paulcurtisart 🔴⚪️One for the true LFC fans what know their history🔴⚪️ This mural at The Sandon on Houlding Street is a tribute to the fella that started it all… John Houlding was the founder of Liverpool FC , the result of a convoluted rent dispute for the Anfield Football ground between @everton and Houlding. The result was that Everton moved across Stanley Park to Goodison and Houlding formed a new team, Liverpool FC The meetings regarding the dispute and the formation of LFC all took place in the Sandon Pub (and there is alot of info about the history of the events in the pub) The street the mural is on is also named Houlding Street #liverpool #lfc #liverpoolfc #johnhoulding #1892 #football #paulcurtis #streetart #mural #sandon #anfield #history ♬ Go Your Own Way (2004 Remaster) – Fleetwood Mac
In spite of this, there remained a friendliness between the two during the more formative years of the game, with the clubs even sharing a match day programme up until the early part of the 1930s. There is no doubt that the two clubs wanted to win on the pitch when they faced one another, but things off the pitch remained generally amicable.
During the early years there was a slight sense of Everton being a Catholic club and Liverpool being a Protestant one, partly thanks to the knowledge that John Houlding was a member of the Orange Order, but this wasn’t as noteworthy as in the likes of Glasgow.
The 1980s
Although both football clubs had enjoyed some sporadic success over the years, it was during the 1960s that things really began to take a turn thanks to both teams regularly winning trophies. In the 1970s, Liverpool took things up a gear whilst Everton went through a relatively barren period, failing to win a trophy in the 14 years that followed their First Division title in 1970 itself. The Reds then became the dominant force in the country in the 1980s, winning everything that there was to win. It was only thanks to the appointment of Howard Kendall as manager that things began to turn.
A thrilling Merseyside derby from on this day in 1985, when Liverpool won 3-2 against Everton at Goodison Park. Player-manager Kenny Dalglish had given the Reds the lead in the opening seconds.#LFC #EFC #OnThisDay pic.twitter.com/NIMby1hDzW
— 1980s TV Football Heaven (@1980sHeaven) September 21, 2019
Even then, the turnaround was slow. Liverpool won 3-1 in both games in the 1981-1982 season and defeated their rivals 5-0 at Goodison Park the following season, but by the 1983-1984 campaign the Blues had really started to muscle in on Liverpool’s success.
They won the FA Cup and forced a replay in the League Cup before the Reds eventually won. Everton won the FA Charity Shield at the start of the 1984-1985 season, as well as the first Merseyside derby, which was played at Anfield. At the end of the campaign, the Blues had won the title with Liverpool in second.
Tragedies Defined the Era
The success of the two teams meant that they regularly appeared in cup finals together during the 1980s, with the first one coming in the League Cup in 1984 that saw those in attendance in Wembley chanting ‘Merseyside, Merseyside, Merseyside’. Yet the Heysel Stadium Disaster, which occurred at the start of the 1985 European Cup final, saw things begin to sour between the two sets of supporters.
The disaster, in which Liverpool supporters charged a wall in the dilapidated ground, causing its collapse, resulted in the deaths of 39 people, most of whom were Juventus fans.
The reaction to it led to English clubs being banned from European competition for years, resulting in Everton’s title win not being rewarded with a place in the European Cup. There was obvious and understandable enmity between the two groups of fans from that point onwards. The 1985-1986 season was one of the most exciting ever for both sets of supporters, with the two clubs going head-to-head for the title as well as the FA Cup. In the end, Liverpool won both and became only the fifth English club to complete the double, but Everton had pushed them every step of the way.
