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Club History
Since taking over as Everton manager in March 2002, David Moyes has given the club's fans renewed faith, although the pattern under Moyes has been one good season followed by one poor - as finishing positions of 7th, 17th, 4th and 11th in his four completed seasons to date attest. The former Preston manager's challenge is to iron out the inconsistencies and eliminate the unthinkable flirtations with relegation that have dogged the Toffees for well over a decade. The purchase of top striker Andy Johnson should help Moyes achieve that, while the ending of a long-running feud that divided the boardroom for the past two years should also bring greater stability to the club. The search for a new stadium remains an issue, but on the pitch Everton look set to maintain their unbroken tenure of the English top-flight. The Toffees have played at this level continuously since 1954; only Arsenal (1919) have a longer record of continuous membership of the top-flight. That is a fitting record for one of England's oldest, proudest and most successful clubs. In 1878, St Domingo Church Sunday School formed a football club that played on Stanley Park. Because of the huge enthusiasm for the club, in November 1879, they decided to expand membership and changed the name to Everton. At that time they played in black shirts with a scarlet sah, eaning themselves the nickname the "Black Watch". Other colours were tried before royal blue was adopted in 1901. Everton turned professional in 1885 and became founderl members of the Football League in 1888. Since then the Toffees have spent just four seasons outside the top flight, though in recent seasons they have often had to battle to escape relegation. That is in contrast to the second half of the 1980s, the club"s golden era when, under former player Howard Kendall (a member of the legendary 1969-70 championship-winning midfield trio that also included Colin Harvey and Alan Ball), Everton won two League titles, a major European trophy and appeared in three successive FA Cup Finals, winning the first (in 1984, when they"d also reached the League Cup Final). Under David Moyes"s management, the club became upwardly mobile again in 2002-03 and brought the outstanding local teenager and Toffees' fan Wayne Rooney to prominence. Moyes's team overcame Rooney's somewhat acrimonious departure for Manchester United, and Everton are now firmly focused on the future, proving difficult to beat and regularly finding the net again.