The number nine shirt at Everton Football Club is a treasured one. In the 1933 F.A Cup final, for the first time ever in the competition, players wore numbers on the back of their shirts. Everton had numbers 1-11, Manchester City wore 12-22.
Who was bestowed with the honour of being Everton’s first no.9? The greatest one to ever live, William Ralph ‘Dixie’ Dean. Nobody in the royal blue of Everton has worn it better and presumably, nobody ever will. There are many Everton giants, legends and icons, but Dixie is the biggest, he is a huge reason as to why the no.9 shirt is so highly revered at Goodison Park.
While Dixie is without a doubt the best no.9 ever to play for the Blues, his successors did a sterling job in trying to live up to the hallowed name and number.
Dave Hickson said himself that he would’ve died for Everton, Joe Royle scored over a century of goals and won honours as a player and a manager of the Toffees, Bob Latchford’s spell on Merseyside brought dozens of goals but sadly no trophies, Graham Sharp was a vital component of Everton’s most successful era, while Duncan Ferguson was given a hero’s reception at his recent testimonial and won the F.A Cup with Everton, playing under Royle, in 1995.
The footballing landscapes where those illustrious names wrote themselves into Everton folklore are worlds away from the one that currently presides. Everton’s fortunes in the 21st century have fluctuated from the precipice of relegation the cusp of the elite European stage. 21st century football may be a different beast to the sport Dean, Royle and co. used to play, but has Everton’s adored number 9 shirt stayed true to it’s glowing reputation?
1. Kevin Campbell. 166 games, 140 starts, 51 goals. Everton’s no.9 between 1999-2005.
Kevin Campbell was brought in on loan from Trabzonspor by Walter Smith and kept the club up almost by himself with an astonishing goal return of nine goals in just eight games. His move to Goodison was made permanent in the summer of 1999 but injuries gradually took their toll on the former Arsenal poacher.
He did provide the Everton fanbase with some memorable moments, his goal that won the Merseyside Derby at Anfield in September 1999 is still the club’s last successful conquest at the ground of their bitter rivals.
The supporters and indeed the club itself will forever be indebted to Campbell for preserving their top-flight status, but while he did give a good account of himself in the no.9 jersey, he didn’t hit the heady heights his predecessors set before him.
2. Duncan Ferguson. 273 games, 191 starts, 72 goals. Everton’s no.9 between 1994-1998 and 2005-2006.
There is a unique affinity between Everton and Duncan Ferguson, one that seemed unlikely to come to fruition when the towering Scot was brought in on loan in 1994. “I’m a Rangers man.” said Big Dunc, who donned a bright red jacket on his arrival.
Fast forward twenty-one years, Ferguson has tormented defenders, plundered vital goals, created unforgettable moments and dished out a substantial amount of physical retribution on beleaguered and battered opponents, with blue blood pumping through his veins.
He’s become synonymous with Everton and is still associated with the first-team as a coach, but while Evertonians remember the burly, gentle Scot as a modern blue icon, his final season at Everton, where he reclaimed the glorified no.9, was one to forget.
One goal in twenty-nine appearances meant ‘Duncan Disorderly’ left the club with a whimper and while few would belittle how highly he is regarded on the blue half of Merseyside, as no.9 in the 2005-06 season he was of little use.
Ferguson earned the right to wear the shirt, although his final season at Everton didn’t bare much fruit Everton fans still adore him for what he gave and is still giving to the club.
3. James Beattie. 88 games, 59 starts, 16 goals. Everton’s no.9 between 2006-2007.
Beattie joined Everton for a then club-record fee of £6million from Southampton in January 2005, and was given the number nine shirt by David Moyes in the summer of 2006, with the target of twenty goals for the season. In total he notched two, both penalties. Nothing else needs saying.
Beattie had his moments on Merseyside but his move can’t be deemed a success, his stint as Everton’s no.9 ended in a transfer to Sheffield United, which tells you all you need to know. Moyes’ penchant to play with one striker didn’t work in the burly forward’s favour, but the statistics don’t lie.
4. Louis Saha.118 games, 78 starts, 35 goals. Everton’s no.9 from 2008-2009.
Scepticism was high when Saha joined Everton from Manchester United for seemingly no fee. Injuries had plagued Saha’s time at Manchester United, but while his body was damaged and decimated, his footballing brain and sheer natural ability remained in pristine condition.
Saha wore Everton’s most admired number for just one season and was injured for a lot of that campaign, but he helped the Blues reach the 2009 F.A Cup Final, the closest they’ve got to silverware in twenty years. He also made history in the final by scoring after twenty-five seconds, the quickest in the competition’s history.
Eight goals from twenty-nine games is a modest tally, especially for a striker of Saha’s ilk, but the experienced Frenchman gave a good account of himself as Everton’s no.9, without getting close to the giants that wore the special jersey.
5. Landon Donovan. 22 appearances, 19 starts, 2 goals. Everton’s no.9 in 2010 and 2012.
America’s poster-boy Donovan enjoyed two fruitful but short-lived loan spells at Everton. A creative, pacy, diminutive winger, Donovan didn’t fit the mould of a traditional no.9 but his assists and direct attitude on the ball pleased the Goodison faithful.
Never troubling the striking greats, a mere footnote in Everton folklore, Donovan is fondly remembered amongst the Goodison faithful, and is a self-confessed Evertonian.
6. Arouna Kone. 25 games, 12 starts, 1 goal. Everton’s current no.9 since 2013.
Where to begin with the sheepish Ivorian, a striker that doesn’t want to score?
When Kone followed Roberto Martinez from Wigan Athletic for £6million, Everton fans weren’t excited, more non-plussed, even concerned that the precious, slight transfer kitty was being spent on a recently relegated player with a history of injury problems.
Two seasons gone, one debilitating injury suffered, Kone’s career as a Toffee has been luckless, goalless (essentially) and useless. You’d be hard-pressed to find an Everton fan that has anything positive to say about the 30-year-old. There’s no desire to score goals, no ability to hold the ball up and no brain for clever movement. Perhaps the worst player ever to wear the no.9 shirt.
Looking at the six post-2000 Everton no.9’s, it’s not exactly pretty. The number needs reinvigorating, there needs to be a player who can remind Evertonians just how big a symbol it is to the club. The importance of the no.9 has sadly dwindled and if the last few possessors are anything to go by, the awe and idolisation it carried in past decades will never be matched.
It all may be perceived as petty, it is just a number after all, one of the world’s best young strikers, Romelu Lukaku, is at the club, scoring goals in the 10 shirt, and you see players with the likes of 45, 50 ensconced on their backs these days. But to paraphrase former nemesis Bill Shankly, it’s not just a number, “it’s much more than that.’