The Merseyside Derby is special, friends are allowed to sit together. After the truth about Hillsborough was admitted by the British Gov’t the first game was the Derby & the Kop held up a huge sign simply with “thank you” written on it as Everton stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Liverpool #r4today
— Christopher🔶🇪🇺🇮🇪🇬🇧 (🇺🇦🇨🇦🇬🇱) (@christophert42.bsky.social) December 7, 2024 at 8:38 AM
Further tragedy was to strike just four years later when 97 Liverpool supporters died at Hillsborough Stadium. The deaths were the result of police negligence, yet bad faith actors in the British media attempted to paint it as the fault of the club’s own fans. Evertonians, although doubtless still smarting from missing out on Europe, were quick to stand shoulder to shoulder with their Red brothers and sisters, including in the boycott of the S*n in the city. The first competitive opponents after the disaster were Everton, whilst Liverpool also defeated the Blues in another all-Merseyside FA Cup final.
The 1990s
It seemed as though the 1990s were going to see things carry on as normal for Liverpool when they won the title at the start of the decade, little realising that it would be another 30 years before they’d win another one. When the two teams were drawn to play one another in the FA Cup on the 17th of February 1991, it produced a cracking game that finished 4-4. In a shock move, Kenny Dalglish resigned as Liverpool manager two days later, which eventually led to the appointment of Graeme Souness as his replacement and arguably the start of the decline of the club’s fortunes.
@fussball_content22 #fussball #fussballtraining #fußball #fussballgott #fussballliebe #fussballwetten #fussballhelden #fussballherzen #fussballcommunity #fussballverrückt #fussballmemes #fussballer #liverpool #evertonfc ♬ Originalton – Fussball_Content
In 1995, Everton won the FA Cup, which resulted in widespread celebrations from a group of fans who didn’t realise at the time that they wouldn’t win another piece of silverware for more than 30 years. During the same time, their city rivals would win every trophy that there was to win, including doubles and trebles that led to huge open-top bus tours of the city and the streets lined with Red. Things were to get a touch worse for Everton when they won the Merseyside derby at Anfield in 1999, not winning another one at their former home in front of supporters for decades.
After the Turn of the Millennium
The 2000-2001 season was one of those mentioned that resulted in a treble win for Liverpool. The Reds won both of the Merseyside derbies played in the league, including a thrilling 3-2 win at Goodison Park that came courtesy of a last-gap free-kick from Gary McAllister. By the end of the following campaign, the Reds had finished above their neighbours in the league 15 times in succession. In fact, it took until the 2004-2005 season for Everton to finish above Liverpool in the top-flight for the first time since they had won the title in 1987, only for the Reds to outshine them by winning the Champions League.
23 years ago today, Gary Mac scored this boss stoppage time winner at Goodison! 🏴
What a moment. 🙏🏻
— Boss Liverpool Goals (@BossLFCgoals) April 16, 2024
During the 2008-2009 campaign, the clubs met each other four times, which was reminiscent of the successful period of the 1980s. As well as the two league games that resulted in a 2-0 win for Liverpool at Goodison Park and a 0-0 draw at Anfield, there was also an FA Cup game that went to a replay before the Blues won after an injury-time winner from Dan Gosling. They made it to the final that season, but lost to Chelsea after going ahead courtesy of what was, at the time, the fastest FA Cup final goal in the competition’s history when Louis Saha scored after 25 seconds.
There was another season filled with meetings in the 2011-2012 campaign, all of which Liverpool won. The first was a Premier League game at Goodison Park that the Reds won 2-0, then came a Steven Gerrard hat-trick in the Anfield match. They also met at Wembley Stadium in the semi-final of the FA Cup, which Liverpool won 2-1. In spite of this, Everton actually finished above their neighbours in the league that season, but the Reds got the last laugh thanks to the fact that they won the League Cup and so at least got to savour winning some silverware under Kenny Dalglish.
Derby Records
- Between 2011 and 2020, Liverpool went unbeaten in 23 encounters, which is the longest unbeaten run between the two sides.
- Liverpool’s record Merseyside derby win came in the 1935-1936 season when they won 6-0.
- No manager has suffered more defeats than Tom Watson, who lost 21 times against the Blues between 1896 and 1915.
- Ian Rush is the highest-scoring player in Merseyside derbies, netting 25 times overall.
- Neville Southall and Ray Clemence share the honour of most clean sheets, keeping 15 each. Clemence did so in 27 games, however, compared to Southall’s 41.
