Everton scoreboard could not cope in the 'worst conditions' as icon netted final goal

This week’s flurry of snow on Merseyside was nothing compared to the wintry conditions on this day some 53 year ago, and Everton’s avalanche of goals proved all too much for the Goodison Park scoreboard! A club of many firsts both on and off the pitch throughout their history, the Blues were the first team to install a scoreboard at their ground but so many goals were netted by the hosts in this game, the device could not cope.

Normally the names of the scorers would be displayed at Goodison Park but when Everton defeated Southampton 8-0 on November 20, 1971, a lack of space ensured that on this occasion, shirt numbers had to suffice, so instead it simply read 7 9 7 9 8 9 9 7. The Blues, who went into this fixture in 17th place, had been struggling throughout the season and had already stumbled at the first hurdle in the League Cup – ironically being knocked out 2-1 at Southampton – so despite having beaten Liverpool 1-0 at Goodison seven days earlier, the crowd of 28,718 was just half of the total that had witnessed the Merseyside Derby on the previous weekend.

A snowstorm also severely impacted the attendance, but as the headline in the ECHO proclaimed, there was a “Royle record in Everton avalanche.” It wasn’t just a watershed match for the four-goal home-grown hero playing at centre-forward though.

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Nobody could have envisaged it at the time, but this was the last occasion that the man of whom the Gwladys Street chanted: ‘Who’s the greatest of them all? Little curly Alan Ball,’ would score in the royal blue jersey. Injuries had ensured that the final time Ball lined up alongside Colin Harvey and Howard Kendall in Everton’s most-fabled midfield trio had been almost three months’ earlier for a 1-0 defeat at West Ham United on August 28.

After this game, he had just one more game at Goodison to come – a goalless draw with Stoke City on 4 December – before Harry Catterick made the most-controversial move of his managerial career, selling Ball to Arsenal some 18 days later. Just as when Ball had signed for the Blues after a man-of-the-match performance for England in the 1966 World Cup final win over West Germany, it was a record fee paid to an English club.

Having shelled out £112,000 to Blackpool for Ball, Everton almost doubled their money on him with the Gunners paying £220,000 but that was hardly the point. After all, earlier that year, Catterick had claimed his prize asset’s value to be at £1million.

Describing Ball in Everton: Player by Player, Ivan Ponting observed: “Alan’s game was a heady mixture of delicate skill and rampant fire, unquestionable bravery and overwhelming self-confidence. Physically there wasn’t much of him; in terms of talent, commitment and value to the team he was a veritable colossus.”

Not only that, he loved the club, later remarking: “Once Everton has touched you, nothing will be the same,” and six months shy of his 27th birthday, the tempestuous Lancastrian from Farnworth was arguably still at the peak of his powers. Typically, Ball was in the thick of the action as Everton tore apart another club he would later play for and, also go on to manage, spending his last years in Hampshire before his untimely death aged 61 in 2007, suffering a heart attack when trying to extinguish a fire in his garden.

Michael Charters of the ECHO wrote: “The worst conditions of the season brought out the best in Everton as they “paralysed” Southampton.”

David Johnson fired the Blues ahead on 13 minutes with a “fierce low angled shot” while a ‘well-placed’ effort from Joe Royle doubled their advantage.

Johnson’s pace provided the third as he beat Eric Martin “with ease from 12 yards after he raced through a gap at top speed.”

Royle’s second and Everton’s fourth five minutes from half-time was a close-range effort but their fifth from Ball just before the break was more spectacular as the midfielder “raced 60 yards,” before sliding the ball past Martin from the edge of the area.

On the hour mark, Royle completed his hat-trick with “a magnificent shot from 18 yards – a tremendous half volley,” while his fourth on 72 minutes was “a delicate glancing header.”

Despite Charters claiming that: “Everton eased off in these gruelling conditions,” Johnson’s hat-trick goal five minutes before full-time that completed the rout, was a magical moment in itself.

“Martin came out of goal looking for a back pass from McGrath, but Johnson stepped between them and with the coolest flick shot that I’ve seen for years, put the ball over everyone and against the far post from where it dropped into the net.”

In terms of the margin of victory, this was as big a win as Everton have ever recorded in the league, along with the 9-1 successes over Manchester City and Plymouth Argyle.